Next week some 150,000 people are estimated to attend the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and most of these people kick the netbooks to the curb while they rush creeping towards the pricey ultrabook and cost effective full-sized laptops.

Of course, you should expect netbook announcements at CES; however this type of hardware is on its final stride – at least when you talk of Western markets.

Manufactures have already begun pulling back. In fact, just the previous month, Dell confirmed its intention to end its netbook wing of production. But prior to bidding netbooks a warm farewell, it’s important to appreciate the way they’ve changed the world of computing as well as pin the guilt on those accountable for their downfall.

Netbooks were brought down largely by three crucial things: a PC business that sets inflexible rules on memory; an already incorporated Microsoft’s Windows 7 “Starter” edition that distributes with netbooks and the press that mostly parrots PC market alleges that netbooks are only excellent for email and Web browsing.

Netbooks will stay feasible, functional and economical, and their performance levels will only get improved with Intel’s latest Atom chip. Named, the Cedar Trail, which is a dual-core Atom 32-nanometer chip that clock speeds of close to 2.13GHz.

Although netbook manufactures are looking to display their latest models at CES that will basically be relegated to the shadows by what’s likely to be quite a number of ultrabook announcements. The biting wit is that at CES, open power outlets will be difficult to locate, netbook consumers will be lucky to survive the convention with working PCs.

Considering netbook’s six-celled batteries, most will deliver battery time of about 7-9 hours. Plus it’s simple to carry a backing battery in a bag since netbooks don’t consume a lot of space.

Netbook in itself as a product group was first released in 2007. A few of the early models were lemons, as well as a 4GB flash drive Linux  version manufactured by Asus that sold with about 95 percent of the hard-drive consumed up by pre-installed applications. Yet it’s difficult, in retrospection, not to respect the originality and experimentation the group produced.

Undoubtedly, shipments of the iPad destroyed the netbook industry, as did the entrance of the Apple’s take on the lean, MacBook Air, glossy and sexy ultrabook class. Slim and lightweight, with a standard keyboard, ample storage capacity and a fairly fast processor, the MacBook paved the way something fresh. Like the Ultrabooks that may ultimately prove to be superior, although not cheap. And you can guess why at CES 2012 will be: All salute the ultrabook.

Source: PC World

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According to a report, Acer Chairman JT Wang alleged that Microsoft software could soon effectively take on Apple. Perhaps the only challenge that persists at the moment for Microsoft’s Windows is the growth of Apple’s iOS on tablets (iPad), and smartphones (iPhone) – according to an editorial in Taipei-based Digitimes, which published Wang’s comments on Monday.

Citing Wang’s comments, Microsoft’s Windows “hasn’t had any achievements within these two markets that can help it gain share,” citing a decline in Netbook sales hence resulting in only “slim” growth in the conventional laptop market. Although the publisher didn’t detail on Wang’s point, we assume Wang was speaking about market intrusion by the iPad, for instance, on the Netbook as well as low-end laptop market.

Although, recent reports from Gartner indicate only meek growth in PC sales in 2011; the Acer Group was placed in the 4^th position in world rankings in terms of PC sales in the third quarter, according to IDC.

According to Wang, Apple’s “notebook products are only minor drivers” for growth and pale citing to the exciting escalation seen in its iPads and iPhones. However, Windows 8 could change this. In a few coming years, Wang sees a rebirth of the Microsoft camp behind Windows 8 as Microsoft reacts more efficiently to “consumer demands,” according to the report. Expect to see Windows 8 by 2013.

The Windows 8 is anticipated to run on wider range of devices, including, smartphones, tablets, Ultrabook clamshell laptops (latter rivaling Apple’s MacBook Air) and tablet-laptop hybrids.

Source: Cnet

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The “reimagined” version of Windows that Microsoft is currently working on holds a lot more secrets than that new Metro-style Xbox Live app. Along with many other UI and feature changes, Windows 8 will have a brand new Blue Screen of Death or BSoD for every time that it runs into an error or crashes for some reason (and how often does that kind of thing happen, right?).

Pictured above, Windows 8′s new BSoD is still blue, however it won’t be showing you a great big white wall of text this time around. Instead, it will simply say “Your PC ran into a problem that it couldn’t handle, and now it needs to restart.” On top of that, there will be a rather huge sad face right above the couple lines of text.

So now, the BSoD is even less helpful than before in letting you know exactly what went wrong, but at least it knows how you feel. And isn’t that what’s important?

Via PC World

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If you are curious about Windows 8′s gaming capabilities, then you will do good to take a look at this demo that Microsoft made regarding the Metro-style Xbox Live application that’s going to be present in Windows 8. As you may already know, Windows 8 is the upcoming, next-generation version of Windows, a “reimagination” of the ubiquitous desktop OS that’s been fully redesigned to be touch-first and very tablet-friendly.

According to Avi Ben-Menahem, a Microsoft principal program manager lead who spoke at the recently concluded developer-focused BUILD conference in Anaheim, California, Microsoft will be “bringing everything you know and love on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live to Windows.” Windows 8′s very own Metro-style Xbox Live app will serve up “multiplayer functionality between two Windows PCs, between Windows and a phone or between Windows and the Xbox 360,” added Ben-Menahem.

