In conjunction with Notebooks.com and 24 other websites, HP are running a back to school promotion dubbed “Better Together”. Readers of the blogs will have the chance to win a HP Mini 110. The actual prize is a bundle, which consists of the netbook, the Pavillion DV6 notebook and a Timbuk2 bag. There are 25 bundles up for grabs and the sites are running the promotions at different times of the month, with some overlapping, but one ending each day up until September 6th.

The Mini 110 features a 10.1 inch display, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, Intel Atom processor and a six cell battery, where as the notebook offers a 16 inch display. You can view the list of sites taking part in the promotion along with the dates after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

via

We recently reported that Sony had added a new Vaio P model to their site, which listed the netbook like laptop with a 1.6GHz processor and 128GB SSD for $1500. Well today we can report that the mini laptop is available to pre-order with higher specs and a higher price. Sony have recently released their Signature Collection of Vaio notebooks which includes the Vaio P. Each notebook has a limited quantity, with the Vaio P currently at 1000 units left. The Signature Collection Vaio P comes in a glossy black. Specs wise it has 2GB of RAM, 1.86GHz CPU and an SSD with 256GB. The higher, more reasonable specifications however don’t come at a reasonable price. The Vaio P699E/Q is priced at $2000.

via

While the HP dv2 isn’t officially considered a netbook, its list of specs speaks for itself. It’s got a 12-inch screen (similar to the Samsung NC20), AMD’s Athlon Neo mobile processor (which is just a tad bit better than Intel’s Atom chip), lacks an ExpressCard slot and optical drive plus it only costs $699. Then everything else about it just screams netbook. Even at 12-inches, it’s still smaller than your regular laptop, and while it has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 graphics chip with 512MB dedicated VRAM, it doesn’t sound like a great gaming machine from the review. The review even recommends that this notebook is best for netbook-specific tasks like a few hours of emailing/surfing or using it on the couch. Read the full review at the post linked to below.

Via Geek.com

ABI Research has conducted a survey in the US of over 1000 adult consumers. The survey focuses around how people view netbooks and MIDs.

From the survey, a huge 79% said that they viewed netbooks as an accompaniment to laptops or desktops. While only 11% said they would use a netbook as their primary device.

Shane from Ars Technica seems to agree with the results from the survey as he himself uses a desktop primarily. While his MSI Wind is used as his secondary device, it is noted that it has however, replaced his laptop. Personally, I would be amongst those 11% of consumers that use their netbook as their primary device – an MSI Wind clone replaced my laptop and is used more than my desktop computer, which is used for the only thing traditional netbooks can’t do – read or burn disks.

Would the survey results have been different if you’d answered the questions? Tell us if you use your netbook as your primary device and why or why not.

Say hello to the Samsung X360.

The X360 is Samsung’s latest addition to their laptop lineup. While it may be slightly larger than other standard mini netbooks, its features pack a punch. It will have a 13.3 inch display, upto 4GB of RAM, Centrino 2 Ultra Low Voltage CPU with 3 USB ports, wifi, 1.3 mega pixel camera, card reader (7 in 1) as well as bluetooth. You’ll also find a HDMI and VGA port on the X360. Storage wise they’ll be several options to choose from, 64GB SSD, 128GB SSD or a 120GB hard drive.

The X360 will have the above features, making it a strong rival to many mini netbooks. The X360 looks like it could also be a strong competitor to the MacBook Air. While it’s slightly thicker than a MacBook Air at 0.66 inches, it will weigh in at only 1.27kg making it lighter than the MacBook Air.

These features come with a cost though and gives the X360 not such a mini price. The estimated retail price is between $2,200 and $2900.

Via: YugaTech