The Nokia Booklet 3G is one of the most interesting netbooks to hit the market this year. It’s the first netbook from Nokia, a company best known for producing cellphones. And it’s available with an integrated 3G modem for connecting to AT&T’s wireless broadband network. It also has Bluetooth, A-GPS, HDMI output, and a 1280 x 720 pixel, 10 inch display. Those are all premium features that you don’t find on all netbooks, and I don’t think there’s another netbook that mixes them all together into one tidy package.

But there’s a down side. The laptop has a slow 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, and a high price tag. It costs $599 without a contract, or $299 when you sign up for a 2-year plan with AT&T. Considering you can pick up a dozen other netbooks for about $300 without a contract, this thing had better be pretty spectacular in person, right? Well, unfortunately it’s just not.

We already heard from the Wall Street Journal that while the Nokia Booklet 3G has a nice screen, the keyboard is somewhat cramped. Now CrunchGear has published a review. And they found exactly what I would have expected: The Booklet 3G feels sluggish.

That’s because while the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU can handle most basic tasks like web surfing and multitasking, the slower Atom Z5xx is just barely up to the task. That’s what I discovered when reviewing two different laptops with the similar (but slightly slower) Atom Z520 processors: The Asus Eee PC T91 and the Asus Eee PC 1101HA.

CrunchGear reports that it takes longer for web pages and YouTube videos to load on the Booklet 3G than on other netbooks. On the bright side, the battery does appear to be good for 10 or more hours of run time. That’s what happens when you put a slow, low power CPU in a computer like this.

Update: Laptop Magazine has published a detailed review as well, and the long and short of it is that the netbook gets great battery life, but performs slowly due to the sluggish processor and slower than average 4200 RPM hard drive.

Intel’s Z series of Atom processors use less power than the Intel Atom N270/N280 chips currently found in most netbooks. And that means the handful of mini-laptops using a Z520 or similar processor can get longer run time with the same battery. But these machines also feel much more sluggish when performing CPU-intensive tasks like playing Flash video, or even surfing the web with multiple browser tabs open.

So I didn’t shed any tears today when I read a report in DigiTimes indicating that Intel plans to stop taking orders from netbook makers for Z-series Intel Atom processors.

It’ll be a little while before we see the processor phased out entirely. Acer, Asus, and MSI apparently have outstanding orders waiting to be filled, so you’ll probably keep seeing netbooks with these processors hitting the streets over the next few months. And Intel hasn’t said it’s killing off the Atom Z line altogether. Rather, it’ll most likely be relegated to MIDs, which are touchscreen-based mobile internet devices, instead of netbooks.

Update: An Intel spokesperson writes in to say that the DigiTimes report is incorrect, and that Intel is continuing to fill orders for the Z-series Atom processors.

The Acer Aspire One 751 is the first mini-laptop from Acer to sport a power saving Intel Atom processor and an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display. Unfortunately, Pocket Lint found that this high resolution display is much better suited to displaying images than high definition video, thanks to the pokey processor. While most netbooks use the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and 945GSE chipset, the Acer Aspire One 751 uses an Intel Atom Z520 CPU and US15W chipset. The result is that the laptop handles standard definition YouTube videos just fine, but balks at HD video playback.

On the bright side, the laptop is super slim and the folks at Pocket Lint said it was awfully attractive. They didn’t love the keyboard, saying it had a bit too much flex. But the keys seem to be large and evenly spaced.

The standard 3 cell, 2200mAh battery lasted about three hours in the Pocket Lint test, which wouldn’t be too bad if the test was performed with WiFi on. But it wasn’t. In other words, you’ll be lucky to get 2 to 2.5 hours of run time if you actually want to connect to a wireless network. So if you’re planning on using this laptop on the road you might want to invest in an extended battery. Acer will make a 5200mAh battery option available.

via SlashGear

Intel announced two bits of news  its Atom line of low power, low cost processors this week.

First, the company has entered an agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to help produce some of Intel’s Atom chips. This is the first time Intel has outsourced production of a CPU core. The deal will help Intel meet the high demand for low cost Atom chips at a time when consumers aren’t really clamoring for computers bigger, faster, and better processors.

Second, Intel has officially announced the launch of its Z5xx line of processors. We’ve already seen a few devices like the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 and Sony Vaio P as well as some upcoming netbooks from MSI and Asus that make use of the Intel Atom Z520 and Z530 processors. Those chips run at speeds between 1.3GHz and 1.6GHz, have 512KB of L2 Cache, and 533MHz FSB speeds. But Intel has also unveiled a lower power Intel Atom Z510 chip that will run at 1.1GHz with a 400MHz FSB speed and 512KB of L2 cache.

It’s possible that the Z510 chip could show up in netbooks, UMPCs, or even cellphones and other mobile devices in the not too distant future.