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Asus Eee PC 1018P and 1015P reviewed We caught a glimpse of the new metal-covered Asus 1018P and 1015P back at Cebit months ago. Well Joanna at...

Fujitsu MH380 review- verdict: fail

Published: February 19, 2010Tags:

Fujitsu’s latest netbook features the new Pine Trail processor and has a new spruced up appearance to match. Engadget has gotten their hands on one for a review and here is what they’ve found.

The processor and graphics performance is slightly worse than both the Asus 1005PE and 1008P (both of which are cheaper). It also has an unusually small Triscuit-sized trackpad that is a real pain.

mh380

The keyboard is old school Dell style, and is not bad to use. The battery life comes in around 6 1/2 hours which isn’t too bad either. Here are the full specs:

1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor
1GB RAM
10.1″ 1366 x 768 display
250GB hd
802.11 b/g/n wifi
6.5 hr battery

At a list price of $450 what do you get that makes this worth $100 more than a comparable 1005PE? Well you do get a 10.1″ HD display at 1366 x 768 and a larger 250GB hd. Besides these two extras this thing is really not worth the money. It’s also as heavy as a tablet pc (over 3 lbs) and almost 2″ thick.

side

Verdict: fail

If you want to buy one for some reason though it’s available here.

The “Oak Trail” processor in the works?

Published: February 18, 2010Tags: Oak Trail, Pinetrail

Intel’s netbook processors seem to all have a few things in common, low power consumption, small size, and are named after trees. And since the successor to the N280 was called the “Pine View” processor it only makes sense for the successor to the Z5xx to be called the “Oak Trail” processor.

The Z520 and Z530 processors weren”t used in as many netbooks as the N270/N280 but they were in a few popular models (11.6″ aspire one, T91MT, Sony Vaio, etc). The Z5xx processor used a little less power than the N280 but was also more sluggish with its 1.3GHz clock speed. One thing it did have going for it was that the integrated GMA 500 graphics could make use of hardware acceleration so playing videos with flash 10.1 wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Well instead of letting the Z5xx series of processor die out it looks like Intel will revive them into the “Oak Trail” series. No word on the exact upgrades to be expected but I’m sure they will be along the lines of the N450/N470 which just got smaller and more power efficient. We’ll keep you updated as more details emerge.

via pcwatch

HP Compaq Airlife 100 smartbook

Published: February 17, 2010Tags: smartbook

The folks at slashgear got ahold of the new HP Compaq Airlife 100 smartbook today and had a chance for a quick hands on. Here are the hardware specs:

Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon processor
10.1″ resistive touchscreen display
16GB SSD drive
1GB RAM
3G
802.11 b/g wifi
webcam, SD slot, etc

The Airlife 100 is the first smartbook from HP featuring the Snapdragon processor which has mainly been used in cellphones. It has a large 92% full size keyboard and the Google Android OS. Even with a relatively “slow” 1GHz processor, the Compaq is pretty zippy with its streamlined OS.

Apparently one strong point of the Airlife is its “resume” time, basically just open the display and it’s ready to use. The battery life is also impressive, listed at 12 hours but HP said you can expect more with normal use.

No word on price yet but it will be subsidized through Telefonica for now, so look for a cheaper price with a contract. Here is a quick hands on video:

MSI Wind U160 available for pre-order

Published: February 16, 2010Tags: MSI Wind, Pinetrail

Remember the MSI Wind U160 we talked about here? Well it’s finally up for pre-order at Amazon. Both the Brown/Gold color and the Black are available. And the price, $380.

Here are the specs again:

Intel Atom N450 processor
10” 1024 x 600 display
1GB RAM (2 max)
250GB HDD
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
1.3MP webcam
Bluetooth
6-cell battery (15 hours)
Windows 7 Starter
Weight 2.4 pounds

You can pre-order one here.

via netbooked

Acer Aspire One 532g with Nvidia Ion 2 coming

Published: February 15, 2010Tags: Nvidia Ion 2

It looks like Acer is planning a major upgrade to the good old 532h netbook. According to a press release the 532g will feature the next generation Nvidia Ion 2 graphics technology along with the new Optimus switching software. This means that the netbook will use the integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics until it needs an extra boost for HD video when it will automatically switch over to the Ion 2.

This is a huge development because it will give us the best of both worlds, HD video performance along with great battery life. They state 10 hours or so for the battery. Here are the full specs:

Display: 10.1″ 1024 x 600
Processor: Intel GMA 450
Graphics: Intel GMA 3150 graphics + Nvidia ION graphics (switchable)
Memory: 2GB RAM
HD: 320GB
HDMI out
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
optional 3G
10 hour battery life
1-inch thin
2.2lbs weight

As you can see this thing is decked out with every option available, including a larger hd and 2GB of RAM. You can also see that even with all of this technology it’s still around half a pound lighter than comparable netbooks, not sure how they did this.

This beast will likely be announced at the Mobile World Conference being held this week. It comes in blue, red and silver and appears to have the exact same case as the 532h.

No word on price but we can assume it will be on the higher end of netbook prices because of all the technology they packed in. We’ll keep you updated as more details emerge.

Here’s a hands on video at the MWC by an italian netbook site:

Samsung NB30

Published: February 12, 2010Tags: Samsung

The Samsung NB30 is Samsung’s new netbook featuring the N450 processor. What makes this netbook different from all the rest is that it’s durable, and we mean really durable. You’ll notice the rubberized coating on the lid which will help resist cracks, dings (and fingerprints) and the hard drive has a drop sensor which parks the heads so that it can withstand falls of up to 30″.

Another interesting item to note is that the keyboard can withstand spills of up to 50cc of liquid on the keyboard (a glass of water). So if you have a problem with dropping your netbook 3 feet or so and like to spill coffee on the keyboard while you’re typing the NB30 is what you need. Here are the full specs:

Processor: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450
Intel GMA 3150 graphics
Display: 10.1″ 1024 x 600
Memory: 1GB (up to 2)
HD: 160GB
3 x usb
VGA out
802.11 b/g/n wifi
Windows 7 starter
6 cell battery (6-7 hours)

Here’s a few action shots:

The price of $379 is pretty reasonable considering the extras, and it’s still on pre-order from Amazon but should start shipping shortly.

Notion Ink Adam tablet pc

Published: February 10, 2010Tags:

The Notion Ink Adam tablet pc was announced at CES, and has created alot of buzz since then. Here’s a mockup of what the Adam might look like running the Rainmeter cms:

Here’s what we do know, it runs on Google’s Android OS and uses the Nvidia Tegra (2?)chipset. It also features Pixel Qi’s innovative low power display for longer battery life.

Will it be an iPad killer? The comparisons say “yes”; with the Pixel Qi display and Nvidia Tegra chipset the Notion Adam tablet will last 2x to 3x as long as the iPad with the same battery. Also the Tegra allows for HD video out, compared to the iPad’s 480p component out.

It will be very interesting to see the final price and release date for this one, and what it can do in real life testing.

Here’s a hands on:

via slashgear