Showing posts sorted by relevance for query One. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query One. Sort by date Show all posts

## Monday, November 3, 2008

### Acer Aspire One A150X, A150L or A110?

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The Acer Aspire One is a big sale success, it is one of the best 8.9-inch class netbooks, well maybe even more, the Acer Aspire One is one of the best netbooks that you can currently buy. I like very much especially the keyboard: one of the best for the 8.9-inch netbooks. What I miss in the Aspire One is only Bluetooth.
I think that the main reason for the Aspire One success is(was) a price level much lower than similar featured Asus EEE PC 901
If you want to buy an Acer Aspire One netbook be aware of the fact that there are three models currently shipped, all three equipped with the Intel Atom processor N270 1.6GHz, wifi a/b/g, 3xUSB and a 0.3 megapixel webcam. Please note that, as mentioned above, the Aspire One doesn't include Bluetooth yet. If required you may use a compatible Bluetooth USB adaptor.

| The main differences between the three models are Aspire One A110L, Linux Linpus distribution. 512MB DDR2 and 8-16GB SDD hard disk. 3 cells battery. Aspire One A150L, Linux Linpus distribution. 1GB DDR2 and 120GB hard 3-cells battery. Aspire One A150X, Windows XP, with 1GB DDR2 and 120GB hard disk with 3-cells batery or 160GB hard disk with 6-cells battery.

What about price?
You can buy the Aspire One A110L for about 300 US$/Euro (8GB SDD), for the Aspire One A150L you have to give out about 50 bucks more.
The Aspire One A150X is currently available online for about 350 US$/Euros (with 120GB hard disk and 3 cells battery) or 400 US$/Euros (with 160GB and 6 cells battery).
Which Acer Aspire One to buy? I prefer the Aspire One A150 models, however at the end of the daysl... it's up to you! First of all you should be clear on the operating system: are you ready for Linux? If the answer is yes and you just want to have a good netbook, to be used for casual surfing and email the Acer Aspire One A110L is already ok for you.
If you want to do something more than casual internet surfing and emails, you definetly have to think at one of the Aspire One A150 models. Again, if Linux doesn't scare you, grab the One A150L, otherwise the One A150X is the netbook for you!
Remember that the some One A150X ship with 6 cells battery, giving you about 4 hours of battery life vs 2 hours for the 3 cells battery (standard for all Linux models).
Other posts about Acer Aspire One

## Sunday, December 27, 2009

### Netbook bestseller update: Aspire One AOD250, EEE PC Seashell 1005HA and Toshiba Mini NB205

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News in the netbook bestseller list:

1. Acer Aspire One AOD250-1197 for $279.99
2. ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA-PU17-BK for $347.99
3. Toshiba Mini NB205-N230 for §326.33

The feature-set is very very close for all 3 netbooks, all of them got a 10.1 glare display, high capacity battery (6-cells) with more than acceptable battery life, 250GB hard drive, 1GB RAM and Windows 7 Starter.
Some differences

- Processor: Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz) for the Aspire One while the Seashell 1005HA and Mini NB205 got the Atom N280 (1.66GHz)
- Wifi: fast 802.11b/g/n for the Seashell 1005HA and the "older" 802.11b/g for Aspire One and Mini NB205
- Bluetooth: available only for the the Seashell 1005HA while for Aspire One and Mini NB205 you can use a cheap Bluetooth USB dongle
- Unfortunately both Seashell 1005HA and Mini NB205 got a 0.3 megapixel webcam, not sure about the Aspire One.
- Keyboard: AFAIK Mini NB205 got the best one, followed by Seashell 1005HA with 92% of a full size. The worse keyboard is for the Aspire One with 89%
- Battery: the Seashell 1005HA is rated for 10.5hours, Mini NB205 with 9hours and Aspire One with 8hours.
- Weight: Aspire One AOD250 with 2.79pounds is the lightest, followed by the EEE PC Seashell 1005HA with 2.81pounds and Toshiba Mini NB205 with 2.93pounds.

