Tech News and Reviews
Posts tagged netbook
Onkyo netbook gets covered inside and out with Miffy
Jul 15th
Miffy (or Nijntje) is a small, Dutch, female rabbit who appears in picture books. How exactly she became a cultural hit in Japan we don’t know, but we do have a good idea how she found herself plastered all over this netbook: some combination of Onkyo having a bunch of extra C4 units lying around and Namco-Bandai having a Miffy license it wasn’t fully utilizing. On the hardware side this thing is particularly disinteresting (1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, etc. etc.), but its lid has been liberally covered with character silhouettes. Its Windows installation (7 or XP) has received a similar treatment, with Miffy-themed apps and wallpaper ruling the desktop thanks to that partnership with Namco-Bandai. No word on price, but predictably this one is Japan-only.
MSI’s Wind U160 netbook up for grabs in the US
Mar 11th
Got a hankering for Pine Trail? We attest to a certain weakness ourselves, and now MSI’s Wind U160 netbook is on sale for $380 to fulfill your Atom N450 snacking needs. We were intrigued by the little laptop when we played with it back at CES, particularly if its standard 6-cell battery hump can really produce the quoted 14 hours of life. For whatever reason Newegg and Buy.com are showing now-shipping right now, while Amazon’s lagging with pre-orders only at this point, but we’re sure you’ll make the right retail choice, whatever happens.
MSI starts shipping two 12.1-inch, AMD-powered Wind12 U230 netbooks
Mar 11th
It sure took ‘em long enough — just over four months if you’re keeping score — but MSI has finally shipped its next-generation netbook. The AMD-powered Wind12 U230 has left the docks today in two distinct flavors (the U230-033 and U230-040), with both touting Windows 7 Home Premium, a 12.1-inch WXGA (1,366 x 768) display, ATI’s Radeon HD3200 graphics, 2GB of RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 6-cell battery and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The duo also features three USB sockets, VGA / HDMI outputs, an Ethernet port, audio in / out, a 4-in-1 card reader and a chassis that weighs in at 3.3 pounds. As for the differences? The former ships with an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 under the hood and a 250GB HDD, while the latter sports an Athlon X2 L335 CPU and a 320GB platter. Both are available for the taking right now at NewEgg, though it’s on you to decide if the second model is really worth the extra $50 over the $429.99 base price.
8.9-inch ExoPC Slate has iPad looks, netbook internals, Windows 7 soul
Feb 1st
Yes, we realize that it’s hard to provide too much visual differentiation between tablet PCs with large, ebony bezels, but we can’t help but think that this 8.9-inch multitouch tablet looks a lot like another, recently announced 9.7-inch multitouch tablet. Nevertheless this one’s quite different on the inside, delivering “the web without compromise,” meaning full browser support with flash courtesy of Windows 7 on an Atom N270 at 1.6GHz, with 2GB of DDR2 memory and a 32GB SSD with SD expansion. Yeah, those specs are familiar too, and while we’re not thinking this will deliver the sort of snappy performance seen on the iPad, it will certainly be a lot more functional. Battery life is only four hours, but at least it’s user-replaceable, and a price of $599 matches the 32GB iPad. Likewise it will be available in March — or you can get a non-multitouch prototype for $780 right this very moment. If, that is, you speak enough French to manage the order page.
Alienware’s M11x netbook gets a base price: $799
Jan 29th
Whoa, Nelly! We learned back at CES that Alienware‘s pretty-much-a-netbook would launch in the Spring for less than a grand, but now we know precisely what the base price will be: $799. The starting MSRP of the M11x was delivered courtesy of the company’s own website, but not in the most straightforward way. If you surf on over to the M11x microsite and view the source, you’ll notice the following blurb tucked within the code:
The Alienware M11x, with over 6.5 hours of battery life and weighing under 4.5 lbs. will start at an amazing $799! Leave it to the folks at Alienware to enable truly mobile performance gaming at an affordable price.
So, a polarizing (albeit vivacious) design, an 11.6-inch display, NVIDIA GT335M switchable graphics and a 6.5 hour battery, all for $799. Shall we sign you up, or what?
Marks & Spencer exclusive netbook offers lots of hyperbole, little substance
Dec 19th
The status quo for the netbook has not shifted much since the Eee PC took over the world, but now Marks & Spencer has come along to revolutionize the segment with the Elonex-sourced MSNB-2009. Delivered using the company’s typically overstated advertising techniques, the machine is said to be “stylishly designed for life on the move,” “both portable and powerful,” and “style and sophistication” wrapped in a “glittery high-gloss finish.” What’s inside is rather less sparkly, the same ‘ol 1.6GHz Atom and 160GB HDD configuration that put us to sleep years ago. M&S calls this “an aspirational laptop for the modern lifestyle” and we totally agree: if you buy this you’ll aspire to buy something better. Available now in three shocking colors for “only” £279 — about $450.
