Acer outs 18.4-inch Core i7 laptop, I shall call it GIGANTOR!

Acer’s new 18.4-inch AS8940G-6865 is a desktop replacement. And by “desktop replacement” I mean that you could attach four legs to it and use it as your desk. It’s big, is what I’m trying to say. Don’t actually attach legs to it, but I guess take with you the impression that this is a large laptop. Also, it’s powerful, so keep that in mind as well.

The machine boasts a newfangled quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU 720QM at 1.6GHz, an 18.4-inch LCD at 1920×1080 resolution, 4GB of DDR3 memory, an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M GPU with 1GB of dedicated DDR3 video RAM, 500GB SATA hard drive, Blu-ray/DVD burner combo drive, 8-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

There’s also five USB ports, an HDMI port, eSATA port, card reader, webcam, VGA output, Dolby audio, draft-N wireless, “touch-capacitive media control interface,” and a travel weight of more than 10 pounds.

Pricing starts at $1350 – Newegg seems to be first out of the gate to sell the machine.

Full press release:

New Acer Aspire Notebook PC Maximizes Performance with New Intel Core i7 Quad-Core Processor and Windows 7 Technology

New Aspire AS8940G-6865 Notebook with 18.4-inch Display Delivers Intensive Gaming, Entertainment and Multimedia Performance

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Acer America today introduced the Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865 notebook PC, featuring the new Intel® Core™ i7 Quad-Core 720QM processor and Windows® 7 Home Premium. This mobile processor delivers extremely fast performance for the most demanding applications such as playing games and editing digital photos and videos.

Designed for entertainment and multimedia enthusiasts, the Aspire AS8940G-6865 offers superior performance, innovative features and advanced technology for mobile users. This new notebook boasts a large 18.4-inch widescreen HD display for extraordinary visual quality, advanced NVIDIA graphics, Blu-ray technology, a high-quality audio system, a large hard drive and ample memory, making it a mobile powerhouse. The addition of Windows 7 to this new notebook provides users with a new level of performance, simplicity and ease of use.

The Aspire AS8940G with the Intel Core i7 processor delivers a breakthrough in PC performance, allowing users to multitask between applications quicker and enjoy faster performance overall. The new processor features Intel Turbo Boost Technology(3), which accelerates processor clock speed up to 75 percent to match a user’s workload(4) demands, giving more power when it is needed the most. Intel Hyper-Threading Technology(5) allows applications to work better in parallel, making multitasking quick and easy.

“This new Aspire notebook offers multimedia enthusiasts the ultimate in mobile entertainment – cinematic quality sound and visuals, an industry-leading feature set, and the performance to handle demanding digital media,” said Preeta Anil, Product Manager, Notebooks for Acer America. “The addition of Intel’s new Core i7 processor further boosts the power and performance of the Aspire AS8940G for games, movies, videos and more.”

Superior Technology for Mobile Cinema and Gaming

For the ultimate cinematic experience, the Aspire AS8940G-6865 features cutting-edge visual and sound technology. This new notebook includes an 18.4-inch full HD widescreen CineCrystal™ LED backlit display with a 1920×1080 resolution that exhibits true HDTV with a 16:9 aspect ratio in a new edge-to-edge design that’s perfect for widescreen movies. The certified Dolby Home Theater® Audio Enhancement technology combined with the Acer CineSurround sound system with five built-in speakers and the Acer Tuba CineBass booster bring clear tones and deep bass beats for incredible entertainment.

Users can enjoy the clarity and precision of Blu-ray Disc™ high definition technology for watching Blu-ray movies in extraordinary detail as well as burn CDs and DVDs of music, photos and files. The NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 250M graphics maximize the gaming experience by providing intense computing power. Additionally, the 1GB of dedicated video memory allows buffering capacity for seamless graphics and visuals.

