Nvidia’s ION and other discrete graphics options have really helped expand the netbook’s potential from mere web browsing to more advanced things like HD video playback and even some light gaming. The second version of Nvidia’s graphics options are now starting to hit the shelves. ION 2, combined with the dual-core Intel Atom 550 make the 10.1” Asus Eee 1015PN a small but capable machine.

Asus Eee 1015PN tracking page – Full specs, stats, links, and more

Thanks to HDMI output and the capable Nvidia graphics, the 1015PN will definitely be great for anyone looking to hook up to the big screen. Combined with desktop viewing experiences such as Boxee, XBMC, or Hulu Desktop, the 1015PN will be the perfect HDTV companion, able to deliver 720p and 1080p (and Dolby 5.1 surround sound) content without costing a fortune and all in the size of a netbook which doesn’t need to be permanently hooked up next to your TV.

The 1015PN is available on Amazon starting at $429 but it’s going quick! Amazon is currently sold out of the white, red, and blue models and only has three of the black models remaining. It might be a bit more expensive than your typical 10.1” netbook, but if you’re looking for an HD content capable netbook, the 1015PN can deliver.

Ah… it’s been a while since the good guys at Woot put a good deal up that would interest our readers. The last one we saw was the Fujitsu U810 [product page] way back in October of last year.

Almost a year later, they strike again with a pretty sweet deal for anyone interested in UMPCs. You can pick up a brand new Asus Eee T91MT convertible netbook for a cool $279. On our Eee T91MT tracking page, you’ll find the full specs and links to reviews, videos, and more. If you want to know more about it, that’s the place to go. Here’s a short list of the important stuff:

• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Intel Atom Z520 @ 1.33GHz
• 1GB of RAM (max 2GB)
• 32GB SSD
• WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1
• 8.9” resistive multitouch screen @ 1024×600
• 2 USB ports, VGA-out, line-out (3.5mm), line in (3.5mm), ethernet port, SD card slot

If you are interested, head on over to Woot. Remember, this deal is only good until 1AM EST tomorrow!

Several days back we looked at the then just released Asus Eee T91MT which featured an resistive multitouch screen. We were also treated to a little T91MT promotional video showing off some of the things that you could do with the T91MT. One of those things appeared to be pressure sensitivity, but after some hands on time with the T91MT, kubel from myt91.info found it to lack pressure sensitivity of any sort which was somewhat of a disappointment.

Fast forward a bit and now kubel as found that the T91MT really does have pressure sensitivity with one caveat, it isn’t enabled by default. Not sure exactly how many levels of pressure the T91MT can detect, but it is nice to see this technology in a resistive touch screen.

He’s even got a video to prove it:

[GottaBeMobile]

Kubel of MyT91.info seems to be one of the first guys to get his hands on the recently released T91MT, the first multitouch version of the T91 [Portal page]. In addition to an unboxing that was posted the other day, kubel now also has a full review of the unit.

The unit is pretty much exactly the same build as the T91, but it is rocking Windows 7 and a multitouch resistive touchscreen which kubel says only functions correctly with up to two points of input.

Though there was a T91MT intro video which appeared to show that the T91MT could understand varying levels of sensitivity, kubel says that this is not the case, and performance is what you would expect with a plain old resistive touchscreen. However, gesture support could possibly help with palm rejection when writing on the screen, but isn’t implemented in all applications.

I’m doubting that the T91MT would make for a good tablet if you want to take ink notes (you usually need an active digitizer for that) but the T91MT is most likely designed around the idea of touch rather than stylus input, hence the included finger oriented software.

Jump over to MyT91.info to read the full review.

Not too long ago we wondered what happened to the T91 which seemed to launch only to quickly succumb to a total lack of supply in the face of big demand.

There still doesn’t appear to be one simple answer as to why the Asus Eee T91 [Portal page] went through some awfully turbulent supplies at its initial launch, but it would seem that to a certain extent things were waiting on Windows 7.

Now suddenly it looks like Dynamism and Amazon have plenty of T91s to sell, and the aptly named and multi-touch capable T91MT, which Chippy mentioned was pre-ordering last week, is now shipping as well.

The T91MT is the first multi-touch version of the T91 and it ships with Windows 7 (the regular T91 ships with XP). It still isn’t even official on Asus.com, but I suppose that isn’t stopping vendors like Amazon from selling it.

