EEE PC Competition : Lenovo IdeaPad S9 and S10 mini laptops

In October Lenovo is going to bring to the market two cheap ultra portable laptops (netbooks) , the IdeaPad S9 (8.9-inch display) and IdeaPad S10 (10.2 inch-display).
Bluetooth is unfortunately only an optional however a good news is the availability of an expressCard expansion slot and a 160GB hard disk model however the entry level model will have only a 4GB flash memory. The IdeaPad S9 wil be priced at a very competitive 321 Euro and the IdeaPad S10 starts at 357 Euros.
Lenovo didn't disclose informations on battery.

Stay tuned on EEE Journal

Availability of new Netbooks with ARM and Atom Pineview 2010

These days you see Toshiba, Samsung, Acer, Lenovo and other OEMs announcing the new netbook generation based on the new Intel Atom N450 (Pineview, 1.66MHz clock) and ARM cores.
So far these are only announcements, the first Intel Pineview netbooks are going to be available end of January 2010.
Spring 2010 will see the first interesting news IMHO: Skylight, the first ARM based netbook from Lenovo (Qualcomm Snapdragon) is going to be shipped and the first Intel Atom N470 netbooks should be available as well.
The Atom N470 got a higher CPU clock: 1.86MHz and is going to provide the first real life performance improvements since the introduction of the Atom N270 (1.6GHz, vs 1.66 of the Atom N280 and N450). I'm really curious to see the first benchmarks...

Netbook Atom N470 Performance Review

The very first review of Atom N470 netbook is out, with disappointing results for people that hoped in a performance leap.

"We went into reviewing the (Lenovo) S10-3t hoping it would be one of the faster netbooks we've ever used considering its new 1.83GHz Atom N470 processor and 2GB of RAM. However, those dreams quickly faded when we were met with the typical netbook performance. In fact, the N470 scored 1,348 on PCMark05, which is actually lower than the N450-powered HP Mini 210's 1393."

Just in case you don't know it, the Atom N470 is clocked at 1.83GHz, about 200MHz more than all other Atom for nebooks (Atom N270/N280 and the newest N450 are clocked around 1.6GHz).
Actually this isn't a big surprise: the higher clock helps Atom better perform with number crunching benchmarks while PCMark05 is a more or less "real life" benchmark testing many different subsystem additional 200MHz doesn't make a big difference.

Pink Netbook - Not only for Girls/Women!

For a women/girl the appearance and color of an object/netbook is a very important decision criteria. This is something men rarely understand... Pink is one important fashion color since a few years now.
A prepared a selection of pink netbooks for all price ranges, first the best (and most expensive...) followed by many netbooks of the $270-330 range.
Last but not least, don't forget to find a nice bag fitting the new netbook!

It's simply beautiful and perfect...
....for your Valentine Day 2010 gift: ASUS Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid Collection 1008P-KR-PU17-PI 10.1-Inch Netbook - Hot Pink
Designed from Karin Rashid, Indian origin and actually living in Paris, Karin Rashid is one of the most important modern designers.
For $499.99 (USD) it isn't the cheapest netbook out there however: what a netbook! It features a breathtaking design that includes a 10.1" frameless LED backlit display and an ergonomic chiclet keyboard. This beauty is matched by an excellent build quality, keyboard and high end feature for a netbook. Actually it isn't just for women/girls or valentine day: I lile very much this netbook and I'm seriously thinking of getting it for myself...
ASUS Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid Collection 1008P-KR-PU17-PI

• Intel Atom N450 Processor 1.66GHz (new Intel Pineview processor!)
  
• 2GB DDR2 RAM
  
• 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) + 500GB Free Web Storage; Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System
• 10.1-Inch Frameless Color-Shine 1024x600 WSVGA LCD Display; 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth Enabled, 1.3Mpixel Webcam
  
• 6-cell battery for 6+ hours battery life.
  

As you can see above, compared to main stream netbooks, the Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid Collection 1008P got double as much RAM (2GB) and hard drive (320GB). Furthermore you get Windows 7 Home Premium instead of Windows 7 Starter.

If you want to spend less
I found a very good offer for you: $299.99 to preorder the Asus EEE PC Seashell 1001P-MU17-PI, up to 11 hours of battery life and the new Atom N450 (Pineview processor).

In any case you still can find good fashion pink netbooks for about $300
all of them with the Atom N270 or N280 processor, 160GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, 10.1-inch display. Most of them got also a high capacity battery and Windows XP, some of them got Windows 7 Starter edition.

A selection of other good pink netbooks I found

• Toshiba Mini NB205-313/P for $327 (Windows XP, up to 9 hours battery)
• Asus EEE PC 1005HA-VU1X-PI for $319.77 (Windows XP, up to 8.5 hours battery)
  

Pink netbooks below $300

• Lenovo S10-2 for $294.93 (Windows 7 Starter, up to 6 hours battery)
  
• MSI Wind U100-427 for $279.99 (only 2.5 hour battery life)

Bluetooth for Aspire One A150, Samsung NC10, Medion Akoya Mini E1210 netbooks

UPDATE: Netbook and Bluetooth - Integrated vs USB Dongle

Please go directly to the newest post, since the Bluetooth dongle suggested in this post may have major software problems!

You want to buy the netbook that best fits you (e.g. using the netbook features database),
you are close to buy a top class netbook/mini laptop, such as the Samsung NC10, the Acer Aspire A150 or the Medion Akoya Mini E1210 when you see that it is missing a Bluetooth interface. What to do? You really need Bluetooth in the netbook to synchronize the mobile phone calendar or just to listen to music!
My suggestion: Bluetooth support in the netbook shouldn't be a go/not go criteria, you can simply add Bluetooth support using a Bluetooth USB dongle, there are many starting just below $10 (USD) and some of them are so tiny that you even won't see it.
This micro USB Bluetooth adapter simply disappears in the USB port of your netbook, so you can plug it once and forget it. You won't notice it! No damage to break it!
The Samsung NC10 or the Acer Aspire A150 got 3 USB ports so you'll have "just" two USB ports left, however it is far enough for 99% of us!

(At the time of writing) Beside the mentioned one, many other netbooks aren't equipped with a Bluetooth port: the HP MiniNote 2133, Acer Aspire A110, Fukato Jupiter, Lenovo Ideapad S9/S10, Fujitsu Amilo Mini Ui3520, Gigabyte M912, EEE PC 700/701/900/901. So if you really like the netbook however you miss Bluetooth, just buy an USB dongle/adapter!

Important! Installing a Bluetooth USB dongle/adapter is matter of minutes with Windows XP, for a Linux netbook the installation is a bit more complex and you need a minimal linux experience, look here for instructions on EEE PC (mostly similar for other netbooks).

UPDATE: Netbook and Bluetooth - Integrated vs USB Dongle

Please go directly to the newest post, since the Bluetooth dongle suggested in this post may have major software problems!


Remember that using the EEE Journal Netbook database helps find your dream netbook, with or without Bluetooth and refining the search with many other paramenters (operating system, size, battery, etc...)
http://www.eeejournal.com/2008/12/netbook-feature-database.html