Hasta La Gadget!

Now that’s how to get our attention. While the English-speaking portion of the Acer press conference left much to be desired, the second half, decidedly more German in vernacular, had a couple great tidbits. Most notable is a price of Acer’s AspireOne 532G, the ION 2-equipped netbook initially espied at Mobile World Congress. The slide says it all, sort of: 379 euros — mighty aggressive, and if history tells us anything, there’s a good chance it’ll be about $379 when it comes stateside, too. No word on release date as far as we can tell, but you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for this one.

Acer Aspire One 532G with ION 2 priced at an aggressive 379 euros originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chances are you’re not a part of the SuperSpeed revolution yet, and that’s okay. It’s early days yet, but ASUS is doing its part to make that transition to USB 3.0 a little more appealing with its O!Play HD2. A follow-up to the earlier O!Play models, the HD2 offers what looks to be plenty of connectivity options (we’re seeing USB, memory cards, and eSATA) and promises a “wealth of cloud infotainment.” ASUS isn’t sharing any more details than that right now, but we’re going to try to track this guy down on the CeBIT show floor and, when we find, it you can be sure we won’t spare the hard questions.

ASUS introduces O!Play HD2, first networked media player with USB 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While MSI didn’t have an official unveiling of the new F Series laptops at CeBIT, the 14-inch FX400 and 15.6-inch FX600 models and their NVIDIA Optimus placards were the first thing that caught our eye at the company’s booth. In typical MSI fashion, it looks like there will be a number of configurations of the two models, but it appears that both with pack Core i5 processors and use NVIDIA’s technology to automatically switch between the integrated and discrete GeForce GPU. While there’s no word on availability, an MSI rep on hand suggested that the systems would start somewhere in between $800 to $1,000. That doesn’t sound too bad, though the early units we got to play around with were a bit plasticy and the keyboards could sub as a trampoline. Those issues aside, we’re quite excited that MSI’s been added to the Optimus team, and that the company has designed a fairly nice looking chassis with a (thankfully) non-glossy lid.

MSI’s race car inspired F Series packs NVIDIA Optimus, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bewildering. We’re pretty sure that’s the only way to describe our adventure at Smartbook’s CeBIT booth. First off, let us just clear up that there are absolutely no smartbooks on display — don’t forget that this is the company that’s going after Qualcomm’s jugular for using the term smartbook in the first place. Now that that’s out of the way, the German outfit introduced two new 11.6-inch laptops at the show, both which are clearly a rip on Apple and Sony laptops. What’s confusing there? Well, the fact that they are actually nice. First you have the Atom N280-powered Razor that’s clad in a brushed aluminum that feels impeccably similar to the unibody MacBook. Sure, it will run like a last-generation Windows 7 netbook, but it felt seriously solid in hand. Next up is that ULV-packing Logo we told you about last week, and with a glowing power button embedded in its circular hinge there’s no doubt that it was Sony VAIO “inspired.” Again, the make is actually quite good, and we were shocked to feel how sturdy the chiclet keyboard was. Both KIRFs the Smartbook Logo and Razor should go for about 699 Euros when they become available in Europe this spring. Not amused yet? The pictures of the Swarovski covered netbook below should just about do it — and we have video proof after the break, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Continue reading Smartbook’s laptops hands-on: a MacBook and a VAIO walk into a bar…

Smartbook’s laptops hands-on: a MacBook and a VAIO walk into a bar… originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Has it really been almost a year (to the day!) since we last gave some first-hand thoughts on ASUS’ audacious Eee Keyboard PC? Given the recent news of an apparent April release date, we thought we’d give the perennially-delayed machine another walkthrough, albeit via the touchpad only since it wasn’t connected to an external display. The software is definitely still in need of some work — we managed to crash the sucker within minutes, but the startup to Windows XP (the full version) was quick and admittedly pretty interesting to witness — maybe at some point we could get a miniature game of Peggle going. When working, the menu was pretty smooth. None of the shortcuts were working, unfortunately , as the internet was down in the booth. As a keyboard, it feel pretty strong, resilient, and most of all clicky. Live through us vicariously, via still shots and moving pictures below.

Continue reading ASUS EeeKeyboard PC hands-on (slight return)

ASUS EeeKeyboard PC hands-on (slight return) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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