ASUS EEE S101 SSD performance [Netbook]

ASUS EEE S101 is the ASUS’s flagship EEE model. The S101 promises style together with function. I received the unit yesterday and I immediately put it to test which should give you an idea about its SSD performance. Here is the screenshot of CrystalDiskMark benchmark test:

ASUS EEE S101 SSD performance

Let me do some comparisons with some other netbooks that use SSD:

1) ASUS EEE 901: Clearly, the S101’s SSD is faster than the 901’s SSD

ASUS EEE S101 SSD performance

2) ASUS EEE 900: The SSD used in 900 was highly critisized for the extremely slow SSD write speed. Here are its figures:

DISK C: (4GB internal SSD):

Sequential Read: 36.61,  Sequential Write: 15.20
512K Random Read: 39.25, 512K Random Write: 5.059
4K Random Read: 7.233, 4K Random Write: 0.062

DISK D: (16GB internal SSD):

Sequential Read: 30.21,  Sequential Write: 13.00
512K Random Read: 30.95, 512K Random Write: 2.498
4K Random Read: 8.715, 4K Random Write: 0.025

Let’s talk about practical usage because sometimes the benchmarks can be decieving. The S101 feels adequately fast for day-to-day activities. It boots up quickly; shuts down quickly and perforrms well with normal tasks like browsing and office editing. These will be discussed in more detail in the full review which will be published within a week.


ASUS EEE S101 SSD performance review

ASUS claims that the EEE PC S101has 62GB storage memory. Well, out of that, you get only 16GB SSD space. This may make you wonder where the rest of storage space that the ASUS claims it to it be there? Well, here is how the storage memory is divided:

  • 16GB SSD
  • 16 SD card
  • 30GB EEE Storage

Out of 16GB, you get 14.9 usable SSD space onto which the OS is installed (in this case, Windows XP). And yes, the 16GB SSD card is included in the box. UPDATE: read ASUS EEE S101 COMPLETE REVIEW HERE.

note: EEE 901 and 900’s benchmark figures taken from ultrabookindia.info site (related post this)

Learn more about EEE storage here.

LG makes X120 3G enabled netbook official

At MWC 2009, LG announced their new 3G enabled netbook. This new netbook from LG has the standard netbook specifications. It also has a Smart-on technology, which is nothing but a stripped-down linux OS which boots in mere five seconds. It will let the user to use MP3 player, photo viewer, and Internet suite without booting the Windows OS, which takes several seconds to boot.

  • 160GB HDD
  • 3G HSPA connectivity
  • Weighs just 1.2 kg
  • 3 cell battery life offers 3.5 hours and 6 cell battery offers 7 hours
  • Built-in 1.3 megapixel camera
  • SRS WOW HD and TruSurround XT audio
  • LED Backlight display

The X120 will be made available in March 2009

[via NetbookTech]

Lenovo to use Nvidia’s ION platform in their bigger netbooks

Remember the ION platform which the Nvidia revealed about a  month back? The Lenovo is already planning to launch bigger netbooks which use the mighty GeForce 9400M GPU (GeForce 9400M GPU+Atom processor = ION). These netbooks will be equipped with 11.6-inch and  12.1-inch screens, which are becoming more and more normal these days.

Lenovo to use Nvidia ION platform in their bigger netbooks

That is not all, they are even planning to launch a 13-inch model too based on the ION platform. Although the ION platform will allow users to view HD movies and even let them play some of the modern games, but in the end, will they be netbooks anymore? With the bigger displays now pouring into the netbook scene, the border line of netbooks and notebooks has become even more blur than before. [via digitimes]

SONY brings instant-on technology into its VAIO P-series

Instant on is a feature that almost all the manufactures are incorporating these days in their notebooks as-well-as netbooks. With it, the people can do basic stuff like do web-surfing; make Skype calls; chat on the IM client; listen to music etc. Corel’s Instant ON technology has now been adapted by the SONY which will now be included with the VAIO P-series netbook notebook.

sony vaio p

Continue reading “SONY brings instant-on technology into its VAIO P-series”

Asus releases EEE S101H in Korea [Netbook]

The S101H has been released in Korea. Do not confuse it with the S101, which was  released by ASUS a couple of months back. That featured a small 16GB SSD (32GB for linux version). The new S101H features a much spacious 160GB HDD. It is available in same classic brown color. It comes with built-in 3.5G too.

Features:

  • 10.2 inch display with 1024x600px
  • LED backlight
  • 0.3 pixel web camera
  • 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor
  • 1GB of RAM
  • Bluetooth v2.0
  • Weight 1kg.

[via blogntech]

"ARM Sparrow" processor for Netbooks, MIDs

ARM processor is widely used in variety of phones including the likes of Windows Mobile, iPhone and Nokia. At the Mobile World Congress, the ARM announced their new processor. This time, it was not for the mobiles, but for the netbooks.

According to the ARM, it’s instruction set is similar to one found in Palm Pre. However, what makes it different is its multi-core technology, which can tremendously increase performance. But, here is the main problem with this processor: it is not x86 compatible, which will not allow you to run your favorite Windows OS on it. Although, it still has huge changes of getting very popular in the netbook space as two very popular linux distributions: Ubuntu and Debian Linux, both can run on this ARM based CPU.

[via pcmag]