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]

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

• Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 reviewed, deemed a mixed bag – Looks like the second version of the Lenovo netbook, the S10-2 [Portal page], has been reviewed by Laptop Magazine, and while Brad of Liliputing thinks that is scores pretty well in Laptop’s tests, it seems that the reviewers didn’t like the aesthetic appearance of the unit.
• BenQ Lanuches Joybook Lite U102, Rights Wrongs – From netbooknews.com, we see that BenQ releases the Joybook Lite U102, which brings some evolutionary upgrades to the table over the previous U101 model.
• NEC’s latest netbook boasts an 8.5 hour battery – NEC’s LaVie Light Lui netbook runs for nearly 8.5 hours on a single charge. Pretty good, specs are predictable netbook specs (Atom, 1GB of RAM, 1024×600, yadda yadda…)
• NVIDIA ION Netbooks from Computex – A video from netbooknews.com that shows three NVIDIA ION based netbooks.
• Asus Seashell Eee PCs to Come in Four New Colors – Looks like the Asus Eee 1005HA [Portal page] and 1008HA [Portal page] will be released in a total of 6 colors, 4 brand new ones including pink, blue, ruby red, and sapphire blue. Swing through the link to see images of the netbooks with their new colors on. I like the sapphire the best!
• Shadowy modder gives Eee PC a risky back alley trackball implant – Pretty interesting mod puts a trackball directly into the case of an Eee 901. More interesting yet: the trackball is from an Apple ‘Mighty Mouse’. It is just me or does that ball look to big to be from one of those mice? Maybe its just me… looks to be good for scrolling regardless.
• How-to: Internal 3G to Samsung NC10. The easy way – Jkk helps you understand how to get 3G in your Samsung NC10.

We had a brief lapse in WNRs over the last few weeks but hopefully everything will get back on track. Let’s see what’s been going on in the netbook space.

• How To Install Windows 7 On Almost Any Netbook — Gizmodo’s John Herman has put together a nice guide for squeezing Windows 7 onto a netbook. As the article mentions, XP is rather old and Windows 7 will get you a nice jump in the user experience area. Because it is still in the RC phase, it is free to download and use for a while.
• More convertible touchscreen netbooks coming — Jkk has found another upcoming tablet netbook, the Fujiyama E-PC E-1001. Kind of sounds like a knock off of Fujitsu and Eee PC, but competition in the tablet netbook space is definitely a good thing for consumers.
• ASUS 1005HA Netbook Is a 1008HA With Removable Battery — Kevin C. Tofel points out that Asus’ soon to be released Eee PC 1005HA is essentially the 1008HA [Portal page] but with a removable battery. There are a few other differences as well; non-glossy screen, slightly slower CPU, no BT, but it uses a nearly identical looking chassis (albeit a bit thicker) and picks up an additional USB port for a total of three.
• Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2: Hands On Video — Xavier from GottaBeMobile has a nice hands-on video of the new Lenovo S10-2 [Portal page] netbook. The new netbook isn’t too much different from the previous S10, but it is a bit thinner and can be equipped with a 3G module for $50. Xavier mentions that he wished that the S10-2 had a matte screen like the first version of the netbook.

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but may still be interesting.

• Samsung N110 available for pre-order — The upcoming Samsung N110 [Portal page] has began preorders at Buy.com. Though the N110 was just recently announced, it looks like they will be releasing it soon.
• ASUS announces Eee PC E1004DN with optical drive, 1008HA gets a release date –- Looks like Asus will be releasing its first ever netbook with included optical drive, the Eee 1004. The Asus Eee 1008 [Portal page] is also reported to be releasing in May.
• Meet Asus Eee PC 1002H — Jkk shows us the new Eee 1002H which has a slightly faster CPU than the 1002HA, (1.6GHz vs. 1.66) which probably won’t display any noticeable increase in performance. They also put a net chiclet style keyboard on the 1002H. Anything to release a new SKU, right?
• Touching Windows 7 — Another video pointed out by the media master, jkk. This one shows how multi-touch support is coming along in Windows 7. It is looking a lot more impressive than what we’ve seen from Vista. Hopefully some of the upcoming capacitive touchscreen netbooks will be able to power these kinds of smooth interactions.
• Samsung Netbook Offers Full-sized Keyboard — It looks like in addition to the N110 and N310, Samsung will also be coming out with the N120 which will provide a full sized laptop keyboard while retaining the standard 10.1” screen size. This seems counter-intuitive to the very well received keyboard on the Samsung NC10, and may be another blur to consumers who already might have trouble differentiating the difference between the N110 and N310.

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but may still be interesting.

