NetbookTech

PC Magazine has two new netbook reviews out on their website – one for the Toshiba Mini NB305-N410 and one for the new ASUS EeePC 1201N netbook.

The Toshiba Mini NB305 is essentially an update to the extremely popular Mini NB205 – keeping the great features of the NB205 while updating the system to the new Intel Pine Trail platform. The NB305 features the Intel Atom N450 processor, a 10.1 inch LED backlit display, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB SATA HDD, a full-sized keyboard, a spacious multi-touch enabled touchpad, Wi-Fi, and Windows 7 Starter. The best part? The NB205 maintains its incredible battery life while shrinking the battery form factor (aka the protruding battery is no more). Here’s what PC Magazine thought of the NB305:

“The Toshiba mini NB305-N410 netbook carries over many of the qualities that made its predecessor, the mini NB205 so lovable, and it’s still the netbook that gives you the most for the least amount of money.”

The ASUS EeePC 1201N is an entirely different kind of netbook – eschewing battery life in favor of processor and graphics performance. The 1201N dumps the Intel Atom N270 processor in favor of the higher-performing Atom N330 dual-core processor, making the 1201N the first netbook to feature the dual-core processor. Other features include a 12.1 inch LED backlit display, NVIDIA ION graphics, HDMI output, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, 2GB of RAM, full-sized chiclet keyboard, integrated webcam and microphone, and Windows 7 Home Premium.  As you might expect, the 1201N has a fairly low battery life of around 4 to 5 hours but if that’s the least of your concerns, then the 1201N is certainly an interesting system to look at. Here’s what PC Magazine thought of the unit:

“The ASUS EeePC 1201N is the fastest netbook money can buy, but its tradeoff is battery life just 4 hours of it.”

PC Magazine is out with a new review of the M&A Technology Companion PC 10 classmate PC here on their website. Quite honestly, I wasn’t familiar with the system .. so just in case you’re like me, here are the specs to this $499 netbook:

• Intel Atom N270 processor
• 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
• 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 resolution display
• Realtek ALC269 Azalia audio chipset
• 2 – 1 watt speakers
• Realtek RTL8103 Ethernet controller
• Half mini-card PCIe interface
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• 84 key-keyboard
• Touchpad
• Media card reader with support for SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro formats
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• 160GB HDD
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• microphone-in/headphone
• VGA port
• 6 cell battery for around 4 to 6 hours of power
• Windows XP Home

As you can see from the picture above, the Companion PC 10 is a pretty generic looking netbook with a design based on the Intel Classmate PC reference.

Now more importantly, what did PC Magazine think of the netbook? Here’s their bottom line:

“The M&A Companion 10 is a straightforward netbook that’s suitable for boys and girls of any age, thanks to its generic design. While its hardware configuration is classroom-ready, M&A doesn’t include software that makes it easy to use, and it’s a bit pricey at $449”

Yeah.. at $449, this might be a hard sell for the classroom environment, let alone the consumer space.

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If you’re considering the new Lenovo IdeaPad S12 netbook with the NVIDIA ION platform, you’ll want to check out the new reviews of the system by PC Magazine and LaptopMag. Both publications came to similar conclusions about the S12 with ION:

• Good video and graphics performance for a netbook
• Poor battery performance
• Expensive for a netbook

Interestingly enough, PC Magazine also found the IdeaPad S12 with ION performed a bit worse than the S12 without the ION platform. As an extreme example, SYSMark 2007 dropped a whopping 25 percent between models.

In any event, here’s the bottom line from PC Magazine for the system:

“The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (Ion), Lenovo’s Ion netbook, finally ships with full support for 1080p, though battery life and speed take a hit.”

And here’s the conclusion from LaptopMag:

“There’s certainly a lot to like about the Lenovo IdeaPad S12-29595GU, including Ion graphics, a relatively large keyboard, ample RAM, OneKey backup, and lots of storage. However, the $649 asking price for this netbook on steroids is considerably higher than the similarly configured $574 HP Mini 311, which offers an hour of additional battery life. The HP Mini 311 offers the most bang for the buck, but the S12 with Ion is worth a look if you want a better keyboard/touchpad combo and instant-on functionality.”

A spacious keyboard, larger display, and better graphics just doesn’t seem compelling enough to warrant spending over $600 dollars for this system

Netbooks for kids seems like a great idea doesn’t it?

Netbooks are fairly inexpensive; offer the right form factor and specs for kids; and seem like the perfect platform to introduce computing to youngsters.

However, as is common in most things in tech, it ultimately depends on the content at hand and this is best seen in two recent reviews by PC Mag – the Disney Netpal by ASUS and the Dell Mini Nickelodean Edition netbook. With one netbook (the Netpal), you have a system loaded with apps and goodies for kids. However with another netbook (the Dell) you really don’t have much beyond colors and themes.

With that said, here’s a blurb from the PC Mag review of the Dell Mini Nickelodean Edition:

“Aside from a neat design and catchy themes, the Dell Mini Nickelodeon Edition doesn’t offer anything useful for parents and children that you couldn’t get with any other netbook.“

But on a positive note, here’s a blurb from the PC Mag review of the Disney Netpal by ASUS:

“The Disney Netpal by ASUS netbook is loaded with useful tools for kids and parents alike.”

