PINE TRAIL POWERED GATEWAY NETBOOKS AVAILABLE IN CANADA

Two Pine Trail Atom powered Gateway netbooks are now available in Canada. One of the two machines, the Gateway LT2102H, is priced at $299.99 CAD. This model is equipped with a 10.1 inch display with 1024 x 600 pixels. It has an Atom N450 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, WiFi 802.11b/g/n and GMA 3150 graphics. It runs Windows 7 Starter. The 3-cell battery rated at 2200mAh is expected to provide up to 4 hours of up time.

Another netbook in the same series – the Gateway LT2107H – is also available for $349.99 CAD. This model has more or less the same specs, but it has a larger 250GB hard disk drive and a 6-cell 4400mAh battery. Gateway claims that the battery will last for around 8 hours. Both models appear to be rebranded versions of the newly announced Acer Aspire One 532h.

AMD POWERED MSI NETBOOKS HIT FCC

AMD still has no dedicated processors for use in small laptops. But netbooks featuring AMD’s Neo processors – the Asus 1201T, for example - have started appearing. And now two MSI netbooks spotting AMD processors are all set to land in the US. Apparently two MSI netbooks – the MS-1241 and MS-1243 have hit the FCC.

Sources claim that these models could very well be the Wind U230 and the Wind U210 but that is kind of surprising because the Wind U210 is already available in the US. The specs manual mentions the AMD Yukon L335 processor, integrated graphics, 3.5G support, VGA, HDMI, 1.3MP webcam, WiFi and Bluetooth. Optional features include a TV tuner.

QUANTA UNVEILS SNAPDRAGON POWERED SMARTBOOK

Plenty of non-Intel devices have started hitting the market. Lenovo has announced its plans to release a Snapdragon powered smartbook. Now Quanta has unveiled another smartbook. This machine too will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor. It will run on Google’s Android OS.

Only the prototype is ready at the moment. The demo video released by Quanta shows a mini laptop with 3 USB 2.0 ports, a mini-HDMI connector, a microSD reader and a combination of microphone and headphone jacks.

In terms of thickness the machine is comparable to Sony’s Vaio X. But just not expect it to have similar guts.

iBUYPOWER LAUNCHES CORE i7 POWERED NOTEBOOK

IBuyPower has launched a 17.3 inch desktop replacement laptop with some decent specs. The machine dubbed Batallion 101W870CU is powered by a Core i7 processor.

The Batallion 101W870CU can be configured with any of the available Core i7 processors ranging from the 1.6GHz 720QM to the 2.0GHz 920QM Extreme edition. Up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM can be installed. The twin 500GB hard disk drives provide up to 1TB of storage. Alternatively you can opt for 320 GB Intel X25-M MLC SSDs (twin 160GB drives). Graphics is handled by a 1GB NVIDIA Mobility GTX280 discrete GPU.

There are 4 USB 2.0ports. Other notable features include eSATA, Bluetooth, Blu-ray (optional) and fingerprint reader. The 17.3 inch comes with the full HD (1920x1080) resolution. Prices start at $2,114.

ASUS INTRODUCES CORE i7 POWERED M60J NOTEBOOK

Asus has introduced yet another notebook powered by Intel’s new Core i7 processor. Dubbed M60J, it is equipped with a 16 inch display and NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M GPU with 1GB of video memory.

The Asus M60J can be configured with either an Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz or 820QM 1.73GHz Processor. The dual hard drives provide up to 1 TB of storage. Up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM can be installed. The 16 inch display features 1366x768 pixels.
The notebook also features the AI TouchMedia feature which is a one-touch multimedia center. Other notable features include WiFi 802.11n, 2 megapixel web camera, a fingerprint reader, an ExpressCard slot, an eSATA port, 4 USB ports, HDMI, VGA outputs and 4-in-1 media card reader. The machine weighs 3.3kg with the 6-cell battery.

Pricing and Availability
There is no information regarding pricing or availability.

TEGRA POWERED SMARTBOOKS IN THE DEVELOPMENT

Smartbooks powered by Nvidia’s Tegra platform are currently being built. These devices are expected to run on Google’s upcoming Chrome operating system.

The Tegra platform is different from the ION platform. While the ION platform pairs an Intel Atom processor with Nvidia 9400M GPU, the Tegra platform pairs an ARM-based processor with Nvidia GeForce GPU. The advantages of using the Tegra platform include a long battery life. Intel’s processors are notorious for being power hungry. The ARM processors, on the other hand, are very energy efficient. Nvidia also claims that smartbooks running on the Tegra platform will be capable of handling 1080p video, HD Flash, 3G and Wi-Fi.

