MSI Announces Dancing Fairy Netbook
While it’s easy to get excited about a particularly awesome netbook, MSI seems to have gone above and beyond the call of duty in a recent press release for the MSI Wind12 U200 featuring the altogether fantastic subtext ‘Genie of the Wind, Unlimited Magic’. Holy shit.
All ridiculosity aside, the MSI Wind12 U200 is either a netbook or a ‘CULV laptop‘ depending how much you like correcting people. But I’m getting off topic – here are a few gems from the creators of the Wind netbook:
“…The MSI Wind12 U200 is like a dancing fairy, possessing a light and agile body…”
“…[It] presents you with the most comfortable and splendid display, able to show off the vastness of the ocean and the land…”
“…You’ll hardly notice its weight at all while on the road…”
“…A Wide View With Boundless Reach…”
“…Marvelous Software Gives You Unlimited Joy…”
Unlimited joy? That’s a tall order for under $1000!
All joking aside, the press release is an entertaining read if you’re interested in the MSI Wind12 U200 netbook. It describes the features you can expect, albeit in superlative terms, so go have a look.
MSI Delivers X-Slim X600 Netbook Basher To The Team
Adding the MSI X-Slim X600 to its lineup shows that MSI has decided to follow in the footsteps of a number of manufacturers in adding a netbook killer to its lineup.
At 15.6 inches the X-Slim doesn’t seem to resemble a netbook at all. However, for a mere $800 ou can get this 5.5 lb notebook with a 1.4 GHz Core 2 ULV chip, ATI HD 4330 graphics, and a 1366 x 768 pixel WXGA display. It’s a tempting offer for those who consider netbooks to be too weak and notebooks too expensive.
It doubles standard netbook figures in offering a 320 GB hard drive and 4 GB of RAM standard. Other features include a 6-cell battery, 2 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI out, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, and you’ve got a machine with a lot to offer in a thoroughly oversaturated market.
Via TheInquirer.
Gateway EC1083h CULV Ultraportable Laptop Released in Canada, Similar to LT200 Netbook
Gateway’s new EC1083h CULV ultraportable has just been released in Canada. While this machine seems to be a rebadge of Acer’s Timeline 1810T laptop and have many features in common with Gateway’s LT200 netbook, it actually has some pretty nice tech specs (for an ultraportable).
Under the cover of this 11.6″ ultraportable laptop, there’s 3 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive, and a (standard) 6-cell battery.
Pricing for the EC1083h ultraportable is $600 Canadian (the equivalent of roughly $550 USD). Unfortunately, there’s no information yet on when this device will be available in the States, but we’ll give you a holla when we find out.
Via Engadget.
Microsoft Hints At Classier Netbooks, Higher Prices
The vaguest of rumors has surfaced since a recent press conference with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, but despite their wispiness the rumors foretell something dark and mysterious:
“Why don’t we have a high-performance lower-power device? That comes this year. The new ultrathins will be like high-end netbooks.”
Designed for better screens, bigger batteries, and the sub-notebook price range, Microsoft should be working on netbooks for the Mama Bears out there with a taste for something in-between.
Sounds a lot like a CULV laptop.
By expanding the price range available to netbook purchasers, Microsoft will be better able to hawk Windows 7 without looking like a bunch of idiots.
Be sure to check out this Seattle Times’ article for more recent news from Microsoft.
HP Pavilion DV2Z: A Laptop At Netbook Price
The latest contender in the everlasting battle to topple netbooks is the HP Pavilion DV2Z, designed to deliver PC power at a netbook’s price.
The DV2Z is a 12.1-inch machine weighing 3.81 lbs, measuring in at about an inch at its thinnest point. It is more powerful graphics-wise than the Pavilion DV2, packing the dual-core Athlon Neo chip. The new CPU is an update to the single-core Neo of the DV2.
Integrated graphics are provided by the AMD Radeon 3200, part of AMD’s Congo platform. HP promises faster HD decoding and a snappier multimedia experience than netbooks, which should make it quite attractive to a mainstream audience.
HP’s device can handle up to 500 GB of storage, and has an optical drive with Blu-Ray.