Further enhancing the multimedia experience, Acer’s Touch-Capacitive Media Control Interface allows consumers to quickly and easily control their entertainment choices, including media playback and volume levels. The Aspire AS8940G also comes equipped with a FineTip keyboard with backlight, making it more user friendly when watching movies or listening to music in a dark environment.

Mobile Performance and Connectivity

Additional popular technologies allow customers to stay connected and be productive while on the go. The integrated media card reader, DVD burner and 500GB of hard drive storage enable customers to quickly and easily view, download, store and share their digital media content. Additionally, the Aspire AS8940G offers users further flexibility and expandability with an extra eSATA hard drive port.

The Acer Crystal Eye™ webcam delivers smooth video streaming and high quality images for online chats and business video conferences, even in low-light situations. The built-in digital microphone conveys superior voice quality, keeping background noise levels low and minimizing echoes.

Consumers can connect via 802.11a/b/g Draft-N with expanded wireless features, and all models include Gigabit Ethernet for a fast wired connection.

Pricing/Configurations/Availability

The Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865 notebook will be available for U.S. customers at leading retailers this holiday season. A sample configuration follows.

Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 720QM (1.60GHz, 6MB L3 Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
18.4″ Full HD Widescreen CineCrystal™ LED-backlit Display
(1920×1080 Resolution, 16:9 Aspect Ratio)
4GB DDR3 Dual-Channel 1066MHz Memory
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 250M with 1GB dedicated DDR3 VRAM
500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive (1)
4X Blu-ray Disc™/DVD SuperMulti Double-Layer Drive
Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100 802.11a//bg/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED®
Acer Crystal Eye™ Integrated Webcam
Touch-Capacitive Media Control Interface
5 USB 2.0 Ports, 1 HDMI Port, 1 eSATA Port
8-cell Li-Ion Battery (4800mAh)
Dolby Home Theater® Audio Enhancement
Acer CineSurround Sound System (5 built-in speakers)
Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
MSRP $1,349.99

Samsung X120 Review

Aside from a slightly below-par battery life, it is hard to find fault with the X120

If you are in the market for a netbook, but want something that is a little bit nippier than your average sub-£400 ‘mini-puter’ that are all the rage right now, then Samsung’s new ultra-thin and light X120 could well be just the ticket.

Samsung’s X120 will set you back around £500, so the machine sits nicely somewhere in-between Sony’s (reassuringly expensive) £1300-plus VAIO X Series and Apple’s £1000-plus MacBook Air at the very top end, and the slimmer but slower (and hence slightly cheaper) netbooks such as the ASUS Seashell, Acer’s Aspire One and Dell’s Mini 10.

 

The problem with netbooks, as Sony well knows with its ultraportable VAIO P Series, is that up to now they have been fine for dabbling around on the internet now and then, but incredibly frustrating for using as a regular work machine. As a rule they have not really been powerful enough to cope with the demands of producing ‘stuff’ – be it copy for your blog or reports and spreadsheets on Microsoft Word and Office while on your travels. After all, the ASUS Eee PC – pretty much the template for the modern netbook - was originally developed and designed as a low-cost educational machine for developing countries.


Samsung’s designers have thankfully chosen to just ignore the ‘cheap as chips’ Eee PC influence and to squeeze as much power into this tiny beast as they could, while keeping the overall cost lower than similar offerings from the likes of Sony and Apple.


It’s 25.4mm thin, combining the power-optimized performance of a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium 1400 processor with a lovely and bright 11.6-inch high definition LED screen. Watching movies you’ve downloaded or catching up with TV on the BBC iPlayer is a joy, although setting the screen brightness to the highest levels does tend to sap the battery a little. We were getting between two and three hours on average, while away from a power source. Although we were hammering the thing with Skype, Spotify, MS Word and countless other apps all up and running. More astute use of apps is sure to extend that battery life a little.


