Going back to the basics of a netbook, small, portable, affordable and capable of word processing and web browsing, those are the features consumers first looked for and loved about netbooks. As technology has grown, so have the specs of netbooks and the wants of consumers. High end netbooks, while they feature larger screens, typically 10 inch, can still be too small for some and the lack of an optical drive is an issue for some potential netbook owners especially when the price is on average $600. For the same, or a little bit more, a full notebook with many more specs can be purchased, but losing some of portability factor. CULV could be the next portable notebook craze, which looks set to take on the high end netbook market.

CULVs (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) will run in the same price range as the high end netbooks and up to $1000, but feature a larger display as well as longer battery life. CULVs are also smaller than notebooks, both in display and dimensions. Typically a CULV notebook will feature a 12-13 inch display giving a middle option between netbooks and notebooks. Consumers who want more from their netbooks may well look to CULV notebooks when they arrive in August.

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In September, Intel will be holding an event in San Francisco showing off a number on new technologies. One that’ll interest netbook users, is that netbooks will be shown with the N450 CPU. Today’s netbooks with an Intel CPU use either the N270 or N280 which is pretty much just as fast as the upcoming processor. However one main difference is that the newer processor consumes less power keeping the netbook cooler for longer and on for longer with improved battery life. The N450 is also smaller in size, meaning the netbooks taking advantage of the new technology will be thinner than current netbooks.

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UQ Communications and Sony Japan are currently working on bringing the WiMax technology to the Vaio P. UQ WiMax is only available in Japan, so a WiMax Sony Vaio P will be limited to Japan only. The companies are working on getting WiMax built into the Pocketable notebook. Currently there’s no estimated release date, or even a time frame yet, but we’ll keep you informed of any updates.

Likewise, also only in Japan, the Sony Vaio P has been fitted with the latest and fastest Atom processor, the 2GHz Z550. A forum member of Pocketables has already got hold of the latest upgraded Vaio P and bench marked it. The Vaio P has previously been benchmarked with the prior options. The results are almost twice as much compared to the entry level Vaio. It seems that it’s still the SSD which makes the most impact.

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While you may be satisfied with what you’re getting in a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor-equipped netbook, did you know that you could have had the same netbook with a slightly better processor that’s clocked at 1.86GHz? Yes, a 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor is available in the form of the Intel Atom Z540, but manufacturers aren’t in a hurry to offer this variant of the Atom in their products. Why? Because it costs more–twice more, to be exact–than the 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor. Yes, it offers a higher CPU clock speed, but at a 100% increase in price, it’s hard to say it will be worth it, especially since netbooks with 1.6GHz Atoms seem to be doing pretty well in the market. Here’s hoping Intel wakes up to reality and lowers their price for these, so we can, you know, experience using it in future netbooks to see if it’s really any better.

Via Fudzilla

An official statement from Intel regarding their upcoming GN40 chipset for Atom CPUs tells us that we’ll soon be seeing proper 1080P HD video support in netbooks, although Blu-ray is still unfortunately out of the question. Intel’s statement goes: “GN40 is designed to do 1080P HD playback for typical broadband internet content; it is not designed to enable full Blu-ray capability where the bitrates and demands of multi-layer content are significantly higher than that of internet HD content.” So as far as 1080P HD streaming from online sources go, the GN40 chipset won’t have problems. And while there’s still a question of whether features like this will be usable in netbooks in the first place, it will be up to each individual to decide if this is something worth having in his/her netbook or not when it comes out.

Via Fudzilla

This literally slipped past us, but thanks to a mention on Netbook3G, we are now aware of the Compaq CQ2000M, the newest nettop on the block. Compaq didn’t exactly make it big in the netbook space when it launched the Compaq Mini 700 (although HP did), so they’re going to try their luck nettops now. The Compaq CQ2000M actually looks pretty good on paper. Its specs, which include a DVD writer, are:

- Intel Atom N230 processor
- 1GB RAM
- DVD players / recorders
- 160GB HDD
- Ethernet port
- Sound card with 5.1 audio
- 4 USB ports
- Windows XP
- 20 inch screen (bundled monitor)
- Keyboard + optical mouse

No word on a release date or pricing yet, but we’ll be on the lookout for those and will let you know in a future update.

[PDF] Compaq CQ2000M fact sheet Via Netbook3G

In an ongoing effort to protect its supposed patent for the now generic term “netbook,” Psion has countersued Intel and has charged the company with Trademark Infringement Under The Lanham Act, Common Law Unfair Competition, and Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, among other charges. Psion has also demanded a “trial by jury on all issues triable by right to a jury.” This whole issue is slowly getting ugly. Why can’t we just get along with a name and move on to making great new products that people will actually care about and use to make their lives better, eh Psion?

Via Save the netbooks

Remember the issue thrown by Psion regarding their rights on the term “netbook”? This has led Dell recently to file a legal action against Psion claiming that although Psion may have trademarked the term and used it to refer to its handheld computer sometime in the 1990’s it has since then stopped manufacturing machines referring to them as netbook.

This claim was given a new support by no less than Intel which also filed a case. According to an Intel statement, the term “netbook” was already adopted by the consumers to refer to computing machines which were extensions of notebooks. In short, Psion’s claim that the term netbook is generic no longer holds true since it is now the accepted terminology for such computers.

Intel also pointed out that the despite the 30 million hits generated by the search term “netbook” on Google search results page, none of these hits created a confusion as to the real meaning of the term. In fact, none of the hits referred to Psions’ “netbooks”.

Intel and LG have entered into an agreement to work on a new type of MID, running on the Intel Moblin OS on its own Moorestown platform. The “functionality of today’s high-end smart phones” should be expected from what will result from this collab, though it’s probably going to turn out more like a MID than a handset. No details on specs, pricing, or release date were provided, but as this is a work in progress, expect to learn more about it in the coming months.

Business Wire via Engadget

The CES 2009 has produced a long list of netbooks and nettops that we should all watch out  for the coming days. And so now, the race for the first new netbook to get into the market begins. While everybody else are still busy preparing their new netbooks, Intel went ahead and made available the 2Go Classmate Convertible PC.

Available now at CTL Corporation’s online site, the 2GO Classmate Convertible PC retails for $549. CTL also put a restrictions on orders for the said convertible netbook to one order per customer only due to high demands. And it seems that supply is already available as CTL promises to ship the netbooks 2 days after making your order.

If you’re keen on getting the 2GO PC Classmate Convertible PC, you might want to check out what it has to offer first.