NetbookTech

Samsung brings the Intel Pinetrail platform to the Go product lineup with the new Samsung Go N315 netbook. The Go N315 features a 10.1 inch wide LED backlit LCD display, pebble-style keyboard, 4 cell battery, 3 in 1 memory card reader and the New York Times Reader 2.0 pre-installed.

Full specs include:

• Intel Atom N450 processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 resolution LED backlit display
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• HD audio
• SRS 3D sound effect
• 3 watt stereo speakers
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• 250GB 5400RPM SATA HDD
• 10/100 Ethernet
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• VGA port
• Headphone, Microphone ports
• Built-in microphone
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• 4 cell battery
• Measures 10.3 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches and weighs 2.71 pounds

Unfortunately the price of the new Samsung Go N315 is a bit steep – coming in at a suggested price of $429.99. Considering the smallish 4 cell battery, the price is somewhat steep for what you get.

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The folks at LaptopMag have published two new netbook reviews on their site – one for the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t and one for the Samsung N210.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t is a convertible netbook with the following specs:

• Intel Atom N470 processor clocked at 1.83GHz
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• 2GB of RAM
• 250GB 5400RPM SATA HDD
• 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 resolution display
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
• Ethernet
• Headphone/Microphone
• VGA port
• 2 USB ports
• 6 in 1 media card reader

A convertible netbook seems like a wonderful idea – except when you consider the Atom-processor really isn’t up to snuff with touch-operations. Here’s the verdict from LaptopMag:

”The S10-3t does some things right. It’s fairly light for a convertible, offers accurate touch input, and it has a comfortable keyboard. And, provided you get the 8-cell battery, you’ll see 7 hours of unplugged computing time. However, this machines’ sluggish performance and weak wireless range hold it back. If you want a netbook with touch capability, the S10-3t is worth considering, but this netvertible didn’t quite live up to our expectations.”

Read more of the review here.

Meanwhile, the Samsung N210 is the latest addition to Samsung’s fine lineup of netbook systems. The N210 is a Pinetrail enabled netbook featuring a unique scratch-resistant finish and instant-on capability with a widget-based user interface. Specs to the N210 include:

• Intel Atom N450 processor
• 1 – 2 GB of RAM
• 250GB 5400RPM SATA HDD
• 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 resolution display
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Windows 7 Starter
• Ethernet
• Headphone and microphone port
• VGA port
• 3 USB ports
• 3 in 1 media card reader

What’s the verdict?

“The Samsung N210 offers solid overall performance, close to 7 hours of battery life, and an attractive design. We also like the matte screen and loud speakers. However, this machine faces stiff competition from the ASUS Eee PC 1001P, which costs $80 less and lasts nearly 90 minutes longer on a charge. And the $399 Toshiba mini NB305 offers a better touchpad/mouse button combo and longer endurance for not much more money. The N210 is good, but it’s not the best.”

$379 is a tough sell when you consider the competition is either cheaper or offering better battery life. Come on Samsung – get back into the ballgame here. Read more of the review here.

Above is the Samsung N210 netbook featuring a scratch-resistant, polished pearl white design, a non-glare display, and nearly full-sized keyboard. The N210 comes with HyperSpace “Instant On” which allows the system to turn on and immediately go online without waiting for Windows to boot up.

The N210’s specs include:

• Intel Atom N450 processor
• Windows 7 Starter Edition
• 1GB of RAM
• 10.1 inch WSVGA 1024 x 600 resolution display
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• 3 W stereo speakers (1.5W x 2)
• HD audio
• 0.3 megapixel webcam
• Internal microphone
• 250GB 5400RPM HDD
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• 10/100 Ethernet
• Weight of 2.82 lbs

As for power, Samsung states the N210 should be able to provide approximately 7 hours of battery life.

The N210 is available now at Best Buy for a price of $379.99.

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HP and Vivienne Tam introduced the latest Vivienne Tam-branded netbook last week, the HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam Edition, at New York Fashion Week.

The new netbook combine’s Tam’s “Butterfly Lovers” design with HP’s Mini 210 netbook technology resulting in a system that’s less than 1 inch thin and weighs around 2.7 pounds. According to HP, “the netbook design is inspired by the classic Chinese love story, “Butterfly Lovers,” a beautiful tale of freedom, romance and inspiration. “

HP also partnered with Beats by Dr. Dre to deliver high-end audio software through headphones or external speakers.

