May 26

ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell review

Posted in: ASUS, feature, Features, Laptops, netbook, review, Reviews, Today's Chili

We’ve been seeing plenty of ASUS’ newest, and possibly most attractive netbook — the Eee PC 1008HA Seashell — around here as of late, and the slim model’s gotten plenty of solid reviews in the UK, where it’s already available. Nobody can talk about the ‘shell (as we refer to it) without praising its handsome exterior, and with good reason, too: even if you’re not a fan of a curvy, thinned-out approach, it is most definitely refreshing to see a netbook that doesn’t just look like… every other netbook. We decided to take the newest ASUS for a spin, comparing it to the netbook we’re friendliest with — the HP Mini 1000 — to see how they stack up against one another. Could we swim through the blackened, dark abyss of netbook confusion and emerge with a clearer sense of ourselves? Does clarity come at a cost? Can the 10.1-inch Seashell fulfill all of our netbook dreams? Join us after the break for our musings.

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ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 26

NEC’s VersaPro UltraLite Type VS is thicker but lighter than Air

Posted in: intel atom, IntelAtom, netbook, Today's Chili
NEC's VersaPro UltraLite Type VS is thicker but lighter than Air

Another challenger enters the ultrathin notebook arena. This time it’s NEC, prepping its lightest and daintiest edition of the UltraLite line, the Type VS. Its thickness ranges from 15.8mm to 29.9mm, comparing unfavorably to the 19.4mm MacBook Air or the 16.51mm Adamo. But, its 725g weight (about a pound and a half) definitely undercuts the competition, and its three USB slots, Ethernet port, and SD card reader give reasonable connectivity without external adapters. Its 10.6-inch screen has a resolution of 1208 x 768, the CPU is Intel’s 1.86GHz Atom Z540 (the same as found in the higher-spec version of the Vaio P), 1GB of RAM is on tap, and a 64GB SSD keeps things persistent. Solid specs for sure, and with an asking price of around ¥99,750 (a little over $1,000) it should be reasonably solid value when it hits Japanese retailers in July. Just don’t go wasting your summer waiting for these to appear domestically.

Update: That ¥99,750 is actually a special promotional price for those who pre-order directly through NEC. The device’s MSRP after that will be nearly double, ¥176,000 ($1,850), and while we’re guessing it’ll sell for something less than that, it still won’t be nearly the bargain early-adopters will receive.

[Via PC Watch]

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NEC’s VersaPro UltraLite Type VS is thicker but lighter than Air originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 07:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 26

Sony VAIO P set free with XP, still not a netbook

Posted in: netbook, sony, Today's Chili, ultraportable, vaio, Windows XP

Fascinating. Sony just figured out a simple truth of ultra-portable computing: for all its beauty, elegant hardware packed into a diminutive chassis will never make up for a perpetually sluggish OS, at least not for long. While it comes late to this understanding, Sony is finally making XP a standard load on its new VAIO P model VGN-P50. Not exactly aspirational, mind you, and very netbook-like… but at least it gets the OS out of the way of your applications unlike the original VAIO P Vista build. Any by not having to downgrade yourselves (or upgrade to Windows 7 RC), you’ll keep all of Sony’s optimizations like the VAIO P’s XMB interface. Starting June 6th, our Japanese friends will also see a 2GHz Atom Z550 processor bump in addition to WWAN data as standard. They’ll even toss in a 256GB SSD if you tick the right box. While we’d typically expect these specs to go global, the fact that we’re still stuck with a 1.33GHz processor Stateside makes us doubtful, bitter even, and more than a tad envious. Available June 6th in Japan starting at ¥85,000 (about $900).

[Via Akihabara News]

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Sony VAIO P set free with XP, still not a netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 01:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Acer Aspire Timeline found in the wild, chilling in Canada and up for pre-order in UK

Posted in: canada, in the wild, InTheWild, laptop, netbook, Today's Chili

Acer’s been largely mum about its new Aspire Timeline laptop since its initial unveiling back in early April, but now it looks like the company’s getting ready to roll out the portable to the customer base at large, if these spy shots from a from a Canadian-based Future Shop store are any indication. The list of specs is a bit hard to read, but from what we gather, the 14-inch Aspire 4810TZ-4129 is packing a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium SU2700, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, a DVD drive, WiFi, WAN, a touted 8 hour battery life, and Windows Vista Home Premium. No indication on the price or official street date, however, but if they’re being sent to retail, we can’t imagine we’ll be waiting too much longer. Feast your own eyes on the specs sheet in the image after the break.

