I’ve had some hands-on with the Viliv S10. It’s slick, well designed, well finished and impressive. Viliv are talking about a 10-hour battery life on this which would probably translate to around 6-8hrs on-net usage. The big question is of course, price. Are we going to see it come in below the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028? And what about the T91?
Here’s a video I took during my MIDMoves IDF tour this week.
One correction on the video. The S10 is due to be launched in Q4 2009, not 2010.
Back in May, I took a look at the small notebook PC market to try and determine the distribution of screen sizes. I took screen sizes of 11 inch and under and plotted them on a graph to find the unsurprising result that the 10 inch screen size was the most popular and the original 7 inch netbook had all but died. In May 2009, 68% of the devices had a screen that was over 10 inch. I also promised to revisit the subject. By taking a second snapshot today, I’m able to work out what sizes are growing and waning in popularity. It’s only a second data point but it’s very interesting.
There has been a huge growth in the 11 inch segment (and 12 inch but that’s out of scope for this mobile-computing-focused data set) which means that of all the SKUs, 79.6% are now 10 inch and over.
79% of devices have screens of 10 inch and over. (was 68%)
The 11 inch segment grew by 65%
The 5, 6, 7 and 8 inch segments all declined in % (and absolute number of devices available)
The 8 inch segment declined by over 40% from 61 devices down to 45
Linux-based devices still count for 8.5% of the devices (no change)
80% are over 1KG (12% increase)
Nearly all netbooks under 1KG are 1st-gen devices that are outgoing.
The sample size is 279 (up from 243)
The cheapest device in the segment is the Hercules eCafe EC-800 based on the AMD Geode CPU. 160 Euros. Hercules also make the cheapest Atom-based device, the EC-900, for 190 Euros.
In general it’s a sad story for mobile computing fans especially as some of the best ultra-mobile solutions aren’t even reaching the normal online channels but there’s one shining star in amongst that lot. The ASUS EeePC T91 for 450 Euros, in Black, with a 24-month guarantee. 960gm, 5hrs battery life and a whole lot of flexibility!
As before, the results are based on data from the German/Austrian price comparison engine Geizhals.at and include all notebooks (and almost insignificant numbers of tablets and UMPCs) with screen sizes equal-to or below 11 inch. Again, I’ve put a note in my calendar to review the situation in 3-4 months time.
Good to know that you are never to far away from a day that our favorite deal-a-day site, Woot.com, will be featuring a good deal on an Eee PC netbook.
Today you have your choice of two different Eee PCs, both are actually from the 900 series.
First of all, at Woot.com you can get the Asus Eee 900 for $150 (+$5 shipping):
900MHz Intel Celeron CPU
512MB of RAM
4GB SSD
8.9 inch 1024×600 screen
Linux OS
Conditon: New
Or if you are willing to drop an additional $20, you can score the more powerful Asus Eee 900A for $170 (+$5 shipping) from sellout.woot.com:
1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU
1GB of RAM
4GB SSD
8.9 inch 1024×600 screen
Linux OS
Condition: New
Remember that these deals are only good for today and have a limited quantity. If you want one of these early netbooks, you better be decisive.
Looking like a slightly modified Clevo TN70M and having sizing and specs to match is this variant called the Suzuki 701 M.
I’ve just reviewed the TN70M and wasn’t too impressed by the 800×480 screen on it but I know there’s a 1024×600 variant and if it is well priced, it makes a great netbook. The only issue I can see is that Suzuki appear to have a very small 4-cell battery on this. The 4-cell on the TN70M lasts for around 5hrs. The 4-cell on the Suzuki is said to last for 140 minutes which is no good to anyone wanting mobile capabilities. The other thing is that this one is thinner than the TN70M. Maybe Clevo have a new model up their sleeve!
Is there anyone who hasn’t been eagerly awaiting a Disney branded netbook? Well await no longer, the day has come.
Disney and Asus have teamed up to provided just that a Disneyfied netbook. Available in both Magic Blue and Princess Pink. In all seriousness, the Disney netbook from Asus actually looks to be a compelling buy as a computer for children. Featuring “intuitive and fun applications inch as well as “robust safety features inch to keep kids safe on the web. Specs are… well, let’s just say it’s a netbook:
1.6GHz Atom N270
160GB HDD or 16GB SSD
1GB of RAM
8.9 inch 1024×600 screen
Windows XP
All of this for $350, not bad.
I think the biggest issue with this netbook is that it doesn’t have a DVD drive to watch some of the Disney classics on, they could at least pre-load it with Beauty and the Beast, am I right?
I’ve had a Gigabyte Touchnote for four months and so, as it’s now making it’s way over the the US, now is the right time to give you some thoughts on the device having used it and played with it as my only netbook/notebook since I bought it.
You’ve seen the famous, deal-a-day website, Woot.com’s affinity for netbooks in the past, and it doesn’t seem like it will be changing any time soon. Today only, get your hands on an Asus Eee 900 [Portal page] from Woot.com’s Yahoo partner site, sellout.woot.com. Here is a spec rundown:
8.9 inch screen
1024×600 resolution
Linux OS
Intel Celeron 900MHz CPU
1GB of RAM
20GB SSD
For full specs, head over to sellout.woot. If you are interested in this deal, remember to buy soon, it will be gone tomorrow, or even sooner if it sells out!
Dell say: “It really boils down to this: for a lot of customers, 10-inch displays are the sweet spot for netbooks…Larger notebooks require a little more horsepower to be really useful. inch
The real reasons:
Firstly, a point missed by Michael in his article. With a 12″ screen the customer expectations are way higher than with 10″ screens leading to dissatisfaction and returns. Secondly, the point the Michael makes. By setting netbook pricing you lower profit margins! Finally though, you do something extremely risky. You lower pricing expectations for the more powerful devices with higher profit margins.
