Tag Archives: netbooks

New Intel Atom chip to up the ante

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Those of you in the market to purchase a netbook, listen up!

So we already know that that netbooks are no longer being forced to ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition; new netbooks give customers the option to have it shipped with Home Premium or above.  That said, now there is a different restriction being lifted on netbooks: Intel will allow netbook manufacturers to ship their systems with more than 1GB of RAM.  This will allow for much faster and efficient netbooks.  The 1.83GHz N470 Intel Atom “Pine Trail” chip will give a boost to netbooks ’round the world come this March.

The lifing of the 1GB RAM restrcition continues to blur the distinction between netbooks and small laptops or ultraportables.

[Via Engadget]

Netbooks to run all versions of Windows 7

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I hate to use the phrase “all versions” in the a sentence that is about an operating system, but the geniuses at Microsoft leave me no choice.

Windows 7 will come in six different editions: Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise.  Of these six editions, four of them will be available to the general public in the US: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.  (The others were developed for different countries.)  If you would to know “which one is right for you,” take a look at what Microsoft has to say on the decision-making process.

Up until this point Microsoft made it clear that all netbooks would be restricted to the Windows 7 Starter Edition, meaning that all netbooks would be limited to running at most three applications at a time.  That stinks, I know.  Fortunately, though, Microsoft has given it some thought and has decided to remove this restriction from the Starter Edition, andallow netbooks to run any version of Windows 7.  In other words, you can run the dumbed down Starter Edition or you can rock the Ultimate Edition with Areo Peek features and all.  As the release of the new OS dawns upon us (October 22), it looks like Microsoft is trying to do anything and everything to ease the transition from the troubled Vista to what may be its savior, Windows 7.

[Via Engadget]

Acer & ASUS call for netbook production freeze

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The chip that powers almost all netbooks today is called the Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz).  And boy is it getting boooo-ring.  This chip is tired and used.  Consumers demand an upgrade!  A new, more powerful and efficient Atom chip is on the way say Intel, and its code-named “Pine-Trail M.”  It will be released in the first quarter of 2010.  Ever since netbooks became oh-so popular not too long ago, companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and creator of the original Eee PC Asustek have been pumping out new netbook devices like it’s their job (wait, it istheir job!).  Anyway, the market has quickly become saturated with way too many clone netbooks (both in exterior looks and interior parts; re: the Atom N270).  As of late, it has been confusing to distinguish different netbooks from each other, especially when their names are differentiated only by a single letter or number.  According to industry sources, in a surprise statement Acer and ASUS have called for a freeze on netbook production for 2009; they plan on launching new netbooks in early 2010 when the Intel Pine-Trail chips are ready for use.  In the meantime, the companies will instead focus on their thin-and-light (or ultra-thin) laptops that run on Intel’s CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) processors for the remainder of this year.  I am very much looking forward to future netbooks that contain Intel’s smaller batttery saving processor (Pine-Trail) and nVidia’s ION platform which allows for better graphics and 1080p HD support.

[Via Digitimes; Engadget]