Most notably, you can hardly feel the weight of this machine, but it seems to performs as quickly and efficiently as most other laptops in the £800 to £1200 price bracket, which is the most immediate and obvious benefit of Sammy’s netbook. You soon realise that you don’t have to feel that you are lugging a computer around with you to have a reliable, fast machine on hand whenever you need to pitch-up in a coffee-house or airport lounge on your travels to get some all-important work done fast.

 

So aside from a slightly below-par battery life, it is hard to find fault with the X120 netbook. Or slimbook. Or ultraportable. Whatever you want to call it. If pressed, you could say that the form factor, while nice and slim and well-built, is a bit ‘samey’ and it certainly doesn’t turn eyes as much as its predecessor the Samsung NC310. When placed alongside a Sony VAIO X netbook, the chrome-edging looks far less sexy. But then, that’s why you pay the big bucks. And if you have £1300 and more to spunk on a netbook, then you’re not going to look twice at this.


The only other gripe would be that the multi-touch trackpad - while one of the better trackpads we’ve tried on a netbook to date – still failed to excite us as much as similar style trackpads on MacBooks and other higher-end ‘puters. It wasn’t that it was in any way broken or that it hindered the task in hand, more that it didn’t feel as quick and intuitive.


That very minor moan aside, for a genuinely portable multimedia PC that doubles up as a handy little workhorse, the Samsung X120 ultrathin notebook is hard to beat, with Windows 7 running as zippily as we’ve seen it on most far beefier desktops and laptops and a very decent quality in-built audio system for those Spotify sessions while on the move.


The fact that it packs in a very handy HDMI output port, for when you’ve pitched up back in your lounge and want to carry-on with that iPlayer catch-up session, was the final cherry on the netbook-shaped cake that is the Samsung X120.

Sony VAIO P heading to Verizon for $300 with contract?

This is still a rumor at this point, but Phone Arena is reporting that Verizon may soon be offering Sony’s 8-inch “not-a-netbook” VAIO P for $300 with a two-year data contract.

The model in question would apparently feature an 8-inch 1600×768 screen, Windows 7 Home Premium, 160GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, and a mobile data chipset capable of working all over the world. There’s no release date yet, and I wasn’t personally able to load up the product info on the Verizon page that Phone Arena links to but the site points out that Verizon may have more info this Thursday at a planned holiday line-up event in New York.

There’s also loose talk of a $100 mail-in rebate but it’s not clear whether that’d make the price $300 or if it’d be $300 out the door plus a $100 mail-in rebate. Given the VAIO P’s relatively high price tag, though, I’d plan on $300 and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

This is still a rumor, though. More info as we get it.

MSI readying 12-inch MSI Wind U230 with AMD Neo CPU, Windows 7

It looks like MSI is getting set to launch a 12-inch Windows 7 netbook from its U200 series. You’ll recall that the company released the Vista-based U210 back in mid-September, and this new one, the U230, appears to be very similar with the exception of the newer operating system and a bumped ATI Radeon GPU.

Let’s run down the specs for good measure:

AMD Neo X2 MV40 CPU at 1.6GHz

Windows 7 Home Premium

AMD Radeon HD3200

Up to 4GB of RAM

12.1-inch LCD at 1366×768

160GB/250GB/320GB hard drive options

1.3-megapixel webcam

Card reader, Ethernet, b/g/n Wi-Fi, optional Bluetooth

VGA and HDMI output

Three- or six-cell battery options

Weighs 2.86 pounds with three-cell battery

Up to four hours battery life (with three-cell battery)

No word on pricing or availability yet, but the Vista-based U210 model carries an MSRP of $429.99 so it’s likely that the U230 would settle in close to that number – maybe $449.99 or so. It’d also stand to reason that the machine would go on sale in the near future, what with all the recent Windows 7 hoopla still fresh in everyone’s minds.

Woot! Refurbished 11.6-inch Acer Aspire One netbook for $250

Friday, huh? Just got paid, did you? Why not divert $250 of that check toward this 11.6-inch netbook?

