ULV laptops to harm sales of netbooks

We really did not want to scare our readers with second news regarding upcoming slowdown in sales of netbooks, but we believe that are core objective is to keep you up with the latest news.

According to Displaysearch, netbook sales have increased by 103% in year 2009 as compared to 2008. Now, in 2010, the ULV laptops are expected to dip under $500 mark, which obviously means that netbooks will be in danger.

HP 13-inch ultrathins launched – HP ProBook 5310m and HP DM3 – use AMD NEO processor

HP has churned out two new 13-inch thin-and-light notebooks, which are based on Intel’s Core 2 Duo and AMD’s Neo platform. Talking about the HP ProBook 5310m, it mainly targeted to more serious consumers; has a balanced and sophisticated look with black anodized aluminum with a magnesium frame in a soft touch finish. HP is punching it up as ‘the world’s thinnest full-performance notebook‘. It seems that they are right about it as it will be available with a Core 2 Duo (SP9300) CPU. Priced at $899, it may be expensive for some, but then there is no settlement on its performance end. You can also go for $699 version powered by a ULV Celeron processor.

The HP DM3 is a bit cheaper than the former. However, it will be offered with much cheaper AMD Neo processors or Intel CULVs. It is priced at $549 for an AMD dual-core Neo version, while an Intel-based DM3 will set you back $649. Such a price for the metal look which worth for it. HP claims up to 10 hours of battery life on its 6-cell battery.

Acer Ferrari One is a Netbook or Mini-Notebook?

Acer has unveiled their new red hot Ferrari One netbook, which resembles the Aspire Timeline 1810T or 1410 (Aspire One 751H + Intel ULV processor). However, it uses the new AMD Congo platform with a dual-core Athlon X2 L310 (clock speed: 1.2GHz) CPU and ATi Radeon 3200 graphic chipset.

• 11.6-inch display
• 1366 x 768 resolution
• Draft-N WiFi, Bluetooth
• Battery: 5600 mAh (6-cell)

It runs Windows 7 and will start shipping on the same day as of the Windows 7 release date, October 22. Expect the price to be around 499 Euros (USD 720).

Commentary: So, is this a mini-notebook or a netbook? Gone are the days when we used to consider the netbooks as scaled down ‘weak’ versions of full-size notebooks. Now, many netbook manufactures are coming with ION or ION LE-powered netbooks, which pack a lot of muscle as compared to netbooks that came in early 2009. With the release of Acer Ferrari One, the netbooks will no longer be considered as weak.

Acer serious about ultraportables – to offer many more models soon – Introduces Acer Aspire 1410

Acer has become pretty serious about ultraportables and is currently offering more models in more shapes and sizes than any other netbook/ultraportable vendor. Most of upcoming models are based on the ULV SU3500 or SU9400 processor. However, its new Aspire 1410 uses SU2300 dual core processor instead of SU3500.

Sadly, the SU2300 uses just 1MB of cache, which can slow the things down. UPDATE: The Acer 1410 comes with SU3500. A price of just €449 is marked for an Aspire 1410 that comes with an Intel SU2300 ULV processor, 2GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. It even incorporates an HDMI port, an 11.6-inch 1366×768 screen and optional UMTS support.

We anticipate that the Aspire 1410 to start shipping in the month of September this year.

Eee PC 900 for $170 – beat that!

If you always wanted to have a small computer with you, but did not want to cough up $400+ for a netbook, then Newegg has something that will interest you surely. For just for $169.99, they are giving away an EEE 900, which is pretty decent EEE PC. You don’t even need to pay for its shipping costs!

EEE 900 Specs:-

• 8.9-inch LED-backlit LCD
• Intel Celeron-M 900MHz processor
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB SSD
• Linux OS
• SD card slot
• 4-cell battery

Do note that you can always upgrade to XP if you wish to. Kamal did on his EEE 701 and has been happy since then.

MSI X-Slim X340 now shipping at $899

MSI is now shipping the X340 to US at a less than a thousand dollar price tag. MSI X340 is a notebook with very slim design lines and is infact less than an inch think in some of its areas.

It comes with an Intel ULV SU3500 processor, Vista Home Premium, a 13.4-inch 1,366 x 768 resolution display, GMA 4500MHD graphics and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. There’s also a 320GB hard drive, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, 4-cell battery (an 8-cell is optional), 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, twin USB 2.0 sockets, VGA / HDMI outputs and an SD / MMC card reader.

MSI X340 review

The MSI X340 may look too big to be considered as a netbook but since it has an ULV (ultra low voltage) processor, we are covering it on Gadgetmix. The MSI X340 has a 13.4-inch screen and weighs just 2.9 pounds.

As you can easily see in the above picture, the MSI X340 is an extremely slim netbook and looks a LOT like the Apple Macbook Air. But, there is a HUGE price difference between the price of Macboook Air and MSI X340. The Air retails around $1600 while the MSI X340 costs just $900.