Seems like ‘kubel’ from recently established MyT91.info is one of the first to get his/her hands on the T91MT and has already provided an unboxing with a full review soon to come.

We’ll have to wait on further reports, but a glance at a T91MT intro video on YouTube seems to imply that the unit is capable of pressure sensitivity and palm rejection despite lacking an active digitizer which is quite an interesting proposition.

Update: Kubel from myt91.info has left us some info in the coments, and among other things say that the T91MT does not appear to have a pressure sensitive screen (ie: can’t tell the difference between a hard touch and a soft touch). This is disappointing to hear, but then again we can’t really expect full tablet PC features on a little netbook sized (and priced) convertible.

Remember that hot upcoming touchscreen swivel netbook that was totally going to bring forth the era of the tablet-netbook? Yeah, you know that one that was topping the Portal popularity charts for some time several months back? Yeah, that one! The Asus Eee T91. This device is nearing the anniversary of its announcement and has yet to hit the market in sufficient numbers (we reported on the T91 back at the beginning of January!). Not because of lack of demand, mind you, but because of lack of supply, it would seem. This once hot device has since fizzled and according to the portal, has lost much of the popularity that it had previously acquired.So what happened? It’s hard to say exactly, but the links section on the T91’s Portal page can help us reconstruct the story.

As I mentioned, we first reported on the T91 back on January the 7th, where it was announced at CES during an Asus event. As early as February, we saw some pretty detailed hands-on information, but presumably, this was still a pre-production model. We watched as the T91 passed through the FCC in April. Three months later, the T91 got an official product page on Asus’ site. Also in July, Asus UK told us that there would be three versions of the T91!

At this point, anticipation is really ramping up for the device.

Production model reviews start showing up from major sites around mid-July. But after all of this media attention, hands-on’s, and reviews from many websites, the T91 seemed to be released in a very limited quantity, and never hit the market with enough force to satiate the demand, or the attention that the T91 was being given at the time. A shame too because it seemed as though a lot of people were looking forward to this device. We reported on the 1st of August that T91 shipments were delayed to distributors (in our comments alone you can see that people were upset by this news), and the new shipment date should be sometime in September, but it isn’t even clear if that date was ever met with additional supply — if it was, it was too little, too late.

While the T91 did pop up for sale on Amazon and a few other sites, it quickly sold out and hasn’t been in stock since. So what’s the deal Asus, why was there such a lack of supply at the release of the T91? It really seems like they missed a good opportunity to capitalize on the anticipation of a product that people were actually looking forward to. The T91 had the distinction of being different than just another model number in the Eee line-up. Search popularity was well in line with a model that Asus is still selling plenty of, as seen by the following Google Trends chart in which ‘Eee T91’ search term is represented by blue, and ‘Eee 1008HA’ in red:Demand was there, but we don’t really have any explanation for the lack of supply. Much of what I’m seeing could be mostly from a US perspective, but I believe that the missing T91 is a world-wide phenomenon (correct me if I’m wrong). I’ve dispatched some questions to Asus to see if we can officially get to the bottom of this, and I’ll let everyone know as soon as I get any word back.

Good to know that you are never to far away from a day that our favorite deal-a-day site, Woot.com, will be featuring a good deal on an Eee PC netbook.

Today you have your choice of two different Eee PCs, both are actually from the 900 series.

First of all, at Woot.com you can get the Asus Eee 900 for $150 (+$5 shipping):

• 900MHz Intel Celeron CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 4GB SSD
• 8.9” 1024×600 screen
• Linux OS
• Conditon: New

Or if you are willing to drop an additional $20, you can score the more powerful Asus Eee 900A for $170 (+$5 shipping) from sellout.woot.com:

• 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU
• 1GB of RAM
• 4GB SSD
• 8.9” 1024×600 screen
• Linux OS
• Condition: New

Remember that these deals are only good for today and have a limited quantity. If you want one of these early netbooks, you better be decisive.

You’ve seen the famous, deal-a-day website, Woot.com’s affinity for netbooks in the past, and it doesn’t seem like it will be changing any time soon. Today only, get your hands on an Asus Eee 900 [Portal page] from Woot.com’s Yahoo partner site, sellout.woot.com. Here is a spec rundown:

• 8.9” screen
• 1024×600 resolution
• Linux OS
• Intel Celeron 900MHz CPU
• 1GB of RAM
• 20GB SSD

For full specs, head over to sellout.woot. If you are interested in this deal, remember to  buy soon, it will be gone tomorrow, or even sooner if it sells out!

