« Networking | Main | PC Hardware »
£200 Atom-powered XP netbook
Supermarket chain Netto is offering an 8.9in netbook with 1GB of RAM, a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor and 60Gbyte hard disk for £199.99 from June 4 "while stocks last". The Hercules eCAFÉ, which originally cost £279.99, comes with Windows XP Home Edition, and the OpenOffice.org office suite.
Netbook confusion remains as Microsoft backtracks on Win7 Lite
Confusion still reigns in the netbook arena, with Microsoft reported to be backtracking on its decision to limit the devices to three running application under the Windows 7 starter edition. The same site also says Microsft had made it impossible to change the Windows 7 wallpaper but has thought better of it.
Techarp, apparently drawing on information from computer manufacturers, says there will be starter editions designed for two categories, a netbook and a small notebook PC, as well as a special edition for China. Microsft defines a netbook as having a screen diagonal of 10.2in or less.
Techarp says limitations on graphics and touch capabilities on netbooks have been removed.
Microsoft is keeping mum on the subject but with at least three open-source projects - Android, Intel's Moblin and Ubuntu - targeting the new formats it must be wary of allowing its rivals to gain critical mass in a potentially huge new market.
The fixation on categories - netbook and small notebook - has more to do with software pricing than technology. The cheaper the hardware gets, the higher the software costs as a proportion of the selling price, and the more likely it will be that people will choose open-source if Microsoft does not cut its prices. Hence the idea of a Windows 7 Lite, which allows the company to undercut its own products on price.
Microsoft has no option but it's a risky strategy, especially as people may have different expectations of emerging true portables and don't necessarily want a "pocket Windows". This is especially so as first generation non-x86 formats are likely have the edge over Wintel products on portability and battery life (see below).
Apple, which broke one mould with the iPhone but has so far ignored the new formats, could also spring a surprise; but it is not chief executive Steve Jobs's style to go downmarket and any Macnetbook is unlikely to be challenging on price.
Meanwhile, Lenovo has launched a 12.1in machine using nVidia's Ion platform, which couples a GeForce 9400M graphics processor and Intel Atom processor on a Pico-ITXe motherboard. Ion gives the IdeaPad S12 (pictured above left) the performance of a gaming machine capable of playing HD movies to an external display using an HDMI link. It is described as a netbook, contrary to Microsoft's definition, which just goes to show that where the marketing men lead, the public is not always sure to follow.
HANNspree to enter netbook market
HANNspree better known for their TV and monitor ranges are set to enter the highly competitive netbook market next month.
The HANNSnote range will come with a 10in screen, full sized keyboard, -n WiFi, Bluetooth, weigh 1.2kg and perhaps most importantly of all, a 6-cell battery.
Expected to arrive in June with a proposed retail price of £289 inc VAT.
Microsoft makes your PC talk in its sleep
10in netbooks to dominate 2009
Supply-chain analysts iSuppli told PCW this week that 10in is going to be the display size of choice for netbooks during 2009, as smaller sizes are phased out. This ties in perfectly with today's report from Digitimes that Asus plans to totally ditch its 8.9in Eee PC netbooks during 2009 in favour of 10in models.
As we have fond memories of our perfectly-proportioned 10.4in IBM Thinkpad 240X, we reckon that this is a good decision, as long as weight, price and features don't continue to creep upwards - we're already at the point where some netbooks are more expensive than bargain notebooks.
Maplin replies to criticism of £169 Neo mini laptop
Maplin has replied to a number of criticisms we received about the Neo mini laptop it is selling for £169.99. Here is an edited version of the replies it received from its supplier CNM, with complaints in italics:
Could not get the machine to write to a USB memory stick This may be due to the memory stick being over the 4GB Limit.
Got an ''IP address not recognised' message when trying to connect to the internet.
This message occurs when the machine isn't able to complete the set up of a wireless connection, usually because it has timed out waiting for an IP address to be issued.
Couldn't print via the USB.
The printer driver can be downloaded from our web site www.cnmlifestyle.com.
Hard drive capacity limit to 4GB
This limit is on any single storage device, so technically you could have 17GB of storage (1x 4GB SD Card, 3x 4GB USB drives, 1GB Free Space on internal card. The 4GB limit is an addressing limitation, the same one that 32bit Windows has& the same limit to a maximum 4GB system memory. This storage limitation shouldn't be an issue because the device isn't designed to have many more software packages installed and videos which take up the most storage space could be stored on multiple SD Cards / Memory Sticks.
The Linux operating system is locked down.
It is designed to be locked down. While this has obvious disadvantages for the adventurous computer user, it also has many advantages for the most targeted market areas: immunity from virus, trojan and spyware infections; there is no way to corrupt the operating system code; he machines performance doesn't degrade with time as new programs aren't installed. A growing Linux development community has bought the machine and found ways to open up the operating system or install another version to allow them to configure the machine the way they would like. There are also packages being compiled specifically to run on the machine.
Error mesages in Chinese.
