The Asus Netbook Evolution

Thursday September 24, 2009
The Asus netbook evolution
By CHONG JINN XIUNG




TOUCH THIS: Wang demonstrating Asus' Eee PC T91 touchscreen enabled netbook.

PETALING JAYA: Computer hardware manufacturer Asus has been widely credited with the creation of the sub genre of notebooks popularly known as netbooks.

Small, portable and easy to use, netbooks have seen success in emerging markets such as Malaysia due to their low cost and full web browsing capabilities.

“What makes the netbook so special is that we wanted to create a product that was both convenient and could provide quick Internet access to users,” Asus Malaysia product director for notebooks Neo Wang told In.Tech recently.

“At Asus, we don’t treat the netbook segment as a low-end device but rather consider it to be one of our most significant products,” Wang added.

“In fact we are one of the few companies that still maintain our own design and R&D department to further improve our products.”

Adding touch

One of the upcoming improvements consumers can expect to see in netbooks in the coming years is the addition of touch functionalities.

“In a way, much of our design philosophy is based on designing products that meet the needs of the end consumer,” Wang said.

He cited the Asus Eee PC T91, which is a full touchscreen Tablet netbook, as an example of one of the ways Asus is differentiating itself from conventional netbooks.

Despite it being their first attempt at making a touch-based netbook, the popularity of the product has been most encouraging so far, he claimed.

Wang said the addition of touch capabilities makes for an attractive user interface that would enable users to use their Eee PCs like notepads for taking down notes.

He also said that users can expect to see the next generation of netbooks to feature improved battery life with some models capable of lasting up to 10 hours.

“Battery performance is definitely one of the key areas we are looking to improve, making it convenient for customers as they won’t need to bring an adapter around wherever they go.”

Wang also said the company is planning to bundle external optical drives with its newer range of netbooks.

“We recognise there’s still a need for optical drives in today’s computing environment hence we will bundle external optical drives so customers can easily use it while on the go.”

Seven up

With the upcoming launch of Windows 7, Asus is gearing its product lineup to take advantage of the performance enhancements as well as the additional functionalities that Windows 7 offers.

“Naturally, the higher system requirements mean that Asus will increase all new models of our netbooks with 32GB solid state drives (SSD),” Wang said.

Citing the Asus Eee PC T91 again, he said Windows 7 would allow the T91 to utilise multi-touch functionalities thus making it easier for users to navigate and interact with various forms of media.

Adding to this, a Microsoft spokesman said that the company is working on a special version of Windows 7 catering to netbooks.

However Microsoft declined to reveal more details on the new netbook-centric operating system which is still under development.

Link: http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2009/9/24/technology/20090924173003&sec=technology

Other reviews on the above: http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/15/asus-eee-pc-t91-review/

ASUS homepage : http://asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=qdwslBLhhfuw43HS&content=overview

Nokia Booklet 3G at Nokia World

By Mike on 02 September 2009

STUTTGART, Germany – Since news of the new Nokia Booklet 3G first emerged early last week, the mini laptop PC has become the most keenly discussed Nokia product we’ve ever written about here on Conversations, with a continuous stream of comments flowing in and interesting debates sparking off right here. One of the most avid areas of anticipation is the full specification list, which has now been released here at Nokia World 09.

Now, we’ve always said we’re not hardcore number lovers, but concede that with the Nokia Booklet 3G pouring over specs is a necessary vice. So click through for our unashamedly long list of full specifications for Nokia’s upcoming Booklet 3G.

Nokia Booklet 3G overview

All day computing
Up to 12 hours of usage time
Last for a heavy work day
Windows 7 and Intel Atom processor
Charge it and go – no need to worry about taking your charger with you
Sleek, robust design
A stylish, premium design with a chassis made from a single piece of machined aluminum
19.9 mm thin
Three different colors at launch: black, ice (white) and azure (blue)
Seamless connectivity
Inbuilt WLAN and WWAN enable connectivity to the Internet anywhere a WiFi or cellular network connection is found
3G/ HSPA with hot swappable simcard
Sync easily with your Nokia handset
Integrated Ovi Suite enables easy sync of calendar contacts, media with your device and the cloud
Integrated Nokia services
Ovi Suite 2.0
Nokia Music for PC
Ovi Maps
Social Hub – keeps track of your social software feeds in one spot and serves as a SMS sender
Nokia software updater
Nokia Booklet 3G full specification
Dimensions
Weight (max) 1250 g
Dimensions (max) 264 x 185 x 19.9 mm
CPU and Chipset
Intel Atom Z530, 1.6 GHz
Intel Poulsbo US15W, fanless design
Memory and Storage
RAM: 1 GB, DDR2, 533 Mhz, soldered down
HDD: 120 GB, 1.8”/5mmH/SATA, 8 MB cache, 4200 RPM
Display
10.1”, 1280×720 pixels, glass window
Battery
16 cell, 56.8 Wh, Li-Ion prismatic, removable design
Connectivity
802.11 b/g/n, 2T2R
BT 2.1 + EDR
Inbuilt 3G modem (data calls only). Different variants: WCDMA: 850/1900/2100 or WCDMA 900/2100 or no modem.
All modem variants have GSM and GPRS
Assisted-GPS
I/O ports
1 x HDMI 1.2 out
3 x USB 2.0
1 x headphone out (OMTP 3.5 mm) – with OMTP headsets also functions as audio in
1 x DC-in
1 x SD card reader
1 x SIM / USIM slot
Camera and microphone
1.3 MP front facing camera with integrated microphone
Keyboard
Frame keyboard
2 physical layouts: US (78 keys, 17 mm pitch, 1.8 mm stroke) and UK (79 keys, 16.7 mm pitch, 1.8 mm stroke)
Other
Accelerometer
Inbox contents
Nokia Booklet 3G
BC-1S battery
AC/DC power adapter
Quick setup guide and warranty instructions
Headset WH-205
USB charging multi-cable CA-126
Software
Operating System: Windows 7 Starter Edition, Home Premium or Professional
MS Office Small Business 60 day trial
MS Internet Explorer 8
HDD protection utility, Hotkey utility , Knock Control utility, Power Profile Switcher, Battery Life utility
Nokia Update Manager
Ovi Suite
Ovi Maps Gadget
Social Hub
F-Secure Internet Security 2010 trial

Nokia enters laptop fray

PETALING JAYA: After more than 25 years in the mobile industry, Nokia enters the PC world with its mini laptop, the Nokia Booklet 3G.

