Netbook News

It seems like netbook manufacturers generally aren’t too concerned about specs and pictures of upcoming models leaking out ahead of time. Well, maybe Sony, but apart from that it’s become pretty common for us to see new models pictured and detailed well ahead of their public launch.

Not so with the ASUS Eee PC 1218, however. Not familiar with the model? That’s not surprising. There’s really no information floating around about it. And yet somehow the sleek, aluminum-clad netbook has received a Red Dot Design Award.

…And because of that, you can now see what it looks like. However, apart from the image above (and two more after the break) details are sparse right now.

The JooJoo tablet is now available for purchase in Europe, where you can pick one up for €359 plus €15 for shipping. That’s actually not a bad deal, as it comes to a few bucks less than the $499 plus shipping you’d have to pay to get the tablet in the US or Canada.

But while the price for this 12 inch web tablet might be halfway decent, there’s still a pretty good chance you don’t want one. Earlier reviewers were left horribly unimpressed. And there seems to be evidence that as few as 64 tablets have been sold to date — which kind of makes you wonder whether the company will still be around in the years (or months) to come and whether there will be any support for this product.

The JooJoo features a 12.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, NVIDIA ION graphics, and a custom Linux operating system that basically offers a web browser an on-screen keyboard and nothing else.

The tablet started out as the CrunchPad, a partnership between Fusion Garage and TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington. His idea was to build a $200 tablet for surfing the web. That never quite happened.

Two processors walk into a series of benchmarks… and it turns out it’s a bit tricky to tell which is which. Peter at Netbooked recently managed to get his hands on a Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3s with a shiny new 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 processor and an S10-3 with the much more common 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU. And he put them to the test.

While the N470 clearly has a faster clock speed, it’s not that much faster than the N450. And so we probably shouldn’t be surprised that when Peter ran several benchmarks on the two computers, the scores weren’t very far apart at all. The Lenovo S10-3s scored slightly higher on most tests, but actually lagged a tiny bit in the graphics department.

The N470 gets a Windows Experience score of 2.5 compared with 2.3 for the N450. But that’s out of 7. Long story short, in real world settings you’re probably not going to notice any real difference between these two chips. Neither is going to make your computer fly, but both should be good enough for basic computing tasks such as web surfing, editing documents, or watching standard definition (or even 720p) video.

Sure, if you have the choice between a computer with an Intel Atom N450 and N470 processor, the N470 might offer a slight performance boost. But it’s probably not enough to justify paying much more for that computer

The performance gap between ARM-based processors and x86 chips is shrinking. Intel is starting to design Atom chips for smartphones, while ARM-based processors have already hit the 1GHz mark with support for HD video playback and dual and even quad core processors on the horizon.

A leaked product roadmap from Samsung shows a series of new ARM-based chips including a 1.2GHz quad core Cortex-A9 chip called the Aquila which is due out in 2012 or 2013. With that much power, it’s a safe bet that this chip won’t just be for smartphones. It could also power smartbooks running Google Android, Chrome OS, Windows CE, or whatever other operating systems can run on ARM-based chips by 2012.

Of course, we might all have flying cars by 2012. In the meantime, it looks like Samsung expects to demo an 800MHz dual core ARM-based processor later this year with mass production scheduled for early next year. For a complete breakdown of the leaked product roadmap, hit up Eee Times. Bear in mind, there’s a lot of time for things to change between now and the end of the roadmap.

It’s also important to keep in mind that there are some pretty key differences between ARM-based chips and x86 chips. In other words, it’s not all about clock speed. In general, ARM-based chips include integrated wireless connectivity, use less power, and offer always-connected capabilities so that you can receive phone calls, text messages, and other communications even when the phone or smartbook is inactive. But these processors aren’t as fast at performing some of the tasks necessary to run a full fledged desktop operating system such as Windows 7 or OS X.  Business Insider had an excellent article on just what ARM Holdings does earlier today. That’s the company behind the ARM infrastructure

While there’s reason to believe that some of the first laptops with next-generation NVIDIA ION graphics could ship in France soon, it looks like we might have to wait a little while before they start to show up in the US. Engadget reports that Acer and Asus have both confirmed that their first notebooks with next-generation ION graphics won’t be ready to ship in the US until late May or possibly early June.

That’s when Asus plans to introduce its Eee PC 1201PN laptop with a 12.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel HD display, Intel Atom N450 processor, and NVIDIA ION graphics. Acer’s first offering will be the Aspire One 532g with a 10.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel HD display, Atom N450 processor, and a scaled back version of NVIDIA’s next-gen ION graphics designed for smaller laptops.

We’d already heard that Intel was preparing to launch a dual core Atom processor for netbooks in the coming months. Now Fudzilla is reporting that the next-generation Atom CPU will be a 45nmchip with a clock speed of 1.5GHz.

