In case you haven’t looked at your calendar in a while, October 22nd is next week. I know, I was kind of shocked too, but there it is. And that means that Windows 7 will be available to the general public a week from Thursday. And along with the latest version of Windows we can expect a whole slew of new computers to hit the shelves, as well as minor updates to existing PCs.

Acer has announced it’s taking the latter route with its current flagship netbook, the Acer Aspire One D250. Starting on the 22nd, it ill be available with Windows 7 and a new high resolution 1280 x 720 pixel display. It will also have a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drie, and a choice of a 3.5 hour or 7.5 our battery.

The netbook will ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition and it will be available in Japan for ¥46,800 or about $520 US. Odds are it’ll be significantly cheaper in the US, although it’s not entirely clear whether it will ship in the US on the same day.

via PC World and Akhibara News

I’ve been testing out a number of netbooks over the last few days, including the Samsung Go (pictured above, left), and Gigabyte TouchNote T1028X (pictured, right). Like most 10 inch netbooks on the market today, the Samsung Go has a 1024 x 600 pixel display. The TouchNote T1028X, on the other hand, has a 1366 x 768 pixel touchscreen display. The picture above gives you a rough idea of how much more text you can fit on that higher resolution screen. But just an idea. Because I’m starting to think that no 10 inch netbook should really have a display this sharp.

The T1028X isn’t the only 10 inch netbook with a 1366 x 768 pixel display.  That resolution is sort of a magical number for many people, because it corresponds to 720p, which means HD video. The Sony Vaio Mini W comes with a similarly sharp screen, and the HP Mini 5101, Mini 1101, and Dell Inspiron Mini 10 are available with 720p display options.

On the one hand, there’s no doubt that you can fit a whole lot more on the screens. But there are a few problems. The first and foremost is that the text is so sharp that it’s hard for me to read from the  netbook for more than 20 or 30 minutes without getting a headache. I’ve tried adjusting the dpi from 96 to 125 and that helps a bit, as does using large fonts and adjusting the zoom level in Firefox and other web browsers. But these changes are often inconsistent throughout the user interface and just result in making the experience of using the T1028X even more disorienting.

There’s another problem too, and it’s one that I’ve also noticed with Intel Atom powered machines like the Asus Eee Top ET1602 with a 15.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel screen. The 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 and 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processors have to work a lot harder to pump out graphics to higher resolution displays. So while Flash video from web sites like Hulu looks great in full screen on a netbook with a 1024 x 600 pixel display, it’s choppy on a 1366 x 768 pixel screen. This is a problem that could eventually be resolved by offloading some of the responsibility for processing Flash video to the graphics processor, but right now the integrated GMA 950 graphics in most netbooks isn’t optimized to work with Flash, and neither is the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M processor used in the NVIDIA ION platform.

I know some folks will feel differently about this, and never met an extra pixel they didn’t like. But I’m starting to think that 1366 x 768 pixel displays should only be used on laptops with 12 inch or larger screens. Even on those machines, that resolution is pretty darn sharp, but at least it’s not quite as blinding. It would be nice if there was an accepted resolution between 1024 x 600 and 1366 x 768 that netbook makers could comfortably use for 10 inch netbooks, but aside from the occasional 1280 x 800 or 1280 x 720 machine, I haven’t seen much.

What do you think? Do you have a netbook with an HD display? How do you like it? What do you think would be the perfect resolution for a 10 inch netbook?

PC Support

A few months ago Macles reported that Acer would be launching a version of the Aspire One 571 netbook with a high resolution 1280 x 720 pixel display. While I haven’t rally heard anything about that since, it looks like the Aspire One D250 is getting the HD screen treatment… at least in Norway.

Norwegian retailer PC Support is taking pre-orders for the Aspire One D250 with a 10.1 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel display. 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, and all the rest of the usual netbook specs including a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, WiFi, and Windows XP Home. It also comes with a 6 cell battery. The netbook has an estimated ship date of July 30th.

According to Fudzilla, Acer plans to offer the netbook with a higher screen resolution worldwide. Have you spotted this configuration anywhere else? Let us know in the comments.

via Netbooked

Taiwanese PC makers tell HKEPC that Intel is loosening some of its hardware restrictions for netbooks running low cost Windows XP licenses. According to the report, Intel had insisted that Atom N270 and N280 powered netbooks stick with 10 inch or smaller displays with 1024 x 600 pixel or lower resolutions. Of course, there have been a few exceptions, like the business/education-focused HP Mini 2140. But for the most part, companies that have offered higher resolution displays have opted for the Intel Atom Z5xx series of processors.

