Google-branded Chrome OS smartbook launching this month?

If the damp blanket of leaves warming the ground is any indicator, then we’d say that fall has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. That means Google’s Chrome OS is due. What better time for DigiTimes to cite sources from “component players” claiming that the first smartbooks featuring Google’s other operating system will launch later this month. According to the Taiwanese rumor rag, Google will follow its Nexus One strategy and be first from the gate with the launch of a self-branded Chrome OS notebook manufactured by Inventec — the ARM-based machine will not be sold through normal retail channels and is expectated to ship a very modest 60,000 to 70,000 units. Acer and HP are then rumored to be launching Quanta-manufactured Chrome OS gear as early as December while ASUS waits to gauge market reaction. Of course, if all of this is true then we should be getting a Google event press invite right about, well, now.

Google-branded Chrome OS smartbook launching this month? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jolicloud prepping a netbook of its own

What do you do if you’re the maker of a popular netbook operating system? Create your own netbook, of course! Okay, it does seem like a rather odd step, but Jolicloud CEO Tariq Krim tweeted a few teaser images this morning and then confirmed with the exclusive shot above that the software company is in fact working with a hardware partner to create its own 10.1-inch netbook. The details are fairly slim at the moment, but Krim did share that the mini-laptop will boot Jolicloud 1.1 and be primarily aimed at those in the 12 to 25 age range. As for specs, your guess is as good as ours at this point, although he boasted that it will be able to rock 720p video. We can’t tell much from the picture above, but it sure does have a funky lid, VGA port and a few USB sockets. Pricing and availability are being firmed up now, but it will apparently hit for under $500 and before those long-awaited Chrome OS netbooks. That’s not really saying much at this point since we’ve been wondering about the whereabouts of those Chrome-books for almost a half a year now, but hit the gallery below for a few more mysterious shots and we’ll promise to fill you in on the details when we hear more.

Jolicloud prepping a netbook of its own originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee PC 1015PW peeks out of hiding with dual-core Atom, royal purple shell

Can you keep track of all the different variants of ASUS’ Eee PC netbook? It’s not easy when the Taiwanese computer company pumps out new ones nearly every month, but we doubt we’ll easily forget the Eee PC 1015PW’s distinctive shade of purple. Otherwise, TechinStyle reports it’s much the same as the 1015PEM, which isn’t a terrible thing — it’s got a dual-core 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 CPU, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 250GB or 320GB hard drive under that chiclet keyboard, plus the usual 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 LED-backlit screen. No word on pricing or availability, but the way these things usually go, you’ll find it in Europe well before the States.

[Thanks, Sal]

ASUS Eee PC 1015PW peeks out of hiding with dual-core Atom, royal purple shell originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Oct 2010 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee PC 1015PN gets official, will do 1080p in a pinch

ASUS Eee PC 1015PN gets official, will do 1080p in a pinch

It was rumored back in August for a September release and, though it did miss that by a full month, we’re definite believers of “Better late than never.” The ASUS 1015PN is officially the newest entry in the Eee PC family with its 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 LCD, a dual-core Atom N550 processor, 1GB of RAM, 250GB of platter-based storage, and, perhaps most importantly, NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics that won’t put a hurting on your battery life thanks to Optimus switching tech. That means an estimated 9.5 hours of longevity on a charge so long as you don’t spend your time pumping out reams of legally acquired full HD test footage. If all that sounds good you can order yours right now for around $429.

ASUS Eee PC 1015PN gets official, will do 1080p in a pinch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s new MacBook Air (update: video)

Apple asked itself what would happen if an iPad and a MacBook Air “hooked up.” Benefits from the iPad? “Instant on… great battery life, amazing standby time… solid state storage… and it’s thinner and lighter.” It’s 0.68-inches thick at its thickest, 0.11-inches at its thinnest, and weighs 2.9 pounds (the old MacBook Air was 0.76-inches thick and weighed 3 pounds). Naturally, Apple is going unibody construction here, with one of those big new glass trackpads. They’re also sticking with a 13.3-inch screen, running at a 1440 x 900 resolution (with an 11.6-inch “little brother” to boot). There’s SSD storage, a 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo processor (the same ones available on existing MacBook Airs, apparently), GeForce 320m graphics, and 2GB of RAM standard. Apple says its new “more stringent” battery life tests offer 7 hours of “wireless web” and 30 days of “standby.” Prices start at $1,299 for 128GB and $1,599 for 256GB of storage; they’re available today.

Be sure to check out our complete live coverage right here!

Continue reading Apple’s new MacBook Air (update: video)

Apple’s new MacBook Air (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer goes pastel with 10.1-inch Aspire One Happy dual-booting netbook

Cherry Red and Midnight Black too harsh for your innocent eyes? How’s about a gaggle of pastel options to take the edge off? Acer has just issued a new line of netbooks catering to those still stuck in the 70s, with the flower-powered Aspire One Happy range offering the most delightful lids of any netbook, ever. This 10.1-inch machine packs a WSVGA panel, six-cell battery (up to eight hours of battery life), Atom N450 CPU, GMA 3150 GPU, 250GB hard drive, WiFi, 2GB of memory and inbuilt Bluetooth. It also supports dual booting (Windows 7 and Android 2.1), but the highlight of the show is the abundance of color options: Candy Pink, Lavender Purple, Lime Green and Hawaii Blue. All four hues are available now across the pond for £249.99 ($397), but mum’s the word on a stateside release. But don’t worry… be happy.