## Saturday, September 19, 2009

### Cheap Netbooks: Mini 10v vs EEE PC 1005HA vs Aspire One AOD150

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Finally the market offers real netbooks, I mean really cheap tiny laptops (max 1.3kg) with decent battery life (6 or more hours), good keyboard, enough display and processor power, enough for casual and mobile usage.
For less than 300 USD you have the chooce between Dell Mini 10v (Inspiron 1011), Asus EEE PC 1005HA and Acer Aspire One AOD150. If you want to spend 50 bucks more than the Samsung NC10 is probably the best choice, especially for the nice keyboard.
Until few months ago you had to spend 400+ dollars for a decent netbook, now we finally got below 300 dollars. This is what I consider a netbook price level.
Mini 10v vs EEE PC 1005HA vs Aspire One AOD150

- Processor: almost no difference, the EEE PC 1005HA is equipped with the new Atom N280 while Mini 10v and One AOD150 use the Atom N270.
- Noise: the Mini 10v is absolutely silent, I guess fanless; the EEE PC and Aspire One tend to be a bit louder under full load, nothing really annoying.
- Display: the 10-inch display of the EEE PC isn't as brigth as Mini 10v and Aspire One AOD150, in any case eeectl can help... at your own risk of course!
- Keyboard: Mini 10v and EEE PC 1005HA got a very good keyboard, 92% of full size keys, the Aspire One got slighty smaller keys.
- Touchpad: the EEE PC got a multitouch touchpad, nothing to say for Aspire One; I really hate the touchpad of the Mini 10v.
- Wifi: The EEE PC got the faster 802.11n (draft), while Mini 10v and Aspire One have only 802.11b/g.
- Battery: for the 300 dollars class the EEE PC 1005HA got a 8,5h battery life vs about 6,5 battery life for the other two netbooks with 6-cells battery. Be careful since Mini 10v and Aspire One AOD150 are also sold with 3-cells, giving you about 3h of battery life.
- Size, weight and remaining features are very similar: 1GB DDR memory, 160GB hard disk, Windows XP, 1.3megapixel webcam, SD-card slot, 3xUSB

My bottom line: if you want the most featured netbook for 300 dollars, take definetly the EEE PC 1005HA you won't be disappointed.
If you really need an absolutely silent netbook the Dell Mini 10v (Inspiron 1011) is the netbook for you!
The absolute topseller in the past 2 months is the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 10.5 Hour Battery Life for about 350 USD.

## Friday, April 17, 2009

### Acer Aspire One 110: top netbook for small price!

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Can you imagine, the netbook bestseller 2008, Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch display for less than 250 US dollars???
Acer Aspire One AOA110-1834 8.9-Inch Copper Netbook - 3 Cell Battery at the time of writing for only $238.99 (Amazon)!!!
Main characteristics are the 8.9 display and the good keyboard. The little price is due to the market shift towards 10-inch display and because of the new Acer Aspire One D150, a good 10-inch netbook for about $350 US dollars: for example Acer Aspire One AOD150-1669 10.1-Inch Seashell White Netbook - 6 Cell Battery
for $345.99 US dollars (Amazon).
In the meantime a surprice from MSI: the MSI Wind U100 for about $300 UD dollars (with only 3-cells battery) MSI Wind U100-641US 10-Inch Black Netbook - 3 Cell Battery

## Saturday, May 3, 2008

### EEE PC Competition: about EEE PC 701 and 900, MSI Wind, EasyNote XS, Elox One, Dell Vostro 1400 and OLPC XO-1

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CNET is one of the premium source for electronics review, I post quick links to CNET's reviews of EEE PC 701 and 900 as well as some of the most interesting competitors

- Asus EEE PC 701 and 900 of course, this is our benchmark! You can also read a full review of the EEE PC 701 and full review of EEE PC 900
- Packard Bell EasyNote XS. here you also find the full review of the EasyNote XS . This one is pretty expensive, to be noted that the Packard Bell engineers managed to fit a 30GB hard disk in that little form factor.
- MSI Wind this must be watched out, it is definetly a serious competitor, it is very similar to the EEE PC, the plus here is a bigger 2.5 inch hard disk and a very aggressive price. More details on MSI Wind from CNET

Actually this is not real competition for the EEE PC, nevertheless it is worth listing what you can get for less than 400 dollars. Some of them designed for shool childrens and with very little horse power.

