LG to enter U.S. netbook market this summer

Forbes is reporting that Korean manufacturer, LG Electronics, is gearing up to bring their netbook product lineup to the U.S. this summer. The company entered the netbook market late last year with the introduction of the X110 netbook. Since then, the netbook has made its way to most major markets around the world except for the U.S. In addition, LG introduced a follow-up model last month at the Mobile World Congress called the X120.

According to LG president and chief executive, Skott Ahn, the X110 will be coming to the U.S. before July at a price point of around $400 dollars.

What makes LG’s entrance into the U.S. netbook market particularly interesting is their existing strong presence in the mobile phone market. It’s not hard to imagine LG branded netbooks being offered at a subsidized price along with a new mobile broadband account from mobile carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T. This could easily become a lucrative revenue stream for LG – alongside their strong mobile phone product line.

[Check it out via PC World]

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Always Innovating “Touch Book” netbook with detachable display

Say hello to the upcoming “Touch Book” netbook by the folks at “Always Innovating” – certainly one of the more interesting and innovative netbook designs to come out in recent memory.

As I gave it away in the title of this blog posting, what makes the Touch Book so unique is its use of a detachable touch-screen display. No standard convertible notebook here – if you simply need the touch-screen display, simply remove it from the keyboard and carry it around separately. This means you can easily transform the Touch Book from a standard clamshell design to a thinner slate-styled Tablet system resulting in a lighter, comfortable, and enjoyable experience.

Powering the Touch Book on the inside is NOT an Atom processor bur rather a Texas Instruments OMAP3 processor (based on the ARM architecture). Why go ARM you ask? A longer battery life which translates to the ability to deliver an instant-on experience simply because there’s no need to turn off the system.

So how long of a battery life are we talking about here? According to Always Innovating, the Touch Book is capable of reaching 10 to 15 hours of battery life (assuming you use the device with the keyboard attached). The low-power processor is only part of the equation of course. There are other components which help the Touch Book achieve its incredible battery life. First off, the device leverages a flash drive for storage which requires less power than a typical hard drive (this also means you won’t get super large storage capacities on the device).

Yet perhaps what makes the most difference with the Touch Book is the inclusion of two batteries on the inside - one in the display portion and one in the keyboard portion of the netbook. If you were to strictly use the display portion of the netbook, you’d get approximately 3 to 5 hours of battery life. Tack on the keyboard and THAT’s when you get the 10 to 15 hours of power.

Since we’re talking about an ARM core on the inside, you won’t be seeing Windows XP installed on this system but rather Linux. Of course you’ll be able to install a number of other ARM compatible OS’s on this netbook.

The Touch Book specs are as follows:

• 9.4" x 7" x 1.4" for 2 lbs (with keyboard)
• ARM Texas Instruments OMAP3 chip
• 1024×600 8.9” screen
• Storage: 8GB micro SD card
• WiFi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth connectivity
• 3-dimensional accelerometer
• Speakers, micro and headphone
• 6 USB 2.0 (3 internal, 2 external, 1 mini)
• 10h to 15 hours of battery life

All of this sounds great doesn’t it? How about the price you ask? It’s not too shabby either. If you only want the Tablet, you can purchase it for $299. Tack on the keyboard and the system will cost you $399. According to Wired.com, the Touch Book is expected to ship in the next few months.

If all of this is getting your heart pumping at a faster pace, then you might want to head over to the Always Innovating website and pre-order the unit.

[Check it out via Wired.com]

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Fulll Review of the Samsung NC10 Netbook

The NC10 is the wildly popular new Netbook from Korean giant electronics manufacturer Samsung. The Samsung has joined the ranks of 10-inch netbooks—including the Eee PC 1000H, MSI Wind, and Lenovo IdeaPad S10—and it beats them all. The NC10 may have the same cookie-cutter specs as its competitors, including a 1.6-GHz Intel Atomprocessor, 1GB of RAM, and Windows XP, but its spacious, well-positioned keyboard and more than 6 hours of battery life make this system our favorite 10-inch netbook yet.

Samsung NC10 Specs:

• Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Display: 10.2″ TFT Display at 1024 x 600 pixels
• Processor: 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270
• RAM: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
• Chipset: Intel 945 GSE Express
• Integrated Graphics: Intel GMA 950 64 MB VRAM
• Hard Drive: 120 GB HDD, 5400 RPM
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA, 3 in 1, SD Card Reader

Buy the Samsung NC10 from Amazon with Free Shipping.

Design and Build Quality:

The Samsung NC10 looks very similar to the original Asus EEE PC, only slightly bigger. The positioning is somewhat different, but the basic layout and body structure remains the same. It sports an all white design which is very clean and minimal. The body comes with smooth surfaces and rounded edges which gives it a very nice feel. The Samsung NC10 measures 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches in dimensions and weighs about 2.8 pounds which is quite in line with other notebooks in the same range. It offers a nice mix of portability, power, style and endurance. The port placement is well thought and nice and the overall positioning of the status indicators and the buttons is nice.