• Dell Mini 10 Unboxed, Compared to HP Mini 1000 – A nice unboxing of the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page], and comparison to the HP Mini 1000. I still haven’t gotten my hands on a Mini 10 so this video was quite appetizing.

• Gigabyte Promotional Videos for Upcoming Netbooks – Liliputing points out three videos released by Gigabyte on YouTube which promote their upcoming netbooks.

• Rumor: Verizon and HP Readying Subsidized Netbooks – Cheap netbooks due to subsidizes from cell phone carriers are fairly common outside the US, but it seems like HP might be teaming up with Verizon to offer a discount on a netbook if the consumer wants to start a Verizon contract. If this comes to fruition, we’ll probably see a USB WWAN card offered with the netbook, but I think most of us are hoping for a more elegant internal solution.

• How to: Touch to Eee PC 1000HE – Jkk points us to a video tutorial that shows you how to add a touchscreen to the Eee PC 1000HE [Portal page].

• Asus Eee PC T101H at CeBIT 2009 – A late CeBIT video from Jkk. Jkk gives us the run down on the tablet-netbook, Eee PC T101H [Portal page].

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but may still be interesting.

• 9 Cell Acer Aspire One battery good for nearly 9 hours – If you are looking for an ugly, but effective super-battery, one has become available for the Acer Aspire One. These are third party batteries, but could give you one hour of run-time per cell (that’s 9 hours, for the math challenged).

• Need help deciding what kind of device you have? – Engadget reports on a funny flow chart that will help you determine which exact category your preferred mobile computing device fits into.

• Eee PC 701 with a multitouch display – Video – A short video from eee-pc.de that shows an Asus Eee 701 with a capacitive multi-touch capable screen. Windows 7 is on the 701 in the video providing the software for the multi-touch demo.

• MSI Netbook Lasts 1.3 Days with Single Charge (On Saturn) – Kevin C. Tofel of JkOnTheRun jokes about the endurance of the MSI Wind U115 [Portal page], but it really does last quite long. Apparently eee-pc.de has tested the U115 and was able to run it for 13.25 hours on a single charge, which is extremely impressive.

• RoBe:Do netbook-powered autonomous robots – Click through for a cool video of an Eee PC powered robot making and delivering popcorn to its human owner, all initiated through twitter!

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but may still be interesting.

• Black Samsung NC10 now shipping, slightly cheaper — The slightly modified black Samsung NC10 [Portal page] with larger trackpad is now shipping and can be bought for less.

• Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Review — Laptop Mag reviews the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page]. “Dell’s first 10-inch netbook has a compact chassis, good keyboard, and a crisp 10-inch display, but we wish it offered better battery life for the price”.

• New Acer netbook hits the FCC web site — Looks like there might be a different new Aspire One 10″ netbook in the works. FCC docs give a few hints.

• HP Now Offers Extended Battery for the HP Mini 1000 — HP has released the extended battery for the HP Mini 1000 [Portal page][Review]. It will run you $119.

• First look at the Eee PC 1008HA’s Eee Dock app – Video — The upcoming Eee 1008HA has some Asus built software that gets demoed on video at CeBIT 09.

Welcome to this week’s netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but are still be interesting.

• Dell Mini 10 dissected — Dell support released a guide for disassembling the Dell Mini 10 [Portal page]. Looks like there are some PCI-e slots which will be good for modding, but RAM is soldered to the mobo which will make it very hard for users to do RAM upgrades.

• HP Promises a Fix for Mini 1000 Webcam Woes — HP acknowledges that there is an issue with the HP Mini 1000’s webcam and says that there will be a method to fix it. Apparently the film over the webcam has a lower reflectivity than it should.

• Gigabyte M1022 netbook has a cool dock — Jkk shows us a pretty slick looking dock for the Gigabyte M1022 which has VGA out, USB slots, and some other ports. It’s nice to see a dock for a netbook, but I hope the base is heavy so the netbook isn’t easily knocked over!

• Dell Mini 10 Netbook Officially Available: $399 — The Dell Mini 10 becomes officially available in the US for $399.

• How to fix the dark webcam on the HP Mini 1000 — Liliputing links us to a new video (after the one taken down) that will show you how to remove the film over the HP Mini 1000’s camera, improving brightness.

• First look at the new slim Acer Aspire One — It looks like Acer is planning yet another 10 inch Aspire One, despite the fact that their latest update has just recently been released.

It’s that time again. Lets have a look at some interesting netbook content from this week.