- Elonex One, also called GeCube Genie
- One Laptop Per Child, the famous "100 dollars laptop". See also full review for the OLPC XO-1

Just for completeness CNET compares to the Dell Vostro 1400, much bigger than an EEE PC however with similar pricing, nothing impressive you may say. Well it is indeed: in the price a 120GB hard disk and a DVD burner are included!!! CNET previouw of the Dell Vostro 1400
All links from CNET.co.uk
More on EEE Journal Home Page

## Saturday, December 19, 2009

### Bestseller netbooks: EEE PC vs Acer Aspire One AOD250 vs Dell Mini 10v (1011)

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The ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA is stable as absolute netbook bestseller at Amazon.com. This is definetly justified by the relatively low price for a well built netbook, good looking and (by the way) with top features:

- 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 Processor
- 1GB DDR2 RAM, 1 x SODIMM Slot, 2GB Max
- 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
- 10.1" WSVGA 1024x600 LCD Display, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
- Windows 7 Starter Operating System (32 Bit), *10.5 Hours of Battery Life

These are the top 5 netbooks of the actual bestseller list

1. ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA-PU17-BK for $338.95
2. Acer AOD250-1197 for $279.99
3. Acer AOD250-1584 for $299.99
4. Dell Inspiron Mini 1011 (Mini 10v) for $296.99
5. ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK for $329.95

The complete list at EEE Journal Bestseller Site
A quick look at the main differences:

- Build quality: IMHO the best is ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA
- 10 inch display: unfortunately all glare displays, the EEE PCs are not that bright (by default)... you know the eeectl mod...
- Operating system: the first 4 got Windows 7 Starter while ASUS Eee PC 1005H got Windows XP
- Processor: Very little/no difference, since the Inspiron Mini 1011 (Mini 10v) got the Intel Atom N270 at 1.6GHz, while all other netbooks use the Intel Atom N280 at 1.66GHz.
- 1GB DDR2 SDRAM for all netbooks. It should be possible to expand them to 2GB, not sure for the Acer Aspire One models.
- Hard disk: 250 for ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA , Acer AOD250-1197 and Acer AOD250-1584 160GB for Inspiron Mini 1011 (Mini 10v) and ASUS Eee PC 1005HA
- Wifi: the fast 802.11b/g/n for the two EEE PC models and one Acer (Acer AOD250-1584). The Mini 10v and the other Acer Acer AOD250-1197 got the slower 802.11b/g
- Bluetooth in all netbooks but Acer AOD250-1197 in any case it is possible to add bluetooth with few dollars
- High capacity battery (6-cells) for all netbooks. Asus claims 10.5h for both EEE PC, while Acer Aspire One AOD250 and Dell Mini10v are between 8 and 9h.

## Saturday, May 24, 2008

### EEE PC Competition - One A120 and A110 - Cheap EEE PC 4G alternative?

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In the past couple of months several laptop brands announced subnotebook alternatives to EEE PC . One announced the models A120 and A110. The One A120 is very similar to the EEE PC 4G, marketed in Germany at 279 Euro and equipped with a VIA C7 1GHz processor, 512MB DDR2, 4GB SDD, WLAN, 7-inch display, webcam and especially Windows XP home.
The A110 uses Linux and is priced at 229 Euro, misses a webcam and has only a 2GB SDD.
I've already posted a few articles about subnotebooks / ultra portable pcs in direct competition to EEE PC, see also

- HP Compaq Mininote 2
- HP Compaq Mininote 1
- MSI Wind 3
- MSI Wind 2
- MSI Wind 1 - Atom CPU vs Celeron
- Gigabyte M912
- MSI Wind, EasyNote, Elox One, OLPC and Dell Vostro

EEE Journal Home Page

## Sunday, November 22, 2009

### Netbook Bestseller: Cheap, Sub USD 300

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A revolution in the Amazon Bestseller: the top 3 are all sub $300 (USD) netbooks of the 10-inch class, all with 3-cell battery, 160GB hard disk, 1GB memory and Windows XP. And of course all 3 with free shipping.
The actual 2nd position is actually the major news: a netbook approaching the $200 mark!!!

