Trimble Yuma: The Toughest Netbook Around
The newest netbook on the market is furnished in true OLPC style. It’s the hardiest machine we’ve encountered yet, with a contender being the relatively unknown CTL 2go PC netbook of last year. Take a look at the new Trimble Yuma tablet netbook, designed for the harshest of environments:
As we reported recently, manufacturers are taking note of midsize firms’ need for rugged machines and are delivering accordingly. Netbooks are filling that gap nicely due to their low cost, and the 2.6 pound Trimble Yuma is the result.
The Yuma tablet netbook can be submerged in 1 meter of water without sustaining damage. It earned Ingress Protection Ratings of six for dust damage and seven for water.
The netbook can do some hard work itself, too. It is powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, and comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, “dual digital cameras”, and slots for SDIO and an ExpressCard. You only get 32 GB of storage, but for an SSD that’s quite a bit. Moving parts on hardy machines are looked down upon, thus the need for the solid state drive.
Additionally, you can read off the 7-inch screen in direct sunlight. No OS has been specified for the Trimble Yuma thus far, though the pictures suggest Vista. Will it be well-powered enough to run the OS?
Personally, I’d imagine a Linux OS or XP would be a better choice – most netbooks simply can’t handle Vista. On the other hand, if the Yuma works it works, and if it makes it to the industries it’s designed for that’s what it’s going to need to do.
There’s no word on pricing or availability just yet, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled.
Via DailyTech.
ASUS N10J Netbook Cranks The Graphics
The ASUS N10J netbook is an interesting introduction to the family. At 10-inches and $699, it’s an expensive entrant. However, it packs an Nvidia GeForce 9300 graphics card, one of the first times we’ve seen netbooks featuring discrete graphics. We can’t say for sure what the N10J netbook will use them for, anything could happen in the mutating market.
You can switch off the graphics card if you don’t feel like taxing your battery life. The keyboard is supposedly pretty good, and the HDMI and ExpressCard ports are helpful additions to the formula.
If you want to game with the netbook, however, the low resolution might tick you off. The Intel Atom is low-powered, and not unintentionally – it’s meant to be cheap and effective.
Other reports of gaming netbooks have been met with little followup or acclaim, but who knows - the genre could still kick off. The success of the unique ASUS N10J will likely determine whether other manufacturers follow ASUStek into the category.
Via MercuryNews.
Say Hello To The HP Mini-Note 2140
The HP Mini 1000 has been getting a lot of hype recently, but that doesn’t mean HP is backing off. It has returned to its original netbook series, the Mini-Note 2100, and has delivered a new one: the HP Mini-Note 2140. And if we may professionally say so, it looks extremely cool.
The new netbook has dropped the VIA C7-M processor of previous machines and replaced it with the now-standard 1.6 GHz Intel Atom. It is supposedly being developed for businesses, and has a HDD which can encompass 80 or 160 GB of space.
It has a 10-inch screen with some strange resolutions – 1366 x 768 or 1024 x 567. It’s keeping the ExpressCard slot, and on most counts, the HP Mini-Note 2140 stays the same as its predecessors.
The new netbook will start at $499 with choices of XP Home or Pro, SuSe Linux, FreeDOS, Windows Vista Home or Premium. It’s a great improvement over the Mini 1000 so it should do well on the market.
FIC CW001 Netbook Indistinguishable From Competition
While the netbook segment is rife with options, customizations, and alternatives, it seems manufacturers are having some difficulty differentiating their machines. FIC’s new 10.4-inch netbook, the CW001, seems to have this problem.
We thought we were moving away from standard-issue netbook configurations with the introduction of newer Intel processors, but the CW001 falls back on the same old 1.6 GHz Intel Atom. It has 2 GB DDR2 RAM, a 2.5-inch SATA-II hard drive and an ExpressCard slot. It might have gotten points for the optical drive it was rumored to have, but that never came though.
It also comes with two USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth, WiFi b/g, and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. It gets 4.5 hours of juice with its 4-cell battery and likely runs Windows XP.
FIC owns a majority of shares in Everex, so that could mean some big things for the CW001, such as Cloudbook branding. The price of the FIC CW001 is as of yet unknown.
Via SlashGear.
Behold Lenovo’s New IdeaPad
The IdeaPad S10e has been released and is prepared to stun consumers with some interesting new features.
Firstly, it will rock an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator that “easily handles your image processing”, according to Lenovo. It’s also got Intel High Definition Audio, an interesting feature for the manufacturer to include. While the S10 is no Indamixx DJ machine, the HD Audio feature means the new netbook will be excellent for listening to music. It will also allow the user to play sound through separate audio channels simultaneously.
The netbook is slender and portable, weighing in at a mere 2.65 lbs. It’s also only an inch thin, so as Lenovo says “you can take it wherever your day takes you.”
A microphone and webcam are integrated into the interface of the netbook, as well as an ExpressCard slot for easy connection to WWAN. It will be Bluetooth-enabled for use with mobile phones and headsets.
The newest and most intriguing feature, however, is the new Lenovo security device. CSRD, or Constant Secure Remote Disable, offers an easy, user-centric security method that doesn’t require the intervention of any tech-experts or the police. With this amazing new technology you can prevent access to your files just by text messaging your netbook. I need say no more – this is undeniably awesome.
The S10 will run Windows XP, using the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom with 512 MB of RAM. Spec-wise, the Ideapad S10 isn’t the best netbook around, but the new features are definitely tempting.