Continue reading Acer goes pastel with 10.1-inch Aspire One Happy dual-booting netbook

Acer goes pastel with 10.1-inch Aspire One Happy dual-booting netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP’s Pavilion dm1 netbook outfitted with global 3G for Verizon, priced way outside of reason

You know, for a moment there, we actually thought we were past the point of pushing subsidized netbooks. Evidently not. Verizon Wireless has just revealed a tweaked version of HP’s 11.6-inch Pavilion dm1 (the dm1-2010nr) that’s designed to work on Big Red’s oh-so-vast 3G network. Better still, Verizon has thrown in a SIM card in order to let it roam on networks outside of America, but the catch is one you probably saw coming: price. As with the company’s international Wireless Fivespot, the data pricing options are patently absurd — particularly so when you realize that you can never use the data you’re paying for here unless you’re using the netbook its embedded within. Other specs include a 1.3GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K325 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), 2GB of DDR3 memory, ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 4225 GPU, a 1366 x 768 resolution, inbuilt webcam and Altec Lansing speakers. Verizon’s trying to hawk this thing for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a Mobile Broadband plan, while the standard version sells for just $250 more; worse still are the data plans, which mirror those found earlier in the week on the Fivespot. We’d tell you that they’re detailed in full after the break, but seriously, why would you voluntarily view something that would bring you to tears?

Continue reading HP’s Pavilion dm1 netbook outfitted with global 3G for Verizon, priced way outside of reason

HP’s Pavilion dm1 netbook outfitted with global 3G for Verizon, priced way outside of reason originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer planning to dual-boot all of its dual-core netbooks, we’re dual-unimpressed

We haven’t seen any reason to love anything that’s attempted to combine the comfort of Windows 7 with the sheer unpreparedness of Android in a dual-boot netbook form factor, Acer’s Aspire One D255 included. Still, word is that Acer is planning to make dual-booting standard on its dual-core netbooks going forward. Right now the D255 only does Android overseas, but we’re going to perceive this as a threat until we hear otherwise. Sure, adding Android to a netbook doesn’t hurt anything (which is the majority of Acer’s excellent argument for its inclusion), but we can only hope that this fascination with Android quickly switches to Chrome OS when it’s ready.

Acer planning to dual-boot all of its dual-core netbooks, we’re dual-unimpressed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N550 Keeps Laps Cool, Ears Happy

Logitech N550_CTG1_Netbook_72_dpi 1 .jpgAlthough many of us use our laptops while sitting at a desk, they’re called “laptops” for a reason. But, there’s only so much lap-topping you can handle before your computer starts to heat up and make you rather hot and uncomfortable. A lapdesk might be the solution you’ve been looking for. Today, Logitech announced a new model for smaller laptops: the Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N550.

The N550 is for laptops that are 14.1-inches or smaller. Although netbooks don’t normally get as hot as laptops, it can still be a pain to hold the little computer on your lap and try to do a significant amount of typing. Not only will this solve the issue of laptop heat, but it will also solve the problem of poor audio quality from which most laptops suffer. According to a press release,

The Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N550 features precisely placed integrated stereo speakers that sit on either side of your laptop and deliver rich, full stereo sound. The lapdesk’s 4-layer, heat-shielding design, combined with the soft, air-mesh fabric, helps make laptop use more comfortable. The Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N550’s angled base raises your laptop screen to a comfortable viewing position, and integrated foldable bumpers on the lapdesk surface help keep your computer in place.

The Logitech N550 will be available in October for $59.99. Check out Logitech.com for more info.

Acer Aspire One D255 with dual-core Atom hits at $330

It was only a matter of time before Acer let out the pricing / availability details on its dual-core Atom netbook, and as we could have predicted, the Taiwanese company’s smacked an extremely enticing pricetag on this one. Ringing up at an aggressive $329.99, the 2.2-pound D255 looks almost identical to the D260 — yes, even those with the worst of cataracts could tell it’s an Aspire One from afar — but in terms of specs it’s got that notable difference of a brand new dual-core Atom N550 processor. But not to worry, even though it’s now the cheapest dual-core netbook around, it’s still got the netbook standards — including 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive and six-cell battery. The single-core version will go for $269.99, but we do have to say that shelling out that additional $50 for that extra core does buy you slightly faster performance (see our HP Mini 5103 review for some Atom N550 performance results). Sounds mighty tempting to us, but it still doesn’t make us forget about that Chrome OS netbook Acer’s been promising.

Continue reading Acer Aspire One D255 with dual-core Atom hits at $330

Acer Aspire One D255 with dual-core Atom hits at $330 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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