Netbook Reviews

So you own a nice small netbook? The last thing you want is a huge USB Flash drive sticking out of it.

SanDisk have just launched their very small Cruzer Blade USB Flash drive. While we doubt it is the world’s smallest USB flash drive, it is SanDisk’s smallest. They say it’s about the size of a paper clip.

Mine arrived today, and I thought I would take some shots of it in use to show its small size.

If you’re looking to move away from Windows as an operating system or simply looking to try something different, Jolicloud would be a great OS to start with.

It can be installed simply from Windows, or directly from ISO, and sit alongside your Windows installation as a dual boot option.

Jolicloud has been designed especially for netbooks, and they are just about to release version 1.0 of their operating system. Current uses will receive an automatic update over the next week or so.

It has been a couple of years since Apple launched their MacBook Air laptop. Ever since then Apple has expressed little to no interested in netbooks. But they did of course release the iPad, a device which small, light and has long battery life, but of course no keyboard or full operating system.

So the closet thing Apple has to a netbook is their MacBook air, even though it will costs a good 3-5 times as much.

Now according to Digitimes, Apple is set to release a new MacBook Air with a smaller 11.6-inch display and a slimmer / lighter design that the original versions.

This site is clearly about Netbooks, but with the ever increasing number of tablets / pads and related news, we would like to know your opinion.

So we thought we would ask our readers, you, whether we should stick to just posting about netbooks, or also throw in some tablet news every now and then.

So far we have been concentrating on just netbooks, with a major tablet story here and there.

Let us know what you think via the poll below!

Over the next few months we should be seeing more and more netbooks making use of the latest generation of dual core Intel Atom processors, the Intel Atom N550.

The Intel Atom N550 runs at 1.5Ghz and has two physical cores, and can run four threads. While this sounds great, how does it actually perform on a netbook?

Intel has made the next generation Intel Atom processors and platforms official and have even shown off a next generation ultra thin netbook.

We have already see the new dual core Intel Atom N550 1.5GHz (with DDR3 support, and a 8.5W TDP) show up in the Asus Eee PC 1015N, which is due in the Q3 this year. But it’s great to see it made official.

The first mainstream Nvidia Ion netbook to hit the market last year was the Acer Aspire Revo.

This year one of the first nettops to feature the new next generation Ion (aka Ion 2) is the Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11.

The Zotac ZBOX is a bare bone / DIY nettop, which means you will need to install your own hard drive, RAM and operating system to run on the nettop. This gives you more customization options, and allows you to install a fast large hard drive, quieter running drive or even a silent SSD.

If you have been following the growing “tablet” market, which is of course dominated by the Apple iPad, you will know there are a number of other devices on the market, or coming to the market very soon, which are mostly all sitting in the iPad shadow.

One of these tablet devices is the WeTab, which until very recently was known as the WePad. In a recent press release they stated that the device will remain the same, and the only change is the name.

The first few netbooks to feature the latests Intel Atom N455 processor with DDR3 memory support look to be on their way very soon!

A new revision, the Toshiba NB305-10F appeared briefly on the official Toshiba website, before being quickly removed. I guess they jumped the gun there, but it did reveal its new Atom N455 processor, along with 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive.

Netbooks are becoming very popular with travelers and are now a very frequent item to bring with you on a flight.

As well as allowing you to keep in contact with work and family, their very long battery life enables you to watch a number of movies during a flight.

The US TSA (Transportation Security Administration) have announced (in a blog post..), that Netbooks and Tablet devices, such as the iPad do not have to be removed from your bag or case when you go through the airport x-ray scanner.