Come on, you’re making good money now right? When’s the last time you bought something nice for yourself? Think of this as an investment! With the portability that this netbook provides, you’ll finally be able to start up that emu farm that you’ve always been talking about.

Just picture it: you’re outside feeding your emus and an order comes in from the new e-emu-sales.net web site you designed with your 11.6-inch netbook and you can fulfill the order while balancing the computer atop a wooden fence post. Then the guy who ordered the emu from you tells two friends about your emu web site, then they tell two friends, then they tell two friends.

Boom. All of a sudden, you’re the emu king of the upper Midwest.

Anyhoo, Woot.com is selling the refurbished Acer Aspire One 751h (see review here) for $250 with a 90-day Acer warranty. That’s about $50 less than a brand new model.

Features include:

Intel Atom Z520 CPU at 1.33GHz

11.6-inch display at 1366×768

Windows XP Home

1GB of RAM

160GB hard drive

Three-cell battery good for up to four hours

Weighs 2.8 pounds

Asus is going to launch a smartbook after all

Despite what he said back in August, Asus CEO Jerry Shen confirmed this week that they will in fact be releasing a smartbook product sometime during 1Q2010.

This is a dramatic about face from what was stated previously, I wonder is Asus perhaps underestimated the demand for small, lightweight, Android based products when they made their previous statements. Mr. Shen also said that Asus R&D has been working quite hard, and we should expect to see quite a few new products from them in the next 6 months. Asustek’s first smartbook is expected to retail for about $180.

Dell's Super Skinny Adamo XPS

The highly abnormal machine offers some decidedly normal specs: though nothing is official just yet, the XPS will reportedly sport either 1.4 and 1.9 GHz dual-core Intel processors, 128 or 180 GB SSD, integrated X4500MHD graphics, and 4GB of DDR3 RAM, sitting under a 13.4 inch WXGA LED-backlit screen.

Batteries are slated as 20Wh or 40Wh for 2 and a half or 4 hours of life respectively, but owners will need to keep an eye on their juice, as the unique heat-sensitive opening mechanism won't work when the Adamo's batteries run out

Y550 Laptop Lenovo's First With a Core i7 Inside

The Y550P, a 15-inch laptop, is Lenovo's first portable to offer a Core i7 option.

Besides that, it's got a lot of juice available in options—up to 8GB of memory, 500GB hard drive, Nvidia GeForce GT 240M (1GB) graphics, an integrated subwoofer, and some kind of crazy "touch-sensitive slide bar for easy desktop navigation." It'll retail at around $1400 to start.
 

It comes with Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7, basically optimization that results in faster bootup and shutdown times as well as easier backup. [Lenovo]

Lenovo New IdeaPad Laptops and IdeaCentre Desktops Deliver Style, Ease of Use and Multimedia Features for Consumers

New PCs Bundle Lenovo Enhanced Experience Certification for Windows 7 and complementary Intel Processor Technology

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – October 26, 2009: Lenovo (HKSE: 0992) (ADR: LNVGY) today unveiled a lineup of new IdeaPad laptops – U150, U550 and Y550P – and IdeaCentre desktops – B500, K300 and H230 – designed to meet the performance, style and usability standards of today's multi-tasking consumers.

The new Idea PCs combine stylish designs and innovative features enabled by the ultra low power Intel® CoreTM processor family of products and improved performance with an Intel® CoreTM i7 processor. These new products ship with Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system and also include the unique Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7 – the result of joint engineering by Lenovo in collaboration with Microsoft to provide users with faster system boot and shutdown, richer multimedia features and easy system maintenance tools.

"Our Idea products are designed with the user experience in mind - every aspect of product design and technology is engineered to improve how consumers seamlessly use these products to enrich their daily lives," said Liu Jun, senior vice president, Idea Product Group, Lenovo. "Today's additions to the Idea product portfolio are among Lenovo's most feature-rich and powerful PCs to-date, providing our customers more choices to find the PC that best meets their unique digital lifestyle."