Ship dates are unknown, but the Pavilion DV2Z is priced at $599 – a fantastic deal for the features you get. Will the new HP laptop steal netbook consumers forever? It will be intriguing to see the netbook world’s response, as the gap between netbooks and laptops shrinks ever smaller.
Via PCWorld.
Three Week Old 11.6-inch Aspire One Netbook To Be Replaced
Could the 11.6-inch Acer Aspire One netbook be on the way to the can already? There are a few strong indicators that the answer is yes.
While the Aspire One A0751h was released as recently as May 18th, Digitimes is reporting that Acer will deliver an 11.6-inch Timeline series netbook set “to establish a clear boundary between the two product lines” or even replace the netbook.
A likely motive for the replacement of the new netbook is that shipments of the 11.6-inch Aspire One have been less than astounding. Why? The HD-resolution can’t even play HD video due to a tiny 1.2 GHz chip.
Some analysts project that a newer Timeline netbook packing a CULV CPU or perhaps a burlier GPU could amend that failure, and give consumers something to be happy about.
Perople who already bought an A0751h can’t be pleased, but at least Acer’s getting on the ball to improve its lineup.
Via CrunchGear.
Lenovo’s CULV Ideapad U350 Reaches For Netbook Territory
Lenovo may have its own host of netbooks, but that hasn’t stopped it from risking putting out a CULV laptop. Many have called CULV the harbinger of netbooks’ death, and as the Lenovo Ideapad U350 hits stores this June that fear may yet become reality.
The IdeaPad U350 is as light as a netbook but features a 13.3-inch screen. Its 4-cell battery churns out four hours of life, around what’s expected, but the biggest difference with the IdeaPad U350 is that it runs Windows Vista. Vista’s too taxing for most netbooks, which use XP instead.
In an effort to bring netbook mobility and low-price to full PC functionality, Lenovo has included Intel’s Pentium SU2700 processor – a 1.3 GHz chip with 2 MB of cache. The new CULV laptop will also feature the SU3500 Core Solo processor this August.
Further departing from the netbook formula, the Lenovo Ideapad U350 also uas 2 GB of RAM. That can support up to a colossal 500 GB hard drive.
The U350 isn’t as powerful as many laptops, but beats out netbooks for graphical capability. It can “run high-definition multimedia, gaming and resource-hungry applications,” something few netbooks have attempted.
We can expect the Ideapad U350 by the end of June worldwide. Will the CULV movement end netbooks? Doubtful. But it will certainly change the game, and if those capitalizing on the success of netbooks mean to retain their dominance they’ll need to start differentiating themselves more than ever.
Via PCWorld.
New Photos Of The MSI Wind U200 Netbook
MSI made headlines recently by unveiling a host of new notebooks – the X-Slim series – as well as a new netbook, the MSI Wind U200.
TweakTown scored a bunch of snazzy pictures of the new netbook, which is based on the Intel CULV platform we’ve heard so much about. The U200 features “a 12-inch 16:9 widescreen LED display with a 720p HD capable resolution of 1366 x 768,” the 1.2 GHz Intel Penryn ULV SFF 723 processor, and 2 GB DDR2-800 memory.
Other features include a massive 250 GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a SIM card slot for 3G access. For all these awesome specs, however, the new Wind netbook disappointingly includes a mere 3-cell battery.
Aside from a few anecdotal trackpad complaints, the U200 made good impressions all around. It ran Vista with a rating of 3.2, which is more than a lot of netbooks can say, so it will be exciting to see more on the new machine as time passes.
Via TweakTown.
Notebooks Try to Imitate Netbooks
Watch out netbooks! Notebooks may have a plot to take over.
Acer is planning on releasing new ultrathin and ultraportable notebook computers, which will use computer chips that are more powerful than the Intel Atom and will sell for much less than other similar ultraportable computing devices, such as Dell’s Adamo or Apple’s Macbook Air.
Acer’s new netbooks will be based on Intel’s Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) platform and will sell for roughly $699-$800 each.
The shortage of 16:9 aspect ratio ultra thin LCD screens could pose a problem for Acer though. Until the supply of such panels increases (it is predicted to increase within the latter half of the second quarter of 2009), Acer will use panels of other sizes (14.1- and 15.6-inch) from AU Optronics.
Via SmartHouse.
