The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with an Atom N450 processor is just the latest Dell laptop to bear the Mini 10 name. It follows the Dell Mini 10 and Mini 10v, which had Atom Z520 and N270 processors, respectively.

Performance-wise, the new Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is a lot like the recently retired Mini 10v. But thanks to the new energy-sipping CPU, it gets significantly better battery life. And Dell has given the 10 inch mini-laptop a major design overhaul as well.

That includes a battery that no longer sticks out of the bottom of the laptop, and a new keyboard layout. Unfortunately one thing that hasn’t received a major update is the touchpad, which features difficult-to-use integrated click areas instead of dedicated left and right buttons.

The unit featured in this review has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, an HSPA modem, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. It runs Windows 7 Starter Edition.

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Haleron is best known for making off-the-wall products such as a netbook with two processors (not dual core, mind you, but two CPUs), and a netbook operating system that Haleron claims will run Linux, Google Android, and Windows apps. The company’s latest promise is a 10 inch tablet PC called the iLET that will ship on February 15th for $419.

The iLet will have a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, a 10.1″ 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display (multitouch is optional), 2GB of RAM, and a 160Gb or larger hard drive. It will weigh about 2.2 pounds and feature 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, and optional 3G. It runs Windows 7 and has a 2.5 hour 3500mAh battery.

The tablet features a SIM card slot, 3 USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, mic, headphone, VGA, and Ethernet jacks. You can also pick up optional Bluetooth accessories including a mouse, keyboard, and earpiece.

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The Asus Eee PC 1005PE is the first netbook from Asus to have a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor. It will be available for purchase sometime in January, but the folks at Asus were kind enough to send me one to review in advance.

On the outside, the netbook looks almost identical to the Eee PC 1005HA which has been available for the past few months. The only cosmetic change is that the new model has a chiclet-style keyboard. It has the same glossy lid and display and the same “seashell” styling as the earlier model.

On the inside, the Eee PC 1005PE has a new Pine Trail processor with GMA 3150 graphics. It uses less power than the Atom N280 chip used in the 1005HA, and that should lead to better battery life. I’ve read a number of reviews stating that the Eee PC 1005PE can run for up to 10 hours with a 6 cell, 63Whr battery. Of course, I’ll be testing the battery and overall performance myself over the next few days as well.

You can check out my unboxing video after the break.

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I haven’t heard anything from Samsung about any new or upcoming netbooks with Intel Atom Pine Trail processors. But French retailer Rue de Commerce is selling a new model called the Samsung N220 which appears to be an updated version of the Samsung N140. The main difference? the new model has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor.

Here’s a rundown of the specs:

• CPU: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450
• Display: 10.1″ non-glossy 1024 x 600 pixel screen
• Memory: 1GB
• Storage: 250GB
• OS: Windows 7 Starter Edition
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, Ethernet
• I/O: 3 USB, VGA, mic, headphone, SDHC card slot
• Battery: 6 cell, 5900mAh battery with up to 11.5 hours of run time
• Dimensions: 10.4″ x 7.4″ x 1.4″
• Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Price: 349 Euros in France (about $503 US, although it will likely sell for less in the States)

The standout feature for me isn’t the CPU so much as the 11.5 hour battery life claim. Of course, it’s the new low power CPU that makes this possible, but I’ll be very curious to see how long this computer can run under real-world conditions. According to the spec sheet, it should get about 7.5 hours of run time while playing videos, which leads me to believe that you’ll actually get somewhere between 7 and 11 hours in most situations. That ain’t too shabby… if it’s true.

More pictures after the break.

via Netbook 3G

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We’ve already seen reports that the new Intel Atom Pine Trail processors use less energy than current generation chips, while offering little to no performance boost. But if you’re a sucker for a good spec sheet, Intel’s got a few for you.

The company has uploaded the technical specifications for its new Atom N450 mobile processor as well as the Atom D410 and D510 desktop processors. There aren’t a lot of surprises, but here are a few things I learned:

• The Atom N450 is a 64-bit chip, which means you can run the 64-bit version of Windows 7 on a netbook with this CPU, something you couldn’t do with the Atom N270/N280 chips.
• The package size is exactly the same as earlier chips, even though memory and graphics functions have been added.
• If you’ve been holding your breath waiting to find out if the GMA 3150 graphics core would support hardware video acceleration, it’s time to exhale. It doesn’t.

For more details, you can check out a chart comparing the new mobile chips with the current generation, and another one for desktop chips.

via Netbooked

The MSI Wind U135 is a 10 inch netbook with an Intel Atom Pine Trail processor. It probably won’t be available to purchase until January, but Laptop Magazine has already published a detailed review.

In a nutshell, they decided that the keyboard is great, the touchpad is a’ight, and the battery is kind of meh. Or to put it another way, you can get about 5 hours, 35 minutes of run time out of the battery, which is pretty good by last week’s standards. But since Intel Atom N450 processors are supposed to use less power than the N270/N280 chips they’re replacing, we were kind of hoping for better battery life from this system.