"Lenovo and Intel share a vision to create products that are faster, lighter, thinner and with longer battery life and delivering them to consumers in the quickest and most cost effective way," Gregory Bryant, vice president, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel Corporation. "Whether you are looking for ultrathin, stylish laptops with exceptional performance or beautiful and powerful desktops, Lenovo and Intel are working together to deliver Idea products with the right Intel® processor technology inside to meet your needs."

"As a result of our joint engineering investments, Lenovo is demonstrating their commitment to Windows 7 by making significant improvements in important areas like start-up, shutdown and resume times. We congratulate Lenovo on its work, as we think it will help business customers and consumers benefit from a better computing experience on Lenovo's leading products," said John Kalkman, vice president of OEM Engineering and Services at Microsoft Corp. "With Lenovo's Enhanced Experience, customers can be confident that their new PC delivers more of the exciting benefits that Windows 7 has to offer."

Idea Product Facts

Lenovo's latest IdeaPad laptops and IdeaCentre desktops meet consumer demands for mobility, added power to effectively multitask, flexibility to support professional and personal computing needs, data security, stylish designs and the latest multimedia features.

IdeaPad Y550P – Cutting-edge power for multimedia on the go

The Y550P is ideal for today's multi-tasker and the most powerful laptop in Lenovo's consumer portfolio. The Y550P is Lenovo's first notebook to use the new Intel Core i7 processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology1 that automatically speeds up the processor when the PC needs extra performance. This high-performance laptop also features powerful NVIDIA discrete graphics, a 15.6inch HD widescreen display, Dolby® Home TheaterTM surround sound, and unique Lenovo tools like SlideNav – a touch-sensitive bar above the

keyboard that makes it faster and easier to navigate programs, documents and shortcuts, or even quickly change the desktop wallpaper on users' systems.

IdeaPad U150 – Slim and chic portability

The U150 is just 13.5mm thick and weighs only 1.35kg2, yet under the textured red or black cover lies a range of features designed to strike the right balance between mobility and functionality. The ultraportable U150 with an energy-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo processor offers up to 8GB DDR3 memory, 11.6in HD widescreen display and long battery life. The Active Protection System on the U150 helps protect the hard drive if the laptop is dropped or gets bumped. A new version of OneKey Rescue System, Version 7.0, performs data backups up to twice as fast and includes more powerful antivirus scanning that can be run even before loading the operating system.

IdeaPad U550 – Ultraportable laptop with added flexibility for the office and home

At just 24mm thick and with a 15.6in wide HD wide screen display, the new IdeaPad U550 laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo processor includes a range of features that make it easy for users to transition between work and home use. For example, switchable graphics let users turn their discrete graphics card on and off at the press of a button to better manage PC battery life. Dolby® Sound Room surround-sound via the laptop's large, integrated speakers brings presentations to life and makes games and movies more enjoyable. The Ambient Light Sensor automatically adjusts screen brightness based on light conditions, reducing strain on the eyes. An integrated DVD drive delivers added flexibility to access and share content. The integrated fingerprint reader and VeriFaceTM facial recognition software on the U550 provide additional ease of use when logging onto the PC.

IdeaCentre B500 – High performance all-in-one, immersive entertainment experience

Featuring an Intel® CoreTM2 Quad processor, powerful discrete graphics, up to 8GB DDR3 memory and 1TB HDD storage space, the IdeaCentre B500 all-in-one desktop is the ultimate PC for serious gamers and multimedia users. The 23in Full HD screen and high-quality JBL- brand integrated speakers provide a quality viewing experience. Coupled with a 4-in-1 remote control that acts as a motion-drive games controller, VOIP handset, air mouse and media remote, the B500 supports a dynamic multimedia entertainment experience. Additional unique Lenovo features on the B500 include CamSuite, a tool that helps to keep users in the center of the Web camera's focus and adds special effects to live video feeds.

