The Skype has released version 4 of their desktop client. The new version:
The first thing I did when I heard the version 4.0 news was to install it in my now old EEE 701. Interestingly, it fits itself very nicely into it’s WVGA display. See the following screenshot. I’m still exploring the new features it offers but it’s interface alone wins over me.
[download skype 4.0]
The ASUS has already made it’s one of it’s new offering, EEE 1000HG in Taiwan. What makes the ASUS EEE 1000HG different from the rest of the EEE 1000 series is it’s built in WiMax, HSDPA. The rest of the specifications of the EEE 1000HG are similar to the EEE 1000H.
1.6GHz Atom N270 processor
1GB RAM
160GB HDD
Wifi
Bluetooth
6-cell battery
It is priced at $564 (NT$18,988), which is pretty nice deal considering the goodies that it offers.
[via fudzilla]
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Read the ASUS EEE 1000H review.
BYD Electronics, a huge company which manufactures manufactures and sells handset components to many cell phone companies including Nokia is now going to start producing netbooks for the OEMs. However, it may use the R&D from TCL to give them a hand in producing netbooks.
BYD is now following the suit of many other netbook manufactures who previously used to produce only handsets and now have jumped into production of white-box netbooks for OEMs. Another interesting fact is that the Chinese netbook makers are able to drastically cut down the price of producing the mold cost of netbook from nearly $230,000 to mere $44,000.
BYD making netbooks for the OEMs is a great news for the netbook market, which can futher reduce the price of netbooks without much effect on quality. Future is getting even brighther for the netbook OEMs and of course, us – the consumers
[BYD Electronic] [via digitimes]
ASUS today quitely unveiled their new netbook, EEE 1000HE, where “E” means extended. The new netbook features the new Intel Atom processor (N280) running at 1.66GHz, which is whopping 60Hz faster than it’s predecessor. It also features a HD-capable Intel GD40 chipset. But, here is the more interesting part: ASUS claims that it manages 9.5 hours of battery life! Smokes!
Specifications:
Intel Atom N280 processor @ 1.66GHz
160GB HDD
1GB RAM
10GB EEE storage (read more about it)
WiFi b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.0
The EEE 1000HE features the new improved chicklet style keyboard, which features bigger right shift key. To make the package more attractive, folks at ASUS have also thrown in a 10GB EEEstorage. It is quite funny that in the press release they’re calling the combi of HDD and EEE storage a hybrid storage. Hybrid storage in netbook world means usage of both HDD and SSD in the same machine. EEE storage (reviewed here) is nothing but a online storage scheme by ASUS
more commentary: Although the ASUS claims 9.5 hours of battery life, but under what conditions? Here is the extract from their press release:
Estimated maximum battery life under Windows XP is measured with BatteryMark 4.0.1 (in Eee PC Super Hybrid Engine Power-Saving mode, 40% LCD brightness, Wi-Fi off, BT off, and camera disabled).
In actual conditions, where the user would be using WiFi, one should be able to get 4.5-5 hours, which is still a great achievement nevertheless.
LB-F1500W netbook from the house of Mouse Computer, where LB stands for “Luv Book” has been spotted in Osaka. As mentioned before, it has a 10.2-inch screen and other standard netbook features like 160GB HDD and 1GB RAM, but it comes one non-standard netbook feature: a built-in optical drive. Price-wise too, it way more costlier at $729.
Features:
Shower your comments, if the netbooks with built-in DVD drives have a big market? I personally do not feel the need as they were meant to be light, cheap and easy to carry around. [Slashgear]
More pictures after the break:
We were all very impressed when the OQO Model 2+ was released. Although the price $1499 put it out of the scope for many people. Although the base model costs $999, it does not come with inbuilt 3G.
If you own a 3G Nokia phone or a 3G Windows Mobile, you can emulate your mobile as a Wifi hotspot by using these utitlies:
Note: You can also use Bluetooth or the standard data cable to connect your device to Model 2+
The difference of $500 is quite huge. The base model comes with 1.33GHz Atom Z520 processor rather the 1.86GHz processor, but it comes with Windows XP tablet, which would fly on the 1.33GHz processor anyway.
[oqotalk]
Venturebeat had an opportunity to have an interview with the CEO of Nvidia. He told them that they are very optimistic about Intel allowing the netbook vendors and manufactures to use the Ion platform along with their Atom processors.
We also personally feel that use of Ion platform will open new fields and areas which have so far been beyond the scope of Netbooks like watching HD videos (1080p). The main boost will be seen among the consumers who yearned more from their PMPs. By using Ion, they will be able to play some great games and will be able to watch movies in HD format.
Now you can pre-order the new 10-inch Acer Aspire One at J&R, which is now available for quite affordable price of $349.99. It is available in four different colors: black, white, red and blue.
Specifications
Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz)The one available at J&R is different from the one available at PCcorner, which sports an Intel N280 Atom processor @ 1.66GHz and a 320GB HDD instead of 160GB HDD found at J&R
At first, there were no plans for the SSD version of the Acer Aspire 103 netbook, but now it seems that the ACER is indeed planning to release a linux version of their Aspire one 103, whose HDD version was released couple of days back. The SSD will have the capacity of 16GB and will run Linpus, a custom linux distro. Other specs wil remain the same as the HDD version.
It is nice to see that ACER is still thinking about those folks who want the ruggedness and reliability of the SSD. Personally, I use my trusty old ASUS EEE 701 more than my notebook or my ASUS 904HA just because I know that it uses SSD. Although, the capacity of the SSD is not huge, but anyday I would not be carrying my DVD collection on it. If I feel the need of extra space, I can always plug-in my external USB HDD.
[zdnet]
TankillerR over myhpmini forum has posted a huge review of HP Mini 1000 and he is very impressed with his mini 1000
The HP Mini 1000 XP is for the most part a solid Netbook. It’s got its quirks like any other Netbook, but with its 10.2” screen, 94% full sized keyboard, ability to turn off the touch pad/buttons, super sexy look and US based tech support (in most cases, more then Asus, Lenvo, MSI at least) It is a good consideration when buying a new or first time Netbook. The Mini is only about 2 months old, so it’s got some catching up to do to the EEE PC brand, but give it some time. I’m sure we’ll all be impressed later down the road.
He is also very impressed with the keyboard.
“One thing that stands out with the Mini is its huge keyed 94% full sized keyboard. It is almost exactly the same as a full sized with a dedicated top row of function keys, large enter and shift keys and 4 arrow keys. The key design goes edge to edge, not the normal curved down style of other laptops. This helps a lot by keeping the keys large and preventing typos”
He has also given some nice tips to improve the battery life: Continue reading “Long review of HP Mini 1000 [Netbook]”