More details and pics are available at Laptop Magazine.

Intel officially introduced the world to its next-generation Intel Atom N450 processor yesterday, and that apparently opened the floodgates, because over the last 48 hours, we’ve seen reports of more than a dozen new computer models. We’ll certainly be seeing far more announcements in the weeks leading up to CES in January, but here’s a roundup of all the new netbook models I’ve seen announced or leaked over the last two days:

• Dell Inspiron Mini 10: Dell may not be giving its new netbooks a new model number, but the next-generation version will sport a new processor, longer run time, and a number of configuration options including an HD display, TV tuner, and GPS.
• Asus Eee PC 1005PE: Asus was the first company to get its new Atom N450-powered netbooks into the hands of reviewers, and we have a roundup of half a dozen reviews. The verdict? Better battery life, the same performance we’ve come to expect from a netbook.
• Asus Eee PC 1001P, 1005P: While Asus is pushing the 1005PE pretty hard, there are at least two more 10-inch models on the way.
• Fujitsu LifeBook MH380: This model is rounder, browner, and has a higher resolution display than Fujitsu’s earlier 10 inch netbooks.
• MSI Wind U130, U135, U140, U160: MSI has 4, count ‘em, 4 new models in the pipeline. Unfortunately the company’s not making it all that clear how they differ from one another. Spec-wise, they’re all pretty similar, but there seem to be a few different case designs.
• Classmate PC: Intel’s Classmate PC reference design is aimed at students. This version looks like a minor update to the previously released 10 inch Classmate. The main difference? The new Atom chipset should lead to better battery life.
• HP Mini 210: HP hasn’t officially announced any new Pine Trail netbooks yet, but a few leaked promo shots and some premature product listings at an online retailer are giving us a clue what HP is planning.
• Samsung N150, NB30: Samsung hasn’t introduced any Atom N450-equipped netbooks yet, but two new models popped up on the FCC web site recently, and I’d be surprised if they didn’t have next-generation Atom processors.

By my count, that makes 14 new models so far. Intel promises as many as 80 by Pine Trail-toting machines by early next year.

Sure, there are at least half a dozen reviews of the Asus Eee PC 1005PE already out there. Testers have looked at the computer’s performance, battery life, aesthetics, and so forth. But you know what I haven’t seen yet? A good old fashioned article written by someone who took the time to rip the computer apart and look at the inside. Until now.

Hardware Upgrade.it has posted the first pictures I’ve seen of the Eee PC 1005PE’s internal components. And that means these are also some of the first real-world pictures of the Intel Atom N450 processor and Intel NM10 chipset.

For the most part, the Eee PC 1005PE looks the same as earlier Eee PC 1005-series models on the inside. But the new chipset takes up less space, partially because the graphics and memory control functions have been integrated onto the same chip as the CPU.

More pictures are available at Hardware Upgrade.it.

via Eee PC.it

You know that new HP Mini 210 netbook we keep hearing so little about? Here’s a whole lot more.

1. eCost has gone and created a number of product pages for the laptop, with prices ranging from $321.99 to $398.99
2. Logichp has posted a series of promotional shots of the upcoming netbook

It’s hard to tell for certain, but it looks like the lid is less glossy than the HP Mini 110 lid. And the touchpad has been completely redesigned. Instead of placing the buttons to the left and right side of the touchpad, HP has integrated the buttons into the touch area to save space while still putting the buttons at the bottom of the touchpad. Hopefully HP’s implementation will be less frustrating to use than the Dell Inspiron Mini 10v touchpad.

According to the eCost product pages, each model will come with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, Intel GMA 3150 graphics, and a 10.1 inch “flush glass display,” which I believe means the glass covering the display stretches from one edge of the lid to the other. The computers also have 1GB of RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and run Windows 7 Starter Edition. Some models have 160GB hard drives while others have 250GB.

The laptops will be available in black, silver, red, and blue. Of course, eCost doesn’t actually have any HP Min 210 units in stock at the moment. And I wouldn’t be surprised if these product pages are pulled down soon. But it seems pretty clear that HP is working on something new.

via Engadget

MSI has begun showing off its first netbook with an Intel Atom N450 processor. Earlier today the company unveiled the MSI Wind U135, and this afternoon Laptop Magazine and Engadget both published the first hands-on looks at the netbook.

The short version? It looks great and functions pretty much exactly like the Asus Eee PC 1005PE with the same processor. It also looks an awful lot like the latest model from Asus, thanks to a similar keyboard and touchpad design. But Laptop Magazine reports that it gets just about half the battery life.

Of course, 5.5 hours of battery life isn’t bad for any notebook. But with the Asus Eee PC 1005PE raising the bar with 10+ hours of run time, netbook shoppers are likely going to start expecting more.

On the bright side, the MSI Wind U135 will be about $50 cheaper than the Asus netbook, at just $329.