Features include:

• Butterfly Lovers desktop theme including animated butterfly start menu, custom Vivienne Tam icons and three wallpapers
• HP QuickWeb instant-on browsing with quick access to social networks, Skype, email, and other online-content
• Matching microfiber suede sleeve
• Optional Butterfly Lovers wireless mouse and Monster-branded in-ear headphones

Specs include:

• 10.1 inch BrightView Infinity Widescreen Display
• Intel Atom N450 processor
• 2GB of memory with 1 SO-DIMM slot
• 93% full-size keyboard
• Up to 320GB hard drive
• Built-in webcam
• Gold 3-cell (3.0 Ahr) battery provides up to 5.5 hours of battery life or black 6 cell (sold separately) for up to 11 hours of battery life

The HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam Edition should be available starting on March 19th with a starting price of $599. The matching Butterfly Lovers themed HP Wireless Mouse will be priced at $39.99.

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TriGem USA has announced what it considers the market’s thinnest, lightest 10.1 inch netbook yet – the Averatec N1200 Series netbook. With a starting weight of a mere 2.2 pounds, the N1200 measures less than one inch thick (wih the standard battery) and can achieve up to six hours of battery life with the extended battery.

To help achieve this compact form factor, TriGem utilized ultra-slim LED LCDs as well as slim 7mm hard drives for the N1200. In addition, the system employs a magnesium alloy casing and a lithium polymer battery to help keep the overall weight down.

Available in several models, the N1200 has common specs such as the Intel Atom N450 processor clocked at 1.66GHz, Windows XP Home or Windows 7 Starter, 1.3 megapixel webcam. 160GB or 250GB HDD, and 1-2GB of RAM.

Here’s the model breakdown:

N1231EA1E-1S (Silver) and N1231EA1E-1B (Bronze) features:

• 3 hour battery
• 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 resolution LED LCD display
• Atom N450
• Intel NM10 chipset
• 1GB DDR2 RAM
• 160GB HDD
• 802.11b Wi-Fi
• 10/100 Ethernet
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Windows XP Home
• HD Audio
• Weight of 2.2 pounds
• Measures 10.7 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• MSRP of $329.99

N1231EE1E-1 (Silver) features:

• 3 hour battery
• 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 resolution LED LCD display
• Atom N450
• Intel NM10 chipset
• 1GB DDR2 RAM
• 160GB HDD
• 802.11b Wi-Fi
• 10/100 Ethernet
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Windows 7 Starter
• HD Audio
• Weight of 2.2 pounds
• Measures 10.7 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• MSRP of $349.99

N1231FE1E-1S (Silver) and N1231FE1E-1 (Bronze) features:

• 6 hour battery
• 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 resolution LED LCD display
• Atom N450
• Intel NM10 chipset
• 1GB DDR2 RAM
• 250GB HDD
• 802.11b Wi-Fi
• 10/100 Ethernet
• Bluetooth
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Windows 7 Starter
• HD Audio
• Weight of 2.46 pounds
• Measures 10.7 x 6.5 x 1.0 inches
• MSRP of $379.99

The Averatec N1200 will be available at locations such as Best Buy, Tigerdirect.com, and OfficeMax.com.

While we’re on the topic of convertible netbooks, it should be noted that Gigabyte is readying a new series featuring the latest Atom Pinetrail platform called the Gigabyte T1000 series. Specs of the series include:

• Intel Atom N450 clocked at 1.66GHz or Atom N470 clocked at 1.86GHz
• Windows 7 OS
• Intel NM10 chipset
• 10.1 inch 1366 x 768 resolution display
• 250GB HDD
• 2 USB ports, eSATA/USB combo port
• 4 in 1 card reader
• ExpressCard slot
• Built-in speakers
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Built-in HSDPA antenna
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Ethernet
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi

The T1000 features two models – the T1000X and the T1000P. The T1000X comes with a single-touch display and a 4 cell 4500mAh lithium-ion battery while the T1000P comes with a multi-touch enabled display, and a 6 cell 7650mAh battery.