The build quality is very nice too. It can easily withstand minor jolts without complaints. The shock resistance is however less as it has a normal hard drive and not a solid state drive. The body mainly made of plastic feels sturdy and durable.

Display and Sound:

The Samsung NC10 sports a nice 10.2″ display which supports a native resolution on 1024 x 600 pixels. The display quality is nice and crisp. The brightness and contrast are almost perfect and the image reproduction nice. The display isn’t glossy which means better direct sunlight legibility, and the vertical and horizontal viewing angles are decent too, allowing an audience of about 3-4. The Samsung NC10 also comes with a 1.3 MP webcam which has nice quality. The built in microphone also works good as expected.

The speakers are located at the bottom of the laptop and produce clear, loud sound. The sound quality is decent and is good enough for serious music playback. We would recommend that you use earphones though, if you are a hard core audiophile.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The keyboard on first look, seems very similar to the Asus EEE PC. It is in fact a bigger version of the EEE PC 701’s keypad but a lot better. It is very spacious and is about 94% the size of a regular laptop keyboard. The key positioning and spacing is almost perfect. The keys offer superb tactile feedback and the key travel is nice. It is the best among all ultraportable keyboards, a blessing for touch typists. The keyboard feels superb, we would give it full points.

The touchpad is located just below the keyboard, and it is a bit too short for comfort. The horizontal length is adequate though. The touchpad is very responsive and has good sensitivity too. The surface is smooth allowing for nice navigation capability. There is a single long touchpad button below the touchpad which can be clicked on the left or right to indicate the left or right click respectively. The buttons offer nice feedback. The touchpad is a Synaptics one, and hence supports some basic multitouch gestures which is expected to expand more in the near future. The touchpad also sports a vertical scroller on the right of the touchpad which is very useful when scrolling through long documents or web pages.

Performance:

The Samsung NC10 sports exactly the same configuration as any other netbook in that range - a Intel Atom N270 clocked at 1.6 GHz (with 512 KB L2 cache) , a 120 GB HDD at 5400 RPM, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, the graphics department is powered by the reliable old Intel GMA 950 offering 64 MB of VRAM. As said a gazillion times before, this specification is capable of handling all basic and casual / office tasks and can also handle multimedia playback. It can also manage light games at playable settings. The performance is more or less the same as other notebooks in its class. Performance shouldn’t be a deciding factor when you choose between different notebooks in the ultraportable category as they perform very similarly, what counts more are the other factors.

Other Features and Battery Life:

The Samsung NC10 sports a whole range of expansion ports including 3 USB ports, Ethernet, Headphone and Microphone in, VGA out and a 3 in 1 and SD Card Reader. It also comes with built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with EDR. The Wi-Fi reception is nice.

The Samsung NC10 distances itself from the rest of the netbook crowd totally when it comes to battery life. It comes with a very powerful 6 cell battery by default, compared to the puny 3 cell batteries most netbooks come equipped with. The superb 6 cell battery can power the Samsung NC10 for about 7.5 hours on a single charge with moderate usage. Not once did the battery life go below a minimum of 4 hours even with heavy usage. The battery life is simply amazing and is the number one reason why one should opt for the Samsung NC10 instead of the other notebooks.

Pros:

• Excellent Battery Life
• Nice Keyboard
• Loud Speakers

Cons:

• Short Touchpad

Final Words:

The Samsung NC10 is a superb product which outperforms all the other competitors especially when it comes to battery life and keyboard. It is aptly priced and is a very good buy. It does have some minor shortcomings, but they almost disappear when compared to its positive aspects.

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Asus 1000HE Ships with two hard drive partitions?

Last night I spent some time playing around with my Asus 1000HE netbook and I wrote some of my early impressions.

I didn't notice this at first but as you can see from the screenshot below. The netbook appears to ship with two near equal hard drive partitions. The OS is placed on 81 GB C: drive and nothing is on the 62.4 GB D: drive:

Occasionally laptop makers will include a second partition that allows you to revert back to your old settings (i.e. Lenovo) but this appears to have been done for no reason. Minor set back I suppose. Has anyone else have this problem?

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My Asus 1000HE Arrived hands on impressions follow

My Asus 1000HE finally arrived today and while I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it, I have taken away some key points I'd like to share for those of you looking to purchase a netbook in the near future. Earlier I posted why I pre-ordered the Asus 1000HE (side note it is still available for $374 on Amazon - $25 off). Here is what I can confirm:

Yes the battery life really is that great. I think it very well could be possible to hit the target 9.5 hour battery hour life if you used the power saving mode, turned off wifi, blue tooth and the camera but I'm not ever going to bother doing that. I expect to get about 7 hours on a single charge which is triple what I have been getting on my Lenovo R61 so I'm more than excited about the battery life. So far all my computing thus far has been on the super performance mode, but I'll do some testing on other modes later.