ASUS INTRODUCES CORE i7 POWERED G60J AND M60J NOTEBOOKS

Asus has officially announced two notebooks – the M60J and the G60J - powered by Intel’s Core i7 processor.

The G60J is powered by a quad-core mobile processor with 4GB of DDR RAM and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 260M GPU. Other features include 1GB of VRAM, a pair of 500GB 7200rpm hard drives, Blu-ray combo drive and Altec Lansing speakers. The notebook is available in two display sizes – 16 inch HD panel with 1366x768 pixels and 15.6 inch full HD with 1920x1200pixels. Prices start at $2,999.

The M60J is a multimedia notebook with touch controls. It uses the same quad-core mobile processor, 4GB of RAM, Blu-ray combo drive and 16 inch HD display. The graphics option on this notebook is a slightly slower GeForce GT240M and the pair of 500GB drives spin at 5400rpm. Other features include Altec Lancing speakers with Dolby 2 Home Theatre certification. Prices start at $2,599.

Availability
Both notebooks will be available next month. They will come pre-installed with 64-bit edition of Windows 7 Professional.

MSI WIND NETBOOK WILL BE NOW ANDROID POWERED

MSI (Micro-Star International) is all set ready to launch its first Android-based netbook at Computex 2009 in the beginning of June, reported by Economic Daily News.

According to Digitimes, MSI has taken the responsibility which is offered by the show to protect orders from computer retailers globally. However the company refused to give any comment on the report. It has also been said that MSI has collaborated with the Institute for Information Industry (III) in Taiwan for the netbook’s development. However, what part III will play in the development is still now clear.

MSI Android-based netbook is expected to be based on the company’s 10.2 inch Wind model. It has also been said that with the launch of this operating system, many companies will be in a position to prepare laptops at a very low costs. After getting the overwhelming response for Android-powered phones, the company is in a hope that they will get the similar response once the Android-based Netbooks is in the market. However, the company has not revealed any specifications about the system.

Apart from that, there are many things that are unknown like what forms the Android netbook might be, i.e whether it will like the present model from the Wind range tweaked to operate the open-source Linux OS, or will be completely of a different range.

MIO WINDOW'S MOBILE POWERED CONCEPT MID

If you're like us you've probably been keeping up with CES. And honestly there is so much tech that I am not sure where to start. But since this is a laptop and notebook related blog we have narrowed down our news to the new laptops being released.

DESPARA ATOM POWERED PRIME NOTE CARTINA UM NETBOOK

As I said before with the netbook standard currently defined thanks to Intel's Atom processors and Microsoft's XP Home we won't be seeing a lot of innovative features until next year when Window's 7 is released.

This latest netbook from Dospara boasts the standard nebook configuration: 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB HDD 802.11b/g WiFi, and an 8.9 inch screen which boasts 1024 x 600 LCD panel.

If that's not enough you get a lackluster battery that guarantees 2 hours of battery life and a mysterious Linux OS pre-installed.

And just like the Epson Endeavor it is only available in Japan though it does carry a lighter price of ¥39,980 ($413).

TOSHIBA’S AMD POWERED ALTERNATIVES

Toshiba has revealed the Satellite A305D 15.4-inch laptop PC series, featuring an all new design and AMD’s processor power. The notebook maker presently offers 2 variants in A305D models. The Toshiba Satellite A305D-S6831 offered with a $949.99 price tag and the A305D-S6835 tagged at $999.99. Unlike the Intel-related A300/A300 series, the both systems comprise the AMD Turion 64 X2 Gold Edition TL-64 CPU at 2.2GHz, the ATI Radeon X1250 integrated GPU which administers a 15.4″ 1280×800 display, 3GB of DDR2 memory, and a DVD multi speed drive . A305D-S6831 has a 250GB hard drive, while the A305D-S6835 sports 320GB of storage. Both HDD revolve at 5,400rpm. These laptops incorporate stereo speakers and a web-cam, which can be used for face recognition passwords.

The Satellite P305D notebooks feature the Atheros 802.11a/g/n wireless LAN, an Ethernet port, and a 56k modem. They have 4 USB ports with Sleep and Charge utility, an Express-Card slot, 5-in-1 media card reader, Fire-wire port, VGA and S-Video outputs, and S/P DIF output port, shared with headphone port. The Toshiba Satellite P305D starts at 6 pounds and presents a full-sized keyboard, as well as the innovative touch-sensitive multimedia control pad. This notebook features the blending finish with Horizon pattern.