Netbook 3G have lined up a stack of VIA C7-based netbooks that are expected to be shown at the Lunch@Piero’s event on the 9th.

VIA are said [cached news item] to have between 10 and 15% of the global netbook market. Most of the sales are outside the western markets so we rarely get to see the big picture. This showcase halps to put some perspective on it.

Via (French): Netbook 3G » CES 2009 : VIA présente des netbooks encore avec le VIA C7-M !.

I’m sure we’ll see more pics of this over the next few days but this one (from a set at GottabeMobile) shows the slim casing, the low-profile keyboard and the hinge. The 9″ version of this is said to be under 1KG making it very interesting in my book. I guess it’s not carrying a 6-cell battery (It’s probably using flat Li-Poly batteries to help the design) but if it’s got a 30whr battery, it could be a 3-4hr device if it uses (as indicated by JKK) the Z520 CPU.

Update: Note that the 10″ version is shown as using the N270 (Diamondville) CPU.

Check out a few other pics at GottabeMobile.

All the specs we know along with news links will be placed in the T101H page in the database.

Update: Building a list of the specs and news references in the product database page.

An 8.9″ 2.1lb PC it’s not exactly the type of thing I’d like to have on my car dashboard but it seems that ASUS might be thinking that way. With GPS, touchscreen and an FM transmitter it looks like they’re going for the navigation option.

LaptopMag have a short article with information from the ASUS press event that took place at CES a short while ago.

I have a similar combination of convertible with GPS on my SC3 and I can honestly say that I’ve never ever thought about using it as a PND. There are far better solutions out there. Maybe ASUS will focus on the tablet element of this one though. At 1KG, it will work well for some.

Liliputing have some more pics and are saying that the device is due for launch in the 3-6months timeframe.

Related ASUS convertible item: The T83 from CeBIT in 2007 that never saw the light of day.

Update: Looks like there’s a 10″ version of this. The T101H

I’m sure this has answered a few prayers. The original 2133 will soon be available as the 2140 with Atom rather than the VIA C7. We were talking about this on podcast 23. Note that it has the original alu chassis and bigger, hi-res screen options.

HP Mini 2140

Full specs now in the database.

News from Electronista. A good set of blogs have followed up.

Electronista | HP updates Mini 2x netbooks with Atom, 10in LCD.

(Posted on the go with the Wibrain i1. Will get the specs together in the db soon. )

It was bound to happen. I’m actually suprised it took this long to get Android on an X86 PC as it was always said in the early days that Android would be processor agnostic.

The question now is, can the developers get a productivity suite up and running in a short timeframe? Online apps are good but there’s still a big need for offline apps. If it can be achieved then why not a thin, 1.5lb, 10-hour Android-based netbook at $299? In order for ARM to make netbook sales progress in the Western World I really think they will need a big brand and a big dev community and application channel. Android is well positioned.

Android netbooks on their way, likely by 2010 » VentureBeat.

Our podcast partner, Sascha, from EeePCNews.de (which has just relaunched as netbooknews.de) reports that he’s secured some new info on the Sony UMPC.

Wie ich schon auf Eeepcnews.de berichtete, wird der Sony Vaio P eine Atom Z520 CPU (1,33 Ghz) aufweisen, 2GB RAM, HDD und optional SSD, GPS, UMTS und das alles zu einem Preis, der sich wohl im Bereich um die 700 Euro einpendeln duerfte.

The Sony Vaio P will run on an Atom Z250 (1.33 as we’ve tested on the WiBrain i1 and Kohjinsha SC3) with 2GB RAM, an HDD and optional SSD, GPS and UMTS with a price around the 700 Euro (970 dollars) mark reports Sascha. The 2GB RAM hints at Vista (or ‘Windows 7 ready’.)   Apparently, the Asian source indicated that the image, now confirmed as photoshopped, is actually very close to the real-deal.

In addition to the above, a new teaser has appeared in Japan Hong Kong. With these teasers appearing at different times in different places and with strange placeholders on Sony websites, you have to hope that the quality of the product is better than the marketing program which seems somewhat dis-jointed from a web perspective. Even the launch dates seem to vary between the 7th and 9th of Jan. The first CES press events are on the 6th Jan with the Sony ‘invitation only’ Press event planned for 4:15pm on Press day, the 7th in Las Vegas.

Theres a new Sony teaser ad live on the Sony New Zealand website which promises a product that will change the way you look at laptops. It could be the product that went through the FCC a few weeks ago.

Sony teaser site says “revolutionary new VAIO” coming January 9th – Engadget

Pushing netbooks even further into the laptop space (no-one can really deny that netbooks are the new consumer notebooks now) is the Nvidia Ion chipset.

It replaces the existing 945 chipset with a smaller chip and provides a big boosts to the graphics (10x is quoted) along with hardware decoding of video formats up to HD rates and digital TV out.

This is excelent news for gamers, CAD artists and people looking for Vista / Compiz eye candy.

Does this open the doors for a slew of SD-card-based games releases and re-releases. We think that there’s gold games for the new netbook crowd. TV-out is exactly whats needed too.

Don’t forget that the platform should also be usable in the bigger (7″ and above UMPCs and tablets.)

More details in an article over at Laptop Magzine.

Nvidia Goes Netbooks: Releases Ion Graphics Platform for Intel Atom.