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

Dell.com

Dell has added an option to the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 order page order page for a higher resolution 10.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display. This makes the Inspiron Mini 10 the first netbook to be available with a 10 inch screen resolution higher than 1024 x 600, although the HP Mini 2140 high res screen should be available within the next few weeks.

The best news? The higher resolution screen will only set you back an extra $35.We’re still waiting for Dell to start offering some of the other options the company promised earlier this year including a built in GPS receiver and TV tuner.

via Engadget

It appears that HP has been quietly releasing netbooks with 1024 x 600 pixel displays. That wouldn’t be so surprising (that’s the resolution pretty much everybody uses) if it weren’t for the fact that most HP Mini-Notes have higher resolution 1280 x 768 pixel screens.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the high resolution screen may be overkill on an 8.9 inch display. I found myself constantly tweaking font sizes and the default DPI when I had an HP 2133. But for folks with better eyesight than me, there’s no doubt that the sharp 1280 x 768 display is one of the major selling points for this netbook. You can certainly fit a lot more on the screen than you can with the lower resolution displays on Acer, Asus, MSI, Dell, or Lenovo netbooks.

I’m holding out hope that HP will keep the 1280 x 768 resolution if and when the company launches a netbook with a larger 10.2 inch display. But in the meantime, I have a word of warning for anyone ordering a current generation HP Mini-Note. Check the product description carefully before clicking the buy button.

Here’s what to look out for. HP describes the 1280 x 768 pixel display as WXVGA, while the 1024 x 600 pixel version is listed as WSVGA. As far as I can tell, three pre-configured models come with the WSVGA screen:

• KS103UT - $599 with a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M CPU, 2GB of RAM, 120GB 5400rpm HDD, 802.11b/g WiFi, and Windows Vista Home Basic
• KS106UT - $649 with a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M CPU, 2GB of RAM, 120GB 7200rpm HDD, 802.11a/b/g/draft-n WiFi, Bluetooth, SUSE Linuse Enterprise Desktop
• KS105UT - $679 with a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M CPU, 2G of RAM, 120GB 5400rpm HDD, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, Windows Vista Business with optional Windows XP downgrade

AsTray Plus version 1.3.6 is out, and the latest version adds a handful of bug fixes and a whole slew of useful new screen resolutions. AsTray Plus is a Windows utility that lets you squeeze more content onto an Eee PC’s 800 x 480 display. Of course, you can’t actually add pixels to the screen, but you can use some font tricks and other tweaks to make your computer act like it has a higher resolution display than it actually does.

Earlier versions of AsTray Plus added virtual display resolutions of 1024 x 768, 1000 x 600, and 900 x 540 pixels. The latest version adds two more, 880 x 528 and 850 x 510. You wouldn’t think a few pixels would make much difference, but when you’re trying to read a web page that’s just a tiny bit too wide for your screen, you’ll see how valuable those new resolutions can be. The other thing to keep in mind is that the closer your virtual resolution is to the device’s native 800 x 480 resolution, the easier it will be to read text on your screen. While you can use the 1024 x 768 mode if you have a program that absolutely requires it, good luck actually trying to make any sense of any text at that resolution.

AsTray Plus 1.3.6 also adds the option to change your color depth from 32 bits to 16 bits automatically, which can also save some strain on the eyes at non-native resolutions.

For a complete list of changes, check out the EeeUser Forum thread. And you can find installation instructions at the EeeUser Wiki.

[via Eee PC News.de]