Dell Mini 9 makes surprise reappearance on Dell’s website

The official word from Dell may be that its Mini 9 netbook has hit “End of Life,” but it looks like the company may have had a change of heart or (more likely) a surplus of excess stock, as the popular netbook has now made a surprise reappearance on its website. With a starting price of $299, however, it’s not as cheap as some of the past deals we’ve seen, but you do still have your choice of quite a few configuration options, and a promised ship date of August 24th. So, if you’ve been holding off, you better get in now before they disappear, again.

[Thanks, Rob and Nathan]

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Dell Mini 9 makes surprise reappearance on Dell’s website originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Mini 12 quietly discontinued

There was no official announcement of this one, but a look over Dell’s website will reveal the truth — it looks like the Mini 12 has been shuttered. It’s not hugely surprising news considering its companion, the Mini 9, was recently given the axe as well. We’ll miss them both. Sniffle.

[Thanks, Drew]

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Dell Mini 12 quietly discontinued originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eee PCs rumored to ship with Moblin in October, Chrome OS on the horizon

How about a minor spy story to kick-start your weekend? According to our man Sascha at netbooknews.de, a “safe source” who shall remain nameless but who most certainly has ties to Stasi (or, at the very least, owns a trench coat) has divulged some choice nuggets: The first Eee PC pre-installed with the open source OS will hit the market in October, and the company is currently considering the possibility of making this an option for all its notebooks at some point in the near future. And if that weren’t enough to stoke your dreams of an Operating System Renaissance, the company is also reportedly working “closely together” with Google to deploy the Chrome OS on its machines at some point in the not-too-distant future. All rumors and innuendo, sure, but interesting — and, as we’ve seen the company play with Moblin in the past, certainly not a shocker. As always, we’ll keep our ears to the ground, and we’ll keep you posted.

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Eee PCs rumored to ship with Moblin in October, Chrome OS on the horizon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kinpo VIA Nano-powered netbook rocks the 3G (but only in China)

We’re starting to see more companies throw VIA Nano processors into the netbook mix as of late, and now it looks like Kinpo (last seen with an Android-sporting tablet) is getting in on the action with the N03. This guy has an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, comes with either a 1.2GHz or 1.3GHz VIA Nano processor, and sports integrated TD-SCDMA 3G (the China-specific 3G standard), HSDPA/HSUPA, W-CDMA, and EVDO. Also on hand are WiFi, options for either SSD or HDD storage, up to 2GB memory, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, and your choice of either Windows XP or Vista Home Basic. The company is “boasting” a 3 hour battery life, which is a shame — with all that connectivity, this device is otherwise well suited for situations where plugging in isn’t really an option. No word on price or release date, but we’ll keep you posted. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via Gadget Mix]

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Kinpo VIA Nano-powered netbook rocks the 3G (but only in China) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Sony VAIO P hits the FCC, arriving this fall?

A new model of Sony’s ultraportable VAIO P has just passed through the FCC, leading us to surmise that we can probably expect a new model in the very near future. Details are still exceedingly slim on this one, but we know that this one — model number PCG-1RSL — will be about the same size as the current VAIO P, and that it packs 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth. The documentation’s confidentiality expires in October, so we’ll know all the juicy details by then — if we haven’t already found out via other channels. Fingers crossed that it’s the ‘mark 2’ we heard about recently that could right some of those painful, painful wrongs.

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New Sony VAIO P hits the FCC, arriving this fall? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 On The Toshiba mini NB205-N210 Netbook

toshiba mini nb205.jpg

One of the first things we did when our copy of Windows 7 RTM arrived at PCMag Labs was to bring our array of netbooks out of the dark ages of Windows XP and into the next generation of Microsoft’s OS. The new Toshiba mini NB205-N210 was one of the first to receive the upgrade, and it handled the transition perfectly. Installing the OS was a breeze; drivers were automatically found for all of the hardware, giving it the same functionality coming out of the install as it had in Windows XP.
As our laptop expert Cisco Cheng noted in his review, the NB205-N210 is the vanilla ice-cream of netbooks: unexciting, but still pretty sweet. The generic netbook hardware isn’t a problem for Windows 7. It runs with the beautiful Aero interface looking almost as nice as it does on a desktop. Even features like Flip 3D work without many hiccups.
Like most netbooks, the Toshiba mini NB205-N210 can’t handle high-definition Flash video without making it look like a slideshow. Windows 7 does nothing to change that. But standard-def YouTube and Hulu videos ran well, with only the occasional stutter to detract from ultraportable viral videos. There seems to be very little performance overhead with the new OS; everything runs just as well as it did in XP.
Though Windows 7 doesn’t improve the netbook’s middle-of-the-road keyboard and lack of outstanding hardware, it manages to bring the dated interface and feature set of XP into the Aero-infused present, even with those constraints. The Toshiba mini NB205-N210 isn’t just a respectable netbook. Consider it Windows 7-ready as well. For an in depth look at the netbook, check out our full review and benchmarks here.