IdeaCentre K300 – Desktop PC with optimized power and control

The IdeaCentre K300 with the Intel Core 2 Quad processor is a performance desktop loaded with powerful technologies including high-performance RAID configured hard drives for added storage and peace of mind. It also includes the Lenovo Power Control Switch, which makes it simple for users adjust the level of power they need - from all-out performance to more energy-efficient modes.

Lenovo H230 – Functionality at a value price

Available starting at US $299 and equipped with a range of HDD and DDR3 memory configurations, the H230 is designed to offer consumers the perfect mix of performance and value. Integrated tools such as Lenovo Rescue System provide users a worry-free experience by enabling quick and easy data recovery and advanced antivirus technology.

Lenovo U350 and S10-2 – Eye-catching new textures and patterns marry fashion with functionality The IdeaPad U350 ultraportable laptop and S10-2 netbook are now available in a range of new textures and colorful patterns. The U350 can be purchased with a cool, eye-catching cover texture such as brown lizard print, white lamb skin print and red light weave. Using the latest PC cover-painting technology, the popular S10-2 comes in new colorful designs such as pop art, violet floral, red floral, green floral, phoenix, garden, sailing and origami.

 

 

Booq’s new rigid laptop case is ready for deployment

It seems like when you watch movies where there are scientists out in the field, they inevitably have a hard-case laptop bag that they just set on a rock and open up. Boom, laptop! Well, those big ol’ chrome suitcases may look cool, but they’re a bit unwieldy.

Better to get something a little smaller and softer, yet robust enough to withstand a few kicks. The Viper from Booq (not to be confused with the harder Vyper) seems to fit the bill.

I’ll be checking one of these out soon, which will be a big change from my usual shoulder-bag tendencies. Personally, I’m just excited to get out in the wilderness or something, and suddenly set this thing down on a log and open it up — no thanks guys, I’m just going to play Megaman 2 for a while without taking the laptop out of the bag, you go on ahead without me.

 

The Viper is available now, in sizes that fit both 15″ and 17″ laptops.

Quick Look: 13.3-inch Acer Timeline

I know everybody is excited to start their weekend but the bell doesn’t dismiss you, I dismiss you. So before you go, I’m gonna tell you about this new 3.5-pound Acer Timeline ultraportable that just came out yesterday.


First, the keyboard is gorgeous. It’s like looking at a pretty girl but not the kind of girl that’s too good for you, but more the girl who shows up at your party, does a keg stand, and then asks “Who wants to play Madden?” Pretty but accessible, is what I’m saying. It looks nice, but perhaps more importantly it’s easy to type on.

Second, it’s a good deal (I bought it on Amazon for $600). You get a 3.5-pound frame, a 1.3GHz Intel SU4100 CPU, 3GB of DDR3 RAM, 320GB SATA hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, and a six-cell battery which Acer claims is good for up to 8 hours.

Thirdly, thusly, and finally, please check out the above video for a quick hands on. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to review this computer because it’s a gift for my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday. I’d like to make it clear that I didn’t spend all $600 of my own money on the computer. I don’t want to get any aspiring bloggers’ hopes up about making enough money to throw down $600 on a birthday present for your mother-in-law. You’ll need to split $600 presents multiple ways for your entire life. But you do get to play with toys a lot.

Dell Adamo XPS specs leak

More details today on the Dell Adamo XPS. Nothing official of course, but leaks happen and we’re finally getting to see exactly what’s hiding under that very flashy exterior.

So here’s what we know. The XPS will be running either a 1.4 or 1.9GHz dual core Intel CPU, integrated X4500MHD graphics, and 4GB of DDR3. You’ll be able to choose from either a 128 or 180GB SSD, and the screen only comes in a 13.4 inch size. There is some bad news (which might be why Dell is holding back currently), the machine apparently comes back with a Windows 7 Experience test rating of 3.3, which is not a good thing.

Additionally, that fancy flip screen thing won’t work if the batteries are dead. Not a huge issue, since I’m not sure why you’d need to open your notebook if it’s got no power, but still a little odd.

