Netbook Reviews

The Samsung N230 is the latest 10.1-inch netbook offering from Samsung.

It builds on the success of their popular N210 / N220 netbooks, and has only been available for a very short while. My Samsung N210 review was very popular with over 65,000 views and 100 comments, and is currently my netbook of choice, so I have very high hopes for Samsung’s latest ultra sleek model.

When the Samsung N230 was first announced, on paper it didn’t sound anything too special, with most of its specifications remaining the same as in the previous N210 / N220 model, with the Same Intel Atom N450 processor. But when we first clapped eyes on the photos of the N230 it became clear that the N230 was indeed a special netbook.

There have been rumors floating around the Internet for quite some time regarding a tablet PC from the Blackberry company, RIM.

Recently it was revealed that RIM have snatched up the domain name blackpad.com giving reason to believe the device will be known as the Rim / Blackberry BlackPad.

Since then more solid rumors / information has been coming our way.

HP’s latest business netbook, the HP Mini 5103 which first showed up on the official Italian version of HP’s site, is now available to purchase in the US from just $399

The HP Mini 5103 is the successor to the 5102, and while remaining mostly the same, now adds the choice of Intel Atom N455 1.66GHz or N475 1.83GHz processors. With these new processors also comes the support of faster DDR3 RAM.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U160 is a new ultra portable 11.6-inch notebook, which was announced at CeBIT a few months back.

While there are now quite a few options in the 11.6-inch netbook / notebook market, most are still CULV (consumer ultra low voltage) powered, and while faster than an average netbook, still far less powerful than a full sized notebook.

The new Lenovo U160 stands out from the crowd of 11.6-inch machines for two reasons which go hand in hand. Its price and its performance.

The 10.1-inch Samsung N230 is the latest generation netbook offering from Samsung.

It builds on the popular N210 and N220 models by sliming down and updating the design, adding Bluetooth v3.0 and finishing it all off with a great looking brushed metal finish.

My Samsung N210 review has been very popular, with over 60,000 views and 100 comments to date. I should be able to publish my own review of the N230 in a week to ten days time, but until then I can share with you Notebookcheck’s thoughts.

Update: My detailed Samsung N230 Review has now been published!

The very latest and appealing Asus Eee PC 1215N 12.1-inch netbook, has until now remained fairly elusive, with only a review of a test unit showing up recently.

But now the Asus 1215N has shown up for pre-order in the UK from Amazon for just £429. It also lists a release / shipping date of August 23rd.

Update: It’s now available and shipping in the UK!

As far as I’m aware, this is the first time it had shown for pre-order, and has yet to show in the U.S. But following this UK announcement, we’re sure it will follow suit very shortly.

Both the Black and Silver models of the Asus Eee PC 1215N are up for pre-order for £429.

The big name battery brand, Duracell, are getting into the netbook market in some way by launching their universal netbook adapter.

The Duracell universal netbook charger is said to work with all popular netbooks from Acer, Asus, Dell HP / Compaq, Lenovo and even more.

The 40-watt power adapter comes with four power tip which can be easily changed to fit these netbooks. It automatically switches from 12v – 19v depending on the netbooks needs.

As I’m sure you know, Intel are the kings of the netbook processor. Multiple variations of their Atom processor are found in 95% or so of all current and previous netbooks.

We are starting to see a few more netbook models on the market which make use of AMD’s hardware (E.g Acer Aspire One 521), but they are still very few and far between.

AMD are now looking to gain more of the netbook market share with their new AMD Ontario processor.

The Asus Eee PC 1018P, 1015PE are two of the three new netbooks from Asus which sure did create a fuss when they were first unveiled. Ever since then many people have been keeping a keep eye on their release.

Now both the Asus Eee PC 1015PE and 1018P have been reviewed over at Engadget. While I hope to get my hands on both of these stylish netbooks very soon for my own review, we can share with you Engadget’s thoughts.

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.