1. Acer Aspire One AOD250-1165 blue , $285.95
2. Gateway LT2022u 10.1-Inch Black Netbook, $229
3. Acer Aspire One AOD250-1116 - red, $285.95

The Asus EEE PC 1005HA priced in the range $350-370 (USD) has been #1 of the top ten for many weeks, of course we can't directly compare the EEE PC with the Aspire One and the Gateway, the actual top 3 netbooks are really the absolute minimum you can have from a netbook. I personally think that the 3-cells battery is no go... in any case the trend is clear: cheap netbooks! Now it is interesting to see when the first sub $200 netbook will appear, I bet it will be an ARM based netbook with Linux. Actuall if we consider about $30 for the Windows XP licence, a Gateway LT2022u with Linux could be already sold for $200...

## Thursday, June 5, 2008

### EEE PC Competition - Acer Aspire One

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The ultra portable laptops market is getting very busy... Asus launched the Acer Aspire One at a street price of about 330 Euros. The One got an Atom N70 (1.6GHz), 512MB SDRAM, 8.9-inch display , 8GB flash disk.
Acer announced two new additional versions (August) for the subnotebook: Linux with 1GB and 80GB hard disk for about 360 Euros and a Windows XP variant for about 400 Euros.
See also EEE Journal Home Page

## Thursday, January 28, 2010

### Pink Netbook - Not only for Girls/Women!

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For a women/girl the appearance and color of an object/netbook is a very important decision criteria. This is something men rarely understand... Pink is one important fashion color since a few years now.
A prepared a selection of pink netbooks for all price ranges, first the best (and most expensive...) followed by many netbooks of the $270-330 range.
Last but not least, don't forget to find a nice bag fitting the new netbook!
It's simply beautiful and perfect...
....for your Valentine Day 2010 gift: ASUS Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid Collection 1008P-KR-PU17-PI 10.1-Inch Netbook - Hot Pink
Designed from Karin Rashid, Indian origin and actually living in Paris, Karin Rashid is one of the most important modern designers.
For $499.99 (USD) it isn't the cheapest netbook out there however: what a netbook! It features a breathtaking design that includes a 10.1" frameless LED backlit display and an ergonomic chiclet keyboard. This beauty is matched by an excellent build quality, keyboard and high end feature for a netbook. Actually it isn't just for women/girls or valentine day: I lile very much this netbook and I'm seriously thinking of getting it for myself...
ASUS Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid Collection 1008P-KR-PU17-PI

- Intel Atom N450 Processor 1.66GHz (new Intel Pineview processor!)
- 2GB DDR2 RAM
- 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) + 500GB Free Web Storage; Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System
- 10.1-Inch Frameless Color-Shine 1024x600 WSVGA LCD Display; 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth Enabled, 1.3Mpixel Webcam
- 6-cell battery for 6+ hours battery life.

As you can see above, compared to main stream netbooks, the Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid Collection 1008P got double as much RAM (2GB) and hard drive (320GB). Furthermore you get Windows 7 Home Premium instead of Windows 7 Starter.
If you want to spend less
I found a very good offer for you: $299.99 to preorder the Asus EEE PC Seashell 1001P-MU17-PI, up to 11 hours of battery life and the new Atom N450 (Pineview processor).
In any case you still can find good fashion pink netbooks for about $300
all of them with the Atom N270 or N280 processor, 160GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, 10.1-inch display. Most of them got also a high capacity battery and Windows XP, some of them got Windows 7 Starter edition.
A selection of other good pink netbooks I found

- Toshiba Mini NB205-313/P for $327 (Windows XP, up to 9 hours battery)
- Asus EEE PC 1005HA-VU1X-PI for $319.77 (Windows XP, up to 8.5 hours battery)

Pink netbooks below $300

- Lenovo S10-2 for $294.93 (Windows 7 Starter, up to 6 hours battery)
- MSI Wind U100-427 for $279.99 (only 2.5 hour battery life)

## Saturday, January 9, 2010

### Intel Atom N450 (Pineview) vs Atom N280 vs N270 Benchmarks

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The first netbooks with Atom N450 (Pineview, 1.66GHz) are already shipping and much more are going to be released in the next few weeks:

- Shipping: ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-PU17-BU 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - Up to 14 Hours of Battery Life $379.99 (USD)
- Shipping: ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1001P-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up to 11 Hours of Battery Life $339.99 (USD)