Now that Intel is giving PC makers the go-ahead to use higher resolution 10 inch screens, we could start seeing more netbooks with 1366 x 768 pixel screens. The HP Mini 110 is already available with a higher resolution display option, and the recently announced Sony Vaio Mini W will come standard with a 1366 x 768 pixel screen.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether there’s a huge demand for high resolution 10 inch screens. While a 720p display makes a lot of sense on a 12 inch or larger notebook, there are two problems with HD screens on smaller netbooks. First, the screen could be so sharp that the text will be hard to read without modifying your system fonts. And second, while the Intel Atom N270/N280 processor has enough oomph to stream most 720p video files stored on your desktop, it will struggle to output Flash video in full screen at higher resolutions than 1024 x 600. In other words, get ready for choppy performance from Hulu and other Flash video sites.

via Blogeee

There are three netbooks that I’m aware of that currently have screen resolutions higher than 1024 x 600 pixel. The HP Mini 2140, Dell Inspiron Mini 10, and Gigabyte Touch Note T1028M are all available with 10 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel displays. 

Not all of these computers are available around the world yet though. You can order the HP and Dell netbooks in the US,but the Gigabyte convertible tablet style laptop isn’t available here yet. But it’s expected soon. Still, the higher resolution HP and Dell computers have been shipping for a few weeks, so it’s about time we start to see some pictures of them, right? Fortunately MyHPMini Forum member Inconnu picked one up and snapped a bunch of photos which he uploaded to Picasa. It’s hard to tell much from the pictures, but it looks like the 1366 x 768 pixel display has a lot more room for web pages and other applications than the standard netbook screen. The text is awfully sharp and some users say that it can be a bit hard to read if you have less than stellar eyesight. But you can always adjust the DPI and other font settings to try to make the netbook a little easier to read.

Meanwhile, the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with the higher resolution screen, which was only available in the US at first is now showing up in Europe. Blogeee reports that you can find it at Dell’s French web site. The higher resolution display will set you back an extra 20 Euros over the base cost of the netbook. That means you can get an Inspiron Mini 10 with a 1366 x 768 display for as little as 369 Euros, making it the cheapest mini-laptop available with that display resolution.

via Portable Monkey

As expected, HP has begun offering HP Mini 2140 customers the choice of a higher resolution, 1366 x 768 pixel display. Up until this week, the only display option for this netbook was a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 576 pixel screen. The higher resolution display costs just $35 more, and makes the HP Mini 2140 one of the few netbooks to come with a sharp enough display to show true 720p HD video. The other is the Dell Inspiron Mini 10.

The good news is neither HP nor Dell are charging an arm and a leg for the upgraded screen. You can choose a 1366 x 768 pixel display from Dell for just $35 extra. HP charges just $25.

Update: If you want to pick up a model with the higher resolution display without spending over $600, make sure to check out the “smart buy” options. You can find the HP Mini 2140 with a 1366 x 768 pixel display for as low as $479. thanks Teuron!

via Netbook Choice

The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook may have been announced last month at CES, but the company has been pretty secretive about the computer’s release date or full specs. But according to a leaked product slide (please take with a grain of salt), the Mini 10 could break the typical netbook mold in a couple of ways.

First, the computer will use an Intel Atom Z530 Silverthorne processor. That’s not unheard of for a netbook, but it is unusual. Second, Dell plans to offer two different display resolutions for the 10.1 inch screen: 1024 x 576 or 1366 x 768 pixels. Again, not unheard of (the HP Mini 2140 should also be available with a high resolution screen soon). But Dell is also adding a feature I haven’t seen on any other low cost ultraportable: an HDMI port.

You can also TV tuner and GPS options. It’s not clear if the TV Tuner and HDMI port will be available on both the high resolution and the WSVGA versions of the computer, or what those extra features will do to the price of the netbook. But if this information is correct, it looks like Dell could be positioning the Inspiron Mini 10 as a multimedia-centered netbook.

via Engadget