Archive for the ‘netbooks’ Category

Expansys have put their pricing up for the 10″, XP and Linux versions of the MSI Wind.

The XP Home version based on the 1.6Gz Diamondville (assumed) Atom processor, 10″ LED-Backlit, 80GB (2.5″) hard drive, 1GB of RAM, Wifi, Bluetooth and a 1.3MP WebCam is available for pre-order for 350 pounds. The Linux version is 30 pounds less. By Expansys pricing, this puts it at only 70 pounds (about 25%) more expensive than the 4GB Eee PC. The XP version of the wind is even the same price as the Linux version of the HP 2133!

Looking across Expansys Europe, the German price (for the UK, XP Version) is 459 Euro’s which makes the Packard Bell Easynote look expensive at 499.

Update: US price (UK version export through expansys-usa) is $610.

At these prices, I think the MSI Wind might take the cheap mininote crown, especially with the girls! Interested parties can make their way over to Expansys. (Affiliate link.)

Specifications and details available on the MSI Wind product page.

Mmmm. The MSI Wind is definitely one of the more attractive netbooks around. In white, it looks good. In the velvety black, I like it even more!

The images come from TCMagazine (via EeePCNews) and include a pink one [image below.]  TCMagazine also mention a 7-hour battery life which is interesting but I suspect, as this one is probably based on the Diamondville variant of the Atom processor, it’s with a large-capacity battery which would add to the size and weight. At 1.2Kg and 260mm wide, the Wind could do without more bulk and weight. I’ve also picked up a few more specs via a thread at VR-Zone which I’ve added to the MSI Wind specifications and links page. Web cam is 1.3MP and there could be a free RAM slot inside!

Europeans should keep an eye on Medion if they’re interested in the Wind. They are said to be to marketing it as the Akoya Mini E1210 and have already mentioned a sub-400 Euro price. The Wind is said to be targeting a price range of 299 and 699 Euro with various different models.

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The Eee PC madness continues. There must be 20+ Eee PC web sites by now and every day there’s at least one good set of new information. I’ve even seen a couple of Eee PC books on Amazon which just shows what sort of a market there must be out there. The Eee PC ecosystem alone must be ten times larger that that of the traditional UMPC market and that’s not including the rest of the netbook market! There’s no way we can highlight all the news here in the front page but we are trying to get all the good article links into the links database so that you have a nice central point to find them all when needed. Today, it’s the turn of Blogeee who have written up, what looks like an extensive review on the French language website. One part of it I do understand is the battery life testing section which highlights the extreme end of the battery capacity issue where some users are getting their Eee PC 900 with a 15% smaller capacity battery than was shipped with the Eee PC 701.

In the worst case, a video playback test, the Eee PC 900 was returning under 1 hour with the 4400mah battery which I find a little too low. In fact, if you look closely at the differences between the 4400 and 5200mah results, there’s more like a 30% capacity difference than 15%. I suspect that their 4400mah battery was a little worn. Either that or the real capacity of the battery is even less than 4400mah. The other possibility is that the 4400mah battery is dropping below the power-down level far sooner than the 5200mah battery which looks to be returning results just as expected. 2.5-3hrs isn’t bad at all for an office test but look at how much difference a web-session makes. It’s a result of the Wifi radio and rich web pages that do that. Web surfing is a CPU-heavy operation these days. [Thoughts about Atom after the break…]

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EeePCnews.de reports the first sighting of the MSI Wind U100 online. The specs match up with what was given in the MSI press release and the price shown is 406 Euro. Expansys also have an MSI Wind page up (aff.) now but there’s no real information available on delivery dates apart from  an expected date of June. I personally doubt it will be in peoples hands in June but a launch at Computex in Taipei is likely. These online ads are often just there to pull in early enquiries , to get Google positioning and to attract links from articles like this!