Samsung’s Ion-infused N510 netbook steeply priced across the pond

€499. $717. Or three easy payments of €171 ($246). That’s the price folks in Europe are being asked to pony up for Samsung’s admittedly svelte 11.6-inch N510 netbook. As one of the largest netbooks in its class, this machine — which can purportedly last for around 6.5 hours under ideal circumstances — also packs NVIDIA’s Ion technology, but a sluggish Atom N280 is still manning the ship. If you’ll recall, we actually heard that this here rig would surface sometime this summer, but it looks as if those orders may end up pushed to September. Anyone care to place a pre-order? Or are you more interested in those “real laptops” for just north of seven Benjamins?

[Via Blogeee]

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Samsung’s Ion-infused N510 netbook steeply priced across the pond originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS’ 11.6-inch 1101HA netbook finally on sale in America

Call it coincidence or call it fate, but just as soon as we saw Samsung’s 11.6-inch N510 netbook go on sale across the pond, ASUS’ long-awaited 11.6-inch Eee PC 1101HA has netted itself a date with UPS here on US soil. The machine is the first in the Seashell range to boast a display larger than 11 inches, though the atypical WXGA (1,366 x 768) panel is about the only thing that’ll turn heads. Within, you’ll find an exceedingly bland array of parts: an Atom Z520 processor, 1GB of RAM, GMA 500 integrated graphics, a 160GB hard drive (still with us?), three USB 2.0 sockets, a 1.3 megapixel camera, WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth and audio in / out jacks. If you aren’t down with waiting to see what kind of netbook revolution coincides with the launch of Windows 7, you can order yours up from the links below for $429.99.

[Via Netbooked]

Read – BuyDig.com order page
Read – NewEgg.com order page

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ASUS’ 11.6-inch 1101HA netbook finally on sale in America originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s VAIO W netbook reviewed: personable and pricey, and that’s pretty much it

After Sony’s unorthodox VAIO P, did you really expect the outfit’s first “real netbook” to burn the house down? With Microsoft’s inane hardware restrictions still firmly in place on Windows XP-based netbooks, there’s only so much differentiating Sony can do, and evidently those subtle tweaks didn’t exactly justify the higher-than-average $499 price tag. Computer Shopper managed to give the unit a spin a few weeks prior to its US release, and while it definitely appreciated the 1,366 x 768 resolution display, the cramped keyboard, painfully lackluster 3-cell battery and commonplace performance didn’t exactly elicit huge grins across the review room. Naturally, the design here is pretty notable, but with ASUS’ Eee Seashell line already lookin’ pretty decent for a lot less cheddar, we’d agree that Sony’s going to have to do better than put a pretty face on a vanilla set of innards to get our next five Benjamins.

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Sony’s VAIO W netbook reviewed: personable and pricey, and that’s pretty much it originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Always Innovating’s Touch Book now shipping

If you’re anything like us, you’re always waiting anxiously for the next netbook to drop. The Always Innovating Touch Book — a hybrid netbook / tablet — which we knew was very nearly on its way, is now, apparently, on its way! That’s correct — if you were smart enough to pre-order, you’ve probably already received an email confirming that your Touch Book has shipped. We’ll be anxious to see one of these dudes in a photoshoot, that’s for sure. If you’ve forgotten, these dudes pack an 8.9-inch, 1,024 x 600 touchscreen, a USB 802.11 b/g/n adapter, Bluetooth, a TI OMAP3530 CPU, and 512MB of memory (split 50 / 50 between RAM and NAND), plus a further 8GB of storage on an SD card. The company’s website says it may take “several weeks” to fulfill all the pre-orders, so we’ll let you know if we get any updates. What about you? Did you order a Touch Book — or know anyone who did?

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Always Innovating’s Touch Book now shipping originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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