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Samsung's N102 is an N100 clone, ditches MeeGo for Windows 7 Starter
Were you mostly on board with the N100, but wished Sammy would have held the MeeGo? Those of you in India or Russia are apparently in luck, as Notebook Italia has spotted its Windows-toting twin: the N102. Identical to the N100 in every other way, 10-inch netbook kicks the open source OS to the curb, opting instead for the pared down Windows 7 Starter Edition. Naturally, you'll pay a little extra for the privilege, as the 8,930 Roubles (around $320) gizmo is about 50 bones more than its MeeGo-wielding doppelgänger. Or, you know, you could just buy the N100, bask in open-source goodness and then put that half-Benjamin toward the purchase of a real copy of Windows.
LG E-Note H1000B 10.1-inch Windows 7 tablet arrives one year late
After seeing an unceremonious outing by the FCC and Twitter, LG's newest take on the Windows 7 tablet form-factor is finally official. The 10.1-inch 1366 x 768 pixel capacitive screen E-Note H1000B runs Windows 7 Starter on a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor with 16GB of SSD storage and 1GB of memory all powered by a 4-cell battery. The 14.5-mm thick / 850-gram slab packs 2x USB 2.0 jacks an SD card reader and 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 radios when sold for 961,000 Korean won (about $850) with a portable WiMAX router bundle on LG's home turf. The perfect tablet to accompany you at the world premier of Avatar. What? With specs like this it must be late 2009, right?%Gallery-107974%
Windows Anytime Upgrade offer ends this Saturday
Stuck using a lower-end version of Windows 7 and considering an upgrade? Then you might want to act fast -- Microsoft has just issued a reminder that its Windows Anytime Upgrade offer is ending this Saturday, July 3rd. That lets anyone using Windows 7 Starter edition upgrade to Home Premium for just $49.99 (normally $79.99), or from Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional for $79.99 (normally $89.99). Ready to make the jump? Hit up the link below for all the details.
ASUS Eee PC T101MT review
A really good netvertible -- that's all we want. No, not just a netbook with a touchscreen, but a device with a combination of solid ergonomics and performance in clamshell mode that can swivel into a really responsive tablet. It doesn't seem like too much to ask for, right? And after being disappointed by the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t, we really thought the $499 ASUS Eee PC T101MT -- with its multitouch screen, chiclet keyboard, and standard netbook organs -- could have been it. Keyword being could. But, as you may have guessed by now from our wistful tone, there are a few reasons this particular convertible netbook didn't turn out to be all peaches and cream. If you know what's good for you, you'll be hitting that read more link to find out what was this Eee lacking in our full review. %Gallery-91835%
Gateway brings Atom N450 to LT21 line of 10.1-inch netbooks
Gateway got official with its 15.6- and 11.6-inch EC laptops back in October, and now it's time for the netbooks to get their shine on. Hot on the heels of Intel's Atom N450 release, the aforementioned company is rolling out its LT21 series here in Vegas, complete with 6-cell 5,600mAh battery options (for up to ten hours of usage), 802.11n WiFi, an N450 under the hood and Intel's GMA 3150 handling the pixel duties. You'll also get a chassis that weighs just 2.76 pounds along with an integrated webcam, Ethernet, a 10.1-inch LED-backlit display (1,024 x 600), a 93 percent full-size keyboard and a multi-gesture touchpad to boot. The rest is pretty vanilla: 1GB of RAM, a 160GB or 250GB hard drive, three USB 2.0 sockets, VGA and a multicard reader. The LT21 range will arrive in red, black and white hues, with Windows 7 Starter or Windows XP Home runnin' the show; check 'em later this month starting at $299.99. Or don't, whatevs. %Gallery-81409%
Archos 9 reviewed: too big, too slow, too 'Starter'
We hate to be the bringers of bad news, but it looks like the Archos 9 might be serving as a bit of a morality tale, showing why and how PC hardware and software might not be quite ready for the large form factor tablet experience. That's not to say there aren't some plusses to the device pointed out by UMPC Portal in its review, like the great build quality and style of the tablet, the sensitive, flush touchscreen, and some great connectivity, but the sum seems less than its parts. The primary blame can be laid at the feet of the 1.1GHz Atom Z510 processor, which is sluggish and single-threaded, and Windows 7 Starter, which is lacking in the standard Windows 7 tablet functionality. We don't know all the reasoning at play here, but the result is a slow computer with a hacked-on touchscreen keyboard at a $550 pricepoint that doesn't the hit handheld UMPC size sweetspot and can hardly stand against a netbook in cost or utility. Sounds kind of mean when we say it like that, doesn't it?
