Tag archive: Netbooks

Google has been working with public libraries recently in order to circulate its Chromebook concept. At least three libraries have been working towards lending out Chromebooks to patrons for a period of time. Most notably, the Palo Alto, California Library will begin making Chromebooks available for loan in January; patrons will be able to check-out the Google devices for up to one week. The pilot project is a first-of-its-kind, though the… Read More

  They once roamed coffee shops and college lecture halls, now it looks like the netbook is heading to that scrap heap of old, unwanted technology—at least that's what Dell thinks. The company has decided at the end of 2011, that it won't be making any more netbooks. The folks at the mydellmini.com forums first noticed Dell quietly pulling the small and inexpensive notebooks from the online store. Try it yourself, a search for… Read More

Unlimited 4G data is no more. Yesterday, Sprint announced some new data plan changes for most , if not all, data plans outside of smartphones. Users of tablets, netbooks, Mobile hotspots, and USB wireless cards will no longer have unlimited 4G data. Rates will not increase, but those who pay for 3GB, 5GB or 10GB of 3G data will no longer have unlimited 4G data as well. The usage of data on both networks will be combined, with overages of $0.05… Read More

Some months ago, Nokia backed out of supporting MeeGo, its big partnership with Intel to create an open source smartphone operating system (based on Intel processing architecture, of course). Things looked bleak for MeeGo, even after Nokia released its lone MeeGo device, the N9. Today, the MeeGo project has been canceled, according to its blog. From its ashes, however, a new smartphone OS is rising: Tizen, a new collaboration between Intel and… Read More

Chipmaker AMD had announced updated versions of its Fusion C-series and E-series processors, beefing up graphics and whittling down power consumption to make the chips even more appealing to makers of ultrathin notebooks, netbooks, and all-in-one desktop systems. Dubbed APUs (for Accelerated Processing Unit) rather than CPUs, AMD's Fusion line aims to compete with offerings from Intel by offering multi-core performance and powerful… Read More

The evolution of technology is sometimes cruel. A few years ago, we witnessed the birth of a new breed of small 10-inch Windows laptops called “netbooks.” These compact computers shunned processing power in favor of low price tags, portability, and better battery life, carrying older operating systems like Windows XP and running on Intel Atom processors. Sadly, their short time serving us may be ending. Tablets are taking their… Read More

During CE Week here in New York, I had the opportunity to check out the first examples of what Intel has creatively named “Ultrabooks.” Though they seem to be entirely inspired by the sleek design of Apple's MacBook Air, the three units from LG, Lenovo, and Samsung attempt to bridge the gap between the power and usability of traditional laptops and the mobility and new capabilities of tablets. So what makes an Ultrabook so… Read More

It is funny how often it generally takes for a new idea to stick in the market. We first started messing around with tablets in the early 90s. Now, nearly 20 years later, only one vendor has made a successful one: the Apple iPad. Google’s new Chromebooks are essentially thin clients — lightweight computers dependent on servers (the cloud in this case) which have terminals as their distant ancestors. Sun and Oracle tried to bring the thin… Read More

Acer's CEO and President has resigned, effective immediately, the company said in a statement today. According to the press release, CEO Gianfranco Lanci was in a several month stalemate with the Acer board of directors over the direction of the company and brand. Chairman J.T. Wang will fill in for him until a proper successor is named. Though Lanci was once the savior of Acer, joining the company in 1997 and being named president in… Read More

Acer's take on mobile: go big or go home. Today, the PC maker announced its new Iconia Smart handset at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The phone touts a 4.8-inch screen with a very high resolution of 1024 x 480 pixels. Acer calls this widescreen ideal for movies due to its 21:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, the Iconia Smart runs on a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor–a bit slow compared to the dual-core processors powering… Read More

Today, HP has shown that it plans to stand behind Palm's WebOS in a monumental way. After announcing three new WebOS products–the HP Veer, Palm Pre 3, and HP TouchPad tablet–and reaffirming its dedication to WebOS, HP dropped a bomb; the world's largest computer manufacturer will be putting WebOS on its printers, laptops, and desktop PCs next year. “I'm excited to announce our plans to bring the WebOS to the… Read More

The Motorola Atrix 4G was one of our favorite devices at CES this year (pics and hands-on impressions here). The Android phone itself is sleek and powerful, but what separates it from the pack is the ability to dock with a laptop shell and become a full netbook, complete with Firefox and some productivity software. Better, the Laptop shell holds an 8 to 10 hour charge, and will actually charge the phone while it powers the dock. But the looming… Read More

Following up on widely-reported comments from a Taiwan-based sales manager, computer maker Acer wants to assure customers (and potential customers) that the company does not plan to phase out netbook computers in favor of tablets. According to the company, netbooks will very much be part of Acer's product mix, although the company is definitely stepping into new mobile form factors, including tablets. “Acer recognizes that the… Read More

Computer maker Acer certainly rode the wave of consumer demand for netbooks, pumping out variation-upon-variation of its Aspire One netbooks to meet consumer demand for low-cost, highly portable machines that could handle basic Internet tasks. But Acer now believes the netbook's days are numbered and the market for portable computing devices will be dominated by tablets—and the company is already working to bring out high-powered… Read More

Surprising none, but impressing all, today at CES Verizon announced a new line of 4G products that the carrier will support. The 10 new 4G compatible products include two hotspots, two notebooks, two tablets and four new smartphones. All are set to debut later this year, and all will utilize Verizon’s 4G network, the largest 4G network in the country. The devices announced are below.  Pricing and release dates have not yet been confirmed: -HTC… Read More