Back in October of last year there was some interesting news about a site (WePC.com), made in conjunction with Intel and Asus, that would allow users to submit concepts of their ‘dream computer’ and have it voted on by a large community. The idea was that the best concepts would float to the top and Asus would take these and build a community designed netbook, while Intel would power it.

I took another look at the site today to see if we had made any progress, but from what I’ve found, it seems like we won’t actually see a community designed computer in its own right. I can’t say if this has changed since the initial launch of the website, but the About page seems to set a slightly different tone than the rest of the site.

Imagine your perfect PC. Now imagine top engineers and innovators working around the clock to make that Dream PC a reality. That’s the dream WePC.com is all about.

ASUS and Intel have created WePC.com, a place where users like you come together to share ideas, images and inspiration about your ideal PC. But what if it’s not just talk. Your designs, feature ideas and community feedback will be evaluated by ASUS and could influence the blueprint for an actual notebook PC built by ASUS with Intel inside.

If the words ‘could influence’ weren’t already unlikely sounding enough, you have to consider that they are only talking about a ‘blueprint’ here. While it definitely sounded like WePC was actually going to produce a community designed netbook based on the best ideas, it seems now like the site is just a glorified feedback center for Asus, and a free source of concepts for them as well. There isn’t a lack of advertising either, with one part of the site saying “Buy a dream PC now!” that links to an already existing Eee PC. Wasn’t the point of the site to design our own dream PC? Is it crazy of me to still wish we would actually see a community designed computer that one could purchase come from this project?

I’ve been testing the HP Mini 1000 MIE [Portal page] netbook for a few weeks now and I’m ready to give some performance information. As you’ll recall, the ‘MIE’ in Mini MIE stands for Mobile Internet Edition. This is HPs way of denoting their custom Ubuntu operating system which runs in place of a typical Windows OS. Unfortunately, because of the OS on the unit I can’t bring you the typical benchmarks. Luckily some benchmarks are already available out on the web from the XP versions which should give you a rough idea of what you will see, and I’ll point you in their direction toward the end of the post. What I can bring you however are some good old fashioned numbers (and maybe a chart or two)!

Video Playback

Video playback within a web browser usually isn’t considered a big deal on a desktop computer, but when working with the relatively small resources of a netbook, it can become a bit more serious of a task. In the screenshot above (click to enlarge) I showed the CPU usage graph while playing back a flash video from Gametrailers.com. This is SD footage. Flash HD video playback is too choppy for realistic viewing on the Mini 1000 MIE. I wouldn’t expect to be multi-tasking while listening to music through YouTube in the background. The CPU was around 80% usage during playback.

Boot Times

All tests are done with no apps open. Open apps will theoretically add a small amount of time to hibernate and standby.

It is clear to see that standby is going to be your best option in most cases, offering a pretty quick 5-seconds into standby, and bringing you right back to your home screen in 6 seconds. Startup and shutdown times seem fairly normal, but something is a bit odd with the hibernation times on the Mini 1000 MIE. In general, going into hibernate should take about half as long as shutdown, or at least be equal in its speed. In the case of the Mini 1000 MIE, going into hibernation takes the longest of any of the boot options.

A few things could be causing this. Let’s quickly define the difference between hibernation and standby. As the computer enters standby, it keeps all of the important OS files, and any running applications in the RAM, and powers down to a very low-power state, using only enough power to keep the data on the RAM alive. This means that it consumes a little bit of power while it is in standby. Hibernation consumes no power because the RAM data is backed up to the HDD (in this case, an SSD), and the computer shuts down completely. When turning back on, the data is rewritten to the RAM from the HDD, and the unit returns to the same exact state that was saved when it went into hibernation. Now that we know a bit about standby vs. hibernate, let’s theorize. One potential cause of poor hibernation times is a bottleneck in communication between the RAM and the SSD. Another reason could be due to the way that Ubuntu handles hibernation.

Either way, it is clear that a full shutdown or standby are your best options. In my testing I’ve seen that the Mini 1000 MIE should provide 70 hours of standby time which is pretty good. Put your computer into standby and come back 7 hours later, and you’ll only be missing 10% of your battery life. Considering you are only 6 seconds away from a full computing experience, I’d say that is a pretty good deal.

Battery Life

The battery on the Mini 1000 MIE is pretty darn slim. Take a look at the photos above. The computer itself says that the 3-cell battery will power it for 2 hours and 35 minutes from a full charge. The netbook is good at delivering this amount of time while you are using the computer for web browsing. While not available just yet, a 6-cell battery should be available from HP in the near future. Keep an eye on their accessories page for availability.

Benchmarks

As I mentioned, the non-standard OS doesn’t allow us to run our usual benchmarking programs, but the XP flavored Mini 1000 has been benchmarked by others, I’ll drop the SSD benchmark below, but also swing by this page to see some additional ones.

Check out the HP Mini 1000 MIE coverage roadmap for more coverage on this netbook.

It’s that time again. Lets have a look at some interesting netbook content from this week.