Update: Reader Oleg has written in to let us know it’s also up for pre-order at UK retail site PC World — 14-inch for £550 and 15.6-inch for £600.

[Thanks, waterboy99troop]

Continue reading Acer Aspire Timeline found in the wild, chilling in Canada and up for pre-order in UK

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Acer Aspire Timeline found in the wild, chilling in Canada and up for pre-order in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Lenovo’s Ion-powered IdeaPad S12 shows HD prowess on video

Posted in: hands-on, HandsOn, lenovo, netbook, NVIDIA, Today's Chili, video

Lenovo did itself a solid by beating the likes of Acer and ASUS with its Ion-infused IdeaPad S12, and now we’re beginning to see a few more details on what performance will be like. We still wish the machine had something a bit more powerful than a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, but despite the fact that it’s hobbling along on an aged CPU, the machine seems to handle 3D gaming and 1080p content with poise. The crew over at Notebooks managed to spend a little quiet time with a pre-production version of the S12, and it even managed to host up a few videos while the machine was kicking out content that would make the typical netbook buckle. Feel free to hit the read link to have a look yourself, and be sure to mind the three American SKUs. Here’s a preview: the Ion-powered version (read: the one you want) will run $499.99 and include 1GB of RAM, a 6-cell battery and a 160GB hard drive.

[Via GottaBeMobile]

Continue reading Lenovo’s Ion-powered IdeaPad S12 shows HD prowess on video

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Lenovo’s Ion-powered IdeaPad S12 shows HD prowess on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 10:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Lenovo’s $449 IdeaPad S12 now official: first netbook with NVIDIA’s Ion chipset

Posted in: 1080p, intel atom, IntelAtom, lenovo, netbook, NVIDIA, nvidia ion, NvidiaIon, Today's Chili

We’ve seen NVIDIA’s Ion placed within a nettop, a motherboard, and now (at long last), a laptop. Yep, the machine you’re inevitably peering at above (Lenovo’s S12) is both the company’s first 12.1-inch netbook and the planet’s first netbook with Ion baked in, and it’s likely just a snippet of the kind of material we can expect to see at Computex. Frankly, this is one of the first netbooks in ages that has managed to get our blood moving, with a 100-percent full-size keyboard, the promise of 1080p video playback, a sub-3 pound weight and a starting tag of just $449. Other specs include a WXGA (1,280 x 800) resolution LED-backlit panel, Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom CPU (the one big “ugh”), 1GB of DDR2 memory, 160/250/320GB HDD options, an optional 6-cell battery, Ethernet jack, WiFi, Bluetooth, three USB 2.0 sockets, an ExpressCard slot, a 4-in-1 card reader and VGA / HDMI outputs. Thankfully you’ll find Windows XP running the show, and you’ll be able to grab your own starting next month. Full release is after the break.

Gallery: Lenovo’s $449 IdeaPad S12: first netbook with NVIDIA’s Ion chipset

Continue reading Lenovo’s $449 IdeaPad S12 now official: first netbook with NVIDIA’s Ion chipset

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Lenovo’s $449 IdeaPad S12 now official: first netbook with NVIDIA’s Ion chipset originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Lenovo Offers New Netbook With 12-inch Display

Posted in: lenovo, netbook, Notebooks, Today's Chili

ideapad-s12-white

Lenovo has introduced a  new netbook with a 12-inch display that will also be the first netbook device to include Nvidia’ s new graphics platform, Ion.

The IdeaPad S12 from Lenovo will have a 100 percent full-size keyboard, weigh about 3 pounds, run on Intel’s Atom processor, include up to 160 GB of storage and 1 GB of memory.

“Most 10-inch netbook models only have 89 percent sized keyboard in them and we have seen users complain about the keyboard size,” says Charles Farmer, consumer products marketing manager for Lenovo. “The 12-inch netbook gives users a more comfortable experience.”

Lenovo’s latest product speaks to the trend of netbooks getting bigger screens. The earliest Asus netbooks had a 7-inch screen. But recently it has made the move towards larger displays. About 95 percent of Asus’ netbook shipments have a 10-inch display, the company has said.  Recently Samsung introduced its NC20 notebook with a 12-inch display and a VIA Nano CPU.

