Details about Asus’s plans for new netbooks have started to emerge and four new mainstream models are worthy of particular attention. These netbooks run between $299 and $429 and are, in Asus’s words, their “good, better, best, and elite” models for everyday netbook users.
The first in the series is the Asus Eee PC 1005HA-E, which has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $299. It’s the base model of the series, with a “good” array of specifications that will suit consumers interested in a simple, barebones netbook that enhances productivity but remains portable. The 1005HA-E has a 10.1-inch LCD display, an Intel ATOM N270 processor, a 0.3MP webcam, and four hours of battery life coming from a three-cell battery.
The next step up is the Asus Eee PC 1005HA-V, which resembles the 1005HA-E is all respects aside from its battery life and the available shell colors. The 1005HA-V provides a little extra style, allowing consumers to buy it in white, black, pink, or dark blue. It also uses a six-cell battery, for 8.5 hours of battery life.
The “best” model is the Asus Eee PC 1005HA-P, which really diverges from the previous configurations. It uses a six-cell high capacity battery that grants 10.5 hours of life. It’s Bluetooth capable. The processor is amped up to a N280 ATOM CPU, and the webcam is brought up to 1.3 megapixels.
The final, “elite,” model utilizes an Intel MENLOW 2420 processor, has 11 hours of battery life, and an 11.6-inch LCD display capable of high-definition (720p) resolution.
Best known as the company that made your cell phone five years ago, Nokia is now entering the very active netbook market with a mini-notebook of their own. The adorably-named Nokia “Booklet” offers a fairly robust array of specifications, the most interesting of which is the integrated 3G connectivity that would allow it to access the Internet anywhere, at all times, much like an iPhone.
It’s likely that the Booklet will ultimately be paired with a wireless plan in the same way Web-enabled cell phones are, though it’s not clear which provider, be it Verizon or AT&T, will be behind this project. The Booklet is set to debut officially in early September, at which point we might discover who is backing its 3G data plan, as well as its pricing and availability.
Specs-wise, it’s pretty good looking. It has a 10.1-inch LCD display, a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor, HDMI output for best-quality high-definition connections, and is very svelte. It weighs only 2.7 pounds and has a thickness of just over a quarter of an inch. In addition to 3G connectivity, the Booklet also has “A-GPS,” the kind of global positioning technology found in cell phones. It’s not the full-fledged GPS found on GPS receivers.
MSI announced six all-new notebooks this week, large-screen models that are a bit of a departure from their netbooks, but still maintain low, affordable price tags. The C-series laptops announced include both 16-inch (the 600 models) and 17-inch (the 700 models) displays, making these adequate desktop replacement computers. The six models are designated as such: CX600, CX700, CR600-013, CR600-017, CR700. Of particular note is the CX600-017 model, which can be upgraded with a Blu-ray disc drive for high-definition movie playback and high-density data storage. This model is equipped with a dual core, Intel Pentium T4200 processor clocked at a speed of 2.4GHz. All C-series models come with a 320GB hard disk drive, a 6-cell battery, and a built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam.
The starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price on the C-series models is $549.99, but lower prices can be found with some hunting around the web. At Buy.com, the CX600 can be bought for just under $500, at present.
It’s been a long time since Blu-ray definitively crushed HD-DVD, and with it, Toshiba’s dreams of cornering the high-definition media market. For the past year or so, Toshiba has shuffled around, pouting, trying to find a way to accept the new regime without coming off as desperate and hurting their pride. Ultimately, it was inevitable. Toshiba would have to accept Blu-ray and begin making their own Blu-ray capable devices in order to stay relevant.
That day has come. Toshiba has applied for admittance to the Blu-ray Disc Association, which would allow them to begin creating Blu-ray devices, such as BD players and laptops with BD drives. Things are still fuzzy, and there are no official release dates or product announcements just yet, but it’s good news for media-loving laptop users.
Toshiba’s Qosmio line of laptops are multimedia monsters, and before the high-definition format wars, were an excellent choice for consumers interested in a big laptop capable of acting as a media server, DVR, and home entertainment hub. In the midst of the battle, the Qosmios became some of the first laptops to support any HD media format, though in this case it was HD-DVD, unfortunately. Since the battle ended, the Qosmios have been hamstrung by Toshiba’s reluctance to accept Blu-ray, while Sony has produced plenty of Blu-ray capable laptops, hoping to scoop up multimedia laptop buyers.
Now, with Toshiba finally coming around, it might be worth waiting for the next wave of media-centric Toshiba laptops to see what they have to offer.