Hasta La Gadget!

We already caught sight of Fujitsu’s new 10.1-inch LOOX M netbook in Japan earlier this month, and it looks like the company has now gotten official with the seemingly identical M2010 model for some other markets, although it still hasn’t made it all the way over here. The netbook itself is about as standard as can be, and includes a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and built-in Bluetooth, among other not at all surprising specs — although you will apparently get a bundled DVD burner and wireless mouse with it, which makes the nearly $650 price tag at least a tad more reasonable. What’s more, while they didn’t get ton of time to spend with it, our pals at Engadget Chinese did manage to snap a few hands-on pics at the launch event, which you can check out by hitting up the link below.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

Filed under: Laptops

Fujitsu gets official with M2010 netbook, Engadget Chinese goes hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel first developed the Classmate Convertible in an attempt to compete with One Laptop Per Child’s XO-1, an AMD-based notebook created for deployment in developing countries. Peewee PC today announced the launch of a self-titled notebook based on the Classmate, which makes the notebook available for commercial purchase.

At $599, it’s not cheap, so those who envision the Peewee as little more than a high-end toy should think twice about picking one up. That said, the computer, which is currently available for purchase from the company’s site, has some cool features, including a rugged case (for tiny, clumsy fingers), a touchscreen, convertible functionality, and customized Windows XP themes from companies such as Disney.

The notebook is based on Intel Atom and ships with 10 software titles and an a branded security suite.

With a name like PeeWee, you might not expect to find this rebadged Intel Classmate PC very kid friendly (I’m talking Paul Ruebens PeeWee, not the kids’ sport kind). And you’d be wrong. Despite the price, which at $600 is around $100 more than the Intel, this tough little mother is perfect for the little ‘uns.

First, specs. It’s a netbook, which means a 1.6GHz Atom processor, which is coupled with a memory card reader, 60GB HD (which is, very weirdly, PATA not SATA — beware if buying upgrades) and 1GB RAM.

The differences are a water-resistant keyboard and generally toughened exterior and a rotating, flip-around screen which turns this into a tablet. And right there is the reason this works for kids — they can scrawl and draw just like they would with paper and, instead of having to put their crap up on the fridge you can simply start their lifelong lessons in computer use by claiming a “hard drive crash” or “corrupted file”.

The PeeWee also comes loaded with kid-friendly software. Unlike the usual meaning of kid-friendly, which really signifies low quality, feature-stripped junk an adult wouldn’t touch, the PeeWee actually has proper software, from Microsoft Works (although OpenOffice would be better), ArtRage 2, FBReader for e-books and, amazingly, Evernote for note-taking.

The only thing missing is Etch-a-Sketch.

$600 might be steep, but if it’s tough enough to last, it’s probably going to end up cheaper than two or three regular netbooks. Available now.

Product page [PeeWee. Thnks, Matt!]

We’re not sure why Android is suddenly the hottest netbook OS in town, but we’d guess it’s about to hit the scene in a big way at Computex next month. Today’s whispers? Averatec CEO Tae-Hyun Cho says his company will ship a new netbook with a “surprise” OS that blends “cell phone and PC technology” in August or September. Very mysterious. That’s literally all we know for now, but Cho’s comments about what consumers are willing to pay has us thinking this one’ll come in cheap — we’ll keep an eye out.

Filed under: Laptops

Averatec hints at an Android netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was inevitable, really — but the incessant demand for Intel’s woefully underpowered Atom processors sure did last a lot longer than we anticipated. Originally made famous by those so-called “netbooks,” the Atom is currently facing two hurdles in remaining wildly popular: 1) slumping demand for new PCs and 2) bona fide competition. For months on end, the Atom really was the only game in town when it came to powering netbooks and nettops, but with the unveiling on NVIDIA’s Ion, the promise of a GPGPU (or cGPU) and Intel’s own CULV platform, Atom’s necessity in the market is becoming less intense. The interesting part here is that Intel is purportedly hawking its inventory to “second-tier and China-based vendors” as it looks to minimize warehouse clutter, which certainly makes us hope for lower-cost low-cost lappies to show up in the near future.

Read – Atom demand slowing
Read – Intel: PC sales hit rock bottom

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Demand for Intel’s Atom CPUs finally beginning to cool? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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