In the meantime some few Pineview netbooks arrived to the press and the first benchmarks are out: bottom line the Atom N450 doesn't bring more horse power to netbooks using the new Atom generation. The situation will definetly change with the Atom N470: the higher clock (1.83GHz) will help a bit to improve netbook performance.
I put together some benchmark results

- notebookcheck.com: Asus EEE PC 1005PE (Atom N450) and EEE PC 1008HA (Atom N280)
- endgadget.com: Asus EEE PC 1005PE (Atom N450) and EEE PC 1008HA (Atom N280)
- ndevil.com: Acer Aspire One D150 (Atom N280) and Aspire One A150 (Atom N270)

The wPrime (32M) and Cinebench R10 (2 threads) clearly show that the Atom N450 is positioned at the Atom N280 level. Only 3DMark06 test shows some slightly better values for the pinewiew (Atom N450).
More details on Atom N450 and N470 performance
(click pictures to enlarge)

## Friday, December 18, 2009

### Best Pink Netbook: EEE PC, HP Mini, Samsung NC10, Toshiba NB205

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Most of the netbooks are sold in only few colors: black, white, gray and blue.
You want a pink netbook? No problem! My favourite is the HP Mini 110-1037NR in any case here you'll find a selection of the best pink netbooks: all with high capacity battery and good feature set.

- Asus EEE PC Seashell 1005HA-MU17-PI for $329 (Windows 7), one of the rare netbooks with matte display (a luxus nowadays!). With 250GB hard drive
- Toshiba Mini NB205-N313/P for $360, (Windows XP), 160GB hard drive
- HP Mini 110-1037NR for $430 (Windows XP), 160GB hard drive
- Samsung NC10-13P for $365 (Windows XP), also with matte display, 160GB hard drive

If you just want to have a pink netbook and must be very cheap, the only choice you have is the Acer Aspire One AOD250-1962 for $290: a decent netbook, pink and sub 300 dollars. The major difference from the other pink netbooks listed above is the smaller battery, you won't get more than 2 hours battery life.
Here a bigger list of all pink netbooks available at Amazon.com

## Sunday, October 25, 2009

### HD Video for Netbooks: with Atom, Nvidia Ion or ARM CPU?

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Today I tested my Dell Mini 10v (Inspiron 1011) with a couple of HD videos available in YouTube (full screen and HD selected), none of the two could be played smoothly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N2YWRJ-ppo (1080p, full HD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzscXeJ6FEQ (720p)
Not really a surprise, current generation of netbooks isn't able to play HD/full HD video. The Intel Atom N270/N280 processor doesn't provide enough performance and the graphics chipset doesn't help with video decoding.

#### Performance boost with Intel Pineview (Atom N450/N470) ??

Don't expect a significant performance boost with the adoption of the upcoming Intel Atom Pineview processors: the main news is integration of memory controller and graphics in the CPU, reducing overall chipset cost and power consumption. On the other hand neither CPU core nor the graphics engine will be more powerful, Intel "just" merged processor and north bridge in a single chip --> it's only an integration step.
Well, I must be a bit more precise: the Atom N450 will be clocked at 1.66GHz (as the N270) while the Atom N470 will get a 200MHz increase (1.86GHz) HOWEVER this is definetly not sufficient for full HD decoding.
This seems also to be confimed by Digitimes : Intel Atom N450/N470 will offer the option of an external chip (Broadcom BCM70015) for video decoding. I guess that this chip will eventually be adopted by "premium" netbooks, given the cost adder.

#### Performance boost with CUDA / Nvidia Ion Chipset ??

Another interesting possibility to finally have a full HD experience on netbooks is the adoption of Nvidia or ATI/AMD GPUs.
All new graphic chips from Nvidia and ATI/AMD in the past couple of years provide HD video acceleration, requiring little CPU intervention for video decoding (e.g. H.264). A significant number of desktop/barebone motherboards are already equipped with integrated graphics and HD video acceleration. Also very important: more and more video and graphics software make use of GPU acceleration provided by Nvidia and ATI/AMD chipsets. The software support got a boost in the past year, since the release of a more or less standardized API for GPU programming: the CUDA.
An importnat step forward is the CUDA/GPU acceleration provided by the upcoming Flash 10.1.
Even netbooks with the old Intel Atom N270/N280 if paired with a GPU (e.g. Nvidia Ion) would be able to play HD content, BUT: you first have to find one... netbooks with Nvidia Ion graphics are rare, insider say because of Intel's aggressive price policy (I've heard that Intel offers Atom+945 chipset at a lower costs than the Atom CPU alone!!!). This is of course a killing point for the netbook market, with a huge price pressure.
As of today, I know only of one netbook with Nvidia Ion, the HP Mini 311, with 11.6-inch display, Atom N270 and a 400 USD price tag.

