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

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.

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

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.
  

ARM11 vs Cortex A8 vs Cortex A9 - Netbooks processors

You may remember that an Intel executive (one year ago or so) in an interview said that the Internet browsing experience in the iPhone is not that good because an ARM processor is used instead of an Intel Atom. Of course this sentence is a pure provocation since the Atom processors weren't (and still aren't) suitable for handsets: they are too power hungry.
The first iPhones 2G and 3G included a Samsung SoC based on the ARM11 core clocked at about 600MHz, much more power efficient than actual Atoms. On the other hand Atom processors are definetly more powerful than ARM11 processors.
In the past couple of years ARM introduced Cortex A8 and Cortex A9 cores, processors able to reach and potentially beat Intel Atom.

Just to give an example showing how "bad" the ARM11 compared to the new Cortex, I report the peak DMIPS/MHz. It is a clock-per-clock performance indication of the processor (used especially for Marketing purpose)

• ARM11: 1.2 DMIPS/MHz
• ARM Cortex A8: 2.0 DMIPS/MHz
• ARM Cortex A9: 2.5 DMIPS/MHz

There is a huge performance difference between older ARM11 cores and the new ARM Cortex A8 and Cortex A9.

Example of devices using the ARM cores
Apple iPhone 3G uses an ARM11 processor while the iPhone 3GS an ARM Cortex A8.
The ARM Cortex A8 is also used in Qualcom Snapdragon and NXP i.MX515 SoCs.
The first ARM Cortex A9 based SoCs (System on a Chip) are expected in 2010.
Nvidia Tegra 1 is based upon an ARM11 and it's unknown whether or not in Tegra 2 an ARM11 or a Cortex A8 / Cortex A9 will be used.

UPDATE: Nvidia Tegra 2 uses a Cortex A9 MPCore

Unfortunately I didn't find stable benchmarks results for the Cortex A8/A9 processors, stay tuned... A number of netbooks/smartbooks equipped with ARM processors are expected next year (2010).

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

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

Nvidia Tegra 2 for Dual Core Netbooks/Smarbooks in 2010

UPDATE: in the original post I wrote that the Nvidia Tegra 1 uses an ARM Cortex A8 core, this is wrong (thank you Brian!), an ARM11 core is used.
UPDATE2: Qualcomm Snapdragon uses the "Scorpion CPU", a Qualcomm derivate of the ARM Cortex A8. (thank you alxlr8!)

While Nvidia Ion is "only" providing graphics acceleration to netbooks and nettops, the new Nvidia Tegra 2 is supposed to be the first Nvidia SoC (System on a Chip) implementing both the core CPU and GPU functionality for netbooks/smartbooks.
According to Xbitlabs, Nvidia is going to make a major announcement during next CES (Jan 2010): the first netbooks/smartbooks with Nvidia Tegra 2 are going to be launched already in 2010.
Very few details are available: it will be a dual core processor with 40nm technology.
As you may remember the Nvidia Tegra 1 (used in Microsoft Zune HD player) implements a single core ARM Cortex A8 ARM11 processor. Now the easiest step for Nvidia would be to just add a second ARM11 core to the SoC, on the other hand the ARM11 is a rather "old" processor, especially compared to the more efficient Cortex A8 and A9.

The new ARM Cortex processors are used in other ARM SoC targeting netbooks/smartbooks, for example the Qualcom Snapdragon (actually a Qualcomm derivate called Scorpion CPU).
For this reason I guess that Tegra 2 will also use the dual core Cortex A9 MPcore, the max CPU clock should be at most 2GHz. Of course this is a maximum clock, the clock used in Tegra 2 the can be much lower.
2GHz seems to be the maximum clock possible at 40nm for these two processors: in recent press announcements Synopsis presented a 2GHz ARM Cortex A8 core and ARM a 2GHz Cortex A9 core, both using a 40nm geometry.

Of course Nvidia Tegra 2 based netbooks/smartbooks can only run Linux variant: a distribution or at most Android/Chrome OS

Very low price for HP Mini 110c netbook

Incredible low price for HP Mini in Germany: HP Compaq Mini 110c-1110sg for 199 Euro!
In fact you can buy the HP netbook for 249 Euro (Amazon offer) and there is a 50 Euro cash back offer from HP. It means that 249-50 = 199 Euro, about $300 US dollars for a good netbook. Especially if you consider that big battery (6-cells), not bad for a Christmas present.

Now some data:

• HP Compact Mini 110c-1110sg
• Display 10,1-inch
  
• Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz)
• 1GB RAM and 160GB Hard Drive
• Windows XP Home
• 6-cells battery
  

Bestseller Site - Help with Christmans Presents!

