Sharp to Release Netbook Next Week

According to Akihabara News, Sharp will be launching a netbook from the Mebius Line-up next week. No information is available for this netbook yet, but we it's likely to feature the standard specs we find on most netbooks today.

Asus First TouchScreen Netbook - Eee PC T91

Asus Eee PC T91 is the first touchscreen netbook from the company. The convertible touchscreen can pivot, and lay flush against the keyboard, thus giving it the flexibility to be used as a Tablet PC. This model of netbook from Asus was first presented at CES 2009, and has recently made its appearance at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is a good sign of it being available soon in the US -- great news for those who have been waiting for a touchscreen Eee PC!


The Asus Eee PC T91 will comes with a 1.3GHz Intel Atom Processor, 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution, Intel GMA 500 graphics and 1 GB of RAM. Asus has not make any official announcement on T91 model yet, but we have found a few hands-on videos on this netbook:

Gigabyte Touch Note T1028M Released

Gigabyte Touch Note T1028M, a netbook with foldable touchscreen display is now available. The company has made the 8.9-inch convertible touchscreen netbook before in 2008.. so this would be the second touchscreen netbook from Gigabyte, and according to UMPC Portal, Gigabyte has learned a lot from its experience with the previous model and built a much better machine in the 10.1-inch Touch Note T1028M.


Here's the specification for Gigabyte Touch Note T1028M

• 10.1" swivel touch screen
• Intel Atom Processor N270 1.6GHz
• 2.5" 9.5mm SATA HDD 5400rpm, 160 GB
• 1GB RAM (Max 2GB)
• Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset+ ICH7M
• Embedded HSDPA Support
• 92% full-sized keyboard
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Home

UMPC Portal has done a review on this machine and complement its fast 2.5 inch hard drive and great reception of its UMTS 3G modem. Here's their summary comment on Gigabyte Touch Note T1028M:

"The Touchnote offers a lot more than the average netbook and offers significant improvements over the groundbreaking M912M that came before it. Convertible touchscreen, draft-n WiFi, BT2.1, fast 2.5” drive, easy upgrade possibilities, Expresscard/34 and the well-prepared SIM card and 3G Antenna are a a feature set you won’t find on any other device. The glossy screen and average battery life are really the only two points I could highlight as issues. Oh, and perhaps the fact that an advanced N280-based model is coming soon! Currently Gigabyte stands alone in offering a 10” touchscreen notebook at this price point but they may not have the playground to themselves for long. The ASUS T101H is an obvious competitor and many will be laboring over the choice between the two. Until we get hands-on with the T101H we won’t be able to make a decision but until then, we can certainly say that the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M is a unique, good value and well thought-out choice in both the prosumer end of the netbook market and the budget notebook market." Read full review

Dell Netbook Roadmap Leaked

A full set of Dell's netbook roadmap slides are leaked. From the slide, we can see that Dell is planning to release an 11-inch netbook (Mini 11) by end of Q3. Also, there will be quite some changes to the Mini 10. Dell is planning to add 3G modem, Vista, and may be a 1.86GHz Atom processor to the Mini 10 on 17th April. And finally, a new 1.6GHz Atom N270 SKU will arrive in May and Dell will update will update everything in the second half of the year with Intel's Pine Trail processors.

[via Engadget]

Samsung NC20 Is Now Available

Samsung NC10 is one of the best netbook in today's market due to its good build quality and excellent battery life. Following the success of Samsung NC10, the company has recently announced a 12-inch mini laptop named NC20. Besides having larger size, another major difference between Samsung NC20 and NC10 is the processor. Samsung has chosen to use 1.3GHz VIA Nano U2250 processor in NC20 instead of Intel Atom processor that's used in the NC10. The specs for NC20 is as follows:

• 1.3-GHz VIA Nano U2250 Processor
• 1GB RAM, Expandable to 2GB
• 160GB/5,400 rpm HDD
• 12.1 inches display with 1280 x 800 resolution
• Windows XP Home (SP3)
• 3.4 pounds

With 12.1-inch screen, Samsung NC20 might be too big to be called a netbook, but is still a great choice for those who are interested in a mini laptop. It's currently available on Newegg for $549.99 with 1Gb of RAM, a 160Gb hard drive, and Windows XP Home. A review for Samsung NC20 is available on Laptop Magazine.