Windows 7 Starter comes with hidden wireless connection sharing
Ah, the blessings of market fragmentation. If you thought that, in its efforts to differentiate the Starter Edition from its beefier Windows 7 offerings, Microsoft chopped off the ability to share wireless connections between compatible devices, we've got good news: it didn't. Turns out that ad-hoc networking is very much a part of Windows 7 Cheap Edition, and the only thing missing from it is the dialog you see above. Thrifty Edition owners will have to find the application themselves -- through the shockingly difficult process of a Start Menu search -- but once they do it'll behave exactly as if they'd bought the Extra Awesome variety. Great job, Microsoft -- you keep hiding features and we'll keep installing Chrome OS on our netbooks, deal?
Sony applies next-gen snowflake tech to boost VAIO W's appeal
When Sony's VAIO W netbook was released, we said the company would "have to do better than put a pretty face on a vanilla set of innards to get our next five Benjamins." So what has the company done to raise the appeal of its little netbook? Boosted the processor? Added a big SSD? Lowered the price? Nah, it went ahead and painted some snowflakes on the lid. Pretty though they may be they still hide the same 10.1-inch, 1366 x 768 LCD, 1.6GHz Atom, and 1GB of RAM. There are some improvements: storage is upped a bit, a 250GB HDD instead of 160, and it now includes Windows 7 Starter instead of XP. And there are snowflakes. Still $499. Get yours before they melt!
Archos 9 up for pre-order in America for $50 more than anticipated
Uh, Archos? You do remember telling us that your Archos 9 media tablet would ship on October 22nd for $499 back in late September, right? 'Cause if our eyes are being truthful to us, that's not at all what's happening here. The outfit's official web store has the 8.9-inch device listed (complete with Windows 7 Starter, WiFi, Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel camera) for $549.99, and worse still, it's only up for "pre-order." You know what happens after the second strike, right guys? [Thanks, Trini]
Next-gen Atom N470 to relax netbook spec restrictions slightly further
Netbook specs have been held in check by Microsoft and Intel's dizzying array of rules and restrictions for low-cost machines, but now that Windows 7 is out and Intel's getting ready to release the next generation of Atom chips it sounds like things are about to get slightly better. Microsoft has already started allowing netbook manufacturers to load Windows 7 Home Premium on machines without restrictions, and now Fudzilla says Intel will lift the 1GB RAM limit from Atom machines when the 1.83GHz N470 Pine Trail chip hits in March. That means we'll start to see more of a range of netbook specs going forward, but the low-end will probably still be dominated by Windows 7 Starter and the Atom N450, which will still be limited to 1GB of RAM, so don't expect to be happy with the cheap stuff anytime soon. [Via Slashgear]
Windows 7 Starter leads the way on netbooks, demands premium
We've already seen plenty of Windows 7 laptops and desktops up for order, but it looks like we're now finally starting to see how things will shake out on netbooks as well. After much confusion in the early days of Windows 7, it appears that Windows 7 Starter edition will indeed be the standard issue offering on the majority of netbooks, and it looks like it'll also demand a slight premium over otherwise comparable XP-based systems. In most cases, Windows 7 Starter seems to add $30 to the cost of a netbook (as with the Dell Mini 10v pictured above), or $50 in Canada if the first few listings on Future Shop are any indication -- which, as Digital Home Thoughts points out, would appear to be quite a bit more than the license fee manufacturers are paying. Of course, there are also a few netbooks that break the mold with Windows 7 Home Premium, and it unsurprisingly appears to be the standard offering on low-cost thin and lights that eschew the netbook moniker altogether. Hit up the link below for a rundown of some of the options already available to order, which is sure to grow considerably in the next few days.[Via Digital Home Thoughts]
Hercules loads Windows 7 Starter on $399 eCAFE EC-1000W netbook
Is this really the first netbook to be officially announced with Windows 7? From Hercules? Yeah, we're miffed too. In fact, we forgot all about the outfit's eCAFÉ lineup -- which briefly splashed down about this time last year -- but we suspect this bugger may have a bit more staying power. The eCAFÉ EC-1000W is destined to ship at the tail end of October (you know, just after Win7 hits the streets), and while the 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB RAM module and 250GB hard drive are totally predictable, we get the feeling it'll just feel nicer thanks to the revitalized OS. Other specs include a 10.1-inch display (1,024 x 600), 50GB of online storage, a chiclet-style keyboard, 802.11n WiFi, a 6-cell battery, integrated webcam / microphone, three USB 2.0 sockets, audio in / out, a VGA output, Ethernet and a multicard reader. Not bad for $399 -- but where's that $200 Win7 netbook we were promised?