For Lenovo’s IdeaPad S12, the Nvidia Ion platform is expected to be a big draw. Intel’s Atom processor isn’t suited for high-definition video or gaming, which restricts netbooks to just email, word processing and web browsing. Nvidia is looking to change that with its Ion graphics platform targeted at netbooks.

“NVIDIA Ion graphics help deliver the same features found in premium PCs at a lower price points and new form factors,” says Rene Haas, general manager, notebook GPUs for Nvidia in a statement. “With enhanced graphics, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 netbook is perfect for watching movies, playing popular games like Spore, flipping through vacation pictures or enhancing family videos.”

The IdeaPad S12 netbook will offer up to six hours of battery life and will have WiFi and 3G connectivity. It will be available in two colors, black and white.  The netbook will start shipping in June and is priced at $449.

Lenovo also plans to introduce two new notebook models including the ultra-thin IdeaPad U350. The laptop weighs 3.5 pounds has a 13.3 inch display, and be available with either the Intel Core2Solo or the Pentium ultra low voltage processors. The U350 will also offer up to up to 8 GB memory and up to 500 GB of hard drive storage. The notebook will be available in July and will be priced starting at $649.

Photo: Lenovo IdeaPad S12/Lenovo


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May 25

Lenovo’s ION-based S12 makes netbooks exciting again (update: less than $600)

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, lenovo, netbook, NVIDIA, Today's Chili

We don’t have a lot of information at the moment, but CNET is reporting that Lenovo is getting ready to launch the world’s first ION-based netbook. While CNET doesn’t give it a model number, the filename used on the image reads “LenovoS12netbook” and is said to pack discrete graphics and NVIDIA’s Ion processor chipset.Technically, the 12-inch laptop is too big for netbook classifaction and too chubby to be a CULV thin-and-light. Then again, those are classifactions of Intel’s making which doesn’t mean a whole lot to the boys from NVIDIA.

Update: PC Perspective has additional detail about the S12: 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, full-size keyboard, and what looks like an HDMI-out when it lands in July or August for less than $600.

Update 2: Interesting. Netbooknews.de has a proven record with insider-netbook news and claims that the S12 will eventually include a Via Nano processor option.

[Via PCPer]

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Lenovo’s ION-based S12 makes netbooks exciting again (update: less than $600) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 01:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 23

How would you change HP’s Pavilion dv2?

Posted in: AMD, blu-ray, Features, HowWouldYouChange, HWYC, netbook, Today's Chili, ultraportable

AMD had (and still has, arguably) a lot riding on HP’s Pavilion dv2, with it being the first notable machine to arrive with the outfit’s Neo platform. We’ve already heard what the so-called professionals think, but we’re interested to hear from the folks who really matter — the consumers. Is HP’s BD-friendly dv2 priced right? Is it sufficiently sexy? Is the 1.6GHz Athlon Neo MN-40 living up to the hype? Are you stoked with running Windows Vista on this? As with Sony’s VAIO P, this here “netbook” is definitely on the pricier end of things, so we’re pretty sure owners won’t hesitate to give HP a mouthful. The forum’s open, so speak!

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How would you change HP’s Pavilion dv2? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 May 2009 05:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 22

Microsoft publishes maximum Windows 7 netbooks specs

Posted in: Microsoft, netbook, Today's Chili, Windows, windows 7, Windows7

One step forward, one step back: just as we were getting ready to celebrate Microsoft’s decision to remove the three-app limit from Windows 7 Starter Edition, we’re hearing that Redmond is still planning to impose strict limits on what types of machines get to run the stripped-down build. Just like today’s max XP specs, things are pretty weak all around: Window 7 Starter machines will max out at 10.2-inch screens, 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drives or 64GB SSDs, and single-core processors under 2GHz. Of course, Microsoft’s told us all along that it thinks lots of OEMs will ignore the max specs and just ship Windows 7 Home Premium since it runs way better on netbooks than Vista, but we’ll see how this plays out at Computex — we’re expecting a wave of 10.2-inch netbooks with 2GHz procs and 1GB of RAM in the near future.

[Via ZDNet]

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Microsoft publishes maximum Windows 7 netbooks specs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 May 2009 19:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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