They keyboard is excellent and reminds me of a Mac Book with the chiclet keys. Overall the keyboard is great. I'm writing these impressions on the netbook now and have had little trouble adjusting to the smaller size - after all the keyboard is 92% full size. One thing I am still getting used to is the pressure it takes for the left and right click buttons to respond though. It seems like they're a little too stiff, but that may just be because I'm not used to it yet.

I have a lot more to say about this netbook though so I'll be posting an extensive review this weekend. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed so you don't miss it.

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Psion countersues Intel for an astonishing $1.2 billion

Remember our previous coverage on the ensuing battle over the netbook trademark? First Dell sued Psion for trying to enforce it's netbook trademark name, then Intel joined the party and sued Psion. Now Psion has done the ridiculous and counter sued Intel for an astonishing $1.2 billion dollars in damages.

Engadget highlights a few interesting points about the suit including this tidbit:

the numbers seem to add up oddly at all the wrong times, with $2m of Netbook accessories sold in 2006, three years after the product went off the market, and just 4100 total Netbooks sold over 10 years

Honestly how could they have sold $2 million dollars worth of accessories when they only sold only 4,100 Netbooks in the 10 year course of the product's existence. They're also trying to take the netbook.com domain name from Intel as well (lol).

This is a pretty funny case and if it were possible to bet on pending legal battles my money is on Intel and Dell - especially considering the resources they will pour the money in to dominate Psion in court.

I'd love to hear some comments on this one. What do you think?

via Engadget

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Asus Eee PC 901 for only $268!

I don't know how long this one will last, but Amazon is currently offering an ASUS Eee PC 901 for $268! You do have to fill out a $100 mail in rebate to Asus which you have until April 8th to send in. I don't think this deal will last all the way up until April 8th so if you want ASUS Eee PC 901 in Pearl White for a great price I'd recommend jumping on this deal ASAP.

The ASUS Eee PC 901 comes with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 12GB SSD, 1GB of RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Windows XP and 6 cell battery.

After some research, it looks like it is only available here on Amazon.

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Intel follows Dell’s lead to sue Psion over Netbook trademark

A week ago Dell sued Psion for it's trademark on the term netbook. Now it's Intel's turn to sue Psion and they highlighted many of the same points Dell used:

The public has been using the netbook term for over a year and a half

Psion's netbook has been out of production since 2003

I think that it's safe to say Psion is not going to be winning anytime soon. Especially considering the amount of resources Dell and Intel would throw against them in a legal battle. Intel even owns netbook.com! We'll have more on this battle as it develops.

Care to take a guess on how long it will take before Psion throws in the towel?

via Engadget

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Double your netbook memory for under $25

Amazon is running a promotion right now that offers 2GB memory sticks for netbooks for under $25. Technically the RAM can be used in higher end laptops at well, but hey I'll take some savings on my netbook RAM right? Specifically the RAM being offered is made by OCZ, Crucial and Corsair. They are all 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 RAM and should work in any netbook you own.

I didn't buy any RAM when I pre-ordered my ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbook so I am going to jump on this deal. The memory made by Crucial has the highest customer reviews of the bunch, but most likely the negative reviews for the other RAM are from people that were upset with Amazon somehow or received DOA RAM. Either way I am going to pick up the option made by Crucial.

Have you upgraded the RAM in your netbook yet? Which RAM did you end up purchasing and for what netbook?

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ASUS to phase out 8.9 inch Netbooks in 2009

Benson Lin, president of ASUS for Asia-Pacific officially announced what has been widely speculated. ASUS will be phasing out all 8.9 inch models of their netbooks in 2009 and believes 95% of future EEE PC shipments will be for 10 inch models with the remaining 5% being 7 inch models.

I believe that this change was inevitable. The netbook market has shifted drastically since it's inception. (Read our article on What is a Netbook for a brief rundown). I believe consumers have spoken with their purchase decisions in this battle for size supremacy. They want machines with keyboards that are as close to full size as possible - so that they function as close to their home PC's and regular laptops. I know that's what influenced my purchase decision.

What do you think? Is this a new industry trend or do you like your 8.9 inch netbook and want to see more?

via Digitimes

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Dell fights back against trademark Netbook holder Psion

For those of you that haven't been following this story for the past two months, basically Psion created this product called the Netbook and Netbook Pro several years ago and out of the blue started sending out cease and desist letters to major PC manufacturers and websites with 'Netbook' in their domain name or product description. While we weren't lucky enough to get one of our own (NetbookReviews.com wasn't live when all the letters went out) it looks like their shenanigans may soon be over. Dell filed a petition for cancellation of Psion's trademark of the term 'Netbook'. While I'm no legal guru, I'm pretty sure that when a company lets a term go mainstream for a year and a half by netbook manufacturers and consumers before resorting to legal action it was only natural their efforts would be futile. I feel pretty confident Dell will win this case and we won't have to worry about any more silly cease and desist letters going out to companies and websites.