I’ve just gotten word that all Asus Eee T91 [Portal page] shipments have been delayed due to a production delay. Details are short but it may be that manufacturers couldn’t meet the demand that they promised resellers. As a production delay, this should affect all distributors. The earliest distributors expect shipments to arrive on the 4th of September, slightly more than a month delay. Sad news for anyone who was hoping to order (or already has ordered) a T91.

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items from around the web.

• AT&T Rolls Out Barely-Subsidized Acer, Dell, Lenovo Netbooks Across the Country – AT&T fires up a bit of netbook subsidization, offering the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page], Acer Aspire One [Portal page] and Lenovo S10 [Portal page] for $200 with a two-year, $40/month (minimum) contract.
• ASUS Eee PC T101 tablet reportedly facing uncertain future – Though the Asus Eee T101H [Portal page] was seen quite a long while back on an Asus’ Eee roadmap, it seems to have a questionable release at this point. Most likely the success or failure of the Asus Eee T91 [Portal page] will decide what comes of the T101H.
• Samsung Go (N310) reviewed, gets 8.5 hours battery life – The Samsung N310 [Portal page] which we saw several months ago is being branded as the Samsung Go in the US. Apparently its standard 6-cell battery is good for 8.5 hours which is quite impressive.
• Sony- Netbooks are Here to Stay; Touch Enabled VAIOs This Year – Sony recently hoped into the netbook game after sitting on the sidelines since the genre appeared. Now they are recognizing the netbook as something that they need to get involved in. In addition to the release of their Vaio W [Portal page] netbook, they are planning on releasing touchscreen computers after Windows 7 lands.
• Asus Finally Launches the Eee PC 1004DN – Another one that we’ve known was coming for a while: The Asus Eee 1004DN [Portal page]. Asus’ first netbook with optical disk drive and the Intel GN40 chipset. Asus has now released it in Taiwan.

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items from around the web.

• Asus Eee PC 1101HA dissected – Title pretty much describes this one in full. Spoiler: common netbook parts are found inside!
• Asus Eee PC T91 v Eee PC 1000H – photos – The recently released Asus Eee T91 [Portal page] gets a little bit of time with the camera and gets compared to several other netbooks.
• Active Media Offers SSD Upgrade Option for ASUS Eee PC Netbooks – Upgrading your netbook for a fast SSD is one of the single largest boosts in performance that you can get for your device. Luckily the cheap but fast SSD space is heating up in recent months and that means improved performance at lower prices for consumers!
• GBM InkShow: Thomasin Takes on the Asus Eee PC Tablet – Warner Crocker of GBM gives the Asus Eee T91 to his wife and rolls video while she gives her “non-geek reaction” to the device.
• Video: Dell Latitude 2100 promo video (landing page text in German, video at bottom) – The Dell Latitude 2100 [Portal page] is a slick looking education oriented netbook. A cool promo video highlights some of the features that help make it useful for the educational demographic.

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items from around the web.

• Netbook Cover Fashions Itself in the Likeness of an NES Controller – This handcrafted netbook slip case has a cool retro gaming style to it as it is designed to look like an NES controller. Looks as though the person who made it uses it to protect their Acer Aspire One [Portal page].
• Broadcom demonstrates video accelerator for netbooks – Broadcom has developed a part for inclusion in netbook platforms called Broadcom Crystal HD which works to accelerate video processing, apparently enough that a Mini 110 [Portal page] can play back 1080p video at full framerate, which is pretty impressive.
• Instant-On OS Makers Respond to Chrome OS – Makers of instant on pre-OSs Splashtop and HyperSpace response to the news that Google plans to release Chrome OS which will initially be targeted toward netbook users.
• HP Mini 110 Netbook Gains $30 HD Display Option – Speaking of the Mini 110, Kevin C. Tofel from jkOnTheRun let’s us know that the unit can now be configured with a 1366×768 resolution display, up from the previous 1024×576 option. Along with the aforementioned Broadcom Crystal HD option, you are getting real HD playback (1280×720) from a netbook!
• Asus Eee PC T101H touchscreen netbook coming later this year – Asus UK has confirmed the specs of the Asus Eee T101H [Portal page], the bigger brother of the T91 [Portal page]

As just revealed by our short little poll, many of you really looking forward to the Asus Eee T91 (so are we!). Asus just recently officially announced that the Asus Eee T91 would be released on the 15th and Dynamism says that they are expecting their shipment on the 31st. The first model available will have a slick black casing and will cost $499 from Dynamism. Seems like the T91 will be in high demand and low supply upon initial release, Dynamism recommends pre-ordering quickly if you want in on the first batch.