#### What about Intel Atom alternatives, ARM CPU ??

As mentioned above, it isn't easy to build cheap netbooks with Intel and CUDA / Nvidia graphics. As far as I know Via Nano processors can't compete with Intel Atom because of the premium price tag and higher power consumption.
A realistic alternative for video decoding is coming from the adoption of the new ARM processors targeting MID and netbooks: Qualcomm Snapdragon, Nvidia Tegra and Freescale i.MX515. These are cheap enough to be competitive enough for price and power consumption. I think that the Nvidia Tegra got the best chance given the 1080p decoding capability and especially the support of CUDA, the standardized GPU interface mentioned before. I doubth that Qualcomm and Freescale are going to provide CUDA graphics drivers, this may be a problem.
BUT there are at least two factors playing against the ARM based processors

1. CPU performance: Intel Atom got an edge since the ARM processors don't support hardware multithreading (Intel Atom does, got two virtual processors) and got lower clock in actual products (max 1.2GHz ARM vs 1.6GHz in Atom)
2. Software support: Intel Atom got Windows support while ARM are so far supported by Linux (and derivates such as Android). This is going to be a major penalty for ARM, the only chance for ARM is to hope/work on a Linux distribution that can finally compete with Microsoft Windows. It's interesting to note that a very promising Netbook distribution is coming from Intel (Moblin), will Intel help ARM processors? :-)

See also

- Netbook Operating Systems and Processors 2009/2010
- All posts related to Linux on Netbooks
- All posts related to ARM Netbooks

## Sunday, February 1, 2009

### Netbook Processors and Operating Systems for 2009-2010

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Relevant posts

- posts on Apple / Leopard OS on netbooks
- posts on Atom processor
- posts on VIA Nano processor
- posts on dual core processors for netbooks

Netbooks/mini laptops represent now a significant part of the overall IT market, million unit of EEE PC, Aspire One, Samsung NC10 and MSI Wind were sold in weeks.
The netbook race started and in the next 6months to one year we'll see new processors and I bet also the first Android netbooks. The figure shows a possible scenario of operating systems and processors used in netbooks for 2009-2010.
1) Netbook processors
The vast majority of netbooks shipped today are equipped with Intel Atom processor, VIA C7 and Celeron netbooks are almost not shipped anymore.
A lot is moving in the netbook processors segment: we already saw netbooks mounting a MIPS processor, the first VIA Nano netbooks are coming in weeks and a bunch of ARM based netbooks are under development (see below). Voices say that also Apple is developing an own processor (ARM based).
Available Netbook Processors

- Intel Celeron, Atom, Core
- AMD Geode
- VIA Nano, C7
- Ingenic JZ4740 (MIPS based)

Netbook Processors 2009-2010

- x86 compatible: Intel Atom (single and dual core), Intel Core, VIA Nano (single and dual core), AMD Neo, Godson 3 (?)
- ARM based: Qualcomm Snapdragon, Freescale i.MX515, ZiiLabs ZMS-05, Apple (?)
- MIPS based: Ingenic JZ4740, Godson 3(?)

To be noted that Godson 3 processor is built on top of MIPS cores however implements x86 compatibility.
2) Netbook operating systems
While Microsoft Windows well supports x86 compatible processors, ARM and MIPS based processors aren't supported by Windows XP/Vista/7 and I don't think that the situation will change very soon unless ARM and MIPS processors will get a big success in the netbook market. It is also true that ARM and MIPS are already supported by Windows Mobile, however I don't think that Microsoft will let Windows Mobile and Windows 7 compete in the netbook segment.
In any case ARM and MIPS are omnipresent in portable devices and got a very good Linux support.
The Linux community is very active, the first netbook optimized distributions are coming our (e.g. Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Intel Moblin 2)
Google Android targets mobile devices (e.g. mobile phone), nevertheless I don't see a reason why not to use Android on netbooks as well. It means that the effort spent to port Android on ARM and MIPS platforms may enable an easy porting of Android on ARM and MIPS netbooks.
Apple excuse for not entering the netbook market is that actual netbook processors don't offer enough performance. Apple is waiting for next generation of netbook processors (or his own processor) to present the first "iNetbook" of course running MAC OS / Leopard.
Relevant posts