The messages aren't in Chinese, but the use of English in some error messages is a direct translation from Chinese and may not read correctly. Unfortunately this is a side effect of having a machine produced in China and this happens with lots of lower priced appliances that are manufactured there. Fortunately it shouldn't affect the usage of the machine because the actual meaning of any communication boxes should still be easily understood.
Poor Wifi connectivity.
The machine has issues connecting to a WAP or Wireless Router if there are other wireless networks in the vicinity which are on the same channel (frequency). It is also affected by DECT base stations which run on the 2.4GHz frequency [they don't in the UK -Ed]. Basically if multiple networks are running on the same channel, the interference degrades the performance of the wireless network to such an extent that the machine times out waiting for the connection to be completed. A fix for this which will increase the time out period is currently being tested, but as an interim measure we are recommending that any users which have an issue with this, change the channel that there WAP or Wireless Router is running on to one which is free to alleviate this interference problem and also give the added benefit of increasing the networks performance.
No ability to change default font etc in word processor.
There isn't a way to do this, the file where this setting is stored is not able to be written too, this has the obvious disadvantage that the default font can't be changed. But it has the advantage that another program can't change the file and it also can't be corrupted.
LG X110 netbook includes sat nav
LG's entry into the netbook market, the new X110 range, will include an integrated GPS receiver module as standard for use with satellite navigation software.
The X110, which looks like an MSI WInd but with a keyboard layout more like the Acer Aspire One, will go on sale in late October in the UK. The netbooks will initially be sold through mobile phone outlet Phones4U, including a variety of 3G mobile broadband bundles. Only the Windows XP version will be available.
No pricing information has been released.
Key specs below:
- CPU - Intel ATOM 1.6GHz + 945GSE + ICH7M
- OS - Windows XP Home
- Display - 10-inch WSVGA (1,024x600)
- RAM - 1GB
- HDD - 80GB
- Keyboard - 82 full-size keyboard
- Weight - 1.19kg
- Wireless - WLAN 802.11 b/g , 10/100 Ethernet
Lenovo unveils Atom-powered laptops
Scrambling onto a passing bandwagon isn't something Lenovo does very often, but the exploding popularity of netbooks has prompted it to join the fray of Atom-based products.
The IdeaPad S9 (8.9in screen) and S10 (10.2in screen) come in some seriously un-Lenovo-like colours: deep blue, pastel pink, ruby red, classic white and bold black. From the press photos, they bear a strong resemblance to the Acer Aspire One, although the inclusion of an Express Card slot indicates they're not straight clones. They will feature up to 1GB of memory, 160GB hard disk or 4GB SSD and run Windows XP or Linux.
They will be on sale from early October at £279 for the S9 and £319 for the S10.
Acer gives new use for fingerprint readers
Acer has added new functionality to the
fingerprint reader on its new Centrino 2 laptops.
Traditionally, fingerprint readers let you
use your thumb rather than a password to logon, with the fingerprint data stored
securely in a TPM chip. Acer's new application, called FingerLaunch, lets you
assign each one of your fingers (or, perhaps, toes) to open a program or
document instead.
On the note of Acer's Centrino 2 laptops,
the pick of the bunch appears to be Aspire 5930G. It's a 15.4in laptop based on
the Gemstone Blue design and sounds the death knell for the original Gemstone
chassis, which I'd say formed the ugliest laptops of this decade.
The 5930G comes with a 15.4in 1,280x800 resolution screen, 2GB Ram, one of five new Core 2 Duo processors (dependant on configuration) and an Nvidia Geforce 9300M GS or 9600M GT graphics card. We suspect it'll be a big hit in the sub-£550 market.
Centrino 2 surprises with switchable graphics but disappoints with Wimax
Until yesterday I had missed, arguably, the most important feature of Intel's new Centrino 2 platform: switchable graphics.
Alistair Kemp, PR manager for Intel, explained that the new chipset could flick between the integrated, low-power GMA X4500 graphics and a discrete graphics card on the fly to save battery life when you don't need the brute 3D rendering force of the discrete graphics card.
Unlike Nvidia's hybrid power, this technology supports every mobile graphics card available, presumably because a laptops graphics card isn't directly attached to the video output like it is in a desktop system.
The result is laptops designed for gamers, CAD professionals and HD video buffs can now attain battery life as long as laptops that just rely on integrated graphics.
Centrino 2 also brings a new integrated graphics part, called the GMA X4500. Intel says it will be 1.9x faster in 3Dmark compared with the GMA X3100 graphics chip that is part and parcel of most Santa Rosa laptops. We hope to test this claim in the next month when the GMA X4500 drivers are finished.
A noticeable absentee from the Centrino 2 launch was Wimax, which will arrive later this year. Intel's laptop Wimax offering will be an upgrade for current laptops and an optional extra for Centrino 2 laptops. It'll appear in the form of a PCI Express mini card with Intel's new dual-channel Draft-N card onboard, rated at 450Mbits/sec.
Kemp said the difference in power consumption between Wimax and Wifi was a matter of a few milliwatts, despite suggestions that the power requirement for mobile Wimax devices is currently quite high due to inefficient power amps.