Microsoft confirms: no three app limit in Windows 7 Starter
We'd heard it through the grapevine that Microsoft was gearing up to right the wrong and nix that ludicrous three application limit for Windows 7 Starter Edition, and sure enough, it did just that via The Windows Blog. The company admitted that it was removing the three application at-a-time limit previously slated for inclusion in Win7 Starter "based on the feedback it has received from partners and customers." (Psst... thanks for yelling, people!) That said, the OS is still severely gimped, with no multi-monitor support, DVD playback, Windows Media Center, remote media streaming, XP Mode or network connectivity. Just kidding on that last one... we think.
Microsoft publishes maximum Windows 7 netbooks specs
One step forward, one step back: just as we were getting ready to celebrate Microsoft's decision to remove the three-app limit from Windows 7 Starter Edition, we're hearing that Redmond is still planning to impose strict limits on what types of machines get to run the stripped-down build. Just like today's max XP specs, things are pretty weak all around: Window 7 Starter machines will max out at 10.2-inch screens, 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drives or 64GB SSDs, and single-core processors under 2GHz. Of course, Microsoft's told us all along that it thinks lots of OEMs will ignore the max specs and just ship Windows 7 Home Premium since it runs way better on netbooks than Vista, but we'll see how this plays out at Computex -- we're expecting a wave of 10.2-inch netbooks with 2GHz procs and 1GB of RAM in the near future.[Via ZDNet]
Microsoft dropping three app limit from Windows 7 Starter Edition
In some really encouraging news, Paul Thurrott at SuperSite for Windows is reporting that Microsoft isn't gonna put the arbitrary limit on its netbook-bound Windows 7 Starter Edition where users could only run three applications at a time. Now the only thing holding you back from simultaneous Skype, AIM, browsing, DVD playback, and Plants vs. Zombies will be the space on your screen and the specs in your portable. So how will they tempt users to upgrade to Home or Premium now? We'll just have to wait and see on that one.[Thanks, Stephen]
Windows 7 Starter Edition to pave the way for $200 netbooks?
Microsoft still hasn't nailed down all the specifics about its much talked about Windows 7 Starter Edition, but it looks like the company is all too happy to talk up a few of the potential side effects of the OS variant, including the promise of some actual $200 netbooks by this coming holiday season. Apparently, Microsoft sees netbooks running Windows 7 Starter Edition as all but replacing current entry-level Linux-based netbooks, which it says see a "disproportionate amount of returns," although the company insists that it will still market Home Premium as the default option for most netbooks. Microsoft also says that's it's going out of its way to make Windows 7 as accommodating for netbook manufacturers as possible, adding that it has cleaned up the system tray and "made some other concessions for the OEMs to help with branding." [Thanks, fikhl]
Microsoft hoping gimped Windows 7 Starter on netbooks will drive upgrades, revenue
When all six versions of Windows 7 were announced, we couldn't help but recoil in horror -- most still don't have all the flavors of Vista straight and now we all have to learn a new recipe for confusion. Microsoft, however, is quite confident that this array of offerings will fix one of its biggest woes: netbooks. If the wee things are running Windows at all it's usually XP, an issue that the company thinks Windows 7 Starter will address, acting as the low-cost intro Vista never was. With Starter's ability to run only three applications simultaneously, MS believes users will get quickly frustrated and then pony up extra cash to move to Home Basic or Home Premium. Will it work? HP at least has pledged to offer Win 7 on its netbooks, and we found the beta ran quite well on our VAIO P, so the shift from XP seems inevitable. Whether Starter Edition will push more people to Home Basic than to Linux, however, remains to be seen.[Thanks, Dilan]
