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Black Friday deals from Dynamism


The good folks over at Dynamism have put up some nice Black Friday deals for those interested in a mobile computing. These will be good through Sunday or while supplies last.

If you are looking for a great deal on a netbook that will be able to handle your basic computing tasks, take a look at the Acer Aspire One [Portal page] [review] which can be bought for $249. The Black Friday Aspire One comes with Linpus Lite (Linux), 8GB SSD storage, and 512MB of RAM.

If you want some serious mobile computing power in a tiny package, Dynamism has the Raon Everun Note [Portal page] [review] for $599. The Black Friday Everun Note is configured with an AMD Sempron 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB SSD, and Ubuntu Linux.

Want something hand-held? You can pick up a well equipped OQO 02 [Portal page] [review] for $1599. The Black Friday Special OQO 02 comes with a 1.6GHz VIA C7-M CPU, 1GB of RAM, 120GB HDD, and Windows XP Pro.

And last but not least, there is an Asus Eee PC 900 [Portal page] for $299. The Black Friday configuration of this computer has the Intel Celeron 900MHz CPU, 12GB SSD, 1GB of RAM and Windows XP.

Check out the rest of the Black Friday Specials page for deals on other products as well. Again, these deals will only last until Sunday or possibly sooner if stock runs out, don’t let this one slip by.

New MSI netbooks; not your standard cookie-cutter specs


u120Finally a breath of fresh air in an area of computing where the only major difference in products was appearance and price!

I’m really glad to see some interesting new stuff from MSI. We recently talked about the MSI Wind U120 [Portal page] which is just like the original U100 but with 3G and some increased storage options, but that isn’t very exciting is it?

Now news is spreading that MSI will be releasing two additional netbooks some time around January. The netbooks will be the U110 and U115; I’ve put the interesting things in bold:

  • 1024×600 10" screen
  • 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU – which is a more expensive but less power hungry chip (2w) than the Atom N270 (2.5w) which is in almost every netbook you see today
  • Poulsbo US15W chipset – most netbooks are using the Intel 945G. Poulsbo in combination with the Z530 CPU will make for a total chipset drain of 4.3w
  • 6-cell battery
  • Up to 250GB HDD for the U110
  • Hybrid Storage – The U115 will feature SSD and HDD combinations. The idea is that the OS and programs can go on the smaller capacity SSD (8/16/32GB) for quick booting and program launching, then there will be plenty of room for media and other storage on the HDD (80/120/160GB). Computers such as the VAIO TZ have used a similar storage configuration. It will be important to the success of the U115 that this doesn’t consume too much power running both drives.
  • Wi-Fi B/G/draft-N
  • The rest is pretty common; Bluetooth, 1GB of RAM (up to 2GB on the U115), 3x USB 2.0 ports, 2.0MP webcam etc.

Like I said, all of this is new and exciting to see in a netbook. However, after reading this I can’t help but wonder how they plan on keeping the prices down. Nearly everything in this list will run the price up over current netbooks: new CPU+chipset, two storage drives, and draft-N Wi-Fi. We’ll have to wait and see but I would image the top end U115 will run you somewhere around $700 if not higher.

[Blogeee] via [Liliputing] [Electric Vagabond]

Buy your Dell Mini 9 with HSDPA today


mini 9 3g

After recently adding a 32GB SSD option, Dell appears to be the first in the US to sell a netbook in the with a 3G radio and an actual data plan through a carrier. While some carriers in other countries are subsidizing the entire netbooks bundled with a 3G modems, you won’t get that sort of discount here. At least it won’t cost you much extra, provided you sign up with a 2 year contract from AT&T. It looks as though the modem can only be added to a Mini 9 configured with XP at this point.

Adding the HSDPA modem to your Mini 9 [Portal page] configuration will also add $125 to the bill, however you can reclaim $120 of that through a rebate if you sign up with AT&T. So an extra $5 for a 3G modem doesn’t sound bad right? Unfortunately it isn’t the hardware that makes up the real cost, it is the data plan, which will run you $60/month from AT&T. Brad from Liliputing points out that for some, it might be more cost effective to use an AT&T 3G USB dongle if you own more than one mobile computer. It would cost the same amount per month, but offer the flexibility of using one piece of 3G hardware on more than one computer.

[Liliputing]

MSI Wind U120 unboxed


The upcoming MSI Wind U120 has been unboxed over at MSI WIND en Español. The MSI U120 is very similar to the original MSI Wind U100 [Portal page], apart from the U120’s standard larger capacity battery, larger HDD (120GB), 3G option, and color. The unboxing video isn’t terribly exciting; it seems a bit confusing that the box says "MSI Notebook" and "Wind Netbook" [my emphasis] on the very same side of the box. Head over to MSI WIND en Español to read some Google translated first impressions and see the unboxing video below.

[Liliputing]

Acer sells and estimated 5.8 million Aspire Ones, 10" model for the future


aspire oneAccording to Akihabaranews.com, Acer will sell an estimated 5.8 million (you read that right, 5,800,000) Aspire One netbooks [Portal page][review] by the end of the year. That is a pretty big number considering that the Aspire One wasn’t even released until Q2 of 2008. Akihabaranews says that Acer sent them some press info showing the sales for each quarter as well as the estimated number for the final quarter:

Quarter

# of Aspire Ones sold

Q1

0

Q2

800,000

Q3

2,200,000

Q4

2,800,000 [estimated]

 
In addition to these impressive figures, Scott Lin, Acer Taiwan president has also stated that they will be following in the steps of some other companies and offer a 10" version of the Aspire One. Said to have the same specs, lets call it the Aspire Ten for now, will go on sale possibly in February or March of 2009.
 

The Dell Mini 9 gets touchable with a touchscreen mod


We’ve seen it done to several other netbooks in the past and now it is the Dell Mini 9’s turn. Jkk points us to a video of a Dell Mini 9 [Portal page] that has been modded with a touchscreen. He says that any of the common 8.9" touchscreen kits can be used with the mod, but connecting the necessary components could be tricky. Check out a short video below:

Equip your Dell Mini 9 with 32GB of flash for $100


mini 9 ssd 

Maybe in honor of jkk’s ‘SSD week’ last week, Dell has recently put an option into their Mini 9 configuration interface that allows customers to select 32GB of SSD storage (previous max capacity offered was 16GB). It will add $100 to your price if you jumping up from the 4GB option, but that price isn’t too bad as long as the speed of the SSD is decent. Be sure to stop by jkkmobile for lots of good info on SSDs with good price:speed ratios. If you are the hardware type, it may be more effective to buy the cheaper 4GB SSD option on a new Mini 9, and upgrade it yourself.

[Engadget]

There could be a 3G modem hiding inside your HP Mini 1000


mini 1000 3g

It looks like HP might have moved some Mini 1000 [Portal page] units that actually have 3G radios integrated into them, but were sold without mentioning that little gem. Probably wanting to get the product out the door before having to close deals with carriers, some Mini 1000’s have a 3G SIM card slot that can be revealed by removing the battery. The radios in these devices were sold to consumers without the proper software to operate them, but luckily someone over at the Pocketables.net forum managed to acquire the software and get their 3G radio working. The software has been linked on the forum so that others can download it and make the 3G radio in their Mini 1000 work (if it is there, that is). Please do yourself a favor and make sure your have the right data plan before testing out the 3G in your Mini 1000, it would be easy to rack up a large monthly bill if you have no data plan.

[Liliputing]

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