Ahhh… Anonymous blog commenter, where would we be without your "insider information"?

Someone posted the Dell Mini Inspiron specifications on the Dell blog, they sound reasonable enough for me to trust, and nice enough to want one of these new machines. 1280×800 screen would be perfect, and a 1.6GHz Atom would be sufficient for almost anything you throw at it.

If Dell actually manages to sell this for under $500, then Asus and HP better have a response really fast, cause otherwise I see Dell beating them at their own game.

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Well, this is kind of silly… The long awaited Asus Eee PC 900 (with an 8.9" screen) barely ever made it onto retailers shelves, and it’s already being canned.

Apparently Asus only intended it as a "transitional device", in anticipation of their Intel Atom powered Eee 901 (and to compete with the HP Mini-Note).

This is good news for people who didn’t manage to actually find a 900, but bad news for those that did, as their machines are already obsolete. The 901 should be available pretty soon, but it’s a mystery how long it’ll take to actually make it Stateside.

The Eee PC 900 was unveiled for the Asia Pacific market during late April and for the US market on May 12. But Asustek is said to have stopped taking any more Eee PC 900 orders as the Eee PC 901 is set to launch on June 3, the sources said.

Source: Digitimes

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Brian Lam of Gizmodo ran into Michael Dell (yes, THAT Dell), and managed to snap some photos of something mighty sexy. Take one part Dell Insprion, one part HP Mininote and add a dash of EEE PC.

What you end up with is probably one of the sweetest looking mini notebooks out there.

Nothing is know about the specs other than what Brian managed to photograph (VGA out, a couple of USB ports and a card reader).

Fingers crossed that this beauty will become reality, and that it’ll be up on Dell.com sooner rather than later, especially given the current pricing on the Asus Eee machines and the lackluster reviews of the HP Mininote.

Update: Dell confirms it, but is only willing to reveal "stay tuned"…

Source (and image): Gizmodo.com

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I’m beginning to think that we’ll never see that magical $200 price point Asus promised 2 years ago.

Their super successful Eee PC has gone from $349 to $549 and now to $650. Granted; that $650 gets you the newest Intel Atom chip, an 8.9" screen and Bluetooth (a first in any Eee pc).

The rest of the specifications will be the same as the recently released Eee 900 (12Gb or 20Gb SSD drive, 1Gb ram, 1.3MP camera, Linux or XP).

Source: Digitimes

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The upgraded Asus Eee PC 900 is finally showing up online.

The device features an 8.9" display with a 1024×600 pixel resolution, a 12 or 20Gb SSD drive and your choice of Linux or Windows XP.

Even though most stores have the product pages up, the devices won’t start shipping till the 15th.

Amazon pre-order product pages:

Linux (20Gb drive) or Windows XP (12Gb drive).

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It’s been several weeks since the first HP Mini Note machines made it to their new owners, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.

The pro’s all seem to mention the sleek design, great choice of different specifications and a higher resolution display than other ultra portable machines.

Hopefully I’ll have a full review up of this machine within the next few weeks, and will take a look at it from a travelers perspective.

In the meantime, why not check out the reviews from others:

Notebookreview.com (one of the most impressive subnotebooks we’ve ever seen)

Cnet (7.5/10)

PCMag.com (4/5)

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I bought the XO laptop mostly as a joke. I was pretty sure that it would not actually be useful as a business computer (and it is not), but the give one/get one program seemed like a good place to make a donation and I always enjoy playing with new toys.  And it is definitely more a toy than anything else.

There has been some coverage of the device here previously, so I won’t get too deep into the basic details of it.  That being said, I went cold turkey this weekend for a quick trip to Florida, taking only the XO on the trip.  I spent about 5 hours at Newark on Friday afternoon, a full weekend in Florida and a couple hours in the airport on Monday before finally making it back home.  Of the 84 hours on the road, the XO was great for all but about 2 of them.  I actually managed to compose this post on it, so it is functional enough to handle basic writing needs (though inserting images meant using a more feature-rich computer, probably because I don’t know enough Linux).  Still I think that more than anything else it is a toy and not a real business tool.

As a web browsing device it is pretty decent.  No tabbed browsing, though I’m considering installing Firefox or Opera on it for a couple reasons (more on that below).  And no real email client, but I use Google Apps for my email and it handles that great, including the chat feature and AIM integration.  Reading multiple web pages at once saps the memory pretty quickly, but I was able to get two or three browser sessions running in parallel and maintain the performance OK.

The two hours is wasn’t at all useful came in the Jacksonville airport while waiting for the flight home.  JAX offers free WiFi, so I was pretty excited to get to use it while waiting for the flight.  Sadly, however, the JAX Wifi network requires a redirect to an SSL page where you accept a licensing agreement.  The SSL controls on the built-in web browser are incredibly strict.  Unlike the IE warning page that one can click past, the XO laptop only has a try again button, like there is a chance that the SSL cert might have changed in the past few minutes since I last tried to get online.  So without a valid SSL cert on the airport’s gateway I was relegated to people watching and other offline activities.  I’m sure similar effects could be expected at hotels and other WiFi spots.  I understand that there are workarounds - namely installing Opera or Firefox - but neither of those is particularly appealing alternative, especially based on the fact that I’ve already had to restore this thing to the factory default config about five times based on breaking it in one way or another.  I probably will eventually install one or both, just to see how well they work, but that won’t change the fact that it is still a toy.

Ultimately the XO performs about as well as I thought it would.  Battery life is great, and it is super light, super quiet and super cool, all things that my other laptop (Dell D630) is not.  There is a pretty good chance that I will travel with it as my only laptop on some future trips, especially based on how light it is and how well it meets most of my basic needs.  But I am still hopeful for a truly portable device with full functionality and eternal battery life.  A guy can dream…

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It was just a few months ago when the first photos leaked of HP’s new ultra portable notebook. They clearly took a close look at what people want, because the specifications are close to what I’d call "perfect".

1.6GHz CPU, various hard drive options (including a 120Gb 7200RPM drive and a 4Gb solid state version), 2Gb of RAM, Bluetooth, WiFi and even an Expresscard/54 slot.

Laptop Magazine took one for a spin, so check out their review. With the new 9" Asus EEE PC’s heading our way in June the market for ultra portables just got a lot more interesting.

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Taiwan’s Digitimes reports that the second generation EEE PC should be here in 2-3 months and that some models will come with a touch screen AND possibly even GPS.

Asustek’s 8.9-inch second-generation Eee PC lineup will include touchscreen panels and possible GPS support, with shipments expected to begin in May or June, according to Kevin Lin, vice president of Asustek’s sales department. Pricing is projected to reach NT$15,000 (US$500), Lin added.

The company is also looking to ship its E-DT (desktop PC) priced at US$199 at the same time, according to Lin.

 

I’ve got 2 thoughts on this:

• It could be completely false since Digitimes isn’t always the most reliable source of news, and tends to report rumors as "scoops"
• What on earth is Asus thinking? The magical $199 pc is now gaining an inch and $300. I love touch screens, but $500 is a lot to ask for a machine with these specifications.

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In January I posted a full review of this UMPC. Back then then it sold for $1199, but Amazon dropped the price to just $749 today.

If you are looking for a perfectly usable UMPC with WiFi, Bluetooth, Camera and a split keyboard, then I would certainly recommend the Q1U. I still highly suggest factoring in an additional $40 to upgrade the memory to 2Gb.

Source: Amazon.com

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