This new model is approaching the thin line between netbooks and notebooks. I guess thats why Asus chose not to release it under the EEE brand. Or perhaps they realized people are getting confused having so many EEE models around. Whatever the reason was, this new model sure has some unique features: there is a new glossy black and silver case which looks great, a 10 inch 1024×768 1024×600 screen, Altec Lansing speakers, a fingerprint reader, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and an HDMI out. Thats a pretty impressive list of features for a device that is supposedly only going to cost 400 euro. No mention of processor speed or type, but it will probably be an Atom. Blogeee speculates that it might even be dual-core. At least thats what I understand from my limited French ;)

via Blogeee.net (click link for more pictures)

I don’t really have any comment on this as about all I could touch was the keyboard but later on today I expect to be able to get hands-on. I’ll be comparing it to the netbook i’m using right now, the Medion Akoya (MSI Wind.) which has been performing flawlessly. I even did a live Ustream videocast from it earlier! Anyway, back to the Lennovo…

Click the images for the larger versions in the IDF gallery.

130+ comments seems to indicate a serious amount of interest in the Raon Digital Everun Note that we’ve been talking about over the last few days. There are concerns about the battery life and the credibility of the CrystalMark tests and slight disappointment that it doesn’t have a swivel screen but on the whole, people seem to be very interested. I’m guessing a lot of orders for the SC3 just went on hold until independent info becomes available and its probably because of the thought that there might be a ultra mobile PC on the horizon that satisfies even the most demanding of road warriors. (more after the pic…)

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Before I get all excited, I better say up front that the info here is mostly from Raon Digitals marketing group. That said…WOW! The Everun Note could be the most powerful ultra mobile PC yet.

Raon have sent over some early marketing material for the Everun Note and there’s a whole lot of interesting information in it. The most interesting is a set of Crystal Mark test results that are showing stunning processing performances figures that are way faster than anything on the ultra mobile PC and netbook market. It blows the 1.3Ghz Core-based Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium out of the water and netbooks are going to look extremely slow beside it! (more after the pic…)

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Here’s a classic case of the Ultra Mobile category falling short of requirements. The jack-of-all-trades mobile devices I love just won’t be good enough for my work at IDF next week.

Firstly there’s the camera. When I’m out and about the Nokia N82 does a fantastic job of being able to take good photos and Internet-quality videos. Its an ultra mobile multimedia creation device that is largely unmatched in the smartphone world and yet its not good enough. I’ll need a zoom lens, long battery life, easily changeable SD cards, low-light optics, good 30fps video quality and some image stabilisation. The N82 isn’t good enough so I’ll have to take the S2IS in addition to the N82. (more after the jump…)

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Direct From Japan, the guys I bought the Kohjinsha SC3 from, just pinged me with an unboxing video of the Kohjinsha SX3, the 8.9" touch ultra mobile PC based built around the Intel Atom platform. Again, Kohjinsha have squeezed in features that you won’t find on many other mini notebooks, let alone netbooks because this one has a DVD writer built in. Yup, its the same size as an Eee but has a DVD writer built in!

We also have some CrystalMark scores which show almost exactly the same results as the SC3 but remember that this one has the 3-cell battery rather than the 2-cell you find on the SC3. I don’t have any battery life figures yet but i’m expecting 3.5hrs with Wifi off and 3 hours with Wifi on. Official figures state 4.5hrs.

Other features include the 1280×768 hi-res LED-backlit screen, dual cams and ExpressCard slot. All in 1.2KG.

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There are a lot of people that prefer the casing of the 900 over the 901 but yet most people seem to want the Atom processor. ASUS have responded with the 900A. Its the 900 casing with an Atom-based device inside. This will please the people that know where they stand with the Eee PC models but lord help the Saturday salespeople!

JKK has some thoughts on it over at Eee central. JKKMobile.com and I’ve already added it to the database so we’ll track news on this one as it goes through. It deserves a little database love anyway as it’s a sub-1KG device!

In the Gigabyte M912X unboxing last week, the second thing I mentioned was the washed-out screen. The following morning, in my tests,  it was clear that the screen was taking too much power. Ding! Of course, it was a CCFL-backlit screen.

I sent an email to Gigabyte who have confirmed that the (production) 1280×768 screen is CCFL backlit. They also told me that the 1024×600 screened version is LED-backlit. The 1024×600 screen will be installed in the M912M version.

For those not familiar with the terms, CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) is the old, power-hungry and often low-brightness backlighting method. LED (Light Emitting Diode) is the newer, much more power efficient and higher-brightness (mostly) method. In this case, it means that if you take a lower resolution screen, you get more battery life (it could be a significant amount, taking the standard 4-cell battery up to 3.5hrs browsing time) and, potentially a much brighter screen. All the LED 1024×600 screens I’ve seen so far have had great colour balance too.

I’ll happily drop that 1280×768 screen to 1024×600 to get the extra brightness and longer battery life offered by a LED-backlit model but there’s a catch if you’re thinking the same way. The 1024×600 screen is only in the M912M model. For that you have to sacrifice the Bluetooth (not a big deal) take Windows XP (which is likely to be faster and run better in 1GB) take an 80Gb hard drive instead of 160GB and wait 2 weeks longer until the end of September for delivery. Personally, I think it’s worth it and I don’t think anything else is going to come along that has the same features for the same price.

In summary then, there are now two models. The high-end version and the low-end version. The high-end version is available with XP and Vista. (M912X, M912V) The low-end version only with XP (M912M) There will be no Linux version.

Read the highlights and lowlights and watch the live Q&A session here. See the unboxing here.

Side-by-side specification comparison here.