At the moment, it’s not yet know when exactly the Xbox Live app for Windows 8 will become officially available. But then again, Microsoft hasn’t given us the exact release date of Windows 8 either. The real deal will most likely be dropped some time in 2012, though, and until then, if you want to see more of the Metro-style Xbox Live Windows 8 app then you can watch the video embedded below to tide you over.

Xbox Live on Windows 8 gets demoed by Microsoft is a post from: Eee PC

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While we’ve heard it before, it seems that Microsoft are set on it this time – Windows XP will no longer be pre-installed on netbooks. Previously the OS was to stop being pre-installed on computers and laptops but, with the arrival of netbooks, the OS lasted longer than Microsoft had planned, largely due to the fact that the netbooks couldn’t run Windows Vista very well. Windows 7 on the other hand, works fine on the majority of netbooks. Most netbooks released now, come with Windows 7 Starter install, which while it does have reduced functionality, such as the inability to change the desktop wallpaper, netbooks are capable of running the OS. In fact many owners have also upgraded from Windows 7 Starter to Home or even Ultimate, with no issues. Very few netbooks still come with Windows XP pre-installed and from October 22nd 2010, consumers won’t have the choice. So if you still prefer Windows XP, it’s recommended to pick up a netbook before it’s too late.

via

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Microsoft is proudly showing off the future version of Internet Explorer that will be able to speed up your browsing by utilizing your netbook’s built-in graphics chip. They partnered with NVIDIA to showcase their new app on an Asus Eee PC 1201PN which packs the next-generation ION card.

What does this mean for us basic netbook users? Well, once IE 9 rolls out you can expect to be able to browse smoothly YouTube, Google Maps and pretty much any other graphics intenstive site, probably even in multiple tabs and a flash game thrown in. All this action will be possible without any hiccups which is pretty amazing. Finally, I’ll be able to work and play at the same time on my netbook.

Sit tight folks, Microsoft will be announcing this bad boy pretty soon.

source Blogeee

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With Apple recently announcing the availability of the iPad for pre-order, Microsoft showed up with a bit of news of its own on its tablet PC. The Microsoft Courier is “digital journal” that is under one inch think, under half a kg in weight and will just be the size of a large index card (or a moleskin notebook, for that matter) when folded up. Pretty neat stuff there.

It’s not going to be a full-blown tablet as expected but the dual-screen device will be built upon the Tegra 2 and will run on some flavor of Windows CE, similar to the Zune HD. The user interface will be touch-based but mainly focused on writing and drawing. In addition to journaling, it will also serve as an eBook platform with Microsoft building an entire reading marketplace around it. It will also have a camera and headphone jack, opening it up for some video blogging and music playback as well.

All this looks very promising and while the iPad is targeting media consumption, the main goal for Microsoft seems to be media creation. If the image above is to be believed, this would provide some very precise handwriting capabilities which even the iPhone doesn’t have yet. A mini tablet that acts like a digital notebook would be a perfect complement to the iPad’s digital book interface.

Expect the Microsoft courier to launch later this year.

source Engadget

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It looks like Microsoft’s new operating system is causing a bit of battery trouble. According to the MS Technet forum, users have been encountering battery drain ever since they switched to Windows 7 with some units dropping from 2 hours to 30 minutes or less.

Among the other messages that are reported are alerts for battery replacement despite them being fine before and accelerated drain to as low as 15 minutes worth of charge. A spokesperson for Microsoft said that the problem was related to the BIOS since Windows 7 uses determine battery data from the firmware itself to send battery alerts.

Microsoft announced that they will be posting an update on the root cause of this issue in their Technet forums once they find out. There have been around 60 million licenses of Windows 7 sold to date.

source PhysOrg

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What you see above is a very talented modder’s DIY dual touchscreen tablet project called the “Harlequin” which was inspired by Microsoft’s Courier and made out of a Dell Mini 9 plus a separate monitor. The Dell Mini 9 was loaded with Windows 7, keyboard removed and replaced with an aftermarket 9-inch USB touchscreen display, and voilà! The person responsible for this is a man named Pak-Kei, and he says he is still working on finishing this obviously unfinished product, with plans to use a custom laser-cut case for it. Think it’s awesome? I sure do.

My Dell Mini Forums via Slashgear

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It wasn’t long ago, that we reported on MSI discontinuing the hybrid netbook, the MSI Wind U115. Using both an SSD and HDD, Microsoft requested that the company cease production of the netbook, most probably due to Microsoft Windows XP operating limitations. The Dell Inspiron Mini 12 is another example, mysteriously removed from the Dell website . When Windows 7 is released, only netbooks with a display of up to 10.2 inches, will be given the cheaper version of Windows 7, while anything above that, while still a netbook, notebook licensing will be charged.

There’s also other netbooks, which due to the licensing limitations from Microsoft are going down and not as successful as they could be. Archos 10 features a 500GB HDD and 2GB, which is above the maximum of 160GB HDD and 1GB of RAM, so the higher spec model is only available with Ubuntu. This is also the case with the Dell Mini 9 with 2GB of RAM, Windows XP can not be run on it, only the 1GB model.

The final netbook which broke Microsoft’s rule, is the Everun Note. From the outside, looks like a typical netbook, 7 inch display. But inside it packs a dual core processor, where as Microsoft view netbooks as having single core CPUs. The netbook is available for $599 but it doesn’t include any operating system, which is where the netbook gets even pricier.

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