Review You don’t have to dig too deep to see that the diversity of Samsung’s netbook range is a case of flattering to deceive. Sure, there are plenty of them, but the differences are essentially Peripheral and cosmetic with all bar the NC20 having 10.1in screens and the usual netbook-norm Intel Atom chippery.
Samsung’s N510: a full res screen without a weak Z-series Atom CPU
The N510, however, diverges from the pattern established by the NC10 and replicated in such machines as the N110, N120 and N310 in that it uses Nvidia’s Ion LE graphics chip – along with a 1.66GHz Atom N280 CPU – and an 11.6in, 1366 x 768 display.
Despite the hidden differences, externally the N510 is quite clearly a Samsung. The design is restrained, if not to say conservative, and the only colours available are white and black. As with previous Samsung netbooks, the build quality is of a high standard. You get the feeling this is a machine that will take whatever life throws at it.
Easy-on-the-eye blue status lights abound, as do icons telling you what all the ports are for, together making this an ideal machine for anyone who loses sleep over whether or not they have left the Caps Lock key engaged or worry should they try to stick USB devices into HDMI or LAN ports. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Installing a second operating system on a PC is nothing new. Plenty of manufacturers have done so before, building a slimline Linux distro into their machines to provide a much more rapid start-up than Windows can manage: full access to the internet within seconds of pressing on power key.
Acer’s Aspire with Android: fast start for Google, slower boot to Microsoft
What sets Acer apart is its choice of secondary OS: Google’s Android, an operating system usually found in smartphones, but here pressed into service the way Asus has used SplashTop, Sony has used XMB and Dell has used Latitude On.
All of these services play second fiddle to Windows, and Acer’s Android offering is no different. Right from the outset, Android is junior partner to the Microsoft OS. Switch the machine on – it’s an Aspire One 10in D250 netbook, almost exactly like the one we reviewed here – and alongside the regular invitation to enter the Bios setup screen by pressing F2, you have the chance “to enter Windows OS” by pressing F9.
You have to be quick, though. If you’re too slow, or you keep your mitts off the keyboard, the familiar Google ‘droid appears, cheekily peering up at you from the bottom right corner of the screen. Within seconds – 18.9, to be precise – you’re facing the Android UI. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Earlier this year, Fujitsu launched a somewhat unsuccessful assault on the netbook market with its Amilo Mini UI 3250. Suffering from a slow hard drive, fiddly keyboard and ever-so-slightly-ugly chassis, it didn’t fare too well in our review.
Fujitsu’s M2010: still room for improvement
Now, just a few months later, Fujitsu is back on the netbook warpath with the M2010. Featuring a 10.1in screen, it’s available in three colours – pearl white, metallic red and sparkling black – all of which come with the same glossy chassis complete with a large Fujitsu ‘infinity’ symbol on the lid.
At 258mm, the M2010 is roughly the same width as rival 10in netbooks, however, the six-cell battery juts out at the back and pushes the depth to 205mm. The battery also adds to the thickness, measuring 43mm at the rear and 32mm at the front, while pushing the total weight to 1.33kg.
Fujitsu has gone for Intel’s Atom N280 processor, which runs at 1.66GHz off a 667MHz FSB. Graphics are handled by Intel’s GMA 950 chip, while 1GB of DDR2 memory is also installed – this can be upgraded to 2GB, but there’s only one slot available so you’ll need to ditch the preinstalled module to achieve this. Other specs include a 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Needless to say, XP Home comes preinstalled. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Packard Bell may not a name you immediately associate with the latest word in netbooks, but now that it’s part of Acer, all that may be about to change. Acer has big plans for the Packard Bell brand: it intends to develop PB into the very acme of trendy tech desirability. Apparently.
Packard Bell’s dot m/a: rarely, a netbook based on AMD chippery
PB’s netbook range will eventually include three machines: the 10.1in dot s, which uses the Atom N280 chip and Windows XP; the Atom Z520-powered, Vista-running 11.6in dot m; and the dot m/a, which is a little out of the ordinary because it’s a netbook powered by an AMD processor.
To be exact, it uses a 1.2GHz Athlon L110 with an 800MHz HyperTransport bus and 512KB of L2 cache. Graphics come courtesy of the AMD ATI Radeon Xpress X1270 graphics core built into AMD’s 690G chipset. You also get 2GB of DDR 2 memory as standard and Vista Home Premium.
Despite housing an 11.6in screen, the dot m/a is still a reasonably compact and sleek affair, measuring 288 x 199 x 25.4mm and weighing 1.25kg with the standard three-cell battery pack or 1.38kg with a six-cell unit. Those dimensions are the same as Acer’s Aspire One 751 for a good reason: the two machines share the same chassis and case. Read the rest of this entry »
Review A side-effect of Dell’s last internal reorganisation is that the company has separate teams working on very similar products but aimed at different kinds of user. Taking the case in hand, the Latitude 2100 is a netbook aimed at major organisations – primarily educational – who want to buy machines of a predetermined spec in bulk. So it has been designed by a wholly different team from the one responsible for the consumer-oriented Inspiron Mini series.
So, have the Latitude lads and lasses done a better job at making a netbook than the Inspiron crew?
When you lay hands on the 2100, the first thing that strikes you is the textured, rubberised skin that covers both the lid and base of the machine. It’s a unique netbook feature as far as we know and we have to ask why it hasn’t been done before. It ensures that the machine sits very securely on a desk. It also feels more grippy in the hand than the usual slick netbook casings, reducing the chances of it slipping out of the grasp of a careless ankle biter, or a tired and emotional grown-up.
Rubber skin aside, the 2100 is a rather angular machine. You get get the impression the Latitude designers took one look at the Mini 10s curves and thought: ‘Over my dead body… pass me a set square’. Read the rest of this entry »