• Asus to Phase Out 8.9 Inch Screens in 2009 — Asus started with the 7″ screen, moved up to 8.9″ and now seems to be on track to settle for 10″. Digitimes is reporting that Asus says 95% of its 2009 netbook shipments will be 10″ models.
• Dell files for cancelation of Psion’s “netbook” trademark — Dell might not be the biggest netbook company out there, but they are clearly interested in the sector. Dell has filed for a cancelation of Psion’s claim to the ‘netbook’ trademark. Dell says that Pison abandoned the term and it should not have the trademark because of its “genericness”.
• Dell launches Inspiron Mini 10 preorders… with QVC — Dell might have made the Inspiron Mini 10 official in the last several days, but the first place you’ll be able to pre-order it is through QVC. This is an interesting partnership and will definitely get the Mini 10 in the sights of those that might not normally come across it.
• Mini-notebooks account for 30% of consumer laptop sales in EMEA — A research firm is saying that 30% of all consumer laptop sales in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region are netbooks.
• Meet Gigabyte M1028, convertible netbook — Jkk shoes us the new M1028 tablet-netbook from Gigabyte. This bumps the screen size up from 8.9″ as it was on the Gigabyte M912, and a few specs.
• Gigabyte M912, convertible netbook, gets the needed 6 cell battery — …and speaking of the M912; there is now a 6-cell battery available.
• Asus Eee PC 1000HG with WiMAX gets official — WiMax might not be a highly deployed WWAN technology yet but that isn’t stopping Asus from slapping some letters on to the end of the Eee 1000 and putting out a model with built in WiMax.

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Weekly Netbook Roundup. Lets see the interesting things that have gone on in the netbook space since we last spoke.

• Special edition Samsung NC10 with larger battery available for preorder — Looks like Amazon is selling a special version of the NC10 with a larger trackpad and battery (5900mAh 6-cell) which Samsung says will last for 9.4 hours. The screen on this version will be glossy unlike the original matte version. You can pick one up for $499.

• Sony Vaio P (VGN-P588E) performance and benchmarks — Jenn from Pocketables.net takes the VAIO P for a spin and shows us lots of good stats on how the computer performs. Some people don’t think the VAIO P is a netbook, but for some reason we included it here in the WNR. Controversy!

• Hands on with the Acer Aspire One D150 – Video — Sascha from netbooknews.de has a good hands on video of the Acer Aspire One D150. He doesn’t seem to be thrilled with the keyboard and says he is disappointed at the quality of the Aspire One D150 considering how successful the original Aspire One was, and that this is a second-gen netbook.

• Dell’s Mini 9 selling for just $249 — who needs a subsidy? — Looks like Dell has cut the price on its Inspiron Mini 9 [Portal page] netbook. You can pick up the lowest-speced Mini 9 which has 512MB of RAM, Ubuntu, and a 4GB SSD. Add $50 and you’ll get another 4GB of storage and Windows XP.

• Netbook growth leads to surge in Windows XP sales — Despite many netbook makers offering Linux flavors of their netbooks, XP is hugely popular, effecting OS sales charts on all PC sales, not just netbooks. “In December, 13.7% of all laptops sold, and 11.2% of all computers were running Windows XP.”.

• More rumored Dell Mini 10 details, colors surface — More information on Dells upcoming Mini 10 netbook. Apparently some leaked information (which isn’t confirmed to be true yet) has indicated that the Mini 10 will be available with two different display options, 1024 x 576 and 1366 x 768. Also contained in the leak is the option of 1.3GHz or 1.6GHz CPU, 3 or 6-cell battery, and something referred to as a “DVD slice” which sounds… interesting.

That’s all for this week. Tune in next time to the Weekly Netbook Roundup next monday!

Welcome to the weekly netbook roundup. In this space every Monday I’ll do my best to highlight netbook news items that might not need their own individual posts but could still be interesting. I’m posting this first WNR today to get things started.

• History of the Netbook – It seems Ars Technica has started a series called “The State of the Netbook” part one features a good overview of how things came to be and even touches on UMPCs.

• Sony VAIO P $200 rebate – Verizon offers a $200 rebate on a new VAIO P [Portal page] purchase with the activation of a 2-year plan.

• More Aspire One 10″ info – Engadget is reporting that the new 10″ Aspire One will sell for $425 with a 3-cell battery, or $450 with a 6-cell (which should run for 7 hours), some time in February. It will use the Atom N270 CPU, or a more expensive model with rock out with the N280 and have integrated 3G purportedly for $575.

• Touchscreen Eee PC T91 hands-on video – Eee-pc.de goes hands on with the touchscreen Eee PC T91 [Portal page] announced at CES 2009. Video and site in German.

• Dell Inspiron Mini 10 pricing – The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 finally gets some pricing info. Engadget reports that it has sprung up at Tesco for £349 ($480 USD). I’m looking forward to the Mini 10 for several reasons.

That’s all for this week. See you next time!