Exclusive preview for the EEE Journal readers: the Bestseller site a very useful guide before shopping: you can see what are the most sold products for many categories. The lists are automatically updated (hourly), it means that you find always up to date information.
The site is also useful for presents, especially if you want to buy something you're not very familiar with. Use the collective intelligence of the online shoppers!

--> Bestseller site

Good Netbook low Price - Samsung NC130

I just saw a very good offer at Amazon.com: for just $279.99 USD you get the Samsung N130-13B model. If you are looking for a very cheap/low price netbook don't hesitate: you won't find more for the price in the next days.
The Samsung N130-13B got a more or less standard feature set (Intel Atom N270, 1GB RAM, 160GB disk), 4-5 hours battery and Windows XP. Worth mentioning is a very good 10-inch display (very bright and non-glare).

Best Netbook with Matte Display (and for outdoor usage)

If you are in a hurry: these are the netbooks with matte display that I suggest, see also below the description


Be careful when buying a netbook: consider the fact that most of the netbooks are shipped with glossy/glare display, many people find it annoying (me for example) and prefer a matte display. This is especially important if you plant to use the netbook outdoor or in conditions of brigth sun.

Glare vs matte display in a nutshell

Glossy/glare displays got nicer crisps images, in fact matte display got an additional non-reflecting layer that tends to make the image a bit softer. On the other hand the big advantage of the matte displays is that they don't reflect your image.
The reflections on glare displays can be very annoying (and let the image disappear) outdoor and/or with direct light source from the backside. In order to "reduce" this annoying effect the glare displays must be very bright (more than 200cd/m2).

Best netbooks with matte display

As far as I know all 10-inch Samsung netbooks got a non-glare (Matte) display.
I personally think that Samsung buils the best netbooks: if you want to have a good netbook with matte display you can't be wrong with a Samsung, for example the NC10 models are among the best netbooks available today

You must pay attention with Asus netbooks since only part of the EEE PC netbooks got a matte display, you have to search for...

• The new EEE PC 1005HA ("normal" and Seashell) line got few models with matte display, namely all EEE PC 1005HA-M models. Older Asus EEE PC 1000 and 1000HE models got also a Matte display.
• "Family issue": the display of all Asus EEE PCs isn't that brigth, actually is rather dark. This can be changed by software, the eeectl utility allow you enhance the display brigthness to excellent values. Of course this is not covered by Asus guarrantee...

2010 Netbooks - ARM and Pineview, 3G and GPS

UPDATE: New articles on Pineview netbook performance and ARM CPU

• Intel Atom N450 (Pineview) vs Atom N280 vs N270 Benchmarks
  
• Intel Atom N470 Netbook Expected Benchmarks/Performance
  
• HD Video for Netbooks: with Atom Nvidia Ion or ARM CPU?
  
• ARM11 vs Cortex A8 vs Cortex A9 - Netbooks processors
  
• Nvidia Tegra 2 for Dual Core Netbooks/Smartbooks in 2010

Early 2010 (or even just across Christmas 2009) we'll see a small and a big revolution in the netbook market.

Small revolution: the first netbooks with Intel Pineview (Atom N450) processor, I say small revolution since the Pineview processors won't have more performance than actual Atom N280. It's just an integration step (CPU core + memory controller + GPU). Some little more performance is expected by the Atom N470 (clocked at 1.86GHz) and that is supposed to be launched in Q2 2010.

Big revolution: ARM processors will invade a market traditionally controlled by x86 architecture (Intel and AMD). These processors will be based on the ARM Cortex A8 and Cortex A9 cores, we'll see single and dual core implementations with clock frequency exceeding 1GHz, possibly up to 2GHz. As you may know, ARM sells just IP. The ARM cores are integrated in sofisticated SoC (System on a Chip) including GPU, memory controller and many interfaces. Some of these SoC are directly derivative of chipsets used in actual smartphones, for this reason it is very likely to see ARM netbooks with integrated 3G modem for data connectivity, some may even integrate a GPS receiver. Actually the first ARM SoC in netbooks should be the Qualcomm Snapdragon and Freescale iMX51. The Qualcomm Snapdragon is already used in some popular smarphones.
A very good side effect of ARM adoption is that these processors can't run Windows, they can "just" run Linux and this can be the factor that can finally help Linux gain acceptance and especially increase market share.
The ARMnetbooks got potential for a significant netbook price reduction: some extimate already sub $200 USD, more feature rich ARM netbooks getting in the $200-250 USD. The cost saving is due to the cheaper processors, smaller battery required (since the ARM processors are more energy efficient) and the zero license cost for the Operating System (a Windows 7 Starter licence shoud costs $15-20 USD).

ARM vs Atom Pineview: the ARM processors won't bring more performance, actually I guess that the single core variant may be even significant slower than Atom processors (Intel Atom processors got Hyperthreading/Multithreading), it's probably too early to judge however I guess that the performance level of the single core ARM processors will be comparable to Intel Celeron and VIA C7.

