This post was written by Maureen Jones
Toshiba – Portégé A600-122 is the slightly heftier brother of the R500 series. It looks pretty good too in its all-silver finish, which is set off by a chrome Toshiba logo on the outside of the lid and inside by the matt black screen surround and chromed mouse buttons. The one thing that is very impressive about the A600-122 is its battery life. Despite its small stature, Toshiba has built in a good choice of optical drive in the form of a DVD Super Multi drive.
Acer’s – Aspire 6935G line-up currently has six models. The 844G32Bn model is a well equipped, stylish, desktop replacement notebook. The performance is good and will cope with the whims of the pre-installed Windows Vista Home Premium OS and any everyday application. Thankfully the audio sub-system helps with the movie watching experience, due mainly to Dolby Home Theatre virtual surround sound technology. In fact the only really disappointing thing about the Aspire 6935G is the battery life, and that’s not such an issue with something that weighs in at 3.8kg.
HP’s Mini 1000′s footprint is nearly identical to that of the earlier HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, measuring slightly wider and thinner, as per CNET review. The actual hands-on experience is the best of any Netbook tested so far, making it well worth a look for anyone interested in jumping into the Netbook arena, especially those who dread spending time typing on cramped keyboards. HP may have arrived late to the consumer Netbook game, but by lifting the generous keyboard from last year’s business-oriented model, the Mini 1000 easily joins the category’s top tier.
The CNET Reviews discusses the pros and the cons of the 6-pound, general-purpose Dell Latitude D531 notebook. It says that as compared to other general-purpose notebooks on the market, this 15.4-screen sized laptop is very inexpensive at around $500 and has a built-in Wi-Fi (wireless connectivity). The Dell Latitude D531 comes with simple word processing software. So, if your work entails creating complex documents, you will likely need to upgrade to a more powerful office suite.
Dell has announced that the company will debut Adamo, the “world’s thinnest laptop” in February, according to reports. Code-named Adamo, the sleek laptop will go head-to-head with Apple’s MacBook Air. It is black and silver, similar to the XPS 13, but has a different overall design. Adamo is reportedly is going to be marketed as the “world’s thinnest laptop.” The laptop had been set for a fourth quarter 2008 release but is now expected to be unveiled in February.
3K Computers has launched a $299 device, RazorBook 400 Mini Notebook Ultra Mobile PC, to heat up competition in the ultra mobile PC space. 3K is targeting the machine as a low-cost portable internet appliance for professionals and students, offering web browsing, Flash games and instant messaging. With a boot-up time of under eight seconds, the RazorBook 400 is designed to be turned on and off instantly with an energy-saving processor, no fan and quiet running. The open source Office Suite opens most of the Microsoft files in the laptop and includes an email client and a PDF reader as well as the Mozilla Firefox browser.
Intel will show off its next-generation Classmate laptop, which includes a touch screen and new features that make it easier for students to use, next month. The new Convertible Classmate is a tablet PC, with a touch screen that swivels to make data input easier. Intel will show prototypes of the laptop at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to be held in Las Vegas between Jan. 8 and 11. Intel bills the Classmate as an educational laptop for kids in developing countries, but it will also be available in the general market.
Acer has launched its new Aspire one mini-laptop and has forecasted sales of up to7 million units this year and 15 to 20 million next year. The new-mini laptop will compete with a growing number of rivals in a market jump-started by the popularEee PC from Asustek Computer of Taiwan. Acer believes the Aspire one, which will cost between $399 and $499, can attract a new kind of PC buyer, primarily those who want a low-cost, convenient mobile device they can use to surf the Internet from anywhere.
ASUS Computers has launched what could be the world’s smallest, cheapest and most accessible laptop. The company has redesigned and launched its second generation ‘Eee PC’, a small, highly portable laptop computer costing only a fraction of other computers. The small one kilogram laptops have up to 12″ screens, 2GB memory and 40GB of storage space. They are also equipped with Bluetooth and wireless technologies. ‘Eee PC’ is aimed at the burgeoning Asian consumer market and is believed to be a bridge between mobile and regular laptops.
Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd. has ventured into the netbook segment with the announcement of the company’s first Netbook, based on Intel Atom mobile CPU. Simmtronics’ new compact and lightweight netbook is powered by the incredibly small, amazingly smart Intel Atom processor, which delivers the performance needed to enjoy popular activities like streaming videos or music, emailing, web surfing or instant messaging. Designed specifically for mobile computing needs, it provides the power of full-sized laptop, with the latest Intel Atom processor in a compact body with a 10.2-inch screen.