- posts on Apple / Leopard OS on netbooks
- posts on Atom processor
- posts on VIA Nano processor
- posts on dual core processors for netbooks

## Saturday, January 17, 2009

### Bluetooth for Aspire One A150, Samsung NC10, Medion Akoya Mini E1210 netbooks

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UPDATE: Netbook and Bluetooth - Integrated vs USB Dongle
Please go directly to the newest post, since t he Bluetooth dongle suggested in this post may have major software problems!
You want to buy the netbook that best fits you (e.g. using the netbook features database),
you are close to buy a top class netbook/mini laptop, such as the Samsung NC10, the Acer Aspire A150 or the Medion Akoya Mini E1210 when you see that it is missing a Bluetooth interface. What to do? You really need Bluetooth in the netbook to synchronize the mobile phone calendar or just to listen to music!
My suggestion: Bluetooth support in the netbook shouldn't be a go/not go criteria, you can simply add Bluetooth support using a Bluetooth USB dongle, there are many starting just below $10 (USD) and some of them are so tiny that you even won't see it.
This micro USB Bluetooth adapter simply disappears in the USB port of your netbook, so you can plug it once and forget it. You won't notice it! No damage to break it!
The Samsung NC10 or the Acer Aspire A150 got 3 USB ports so you'll have "just" two USB ports left, however it is far enough for 99% of us!
(At the time of writing) Beside the mentioned one, many other netbooks aren't equipped with a Bluetooth port: the HP MiniNote 2133, Acer Aspire A110, Fukato Jupiter, Lenovo Ideapad S9/S10, Fujitsu Amilo Mini Ui3520, Gigabyte M912, EEE PC 700/701/900/901. So if you really like the netbook however you miss Bluetooth, just buy an USB dongle/adapter!
Important! Installing a Bluetooth USB dongle/adapter is matter of minutes with Windows XP, for a Linux netbook the installation is a bit more complex and you need a minimal linux experience, look here for instructions on EEE PC (mostly similar for other netbooks).
UPDATE: Netbook and Bluetooth - Integrated vs USB Dongle
Please go directly to the newest post, since t he Bluetooth dongle suggested in this post may have major software problems!
Remember that using the EEE Journal Netbook database helps find your dream netbook, with or without Bluetooth and refining the search with many other paramenters (operating system, size, battery, etc...)
http://www.eeejournal.com/2008/12/netbook-feature-database.html

## Wednesday, June 11, 2008

### Feature Set Summary Table: Compare EEE PC vs MSI Wind vs Acer Aspire One vs Gigaset M912 vs other competitors

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The subnotebooks market is growing rapidly, that's why now is time to make some order...
I've prepared a table to compare feature set of EEE PC, MSI Wind, Acer Aspire One, Gigaset M912 and other subnotebooks
I'll try to update the table with the latest information I have: price, weight, LCD size, HDD/SDD size, processor, interfaces and so on!
See this table
See also EEE Journal

## Thursday, June 5, 2008

### EEE PC, MSI Wind, Acer Aspire One, HP Compaq Mininote, Gigabyte M912 for sale: is it the right moment to buy an ultra portable laptop / subnotebook ?

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The answer is definitely not! Don't buy an EEE PC, MSI Wind or similar in the next couple of months!
If you want to buy an ultra portable laptop / subnotebook / netbook you'd better wait at until August-September this year.
Last announcement is of Acer, the Aspire One and many new models are coming, also something from Sony. It means healthy competition, the EEE PC is not alone and now we are getting more and more choice at lower prices due to the availability of many ultra portable laptops and also from the announced price reduction for Windows XP licences for netbooks .
For all posts about EEE PC competitions see
http://www.eeejournal.com/search/label/EEE%20PC%20Competition
or see also EEE Journal Home Page.

