Hasta La Gadget!

Taiwanese company Mobinnova announced a new netbook that it claims is the size of a hardcover book, weighs less than 2 pounds and can offer five to ten hours of high-definition video playback.

The netbook called élan has an 8.9-inch screen and includes Nvidia’s Tegra computer-on-a-chip platform that promises to significantly boost audio and video capabilities.

“It offers 720p high-definition video playback, full Internet browsing and an impressive battery life,” said KC Kuo, chairman and CEO of Mobinnova in a statement. “It’s a real game changer.”

Tegra, targeted at cellphones and mobile internet devices, has multiple processors including a 800 MHz ARM CPU, a HD video processor, an imaging processor, an audio processor and an ultra-low power GeForce GPU in a single package, says Nvidia.

The élan netbook also includes 3G and Wi-Fi capability. But no word yet on pricing or availability.

Mobinnova Press Release

Photo: Mobinnova

SanDisk, the company famous for making device-specific SD cards that are actually just regular SD cards with stupidly high prices tags, is back again — and this time, things are just too offensive to laugh off. Designed to provide “extra storage” to netbooks with a multicard reader, these Netbook SDHC cards are priced at $39.99 for 8GB and $79.99 for 16GB. Isn’t this kind of stuff criminal in some countries?

Filed under: Storage

SanDisk designs “netbook-specific” SDHC card, grossly overcharges for it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know the basic rundown by heart by now, and Fujitsu doesn’t stray far from the 10-inch netbook script with its newish M2010 “mini-notebook.” The big “killer” features on display here include standard Bluetooth, three USB ports, a 50 second Windows XP start up time and a digital microphone. The $450 pricetag includes a 3 cell battery rated at 2.5 hours of computing, and you can nab a 6 cell to double your pleasure for $129. Fujitsu is aiming this one at educational markets, and is touting some beefed up build quality for handling the wear and tear, but we’re not sure there’s anything here that justifies the pricetag or the totally average weight and thickness. The single configuration should be available now online and at select retailers.

Filed under: Laptops

Fujitsu brings M2010 netbook to North America, packs in few surprises originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apparently people are really falling hard for this whole “thin” fad, and Gigabyte’s design department is the latest victim. The new Booktop M1305 (pictured) sports a CULV Intel processor and a 13.3-inch screen, putting it squarely in the land of MacBook Air and ThinkPad X300-style thin-and-lights, while also managing a disc drive and room for up to 8GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the new Myou netbook is actually Gigabyte’s ThinNote S1024, which weighs under two pounds, measures less than an inch thick, and still leaves room for a 10-inch screen and 6 cell battery. It should be shipping in the next few months for an estimated $600 pricetag. Video of the surprisingly excellent form factor is after the break.

Read – Booktop M1305
Read – Myou

Continue reading Gigabyte shows off thin-and-light Booktop M1305 and super slim Myou netbook

Filed under: Laptops

Gigabyte shows off thin-and-light Booktop M1305 and super slim Myou netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just as it did with the Z-Drive at CeBIT, OCZ Technology has delivered a few surprises across the way at Computex. Kicking things off the 17-inch DIY gaming laptop, which takes a note from the DIY-styled Neutrino, but gets a much bigger form factor. It’s one of the few laptops that actually arrive sans a CPU, hard drive and RAM, but it’ll support Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Extreme chips, as many as two 2.5-inch hard drives and plenty of DDR3 memory. Other specs include a 17-inch WXGA panel, NVIDIA’s Hybrid GeForce 9600GTS graphics, an optional Blu-ray drive, ExpressCard slot and a full accompaniment of connectors. The 7.9 pound machine ships with an 8-cell battery, though there’s no word yet on pricing or availability.

Moving on, we’ve got the Ion-based HTPC, which is outfitted with a 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU, Vista Ultimate (64-bit), 4GB of DDR2-667 RAM, an OCZ 120GB SSD, Blu-ray drive, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, HDMI output and a multicard reader. Finally, there’s an all-new Neutrino, which is being introduced just weeks after the original shipped here in the US. This new character packs a little more color and a lot more oomph, with NVIDIA’s nForce Ion graphics, a 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU, 10.1-inch display (1,024 x 600), room for 2GB of DDR2 RAM (ships with none), a 2.5-inch HDD / SSD slot (ships with none), WiFi, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, Ethernet, HDMI, two USB 2.0 sockets and audio in / out jacks. As with the 17-incher, there’s no word yet on pricing or availability, but we’re hoping to hear more on those tidbits soon.

Filed under: Laptops

OCZ intros 17-inch DIY laptop, Ion-based HTPC / Neutrino netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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