Netbooks going downhill?

Cheaper or faster?

That's going to be the burning question for computer shoppers perusing the aisles of electronics retail stores this holiday season. That's when the new line of notebooks powered by consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) chips will start appearing in force. They'll be sitting right next to the trendiest offering in portable computing--Netbooks. Netbooks have come to be viewed as the best way to get cheap, portable computing, but CULV notebooks could change that.

Netbooks are mini-notebooks with screens between 9 and 11 inches, that have lower-power processors and fewer features, but very attractive price points. CULV-based notebooks are ultrathin notebooks. They come with a more traditional 12- or 13-inch screen, but are also very low-power so they have great battery life. Starting at S$1,000 (US$710.43) to S$1,600 (US$1,136.69), they'll occupy the price range just a step above Netbooks, which run between S$500 (US$355.21) and S$900 (US$639.39).
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Apple MacBooks drop to No. 5 in laptop sales--too pricey perhaps?

According to research firm IDC, Apple has dropped from the No. 4 purveyor of laptops in the U.S. last year to No. 5 this spring. The firm estimates that Apple has shipped 12.5 percent fewer laptops than the same time last year, even as it maintained its 7.6 percent market share.

Leapfrogging Apple to take the No. 4 spot is Toshiba, now estimated to be shipping 7.7 percent of all laptops in the US, thanks to system such as the Mini NB205 Netbook. If you're keeping score, IDG estimates that Dell remains No. 1, with 26.3 percent of the market, closely followed by HP, with Acer showing strong year-over-year growth to hit 12.6 percent of the American market. It looks as if all those US$299 Aspire One Netbooks are starting to pay off.
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Dell Inspiron 13 gets a new look

Have you been looking for new, sleeker Dells on the imminent fall horizon? Perhaps you'd better pay attention to Inspiron 13. Eyes on the Web spotted that Dell's site has this Inspiron has a new redesign, featuring a look that seems more like a Dell Studio. What this amounts to is an affordable Dell with good looks in a package that's decently priced at about S$1,230 (US$873.83).

It's a big shift from the current Inspiron, which has a pretty bland look to it, relatively speaking. While the specs are similar in the new Inspiron 13 (a shift to the Intel GMA X4500MHD instead of the Intel GMA X3100 is one of the few notable changes), HDMI and a 1,366 x 768 LED screen are also included.

Would this be the upgrade you're looking for?

Via CNET Crave

Dell feels that Chrome OS is just another Linux for Netbooks

Though Dell didn't have much to say about Google's Chrome OS announced last week, the PC maker said in a blog post that it is indeed looking closely at it.

But for Dell--which was not listed as one of the PC makers working with Google--Chrome OS is just one of many Linux-based operating systems it is evaluating. "As with most new technology, Dell plans to evaluate the Chrome OS and other alternative operating environments, like we've done in the past," said Doug A., who wrote the post on Dell's Direct2Dell blog. He added that Dell has "a great relationship with Google"
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The Asus Eee PC T91 tablet Netbook

We first got a glimpse of the Asus Eee PC T91 back in January at CES, and at the time, the idea of combining a Netbook with a convertible touchscreen display seemed like a pretty good one. Seven months later, the final product has arrived in the US, and it's a largely successful experiment even if the system hits a couple of first-generation snags.

We liked the custom interface, which offers big finger-friendly icons for launching apps, and a full-screen version of Yahoo's widget engine. It wasn't as responsive (or accurate) as an iPhone or Palm Pre, but certainly on par with other tablet laptops we've seen. We also liked that despite the new hardware and software, Asus kept the price at a Netbook-like US$499.
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