We had a brief lapse in WNRs over the last few weeks but hopefully everything will get back on track. Let’s see what’s been going on in the netbook space.

• How To Install Windows 7 On Almost Any Netbook — Gizmodo’s John Herman has put together a nice guide for squeezing Windows 7 onto a netbook. As the article mentions, XP is rather old and Windows 7 will get you a nice jump in the user experience area. Because it is still in the RC phase, it is free to download and use for a while.
• More convertible touchscreen netbooks coming — Jkk has found another upcoming tablet netbook, the Fujiyama E-PC E-1001. Kind of sounds like a knock off of Fujitsu and Eee PC, but competition in the tablet netbook space is definitely a good thing for consumers.
• ASUS 1005HA Netbook Is a 1008HA With Removable Battery — Kevin C. Tofel points out that Asus’ soon to be released Eee PC 1005HA is essentially the 1008HA [Portal page] but with a removable battery. There are a few other differences as well; non-glossy screen, slightly slower CPU, no BT, but it uses a nearly identical looking chassis (albeit a bit thicker) and picks up an additional USB port for a total of three.
• Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2: Hands On Video — Xavier from GottaBeMobile has a nice hands-on video of the new Lenovo S10-2 [Portal page] netbook. The new netbook isn’t too much different from the previous S10, but it is a bit thinner and can be equipped with a 3G module for $50. Xavier mentions that he wished that the S10-2 had a matte screen like the first version of the netbook.

It is pretty amazing how well some people can draw up concepts for the future. Engadget is reporting that the mysterious VAIO P-like computer, that we showed you a few days ago, is in fact a two year old concept design.

Pretty cool to think that Lenovo came up with this concept two years ago; recent leaks of the image had people assuming that Lenovo was going to try to move into the VAIO P [Portal page] space with their own premium device. Unfortunately, it looks like at this point the Lenovo ‘Pocket Yoga’ ultra mobile PC is not going to become a reality.

Reality aside; this is a pretty cool looking computer. It definitely uses a form factor that is similar to that of the VAIO P, and some images show the screen folding all the way back, through the use of a double hinge piece, to be used as a tablet style device.

For the record, James Kendrick of JkOnTheRun pointed out that the Yoga concept has been seen before from Lenovo, citing a 2005 press release and an award that went to the design. It seems like the Pocket Yoga concept was a variation of the one seen in 2005. Why didn’t Lenovo show this concept like they did with the full sized Yoga concept? Maybe the world wasn’t ready. However, with the quick adoption of tiny netbooks today, maybe Lenovo would be wise to start looking into their Pocket Yoga concept once again. Maybe it would make for a good Moorestown based device?

Head to Engadget to see a few more images of the Lenovo Pocket Yoga in the gallery.

Engadget Chinese got shots from a ‘trusted source’ of a Lenovo ultra portable that seems awfully familiar to the shape of the VAIO P [Product page]. Additionally it looks to be styled after the special ThinkPad Reserve Edition notebook. I’m all for the light-weight and keyboard friendly form-factor of the VAIO P; if only we can bring the price down. Competition certainly has the tendency to make that happen so we’ll just have to wait and see if Lenovo is actually going to market this device, and if they are aiming for the same price range or not.

Stop by Engadget for additional images.

One good thing about the flood of netbooks is that consumers get lots of choice. Believe it or not, there are a few netbooks that manage to stand out from the others. I feel that the IdeaPad S10 has the potential to stand out; it looks quite attractive, and you’ll see in the unboxing video from Laptop.com that it appears to be slightly smaller than the Asus EEE 1000H, and the MSI Wind. Interestingly, it seems to have 2 RAM slots. I’m really not a fan of the tiny right shift-key, and it seems that the guys at LAPTOP aren’t either. Hopefully the packaging will get an upgrade before consumers get their hand’s on the S10, as the unboxing experience looked pretty weak.

With a sea of netbook choices, one might think something such as a misshapen shift-key could actually be enough to make a netbook significantly less popular than one of its competitors, of course given that battery life and performance were the same.

[Laptop.com] via [Liliputing]

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.