First Apple Netbook? Some speculate that Apple is going to lauch the first netbook with an own processors based on ARM architecture. The voice started after Apple acquisition of PA-Semi, a chipset vendor specialized in ARM architecture.

Best Netbooks for Xmax 2009 - Asus EEE PC 1005HA

The EEE PC Seashell 1005HA is again absolute bestseller netbook at Amazon.com. The Seashell models are gaining attractions because of the nicer look and build while getting to the $350 USD price point, with basically no price difference to the "normal" EEE PC 1005HA.
The EEE PC Seashell 1005HA is actually unbeateable at about $350 USD. The major positive points are Windows 7, a 250GB hard disk (while XP netbooks got a max of 160GB), WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth, up to 10.5 battery life and the Atom N280 processor (giving a couple of % more performance).

Some details common to most of the topselling 1005HA:

• 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

To be noted that the EEE PC 1005HA LCD is a bit dimmed by software, done to extend battery life. You can (at your own risk!) put LCD to maximum luminance with the eeectl2 utility.

Netbook with Windows 7 Started can have Dual Core CPU!

I just saw here that Windows 7 Starter can be licensed in dual core processors!!!
This is in contraddition to what many people say around. The Microsoft list of allowed mobile processors includes many dual core CPUs

• Celeron Dual Core series
• Intel Pentium Dual Core T3XXX series and T4XXX series
• Intel Core Duo series
• Intel Core 2 Duo T5XXX series
• Athlon Neo X2 L325
• AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core series, AMD Athlon II M3XX Dual-Core series

And of course single core CPUs

• Intel Atom N270, N280 , N450, and N470
• Intel Atom Z500, Z510, Z520, Z530, and Z540
• Intel Celeron series, Celeron M series and Celeron ULV SU2300
• AMD Geode, Sempron, and Athlon Single-Core series
• AMD Athlon Neo MV40

On the other hand it is also true that none of the allowed dual core processors is suitable for the netbook market: all the above dual core CPUs are too expensive and dissipate too much power to be used in netbooks.
Microsoft allows use of Windows 7 Starter with dual core Atoms (so far Atom 330 and the announced Atom D510 Pineview) only for desktop/nettop systems.

Dual Core Netbook with Intel Atom, ARM, Windows 7 or Linux?

-- UPDATE: Windows 7 Starter can use dual core processors!

A lot of netbooks are now shipping with a Windows 7 Starter licence. This is the cheapest licence that an OEM (e.g. Acer, Samsung, etc) can get, in the range 15-20USD. This low price is key to enable Windowso low cost netboks, with a 250-350 USD price point.
Microsoft relaxed a little bit the hardware limits to run a Windows 7 Starter licence, now you can have a slightly larger hard disk (250GB instead of 160GB for XP Home), no limitation for touchscreen display and graphics and especially no limitations on the number of applications that can run in parallel.
Still tough limits are the 10,2-inch display, 1GB RAM and the fact that only single core processors (with up to 2GHz clock) are allowed.

It means that (cheap) dual core netbooks won't be mainstream with Windows 7. No chance.
My guess: Intel didn't oppose Microsoft decision, on the contrary! This strategy of course is good for Intel: if you want more performance you must buy more expensive platforms/processors (such us the CULV)!

Now some interesting factors comes into the game: Linux and ARM based processors.
ARM is pushing its cores in the netbook market and major netbook OEMs announced ARM based netbooks for mid January 2010. Qualcomm Snapdragon processor seems to be a popular choice for this first generation of ARM netbooks. ARM recently announced the availability of a dual core Cortex A9 MCore macro getting up to 2GHz, this is a really interesting news. Furthermore: all the ARM based processors include an integrated graphics unit.
Now the Linux factor: By definitions Linux distributions don't impose hardware limits and are very very cheap. Furthermore I think that now Linux gotta a chance to evolve to a really usable mainstream operating system, especially now after the huge efforts spent for Android and Chromium OS, both based on Linux kernel. Also very important is the fact that many different entities (OEMs, Intel, ARM, Canonical/Ubuntu and many more) are working at netbook friendly distributions.
My bottom line: after a first generation of ARM netbooks in January 2010, we'll probably see the first ARM dual core processors with Linux by mid-end 2010.

By purpose I didn't mention VIA and AMD: None of the two chipset manifacturers got products able to compete with Intel Atom and ARM for price and power consumption. Now with the integration of CPU and graphic processors in the upcoming Intel Pineview (Atom N450, Jan 2010 and Atom N470, March 2010) both VIA and AMD seems to have no chance at all.

PS: just to anticipate some comments. I know that there are a couple of netbooks with dual core Atom 330. However none of the big brands would dare to sell them with Windows, because of the Microsoft limitations.

-- UPDATE: Windows 7 Starter can use dual core processors!