A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Hackintosh patch allows OS X on netbooks again

Where mirasol shows its strength is in battery performance. A standard ebook reader – such as the Kindle – could last for roughly 20-percent longer if its monochrome e-ink display was switched for a mirasol panel, assuming the same sort of use. As the mirasol team explained, however, once you start pushing traditional e-ink panel refresh rates, up to the point you can display smooth video, and introduce color, power draw can actual go beyond that of a regular LCD display. A color e-ink video-capable Kindle would last roughly a day using the same battery; meanwhile the same unit with a mirasol panel would last around a week.

That alone makes it sound pretty interesting, and its form factor isn’t a lot different from the now familar Kindle e-book reader which Amazon offers. Qualcomm is very confident in this new display technology of theirs and promises to deliver by the latter part of 2010, continuously working with OEMs to make it possible.

Via Slashgear

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Qualcomm readying color mirasol screen-equipped video playback enabled e-book readers for 2010

Via Bloomberg

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Sony seeing strong demand for touchscreen e-book reader

Amidst the announcements and interviews, Google’s VP for product management Sundar Pichai made some points that relates to netbooks and the implementation of the Chrome OS once it is available to consumers.

One main point made by Pichai was something about current netbook users will not be able to download Chrome OS on their existing netboks. Google will specify the requirements of the netbook that will run Chrome OS and users will need to buy it.

Pichai also said that Chrome OS netbooks will run on both X86 and ARM chips. And these netbooks will be most likely available same time as today next year.  Google will require netbook makers to deliver slightly larger netbooks than what are currently available.  Perhaps even with full-sized keyboards and bigger touch pads.

What Pichai didn’t mention or  even hinted is whether there will be a Google co-branded netbooks like what they did we the Android phone.

So, there you go. It’s still a long time to go before we see the first netbook running on the Chrome OS.

via CNET News

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Old Netbooks Won’t Be Able to Run Chrome OS

While Asus has already made its dual-core, ION-powered netbook – the 1201N, Laptopmag already had a hands-on report of the Eee PC 1201N. The Eee PC 1201N boasts of Windows 7 Premium, 12-inch display, 1.3-inch thick, 3.2 pounds, chicklet-style keyboard and a dimpled trackpad.

The Eee PC 1201N also has HDMI port so you can attach it to high-def monitor or TV.  Laptopmag was able to try out this feature by attaching the 1201N to a high-def monitor/TV and was please with the full screen HD output when watching Hulu and YouTube.

In addition to all the features we mentioned, the Eee PC 1201N also boasts of a dual core Intel Atom N330 CPU. It also packs in 2GB of RAM and 250GB HDD.

The 1201N will sell for $499 and will be available in the US soon.

Check out Laptopmags full video hands-on here.

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Eee PC 1201N Hands-On Report

The Haleron Ocean OS is now available for download here and can be installed on regular laptops and dekstop PCs as well as netbooks. The netbook version is a 420MB download so get your USB cleaned up.

The thing is, installing it on a netbook may require a little more patience and perseverance. If you haven’t installed any OS yet on your netbook before, you may skip this one or have to courage to install it anyway. To help you on your quest, follow the instructions for formating a USB stick here. Then grab the OS and good luck.

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

New Linux-Based Netbook OS from Haleron

Isn’t it interesting that Asus who was supposed to have carved the netbook market niche is now playing second fiddle to Acer who was rather a little late in entering the market? What does it say? Does it mean that Acer netbooks are better than the Eee PCs? Or cheaper perhaps?

Other stats from other netbook companies include – Samsung with 12%, HP with 11.6%, Toshiba with 4.2% and Dell with only 3.5%.

The report also said that there were around 3.7m netbooks shipped in the EMEA regional along for Q3. This is 68.9% more than what was ship a year ago. This only goes to show that netbooks are still getting their share of the PC market industry.

via Register Hardware

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Europeans Love Acer Netbooks More than the Eee PCs

Specs wise, the Ferrari ONE live up to its car counterpart, boasting an AMD Athlon Neo X2 L310 1.20Ghz CPU, AMD M780G chipset, ATI Radeon HD 3200, 4GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, 11.6-inch LED-backlit display in 1366×768 resolution and a weight of 1.5kg.

Pricing is still unavailable, but we’re pretty sure it will be release to the Japanese market on November 27.

via Akihabara News

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Acer Officially Launches the Ferrari Netbook

There’s an ongoing buzz created by a new study published by Square Trade regarding netbooks and notebooks reliability. The study revealed that budget-friendly notebooks and netbooks from Acer, Lenovo and HP are bound to breakdown faster than those machines created by ASUS and other brands. In addition, notebooks/netbooks manufactured by Toshiba, Sony and Apple did pretty well than their rival companies.

Highlights of the study centered on three  points – 3 year malfunction rate per notebook/netbook brands, first year malfunction rate comparison between notebooks, netbooks and premium laptops  and malfucntion rate by price.

In brief here’s what the study revealed:

• HP branded notebooks/netbooks are most likely to fail within three years, while ASUS is the less likely to malfunction
• Netbooks are most likely to fail than regular notebooks and premium laptops which is the less likely to malfunction one year upon purchase.
• Obviously, netbooks are most likely to malfunction than premium priced laptops

via Electronista

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Survey on Netbooks, Notebooks Reliability

With the growing concern about the current state of the environment, it feels good to know that even IT companies and PC manufacturers are doing things in their own little way to contribute to environmental protection.

Take the case of Dell which is using bamboo materials for the packaging of its notebook products including netbooks. In fact, Dell is the first IT manufacturer to use bamboo material of its product packaging. How noble right?

In case you’re wondering why Bamboo, well this lowly material is said to biodegrable and renewable and is a good alternative to molded paper pulp, foam or corrugated cardboard.

Dell use these bamboo materials for the upholstery of the Inspiron Mini’s packaging. And according to sources, Dell is looking for other ways to use these materials to their product manufacturing, hopefully they are not planning to use it as a body casing for netbooks.

via Netbook News.de

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Dell Goes Environmental with Netbook Packaging