Eee PC

Laptop battery shortage should be over by Q3

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:14:23 -0400

Last month, we reported on a laptop battery shortage, caused by a fire at a South Korean chemical plant owned by LG, the manufacturer of batteries for companies like Dell, HP and Asus. Well, it looks like LG is ramping up production of the batteries again and any shortages should be over by Q3 of this year. Though you might not have felt the shortage yourself, OEMs certainly have: Asus reports that it could have produced far more Eee PC units, had there been a more plentiful supply of batteries. "I think maybe the battery shortage may hurt every brand," Acer's chairman J.T. Wang said at the company's investor conference two weeks ago.

For more on the shortage:
- see this PC World article

Lenovo IdeaPad U110 gets reviewed

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:52:36 -0400

Much ink already has been spilled on the IdeaPad U110, Lenovo's relatively affordable entry into the world of ultraportable laptops. But what is the U110 like in the flesh? According to the folks at Gizmodo, not bad. They walked away impressed by the machine's light weight (half a pound lighter than the MacBook Air and only 0.4 lbs. heavier than the tiny Eee PC), its 11" LED-backlit WXGA display ("just right for comfortable multitasking") and its stylish good-looks. However, the machine was found to be a bit slow when running Vista and its VeriFace face recognition tech didn't quite work as advertised. Still, it was found to be a "fully-capable laptop that's extremely mobile," though it's still more expensive than the MacBook Air.

For more on the U110:
- see this Gizmodo review

Windows XP to live on...kinda

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:13:38 -0400

With Windows XP's execution date of June 30 inching ever closer, more than a few enterprises are starting to get nervous about how they're going to get their XP fix. While Microsoft has yet to announce a full stay of execution (which many are hoping for), they are expected to announce that they will continue selling the venerable OS to OEMs selling a very specific type of product: cheap, ultraportable laptops. It makes sense if you think about it; after all, the Eee PC is just starting to catch on and most cheap ultraportables aren't well enough equipped to run Vista. "Vista is just too resource-hungry for laptops with limited storage space, relatively minute amounts of RAM, and slow CPUs," Ars Technica writes. "Extending the availability of Windows XP for the budget laptop category is currently the company's best alternative to ceding this market to Linux."

For more on the coming stay:
- see this Ars Technica article

SPOTLIGHT: HP's UMPC 2133

Mehan Jayasuriya — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:12:51 -0400

With the Eee PC craze showing no signs of waning, it's not too surprising that more and more major vendors are hopping on the cheap UMPC train. If the leaked images and spec sheets are to be believed, the latest to join the fray will be HP, with a $600 mini laptop on April 7th. Article

ALSO NOTED: Microsoft posts record Q2 results; Palm hires yet another former Apple exec;

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:59:51 -0500

> Bill Gates pledges $306 million to farmers in developing nations. Article
> Palm hires yet another former Apple exec. Article
> Microsoft posts record Q2 financial results. Press release
> 3G modems won't fit in the MacBook Air's USB port. Article
> The ultimate goal of green IT: extending the PC's lifespan. Article
> Ultimate Eee PC mod calls modder's motivations into question. Article
> Everex Cloudbook gets delayed. Article

And Finally... Data center cabling can be a work of art. Photos

Eee PC: Mossy hates it, touchscreen soon

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:59:53 -0500

With all the fawning praise that we've been hearing for Asus' Eee PC, it's kind of refreshing to finally hear a voice of dissent. And leave it to Walt Mossberg to tear into something that he doesn't like. In his in-depth review of the Eee PC, Mossberg gets down on the Eee's cramped keyboard, small display and limited Linux OS. Ultimately, he concludes that the tiny PC "is likely to prove unsatisfying for many road warriors."

Be that as it may, it's not going to stop Asus from pumping out more Eees. We've already heard about the WiMAX Eee and the Eee with the larger display but a touchscreen Eee? Apparently it's on the way, if you believe the Digitimes' sources. "The second-generation of Eee PCs will support panel sizes of 8-, 9- and 10-inch, the sources said, of which, the 9-inch panel versions will feature a touch panel." Allegedly, the touchscreen would only add $15 to the manufacturing price of the Eee, though it remains to be seen how much this will add to the final price of the unit.

For more on the Eee PC:
- watch Walt Mossberg's video review (via All Things D)
- and this Digitimes story

Asus launching M930 smartphone

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:59:54 -0500

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone from Asus, exactly like we've been expecting. Behold, the Asus M930! On the outside, it looks like a regular old candybar phone with a QVGA display and numeric keypad. Fold it open, however and you'll find a larger display (400 x 240) and a full QWERTY keyboard. Onboard you'll find 256MB of storage, 64MB of RAM, a microSD expansion slot, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi and a 2-megapixel camera. While no details on pricing/launch date are yet available, the phone is expected to make its debut at the CeBIT show in March.

Given that we recently saw a WiMAX Eee PC from Asus, this could mark the entrance of yet another Taiwanese manufacturer to the mobile handset scene. And why wouldn't Asus want a piece of the market, especially considering how well their countrymen over at HTC have done during the last year? While I wouldn't necessarily expect to see this handset in the States, I wouldn't be surprised to see devices from Asus make their way to our shores in the future--especially once WiMAX becomes available.

For more on the new device:
- see this Engadget article

More details on the MacBook Air

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:59:54 -0500

What's tiny, silver and covered in hype? Why, the MacBook Air, of course! Just yesterday you saw it in the flesh for the first time. Today, we've got a few more details on the little unit for you--some of which are good and some of which are bad.

It's sealed like an iPhone: Anyone who's tried to replace a hard drive in a MacBook Pro before knows that Apple's laptops are generally sealed up pretty tight. But the MacBook Air takes this idea to an iPod/iPhone-like extreme: the MacBook Air is completely sealed and none of its components are user replaceable or upgradeable. That means you can't add more RAM. You can't swap in a new hard drive. You can't even replace the battery yourself. Believe it or not, you'll have to pay Apple $129 for a battery replacement once your battery dies (though installation is free).
The MacBook Air peripherals, the $99 external SuperDrive and $29 USB Ethernet adaptor, will ship in 2-3 weeks, just like the machine itself.
The MacBook Air is tiny: Seriously, this thing is nearly half the thickness of the Eee PC. Yikes!
Remote Disk, the optical drive-sharing applet, will require you to pop a DVD into the machine with the host drive prior to use.

For more on the MacBook Air:
- see this Gizmodo hands-on
- this article on peripherals
- these size comparisons
- and this Engadget article on the battery replacement program

Acer launching Eee-like ultraportable

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:59:53 -0500

What did we tell you, folks? Yet another PC vendor, Acer, looks to be stepping into the low-cost ultraportable notebook ring. According to the Chinese-language Commercial Times, Acer will launch an Eee PC competitor either "late in the first quarter or early [in the] second quarter" of this year. Though details are light at this point, the machines are expected to sport 8" or 9" displays and will be priced to compete with the Eee (and the Everex Cloudbook and the Packard Bell EasyNote XS, etc.).

For more on the rumored Eee-killer:
- see this Digitimes article

ALSO NOTED: What happens to your cell phone after it gets recycled?; 4GB Eee PC finally gets a splash of color;

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:59:51 -0500

> OLPC to launch U.S. branch. Article
> What happens to your cell phone after it gets recycled? Article
> 4GB Eee PC finally gets a splash of color. Article
> ZFS for OS X gets unofficial. Article
> LG Prada phone gets Silver, on-screen QWERTY. Article
> Android gets real on HTC Qtek 9090. Article

And Finally... Microsoft customer service responds to a call...10 years later. Article