• Asus to Phase Out 8.9 Inch Screens in 2009 — Asus started with the 7″ screen, moved up to 8.9″ and now seems to be on track to settle for 10″. Digitimes is reporting that Asus says 95% of its 2009 netbook shipments will be 10″ models.
• Dell files for cancelation of Psion’s “netbook inch trademark — Dell might not be the biggest netbook company out there, but they are clearly interested in the sector. Dell has filed for a cancelation of Psion’s claim to the ‘netbook’ trademark. Dell says that Pison abandoned the term and it should not have the trademark because of its “genericness”.
• Dell launches Inspiron Mini 10 preorders… with QVC — Dell might have made the Inspiron Mini 10 official in the last several days, but the first place you’ll be able to pre-order it is through QVC. This is an interesting partnership and will definitely get the Mini 10 in the sights of those that might not normally come across it.
• Mini-notebooks account for 30% of consumer laptop sales in EMEA — A research firm is saying that 30% of all consumer laptop sales in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region are netbooks.
• Meet Gigabyte M1028, convertible netbook — Jkk shoes us the new M1028 tablet-netbook from Gigabyte. This bumps the screen size up from 8.9″ as it was on the Gigabyte M912, and a few specs.
• Gigabyte M912, convertible netbook, gets the needed 6 cell battery — …and speaking of the M912; there is now a 6-cell battery available.
• Asus Eee PC 1000HG with WiMAX gets official — WiMax might not be a highly deployed WWAN technology yet but that isn’t stopping Asus from slapping some letters on to the end of the Eee 1000 and putting out a model with built in WiMax.

HP has a mini flash-based site dedicated to the various versions of the Mini 1000 [Portal page]. There is a section dedicated to each edition (MI, XP, and Vivienne Tam). If you roll your mouse over the “Mini 1000 Mi Edition” button and click “Read the Blogs“, you’ll see that the Mini 1000 MIE coverage from ultra mobile PC Portal is being aggregated on the mini site as well as some other sites that are testing out the Mini 1000 MIE. Check out content from several different sites to get an understanding of the device from several different angles.

See all of our Mini 1000 MIE coverage so far

We’ve added the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook to our comprehensive Product Portal as well as added a gallery of press shots. I’m looking forward to the Mini 10 and interested to see how it ranks on the Portal’s popularity charts.

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Portal page

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 gallery

While the Mini 9 [Portal page] was pretty standard fare as far as netbooks good, the upcoming Dell Inspiron Mini 10 (which Engadget had some hands-on time with at CES) throws us a few welcomed curve-balls. Dell has finally made it official for the US and the Mini 10 will be available for purchase on February 26th.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Mini 10 and here are a few reasons why:

• True widescreen — 16:9 aspect ratio (10.1″)
• Macbook-esque botton+trackpad… trackpad — The entire trackpad clicks down and functions like the mouse button
• Custom multi-touch gesture support (via the trackpad)
• GPS + WWAN
• HDMI out port
• WiFi B/G/N

The official page from Dell also tells us of some upcoming options

•  
  • HD capabilities Enjoy your favorite movies on the optional 720p Hi-def 10.1¨ seamless display.
  • More Storage Do even more with optional 2GB memory and optional 250GB hard drive.
  • Navigation Know your way like the back of your hand using the optional GPS with optional internal WWAN support.
  • Design Studio Personalize your Mini 10 with cool designs from the artist, Tristen Eaton, in Dell’s Design Studio.
  • Long battery life No need to sacrifice weight for battery life. The Inspiron Mini 10 provides extended battery life while keeping the weight of the system under 3 pounds. 3-cell: approx. 3 hours. 6-cell: approx. 6.5 hours.
  • The New TV Watch your favorite TV shows with the internal digital TV tuner.

I’m most excited about the screen which will be able to support native 720p HD (1280×720) content with its 16:9 screen; I just hope the hardware is up to the task of playing that caliber of video!

[GottaBeMobile]

Mobile Computer Mag had a chance to check out a prototype model of the upcoming Asus T91 tablet-netbook [Portal page] and they captured a great hardware overview, with commentary, on camera. Have a look below:

Something interesting that we see in this video is a SIM slot built into the device. As they mentioned, it isn’t clear yet if this is something they are testing, or something that will be available when the unit launches (we’re hoping for the latter). I’m excited to see the convertible tablet form factor making its way down to netbooks. It seems like a low cost tablet-netbook could be a great way to expand the tablet-PC user base. It is also good that one of the first of these that we are seeing is coming from a reputable netbook maker, Asus. It seems like it will still be a balancing act to get a good price:quality ratio compared to current netbooks when you consider the fact that you need to get the touchscreen and swiveling lid on the unit.

If you are interested to see what the software end of the netbook will look like, don’t miss this post.

[Liliputing]

I’m writing this post for target users of the Mini 1000 MIE[link]; those that might not have done a RAM upgrade before. And of course anyone who might be Googling “how to open the RAM door on the mini 1000” because it is just a little bit tricky.

Don’t fear gentle user, for HP, and most other netbooks makers have made the process really simple, and I’m here to make it even easier. The only thing you will need beside the RAM is a pen! Let’s go through the steps:

1. Shut down the HP Mini 1000. Flip the computer over (you might want to rest it on something soft so that the top of the screen lid can’t get scratched).
2. Slide the battery eject latch to the side as though you are unlocking the battery for ejection.
3. Underneath the latch you just slid to the right (if oriented like the images), you will see a small plastic piece underneath with a circle in it. Insert your pen into the circle (right the right) and slide it to the left to pop the RAM door.
4. Hold the slider to the left with your pen while you get a grip on the RAM door, and remove the RAM door.
5. Release the spring latches that hold the RAM in place (one of the left and one on the right). The RAM should pop up on the front side.
6. Gently remove the RAM by pulling it out in the direction that it is pointing (the angle it makes with the bottom of the netbook).
7. Line up the single notch with the notch in the netbook and insert the new RAM at the same angle that you inserted it.
8. Press down on the RAM evenly to allow the spring latches to take hold of it.
9. Put the RAM door back in place and slide the first latch back into a lock position.

That’s it! You’re all done. Easy right? Turn your Mini 1000 on and it should be ready to go. If it doesn’t boot up correctly, it is possible that the ram isn’t sitting quite right. Just pull it out and re-insert it and try again.