What do you think? Will Dell win the case?

via thegadgetsite

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MSI Wind U120 Now Shipping

The MSI Wind U120 is now shipping. This highly anticipated successor to the MSI Wind U100 (Read our review and share your own opinion of the netbook) is finally available.

It's currently available in two colors: white and gray with the cheaper option being the white model at $349.99.

The specs on the MSI Wind U120 include those found in most netbooks; however, MSI has made a great name for itself in the netbook space so don't let the similar specs let you think this is like any other netbook:

Intel Atom 1.6 GHz Processor, 512 KB L2 Cache, 533 MHz Bus speed, 160 GB SATA Hard Drive, 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, 6 Cell Battery, Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN and Modem Module, Built-in 802.11b/g WLAN Card, Windows XP Home Edition

Do you already have an MSI Wind U120 in hand? If you do and are interested in writing an extensive review of the netbook please contact me.

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Samsung NC10 Review

Pros:

Incredible Battery Life (6 hours!), 6 Cell Battery Standard, Great Keyboard Layout, Solid Performance

Cons:

Small touchpad for a 10'' netbook

Bottom Line:

The Samsung NC10 is a great first entry into the market for Samsung. The netbook has been getting rave reviews about it's battery life and in fact people were at first denying the fact that it could get six hours of battery life on a single charge; however, numerous sources have confirmed this to be true. The keyboard layout is also greatly improved over other netbooks that find inexplicably odd places to put the shift and control buttons. On the NC10 the shift and control keys are in the same spot that they are on a standard keyboard. This is a top notch netbook out right now.

Quick Product Specs:

Processor: Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz), RAM installed: 1 GB DDR2 RAM, Weight: 2.8 lbs, Screen Size: 10.2'', Battery Size: 6 Cell
View Full Specs

Specifications
Manufacturer	Samsung
Model name	NC10
CPU type	Intel Atom N270
CPU speed	1.6 GHz
Graphics	Intel GMA 950
OS	Win XP
Display Size	10.2" 1024 X 600
RAM	1 GB
Hard Drive	160 GB
Battery	6 Cell
Weight	2.8 lbs
Size (w/h/d inches)	10.3/7.3/1.2

Interfaces
Ethernet 10/100
USB2.0 (x3)
Multi-format card reader
Line-out / Headphone
MIC-in
VGA
Webcam 1.3 MP

Network Capabilities
802.11b/g
Bluetooth 2.0
No Wireless WAN (3G)

Own this netbook?

What do you think of this netbook?

Full Review:

(We don't have an extensive review of this netbook yet)

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Acer Aspire One Review

Pros:

Large keyboard for an 8.9'' netbook, Windows XP and Linux options, 3 Cell and 6 Cell Battery Configurations, 1 GB RAM standard

Cons:

Only available with 8.9'' screen

Bottom Line:

The Acer Aspire One has done really well in the marketplace out selling every other 8.9'' netbook. The keyboard is large for the size of the netbook and it has a very slim design at only 1.1'' thick and it's really light weighing in at only 2.2 lbs. The bezel around the screen could have been used to accommodate a larger monitor; however, a 10'' variant is on the way. The SSD option is only available on the Linpus Linux Lite version; however, given the speed of the drive it's better to opt for the larger traditional SATA drive Windows XP option instead.

Quick Product Specs:

Processor: Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz), RAM installed: 1 GB DDR2 RAM, Weight: 2.2 lbs, Screen Size: 8.9'', Battery Size: 3 Cell and 6 Cell
View Full Specs

Specifications
Manufacturer	Acer
Model name	Aspire One
CPU type	Intel Atom N270
CPU speed	1.6 GHz
Graphics	Intel GMA 950
OS	Win XP or Linpus Linux Lite
Display Size	8.9" 1024 X 600
RAM	512 MB or 1 GB
Hard Drive	8 GB SSD or 120 GB or 160 GB
Battery	3 Cell or 6 Cell
Weight	2.2 lbs
Size (w/h/d inches)	9.8/6.7/1.1

Interfaces
Ethernet 10/100
USB2.0 (x3)
Multi-format card reader
Line-out / Headphone
MIC-in
VGA
Webcam .3 MP

Network Capabilities
802.11b/g
No Wireless PAN (Bluetooth)
No Wireless WAN (3G)

Own this netbook?

What do you think of this netbook? Respond below.

Full Review:

(We don't have an extensive review of this netbook yet)

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