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].

We spent some time with Gigabyte this morning and although there were no UMPCs or MIDs (Gigabyte have removed the M528 from the European/US markets) we took time to check out the details of the new M10xx Netbooks. They look like a good improvement on the M912 series. The keyboard is a whole lot better and the screen fills the frame to make it look more attractive. The Thinnote (M1024) is especially interesting as it’s coming in under 1KG. JKK has a video of The 1024 online so pop over to see that. Here are some of the images that I’ve uploaded to the Gallery.

More in the Gallery

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 inch 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.

Unfortunately, it’s not me!

At least two members of the forums here have received their M528’s. Nalim and Skypeone have both reported that they have received theirs from Expansys and a quick check with a contact at Expansys confirms that some back orders have shipped.

Who’s going to be first with pics and first impressions of this device? Guest posts welcome!

In related news, the TIM IDOL is now available in Italy. Thanks Smurf!

It’s always worth checking back on older models for reductions and clear-out prices so I took some time this evening to review the prices of some old favourites. I was disappointed. In general, prices haven’t really moved which is extremely disappointing considering the price at which similarly-specified netbooks are sold. I guess we’re looking at old stock that no-one can shift here. Stalemate. No cash flow. The only two devices I found that showed any signs of movement were the good old Samsung Q1 and M704 which seem to be on offer around Europe. Price checks in the US for all the top UMPCs showed that nothing has moved much at all in the last 6 months. (If you spot any offers though, let us know!)

Samsung Q1 Ultra

One of my personal favourite UMPCs. Good build quality, excellent battery life, fantastic screen.

• UK. 646 pounds (740 Euros) isn’t too bad. (DigiUK)
• Update: Saveonsamsung (UK) have even lower prices. 529 pounds with organiser and 6-cell battery.

Gigabyte M704

Another good all rounder. Not quite as good as the Q1 in terms of build quality but has a better keyboard.

• Europe. 469 pounds (537 Euros) is a good bargain. (Expansys)

Resellers must be having a hard time right now trying to decide whether to clear stocks at a loss or to hang on for the few buyers that know what they want and will pay to get that device. I can tell you that by reviewing the stats coming from the product portal we see an extremely quiet market out there for the traditional XP and Vista UMPCs. With very few devices in the 7″ category, CES round the corner and netbooks taking the limelight, it’s hardly surprising. Lets hope that the MID and ultra mobile PC segment brings us some treats in January though. Mobile Internet usage is growing and, more importantly for the MID manufacturers, people’s reliance on the Internet to perform normal business and personal activities is growing too. There’s more reason than ever to launch internet-connected handheld computers.

Reminding me of something from an Austin Powers film is this ‘Goldenrod’ version of the Gigabyte M912x that is now available. Also labeled as the ‘Cafe Book’ it’s certainly going to turn heads in the Cafe. The question is, will they be giggling when they turn away?

Underneath the gloss you’ll find a vanilla M912X netbook with the 1280×768 convertible touchscreen.

Pricing appears to be the same as the standard M912X.

More images Via Mobilx.

Chungwa and Gigabyte will be launching the M528 on Dec 6th with availability set for Dec 22nd according to an official statement appearing in PC World via the IDG News service.

This is of course good news for the west because up until now, the product didn’t even have a production line schedule. We had heard that the M528 was to go out initially through Expansys in Europe but that could have changed. I doubt anyone will be getting it as a Christmas present but we’ve put queries out to our contacts and hope to bring you the definitive answer later today.

The local price in Taiwan (including 3G and 3mp auto-focus camera) will be $583 dollars without any subsidy. Expansys are offering pre-tax pre-orders (aff. link) now for the equivalent of $685 but it’s not listed on the Expansys US web site yet.

Our hands-on with the M528 is here. There’s plenty more information in the M528 page.