I’m quite interested in one of these mini laptops as a partner device for a MID but I don’t want a Diamondville-based one. I know that the 3D graphics power is going to be better but I’d much rather have a 1.8Ghz Silverthorne-based one with the Poulsbo chipset. It will be cooler, quieter and could return a much more impressive battery life. Clevo told us at CeBIT that 7-hours could be possible with a 4-cell battery configuration. To me, 7-hours autonomy is worth a lot more than a 3D graphics score and a $100 price saving but we’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see if it’s really possible.

For some information about the differences between the Diamondville and Silverthorne platforms, see this post.

Source: EeePCNews.de

More info and links for the MSI Wind. MSI Wind is currently the 3rd most viewed product in the product database.

Jenn from Pocketables.net got to preview Origami 2.0 while playing with her new HTC Shift. The Shift is the first UMPC to ship with Origami 2.0, which is otherwise not released to the public at this point. If you will recall, the first Origami was essentially an application launcher and media manager designed to be finger optimized for small first-gen UMPC screens. It was met with a mixed reaction, some people enjoyed the interface while others found it useless. Back in January, the Origami Project blog announced Origami 2.0, which aims to increase functionality and usability by adding additional applets and features. Most notable are the web browser, feed reader, Picture Password, and context sensitive information page (weather, traffic etc.) all designed to be finger friendly.

Just a few days ago, the Origami Project blog announced that they were working on a final download package, and Origami 2.0, or OX2 as they are calling it, will be released “very soon”. If you can’t wait, be sure to head over to Pocketables.net to check out Jenn’s experience with Origami 2.0. One thing that looks interesting about Origami 2.0 is that if will provide you with different information depending on the time of day, and your location. It would be great to wake up in the morning and have your UMPC know that you want to see the weather and traffic before you leave for work!

Among the new netbook sector competitors, the Eee PC is expected to retain its lead. Is this news? The Eee PC isn’t just a product now, it’s a brand that has serious value and momentum in the netbook market. You can guarantee that Mums and Dads across the world will be going into their local PC superstore and asking for one of those ‘Eee notebook thingys.’ rather than an ‘HP 2133 please.’ ASUS will, of course, lever that strength to bring new products to the market but they have to be careful not to water it down. ‘Eee’ stands for great value, good build quality and mobility. If they start shipping desktops based on that brand, it gets fuzzy. Search results too! I wonder what my friend thinks…

Thanks Babe!. Eee PC 701 and 900 model information.

UMPCPortal have been fortunate enough to be able to build some good relationships with resellers over the last few years which means there’s a nice two way channel for information that can go to and from potential customers.

For example, yesterday I contacted Gigabyte about the rumored 912, 8.9" netbook and I should be getting some official news very soon. In the other direction, came the following information for UK and Australian customers…

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Engadget picked up some lovely MSI Wind photos.

This is a very good looking little device indeed but again, it’s a relative heavyweight at 1.2KG and the sizing is going to be way bigger than the Eee PC. I’m not sure if this is the 8.9 or 10" version.n For a pricing guideline we can take hint from the Medion Akoya which appears to be exactly the same device and targeting a 400 Euro price point.

Check out a big set of promo photos at Engadget (link below.)

I’ve updated the MSI Wind interface specifications in the product database.

Source: Engadget China. (translation) Thanks JKK.

There’s another PC World snippet coming through today which reveals that Acer will launch their netbook at Computex in June. That makes total sense seeing as that’s the last major trade-fair before the netbook launch itself. Computex is guaranteed to be awash with mini notebooks and we should expect to see the Atom-based Asus Eee PC along with many of the other 20-or-so netbooks that are under development.

I won’t be going myself but UMPCPortal will have a rep or two out there so expect some juicy coverage.

Source

Although I was a little hesitant to drop this one into the database based on the fact that no-one knows how big it is, an official weight of around 1KG puts it in the correct ballpark.

MSI made an announcement on their web page a few days ago and I’ve now transferred the details into the product portal where i’ll track and update info when available. If you spot errors or new info, just let us know!

MSI Wind product page.

Source: Engadget

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