See the Asus Eee T91 Portal page for full specs, details, and news links.

Several days ago I put up a post asking which device was most anticipated by readers of our site. 648 of your responded and I’m here to share the results. Take a look at the graph below:

For readers who didn’t have a chance to participate in the poll from the previous post, here is the list of devices which readers could have chosen from (click the link to be taken to the product’s Portal page).

Crunchpad | Asus Eee T91 | Archos 9 | Always Innovating Touchbook

As I watched the results roll in, the Eee T91 stayed the leader for nearly the entire duration of polling. The CrunchPad came in second, followed by the Archos 9 and then the Always Innovating Touchbook. There was a good amount of ‘other’ responses. in fact enough to tie the CrunchPad for second place (I’ll add more devices to the poll next time!). What I found interesting was that some people filled in the ‘other’ dialogue with existing devices, and some filled it in with devices that they would like to have, but might not be products at this point. Here is a short list of ‘other’ entries for existing products:

• Viliv X70 [Portal page]
• Viliv S7 [Portal page]
• Asus Eee T101H [Portal page]
• Kohjinsha SK3 [Portal page]
• Asus Eee Keyboard PC
• Open Pandora
• ION/Tegra based netbook

And a short list of ‘other’ entries featuring devices that don’t yet exist:

• Apple tablet
• Archos 5” Android device
• LG UMPC (this person must be old school!)
• Next Nokia Internet Tablet (several people called this the N900)
• Viliv S5 with keyboard

Interesting suggestions everyone. Thanks for participating in this poll. Its good to know people are looking forward to these devices. We have quite a few nice products lined up that we’ll be reviewing for our readers. Chippy has the Viliv S7 coming eventually, and we’ll also hopefully have our hands on the Asus Eee T91, and the Always Innovating Touchbook in the near future.

Nothing like waiting months for an official announcement only to get two sentences through twitter! Oh well, I suppose this is as official as Asus will get for now. As you can see above, the Asus North America twitter account has tweeted to let us all know that the T91 [Portal page] will be available on July 15th in limited quantity. And I suppose that’s really all there is to it. Good luck securing one from the ‘limited quantity’. (Points for the video game allusion in the title)

via [Liliputing]

We’ve seen Woot feature quite a few netbooks in the past, but today they have gone over the top. Everyone’s favorite (US only, sorry!) deal-a-day website is offering not one, but two netbook choices today, both from reputable netbook makers.

• Behind door #1 | Woot.com – Acer Aspire One D150 for $259.99 (+5 shipping)
  • Windows XP
  • 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 160GB HDD
  • 6-cell battery
  • 1024×600 10.1” screen
  • Available in black, blue, or red
  • Condition: Refurbished
• Behind door #2 | Shopping.woot.com (Woot/Yahoo partner site) – Asus Eee PC 900A for $169 (+5 shipping)
  • Linux
  • 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU
  • 4GB SSD
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 1024×600 8.9” screen
  • Condition: New

Woot really seems to love netbooks. Head over an check out the two netbooks, and remember, if you are interested, you’ll want to buy fast because these deals will only be here for one day (and that’s if they don’t sell out!).

So it seems as though the multitouch enabled T91 that we saw at Computex wasn’t just a proof of concept. AsusTablet.com reports that Asus UK told them that there will be three versions of the Eee T91 [Portal page]. It looks like the versions will come in the following flavors:

• Eee T91: Windows XP, normal resistive touchscreen
• Eee T91A: Windows 7, multi-touch capacitive screen
• Eee T91GO: Integrated 3G, GPS, DTV tuner, normal resistive touchscreen

With this early information it seems like we might be breaking the news up into more or less models than there actually are. It seems more likely that you’ll be able to get a T91A(GO), which would have the integrated goodness but Windows 7 and multi-touch, or a T91(GO) which would be Windows XP, integrated goods, and resistive screen, or the two different models without the built in stuff (ie. the T91A and T91) though that is just speculation. Of course Windows 7 helps us predict some release dates. I think it can be safely said that the multi-touch version won’t be out until on or after Windows 7 hits the market.

via [GottaBeMobile]