Group test: Netbooks

Since ASUS turned the laptop world upside down with its original Eee PC, rivals have fallen over themselves to get on board the netbook bandwagon. Netbook specs are all fairly evenly matched, so they have to outdo each other on price, build, stylish looks and usability of keyboard. It’s a cut-throat marketplace then, but Asus, who spawned it, continues to drive on.

The latest EEE PC 1008HA, also known as the Seashell, merges a sleek finish with dramatically improved battery life. Samsung has enlisted the help of Japanese artist Naoto Fukasawa to give its new N310 the most arresting netbook design yet. Acer has followed up its under-performing Aspire One with a much improved 531 model. The numerous physical improvements have all but killed Acer’s price advantage, though. The Toshiba NB200 brings its own blend of design savvy and VFM, but it’s the awesome eight-hour battery that sets it apart. Last but not least, the formerly aloof Sony has joined the netbook wars with a scaled down Vaio that, by Sony’s standards, is cheap.

 

ASUS EEE PC1009 Seashell


Asus started the craze for tiny, cheap laptops, and ever since the world and his dog have been fighting for a piece of the pie. Despite this, the Taiwanese tech giant has stayed ahead of the imitators, with tweaks such as smarter looks, better keyboards, bigger hard drives, and what can only be described as "not actually being all that cheap". The Eee PC 1008HA, aka the Seashell, continues that trend. Looking swish enough to turn any head, this is also packing full N-standard, high-speed wireless and a Li-Polymer battery that pushes useful life up to an impressive six hours. Like Apple's new MacBook batteries, it's a permanent fixture, hidden away inside the Seashell's guts, which rules out any chance of upgrading or hot-swapping between spares, but how many us actually bother with that?

 

Acer Aspire One 531

The original Acer Aspire One was one of the best value netbooks around, with a few shortcomings that you overlooked because it cost about the same as a packet of Pop Tarts. With the new Aspire One 531, Acer has planed off the rough edges and trimmed the device down to a svelte and streamlined fi nish, without having to raise the cost to any outrageous degree. Boasting Intel's newer Atom N280 CPU and a larger, brighter 10.1-inch screen than its predecessor, the 531 pulls away from the netbook throng, but there's still evidence of Acer's budget thinking. The keyboard, one of the original Aspire One's strongest features, is now a sore point. The keys are generally cramped, with some squashed to microscopic proportions. It doesn't leave it unusable, but it does leave it short of its test rivals here.

  

Sony Vaio W Series

Sony sat out the first year of the low-cost laptop explosion, then launched the P-Series, an "ultraportable" PC that cost over £800. The plan didn't work out, as it's now launched the W Series, the first Vaio to admit to being a netbook. The awesome, X-Black LCD screen is what sets the W Series apart. This 10.1-incher is by far the best on test, offering deeper blacks and richer colours than you'll find on any other netbook. The 1,366x768 resolution adds enough detail to make browsing websites and documents easy, slashing the amount of scrolling you have to do. Under the bonnet, an Atom N280 processor and N, high-speed Wi-Fi inch it toward the upper end of the netbook scale, before the paltry three-cell battery drags it back to the middle of the road. You'll struggle to get three.

 

Acer Aspire One 531

The original Acer Aspire One was one of the best value netbooks around, with a few shortcomings that you overlooked because it cost about the same as a packet of Pop Tarts. With the new Aspire One 531, Acer has planed off the rough edges and trimmed the device down to a svelte and streamlined fi nish, without having to raise the cost to any outrageous degree. Boasting Intel's newer Atom N280 CPU and a larger, brighter 10.1-inch screen than its predecessor, the 531 pulls away from the netbook throng, but there's still evidence of Acer's budget thinking. The keyboard, one of the original Aspire One's strongest features, is now a sore point. The keys are generally cramped, with some squashed to microscopic proportions. It doesn't leave it unusable, but it does leave it short of its test rivals here.