Via Netbooked.net

The Wall Street Journal has published a review of the new Lenovo S10-3t netbook here on their website. With a starting price of $549, the S10-3t is certainly a pricey netbook – except it’s no ordinary netbook. The system is actually a convertible netbook which means you can rotate the screen and fold it onto itself, transforming the unit into a slate-oriented tablet PC.

Spec wise, the S10-3t features the new Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7 Starter Edition, Intel GMA 3150 graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 10.1 inch LED Glare and multi-touch enabled display, 160GB 5400RPM HDD, 4 cell lithium-ion battery, and Wi-Fi support.

So what does the WSJ think of the system?

“At $549 it’s a little pricier than your average netbook. Some might be willing to pay the extra bucks for the touch screen, which made navigating and using the small computer much easier than some regular laptops. But until the processor gets a little faster, I’m holding out for the iPad.”

Of course the sluggishness reported by the author shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given that we are talking about the Atom processor. However, one statement did stand out – “For the most part, the netbook was all of these things for me, but it was slower than I would have liked”.

We couldn’t help but wonder what exactly the author was expecting from the S10-3t? What was the baseline he was comparing against? Was it an iPod touch? An iPad? Another netbook? A high-end tablet PC? A Core i5 system. We’re just wondering.

In any case, we probably wouldn’t have recommended the S10-3t simply due to the price of the system. At $549, it’s a fairly expensive proposition given what you get, which aside from a touch-screen, isn’t much more than a standard $300+ dollar netbook.

[Check it out via liliputing]

We’re doing a bit of catch-up news here so I apologize if this is old news for you.

A few weeks back, Acer became the first vendor to announce a netbook featuring the upcoming next-generation NVIDIA ION platform (known to most as the ION 2). Known as the Aspire One 532G, the new 10.1 inch system measures only 1 inch thin, weighs a mere 1kg, and has up to 10 hours of battery life.

With the ION 2 GPU, the 532G supports 720p HD playback locally on the system and 1080p HD playback via an externally connected high-definition display. More importantly, the next-generation GPU supports NVIDIA’s Optimus Technology which automatically and intelligently switches between the discrete graphics and integrated graphics. This allows you to get 3D graphics horsepower when you need it and conserve power consumption when you don’t need it.

All this sounds but will the new ION platform deliver better 3D graphics performance than the first-generation ION platform? According to early test results from Netbook News, this might not be the case.

The site managed to get some time with the new 532G netbook and found the system scored 3049 with 3D Mark 2003. While this is a notable increase over integrated graphics performance, it’s actually lower than what the Samsung N510 scored with the first generation ION platform (the N510 scored a 3513).

Of course these are all preliminary results at this time. The drivers are not fully-baked at this time and this is still pre-release hardware. However, it might be prudent to lower graphics performance expectations of the ION 2 platform.

More importantly, we see the ION 2 as a way for NVIDIA to improve the battery life of ION-powered netbook systems – something that’s been a sore spot for first generation ION-powered netbooks. 

As for the Aspire One 532G, the netbook will be available in three colors (Sapphire Blue, Ruby Red and Pearl Silver), and should be shipping by the end of the first quarter.

ASUS is reportedly planning to launch three new Eee PC netbooks at CeBIT next week – the Eee PC 1015P, 1016P and 1018P. Details on the new systems are scarce at this time but here’s what Blogeee.net uncovered thus far.

ASUS Eee PC 1015P:

• Similar to the current 1005P
• Chiclet keyboard
• Aluminum chassis
• Wider touchpad
• 14 hour battery life

ASUS Eee PC 1016P:

• Thinner than the 1008P and 1008HA – approximately 18mm thick
• Chiclet keyboard
• Aluminum chassis
• Larger Touchpad
• Fingerprint reader
• USB 3.0 ports

ASUS Eee PC 1018P:

• Designed for business users
• Aluminum chassis
• 14 hour battery

[Check it out via Akihabara News]

WiMAX connectivity is now available as a configuration option for the Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Available as a $60 dollar upgrade to the Mini 10, the WiMAX support comes in the form of a internal combo mini-card supporting both WiMAX and Wi-Fi connectivity.

If you’re not sure about WiMAX coverage in your area, head over to clear.com’s website for more information. Yes, it’s sparse at this time in the U.S., but it’s expanding rapidly in Asia and Europe.

[Check it out via Direct2Dell]