Google Chrome will be able to download since next week, atleast this what TechCrunch has heard from a ‘reliable’ source. The main problem is going to be with the drivers. Google has left it on the manufactures to develop the drivers for their netbooks/smartbooks themselves. With ASUS postponing release of their Chrome OS netbooks and Acer now with Android OS with the release of their first Android netbooks based on the D250 model, this leaves us to count on HP, DELL and MSI.
We do not see SONY adopting Google Chrome OS as they already have their instant-on OS that comes on the VAIO P. Also, SONY has always been a bit reluctant in releasing a notebook that runs non-Windows OS
Since Zune HD drive, Tegra attained popularity very fast, and according to fudzilla, some high ranking industry sources has confirmed that after its so much demand and popularity the company has decided to launch a new chip in 2010. The Tegra 2 will be equipped ARM 9 which is a dual core ARM CPU. Smartbook market is the main focus of Tegra 2.
According to ASUS market specialist, Judy Wu, company’s first smartbook which was planned to be launched in Q1 2010 with a price tag of $180, will now be launched in Q2 2010. No reason was given for this delay.
Interestingly, they are now considering Google Chrome as OS too (along with Android OS)
Combo of 11n Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 3.0, the AR6133 module has been announced by Atheros. This integration of bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules would help the OEMs and manufactures to offer smartbooks for much cheaper price than netbooks.
“Combination solutions are growing in popularity among mobile gaming and portable CE, fueled by new entertainment and productivity use cases,” said Amir Faintuch, vice president and general manager of Atheros’ mobile business unit. “With the new AR6133, our customers can easily design a complete turnkey mobile 11n and Bluetooth combination solution into next-generation mobile consumer products, enabling consumers to enjoy the benefits of portable, seamless connectivity.”
There is a latest hearsay that, netbooks with Google’s Chrome OS by Lenovo and Acer are in pipeline which will be released by Christmas. Infact in the past several rumors were surfaced one of them reported by Google that Chrome OS netbooks to be out in the end of this year by HP, Lenovo and Acer.
Now, who would have ever thought that the first Chrome netbook will be from a local Chinese company. The name of the company is Lemote that is partially funded by Chinese government.
They are planning to unveil two Android netbooks, named Fullong Mini and Yellong notebook. Both are powered by a Loongson processor, which is also designed in China.
First netbooks to run Google’s Chrome operating system, to come by the end of this year, and this was said by Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt back in July. According to Shanzai, we would see the first Chrome netbooks within coming few weeks. Also there is much gossip going around that Acer and HP will [...]
Google Chrome OS has been one of the mostly discussed tech-topics from the past couple of months. Plethora of manufactures are working on netbooks that will run Google Chrome OS.
The latest buzz about the Chrome OS netbooks is that they will make their appearance into the netbook scene in mid-October. It would certainly very interesting to see Chrome OS netbooks coming during Windows 7’s launch (Oct 22)
Currently, there is no doubt that Intel is the uncrowned king in the netbook market, but according to the market analysts, ARM will surpass Intel by the year 2012. According to this analyst, Intel-powered netbooks have started to become very expensive and cost more than $200 and offer just 3.5 hours of battery life. On the other hand, ARM-powered netbooks will cost less than $200 and will also last much longer: 8 hours.
Our take on this:
The comparison is baseless. People want Windows OS on their netbooks. They want to use their desktop apps on their netbooks for which they require Windows OS. Unfortunately, since Microsoft has already confirmed that it has no plans on bringing their desktop OS to the ARM-architecture, you are left with nothing but Linux or Google’s Chrome OS.
We believe that smartbooks can never surpass netbooks in terms of sales even if they are offered for less than $100. Clearly, they offer little advantage over the current slew of smartphones which do much more than emailing and web-browsing alone. Also, in their comparison, they said netbooks have 3.5 hours of battery life. Wrong as most of the netbooks these days come with 6-cell batteries which offer more than 5-6 hours of run-time with active Wifi usage. Looks like these analysts have been taking in account the netbooks that were released last year.
In starting of September, the rumor blew from China that Lenovo and Acer could be releasing NVidia Tegra based Smartbooks which will run Google Chrome OS. According to the latest news bits, these Tegra based Smartbooks could actually land by the end of this month.
For those who have doubts about the upcoming Tegra platform, it can handle HD playback with ease with power consumption even lower than the Atom processors that are used in wide variety of netbooks right now
According to Commercial Times (China), Lenovo is planning to launch a smartbook by the end of September 2009. The smartbook is rumored to use the Nvidia’s Tegra chipset and will use Google’s Chrome OS.
It is nice to see Lenovo using Chrome OS for their smartbook and not Google’s mobile phone OS, Android. After all, it does not makes any sense of using a mobile phone OS on a netbook.
Lenovo and Acer, both are going to launch new netbook, which will be based on Nvidia Tegra platform and these netbooks will be the first ones running the Google Chrome OS. We believe that Google Chrome OS will be the one that will make the Linux OS really popular. However, we must consider the fact that it would only be possible if and only if, Google opens doors to the Linux community.
Qualcomm is giving its best endeavor to increase its sales and thinks that computers in the future will be just like Mobile Phones. By computers, they mean Smartbooks which are basically netbooks running Android, Google Chrome OS or Linux.
Most of the upcoming Smartbooks will be using ARM processors, precisely Qualcomm ARM-based CPUs.
Consumers want computers that will run all day on one battery charge, don’t need to be switched off and are always receiving data, said Jacobs, whose company is the world’s biggest maker of mobile-phone chips.
According to Qualcomm, people do not want to carry a bulky laptop and its charger all day with them. They want a device that can run all day and remain connected too. More than 12 companies have decided to use the Snapdragon’s chip, which runs at 1GHz clock speed. The future is surely very exciting and we are waiting for the Snapdragon-based netbooks AKA Smartbooks to hit the market
Dell is keenly interested in forthcoming smartbooks and they are very much looking forward to provide Google’s Chrome OS on future netbooks.
“The target market for smartbooks will be no different from Linux-based netbooks as they both have the same usage scenario. Like smartbooks, Linux-based netbooks are targeted at those looking for quick access to Web-based applications.The more [Web-based] applications there are, the better it is for Linux,” Finch, Dell’s official, said.
And some Linux news, Dell has decided to update the Ubuntu 8.04 software with the Ubuntu 9.04 NBR and will release an update for their Ubuntu netbooks in coming week.
“There are still a large percentage of people that prefer Windows, even on a netbook,” Finch said. Many are familiar with the look and feel of Windows, and are unwilling to trade in for the longer battery life offered by Linux. He couldn’t comment about the possible adoption rates of Windows 7, which is due for release on Oct. 22.