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The newly announced, dual-booting Acer Aspire One AOD250 netbook is barely a few days old and PC Magazine is already out with a review of the unit here on their site. Just in case you missed the news last week, this latest edition of the Aspire One netbook is capable of dual booting between Windows XP and the Google Android operating system.

With Android seemingly making a resurgence in the mobile phone space, one could be forgiven if they’re also hyped about the OS for the netbook market. So does Acer deliver with the combination of the Aspire One and Android? Unfortunately it’s not quite a hit out of the ballpark as this statement pretty much says it all:

“Despite making the Aspire One AOD250 (Android) a dual-boot system with Windows XP Home Edition, Android is basically a semi-functional Linux operating system that still needs more polishing.”

Other interesting tidbits from the review include:

• Cramped 89% keyboard (which absolutely blows my mind given this is a 10.1 inch system)
• Small touchpad and mouse buttons
• Decent battery life at around 6 hours

You can read more of the review by visiting PC Magazine’s website here but it looks like the Android version of the Aspire One AOD250 has a long ways to go.

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After months of waiting, the first NVIDIA ION-powered netbooks are finally available to the general public in the form of the HP Mini 311. PC Magazine is one of the first publications out with a review of the Mini 311 here on their website. Now the real question is – was all the hype about the ION platform justified? To a certain extent yes, and to a certain extent no.

In performance tests conducted by PC Magazine, the HP 311 easily played back 720p and 1080i video clips but suffered some playback lag when dealing with 1080p video clips. The HDMI output is certainly a boon for those of you that want to connect the netbook to large-screen HDTV displays but the inability to handle 1080p video is definitely a downer.

On the gaming front, the ION LE improves upon the nearly-standard Intel integrated graphics but that doesn’t necessarily translate to playable 3D games. As PC Magazine put it – “most of our high-end games were virtually unplayable on the Mini 311.”  Let’s face it – the Atom processor just isn’t up to snuff for 3D gaming apps.

Finally, the other drawback to the Mini 311 is in the area of battery life. The higher power draw of the ION LE resulted in a five hour battery life for the Mini 311 (compared to 8+ hours on many other competing netbooks). This is not an all-day netbook system.

This brings us to PC Mag’s bottom line which is:

“The Mini 311 offers moderate gaming and HD playback benefits, but they’re not compelling enough to beat out other top netbook contenders.”

While the ION certainly improves upon Intel integrated graphics, don’t expect wonders out of these systems. Now I wonder when Samsung and Lenovo will ship their ION-powered netbooks??

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The new Lenovo IdeaPad S12 is off to a rocking start with both PC Magazine and LaptopMag giving the new 12 inch netbook their “Editor’s Choice” award. Here’s what PC Mag has to say about the system:

“With the IdeaPad S12, Lenovo produces its best 12-inch netbook yet, but there’s a price premium above your average netbook.”

and LaptopMag’s comments:

“This 12-inch netbook has an excellent keyboard, very good speakers, and lasts just short of 6 hours on a charge.”

Of course the current iteration of the S12 lacks the NVIDIA ION platform so don’t expect anything stellar on the graphics front – but if you need a 12 inch display and a full sized keyboard, the S12 certainly is something to  look at.

The HP Pavilion dv2 is finally available for purchase – albeit available only in one configuration right now priced at $749.99. This notebook ushers in the age of “affordable ultraportables” – systems that are small, fairly inexpensive, and decent performing. While $749.99 is certainly more expensive than the original $699 starting price, you do get quite a bit for this system including:

• AMD Athlon Neo processor (MV-40)
• 12.1 inch 1280 x 800 LED BrightView Widescreen Display
• 4GB DDR2 memory
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 graphics
• Ethernet and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
• SuperMulti 8x DVD+-/R/RW with DL support
• 320GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD
• 6 cell lithium ion battery
• 3 USB ports
• HDMI output
• Altec Lansing with SRS Premium Sound

PC Magazine is one of the first out with a review of the dv2 – having this to say about the system:

“The HP Pavilion dv2 (1030-us) is a more powerful and louder version of the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, and it’s aimed at the frugal shopper.”

Apparently heat is a slight issue with the dv2 resulting in a louder fan – something netbook users are certainly not accustomed to all the time.

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The Samsung NC10 netbook finally gets a review treatment by the folks at PC Magazine here. You already know the NC10 is our favorite netbook here at NetbookTech.com but what do the PC Mag folks think?

“The Samsung NC10-14GB is a well-equipped netbook whose trimmings include a standard six-cell battery, but we’d like to see its price adjusted down to MSI’s and Acer’s level.”

Here are the pros listed:

“93 percent keyboard. 10-inch widescreen. Standard six-cell battery. Excellent battery-life scores.”

And the cons:

“Touchpad is small. Price could be lower.”

I agree that the price for the NC10 could be lower to better match up against the recent price drops with the MSI Wind and Acer Aspire One (with the six cell batteries of course). However, a $50 dollar difference is still palatable when you consider you’re getting a well built netbook with practically every feature you need AND you get the Samsung brand.

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