New Netbook Reviews

Laptopmag has one of the first reviews up of the new D260 netbook from Acer. Basically it is cheap, thin, light and gets the job done but also suffers from a low battery life and lackluster performance.

The D260 features the new Intel Atom 1.83GHz N470 processor but is still slower in most tests than netbooks with the older N450 processor. Here are the full specs:

• Display: 10.1″ 1024 x 600 LCD backlit display
• Processor: 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470
• Graphics: Intel GMA 3150
• HD: 250GB
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• OS: Windows 7 starter
• Weight: 2.6 lbs
• Width: 0.9 inches
• Battery life: 5 hours
• 802.11 b/g wifi
• 3 x usb ports, 1.3MP webcam, etc

The high points of the D260 are its lightweight and thin design, extra large trackpad and low price ($299).

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Joanna Stern at Engadget has run the new AMD powered Acer Aspire One 521 through its paces and it is almost everything we hoped it could be. The 1.7GHz AMD cpu and ATI Radeon HD 4225 gpu combination packs a punch that knocks out any comparable netbooks with Atom processors.

Here are the benchmark results when compared with some other standard netbooks:

A 1481 on 3DMark06 isn’t too shabby, even beating the HP Mini 311 with Nvidia Ion’s score of 1386. When it came to playing videos 720 and 1080 played fine on the netbook, even when output to a 40″ tv through the hdmi out. Flash videos on youtube played flawlessly for the 720 but with the 1080 setting became jittery at times. Joanna also tried out World of Warcraft and managed 28fps.

Basically this netbook isn’t a gaming rig but handily beats everything else in the category, and multitasking and HD videos are no match for this machine. Here are the full specs:

We have known for awhile that the Asus Eee PC 1215N was coming, and that it would have the new Ion 2 GPU with Optimus switching technology. A new development though is that the 1215N will feature a dual-core 1.8Ghz D525 Atom processor.

Here are the other specs:

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Samsung recently announced their new N230 netbook and released some press photos. The new netbook will feature a choice of 2 processors (a 1.66GHz N450 or 1.83GHz N470 Atom) and either a 32Wh or 66Wh battery. The 66Wh battery will be good for almost 14 hours of battery life according to Samsung so I wouldn’t expect much past 11 or 12, but that’s still pretty good.

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Remember the 3 new Acer netbooks we told you about Friday? Well they’ve all just hit Amazon and are up for preorder. Here they are:

Acer Aspire One 1551

• 11.6″ display
• AMD Athlon II Neo dual-core
• ATI Radeon HD 4225 Graphics
• 3GB of RAM
• $499

Aspire One 533

• 10.1″ display
• Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• 1GB RAM
• $349

Aspire One D260

• 10.1″
• 1.66GHz Atom N450
• GMA 3150 graphics
• $329.99

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Acer has made official the launch of 4 new netbooks today, one of which is already shipping (the AO721).

Here’s the details for each:

Acer Aspire One 721:

• 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display
• AMD Athlon II Neo K125 single core processor
• ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics
• 2GB of RAM (up to 3)
• 250GB hard drive
• Windows 7 Home Premium

What’s interesting is how fast the AO721 is. Even with only a 1.7GHz AMD processor it gets a 3DMark06 score of 1235, which is only slightly less than the Intel Core i5 based Acer Aspire 1830T. And if you add an extra 1GB of RAM, it boosts the 3DMark06 score above the Core i5 1830T. Now that’s pretty good for $429 (now $452).

Aspire One 521:

The 521 is the same as the 721 but with a 10″ display. The hardware is the same but with Windows 7 starter and 1GB of RAM. This should sell for around $350 but it’s not listed yet.

Aspire One 533:

• 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display
• 1.83GHz Intel Atom N475 CPU
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• 1GB of memory
• 250GB hard drive
• Windows 7 Starter Edition
• 6 cell battery
• around $330

Aspire One D260:

• 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display
• 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• 1GB of RAM
• 250GB hard drive
• Windows 7 starter
• Under $300 price tag

Look for all of these models to begin shipping soon (except for the AO720 which already is).