Powered by the an Intel Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet 3G runs on Windows and offers up to 12 hours of battery life.

The Booklet 3G weighs 1.25kg and measures slightly more than 2cm thick. It supports a broad range of connectivity options including 3G/HSPA and WiFi connectivity.

“A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility,” said Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s executive vice-president for devices.

The mini laptop comes with a HDMI port for HD video out, a front facing camera for video calls, integrated Bluetooth and an easily accessible SD card reader.

The other features include the 10in glass display and an integrated A-GPS, which works with the Ovi Maps gadget.

The Booklet 3G also brings a number of other Ovi experiences to life, including accessing millions of songs through the Nokia Music Store, or using Ovi Suite to seamlessly sync a Nokia smartphone with the mini-laptop.

Further information, including detailed specifications, availability and pricing, will be announced at Nokia World, to be held in Stuttgart, Germany on September 2.

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http://www.nokia.com/

Eee PC 1005HA

An Eee PC that’s easy to upgrade

By TAN KIT HOONG

PETALING JAYA: If you have seen Asus’ wonderfully thin Eee PC 1008HA but can’t stand the thought of not being able to easily upgrade your RAM and remove the battery, the company actually has just the thing for you — the Eee PC 1005HA.
Built with the same so-called “seashell” design as the 1008HA, the 1005HA is only slightly thicker but has a removable battery and easily-accessible doors for upgrading your RAM, etc.
Specifications of the 1005HA are practically identical to the 1008HA — it has an Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB hard disk drive, wireless 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and 1.3-megapixel webcam.
However, where the 1005HA differs from the 1008HA is in battery life — thanks to the larger battery, the 1005HA has a rated battery life of 10.5 hours. That’s a good full day’s worth of computing right there, even if you only get two thirds of that.
The 1005HA is priced at RM1,599.
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my.asus.com

Tip: Use a USB Key to Install Windows 7—Even on a Netbook

Putting the Windows 7 installation on a USB thumb drive has a few advantages—a small USB key is much more convenient for carrying around than a DVD, the OS will actually install much faster, and you can use a USB key to install Windows 7 on systems that do not have a DVD drive, such as a netbook. In fact, you can even install Windows 7 on netbooks that have fairly modest hardware. Dennis Chung, an IT Pro Evangelist at Microsoft recently posted a video demonstrating how easy it is to prepare your thumb drive and use it to install Windows 7. Here’s a quick look at the process:
•First, you’ll need the DiskPart utility on the system you will use to prep the thumb drive. This is a free disk partitioning utility that is likely already installed on your Windows system. If not, you can download DiskPart here.
•Launch the DiskPart utility by typing diskpart at the Start Menu.
•Then run the list disk command to check the status of your drive.
Video
Dennis Chung, an IT Pro Evangelist at Microsoft, demonstrates how easy it is to prepare a USB thumb drive and use it to install Windows 7.

•Now run select disk 1 where the "1" is actually the corresponding number of your USB drive.
•Run clean.
•Once the thumb drive is clean, you can run create partition primary.
•Now make the partition active by entering active
•Then you need to set up the file system as Fat32 by running format fs=fat32 quick (quick, of course, specifies that you want to perform a quick format to speed up the process).
•Entering the assign command gives the USB drive a drive letter, making it easy to access from Windows Explorer
•Then you can copy everything from the Windows 7 installation DVD onto the USB key (a simple drag and drop will do).
•Now you can insert the thumb drive into the system you want to install Windows 7 onto and boot the system. The installation will now proceed as usual—but faster.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-my/magazine/dd535816(en-us).aspx

WIT @ CECR Presentation at Monthly Forum

Yesterday Rahim Salleh and myself presented on behalf of CECR. We have nine member in the team and two member on duty that is Fauzi and Sukri. So sad none of the other members came and gave us moral support.

For detail and photo please click this link: http://cecr5s.blogspot.com/

SSD upgrade made easy

Kingston Technology is planning to release its SSDNow V Series ­solid-state drive kits soon.

Available in 128GB and 64GB capacities, the kits will allow users to expand their storage space of desktops and notebooks easily, the company said.
Apart from capacity expansion, users will also benefit from better performance.
Also the drive generates less heat and is more rugged than a hard drive as the SSD contains no moving parts. These features are especially beneficial to notebooks.
The standard kit includes, one solid-state drive (128GB or 64GB), Acronis True Image cloning software and an installation guide on a CD.
Additionally, the desktop package will also come with a 3.5in ­mounting bracket, SATA cable and power cable extenders.
The notebook bundle will include a 2.5in USB SATA enclosure.
Kingston suggests that the SSD to be used as the primary storage device where the operating system and applications resides and use a hard disk to store data such as music, videos and photos.
Also, the included Acronis cloning software will allow users to move contents from their existing hard disk into the SSD easily.
Finally, the SSD kits are backed by a three-year warranty and free ­technical support.
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www.kingston.com/asia