The new chip will reportedly draw more power than Intel’s current chips — which is hardly surprising, since it will have an extra processor core. The 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 chip, for instance, has a total power draw of 6.5W, while the new dual core chip will have a TDP of 8.5W. That covers both the processor and graphics core, since they’re built into the same chip. Earlier Intel Atom processors had much lower power consumption figures — but that was because the graphics and memory controllers were part of the larger chipset.

Fudzilla doesn’t have any info on the launch date for these new chips — and since the web site isn’t citing its sources, I’d take the info with a grain of salt for now. But it all seems quite plausible

The Asus Eee PC 1005PR looks exactly like the Eee PC 1005PE — until you turn it on. That’s when you’ll find out that the netbook has a high resolution 1366 x 768 pixel HD display and it can handle HD video playback thanks to a built in Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator.

Asus first showed of the Eee PC 1005PR in early March. Now it’s available for pre-order from Amazon and B&H. Both retailers are charging about $400 for the laptop.

Here’s a rundown of the specs:

• CPU: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450
• Display: 10.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixels
• Graphics: Intel GMA 3150plus Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator
• OS: Windows 7 Starter Edition
• Memory: 1GB DDR2
• Storage: 250GB, 5400rpm hard drive
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, Ethernet
• I/O: 0.3MP webcam, 3 USB ports, 1 VGA port, SDHC card reader, mic, headphone jacks
• Battery: 6 cells (Asus claims up to 11 hours of run time)
• Dimensions: 10.3″ x 7″ x 1.5″
• Weight: 2.8 pounds

You can check out a demo video from Asus after the break.

Sure, Apple, Archos, HP, Dell, and even Google are getting into the tablet PC space. But that’s old hat for netbook hackers. These fine folks have been converting 7, 9, and 10 inch netbooks into tablets pretty much since day one. All you have to do is rip out the keyboard, add a touchscreen display, maybe build a custom case… wait, did I say “all” you have to do?

Anyway, the latest project to come along appears to be a rather nifty Samsung N110 netbook-to-tablet conversion. This tablet hack is still a work in progress, but I’m pretty impressed with the work that’s going into designing a custom case made of bamboo and aluminum.

The easy stuff involved upgrading the operating system to Windows 7 Home Premium and throwing in a touchscreen display. The tough part involves disassembling the netbook and putting the important bits back together in the new case. The guy behind the project is also thinking about adding a trackball or pointing stick and some extra buttons to make navigation easier.

One of the biggest complaints long-time tablet enthusiasts have about the Apple iPad is the lack of stylus input and an active digitizer. In other words, while you can pinch and flick on an iPad you can’t easily write on it, because as soon as you place your palm on the screen you’ll confuse the touchscreen. Besides, writing with a fingertip isn’t as easy as writing with a pen or stylus.

On the other hand, those old school tablet enthusiasts appear to be a vocal minority at this point. The success of the iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad has effectively guaranteed the dominance of capacitive multitouch displays over resistive displays or touchscreens with active digitizers. All sorts of notebook, tablet, and smartphone manufacturers are using the new multitouch displays.

But that doesn’t mean handwriting recognition and stylus input is necessarily a thing of the past. A Microsoft Research project called Manual Deskterity shows a way that the two might be able to live hand in hand. Or rather, finger and stylus.

The idea is that a touchscreen could be rigged up to recognize two different types of inputs – the electrical impulses from your fingertips and a special pen input. the result is that you would be able to place your palm on the screen and write with the stylus without any interference. But you could use your fingers to manipulate content by pinching, flicking, or performing other multitouch gestures.

Things get really interesting when you consider new actions you can perform by using both types of input simultaneously. In the demo video below, the developers show a ton of actions, such as using finger and stylus to cut or copy pictures, “staple” them together by selecting with a finger and tapping with the stylus, or using an “exacto knife”-like feature by holding a photo with one finger and tracing a portion of it with the stylus.

I have to say, the UI is kind of fascinating — but it’s also not entirely intuitive. Part of what makes Apple’s multitouch gestures work is that they’re generally intuitive. But some of the actions shown in the Deskterity video aren’t. For instance, some actions require holding an image with one finger and then using the stylus — but other actions require placing two fingers on the image. There’s no intuitive way to figure out which is which… so you just have to memorize the different things you can do with the pen and stylus.

Video after the break.

Apple introduced the next generation operating system for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad today. It won’t be available to the general public until this summer, and iPad users won’t get the update until this fall. But the company launched a developer preview today, which makes sense since it will give developers time to create new apps or update existing ones to take advantage of the new features — including multitasking support.

Apple is emphasizing 7 major new features, although there will be a number of others. The biggies are multitasking, icon folders, iBooks for the iPhone and iPod touch, an Xbox Live-like Game Center, a new iAd mobile advertising platform, and new mail and enterprise features.