## Monday, May 19, 2008

### EEE PC Competition - HP Compaq MiniNote 2133 for sale!

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Yet another competitor for the EEE PC and MSI Wind: the subnotebook HP Compaq MiniNote 2133.
To be noted that all of them are based on VIA C7-M CPU at different clock (1.0, 1.2 and 1.6). 8.9-inch display and especially 4 USB 2.0 ports and one ExpressCard/54 slot (to be checked).
HP MiniNote 2133 KX872AA / FF009AA, between $600 and $750

- CPU VIA C7-M 1.2GHz
- 1GB DDR2 SDRAM and Linux for KX872AA, 2GB SDRAM and Windows Vista Business for FF009AA
- 120GB hard disk
- 8.9-inch display, resolution
- Bluetooth, Wifi
- 4xUSB
- ExpressCard/54
- 3-cell battery (KX872AA) or 6-cell battery (FF009AA)

HP MiniNote 2133 KR922UT for about $500

- CPU VIA C7-M 1.0GHz
- 512MB DDR2 SDRAM
- Linux
- 4GB hard disk
- 8.9-inch display, resolution
- Wifi
- Not sure about 4 USB 2.0 and one ExpressCard/54
- 3-cell battery

EEE Journal Home Page

## Thursday, June 17, 2010

### Netbook free anti malware/anti spyware protection - complement free antivirus

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As posted in Best free antivirus for netbook, you can get a good antivirus protection for free and that won't slow down your netbook.
What I forgot to mention is that an antivirus alone is not enough: it is important to get anti malware and anti spyware protection. Something that none of the free antivirus provide.
One of the free anti malware/spyware (possibly the best) is PC Tools Threatfire. If you use a free antivirus I warmly recommend you PC Tools Threatfire in order to get a complete protection.
You can get it for free from the PC Tools, no need of registration.
I use it since weeks in my Dell Mini 10v (Intel Atom N270, 1GB RAM) to complement the free Avast Antivirus and I didn't notice a netbook slow down since the installation.

## Saturday, May 1, 2010

### Benchmarks Atom vs iPad A4 vs iPhone 3GS ARM Cortex and much more...

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See update here
With the iPad, Apple is creating a new type of device that got some similarities with the actual netbooks. It is known that the iPad got an Apple A4 processor clocked at 1GHz, it isn't clear yet which type of ARM core is really used: Cortex A8, A9, a customized version? It is very interesting to understand how this new processor compare to other ARM processors (ARM11 in iPhone 3G and Cortex A8 in iPhone 3GS) and to the Intel Atom processors.
It is really tough to compare performance of CPU with different architecture, running different operating systems and especially targeting very different applications.
Since years ARM claims superior performance for the Cortex A8 and A9 compared to Intel Atom. Now I could not resist, especially because the benchmarking race started and I finally got a critical mass of benchmarking data on Atom vs ARM performance.
First of all a clarification: here we talk about benchmarking of CPU cores, it has little to do with comparing performance of the iPhone vs iPad or iPad vs netbooks. If you want to compare two devices you have to find first a common use case and metrics to measure it, for example Anandtech published browsing benchmarks showing that ARM Cortex cores in iPhone 3GS and iPad are much slower than Atom in one of the most important use cases: Internet browsing.
The benchmarking ARM vs Atom race started and I finally got a critical mass of benchmarking data: ARM, the Linley group and the german magazine C't published CoreMark benchmarks for many ARM cores and Intel Atoms.
EEMBC CoreMark is a good metrics of the pure processing power of the CPU core, the algorithm is pretty small and fits in level 1 cache. CoreMark basically replaces the old Million Instruction Per Second (also called as MIPS, not to be exanged with the MIPS company ain direct competition with ARM...)
I created a chart with normalized CoreMark/MHz for each of the result I got.
The result for Atom processors seems stable around 2,5-2,8 CoreMark/MHz, I don't have a clear bottom line for the Cortex processors. The best results for Cortex A8 and A9 probably derive from tests done in best case conditions in development boards (e.g. for TI OMAP, Freescale i.MX515 and Samsung S5PC110) while real life products (such as iPhone and iPad) got much lower results.
Until the test conditions are clarified is not possible to state who really wins!!
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