Samsung have bolstered their already-robust range of netbooks by announcing today at CES 2010 the launch of a brand new N-range of portable Pcs.

Of the four new netbooks on show, most impressive were the N210 and N220, with batteries managing a whopping 12 hours of web browsing from a single charge. Samsung's other two offerings, the NB30 and N150 manage a respectable 11 and 8 and a half hours of battery life respectively.

The snazzy netbooks keep their glossy sheen thanks to scratch-resistant cover surfaces and feature an alert signal to deter any thieves planning on nabbing your hard earned gear. Remote access to an office PC is also possible thanks to an intuitive One-Click syncing system.

The high battery life comes at a price though; the N-range packs in eco-conscious Atom chips, great for power saving, but not as fast as dual core chips found in pricier models.

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

Via: Shiny Shiny

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Intel are looking to push their new Core i3 processor big time at this year's CES, and already details of laptops and netbooks flaunting the new hardware are leaking onto the web.

The latest of these leaks comes via Costco, who have revealed details on a brand new Dell Inspiron laptop which is set to feature the Core i3 processor.

Using the Nehalem micro architecture, the Core i3 is the first Nehalem chip aiming to pentrate the mainstream, low-cost laptop market.

Thankfully, you wont have to wait too long for this one either; according to the site, "all orders will ship the week of January 17, 2010."

Here's a short spec list according to the Costco website:

• Processor: Core i3
• Display: 15.6" TFT
• Memory: 4096MB
• Hard disk drive: 320GB 7200rpm
• Optical drive: DVDRW
• Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Video card: Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator HD
• Dimensions: (W x D x H):34.3 cm x 24.4 cm x 3.9 cm
• (14.7 in. x 9.6 in. x 1.5 in.)
• Weight (approximate): 2.6 kg (5.8 lb.)
• Price listed by Costco: U.S.$983 (circa £610)

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

New research conducted by Logitech shows that the next-gen Nan is fed up of receiving boiled sweets and a Paul O' Grady autobiography for Christmas. Gadgets are in this season for geriatrics it seems.

OK, the survey was for over 50's, which isn't actually that old at all, but the reserach does stretch right up into the older age groups. Of the 1,500 questioned, 58% would prefer to receive Macbooks, iPods and laptops this Christmas.

Logitech's regional director for the UK and Ireland Yehia Oweiss said: "Our research shows a growing demand for gadgets from the over 50's age group. With Christmas just around the corner, we're conscious that grandparents across the UK will be looking for expert help when it comes to getting all their new gadgets up and running and have made sure our support teams are on standby for a busy season."

So then, be prepared to explain the wonders of the web all over again this Christmas season.

A whole host of new notebooks have been announced by ViewSonic. The six notebooks make up the new Viewbook range by the PC manufacturers, and are available now.

The flagship Viewbook Pro is the most exciting of the newly announced notebooks. Super-thin at only 1.7 cm and weighing in at only 1.6kg the magnesium alloy coated kit is portable enough to fit into even a modest handbag.

Under the hood, the Viewbook Pro packs in an Intel® Core 2 Duo™ 1.3GHz ULV SU7300, and 320 GB of internal memory.

A great feature is the ability to "hot swap" batteries. If your Viewbook Pro is on it's last legs, you can plug in another charged battery without needing to power down your desktop.

The notebook also features a fingerprint lock, multi-touch gestures and an internal 8x DVD writer, with an RRP of around £700.

For more info on the full Viewbook range, visit www.viewsoniceurope.com/uk

Dell and John Lewis have signed a deal which will make the shop the first department store to sell Dell products.

John Lewis will exclusively sell the Adamo XPS laptop, touted as the thinnest in the word at 9.9mm thick. Featuring a 720p 13.4 inch WLED display, a slide out full QWERTY keyboard and touch-pad gestures, it's one of the most sought after products in Dell's current catalogue and represents a real coup for John Lewis.

As well as the Adamo XPS, John Lewis will also be stocking Dell's Studio 15 Multimedia laptop, the Inspiron 14z and 15 laptops and the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook.

"People's lifestyles have evolved and technology is now an intrinsic
part of our lives," said Sarah Shields, Director and General Manager
for Dell's consumer business in Northern Europe. "John Lewis
department stores have a distinct heritage and trust, and have always
been at the cutting edge of delivering a wide variety of high-quality,
stylish products including our newest addition, the Adamo XPS. Our
products, with solid performance and stunning designs, fit seamlessly
onto the John Lewis shelves."

For more info, visit www.dell.co.uk

Waiting for a Chrome OS Netbook? Well don't hold your breath; Acer the first company to reveal a Chrome based Netbook aren't planning on releasing their offering until the back-end of 2010.

The Netbook has been in development since the middle of 2009, so it's quite an unexpectedly long wait for it to arrive. It's not the first time Acer have stepped out boldly with a brand new OS either; some may remember their admirable yet flawed dual booting Android/Windows Netbook, the first of its kind.

For everything you need to know about Google's Chrome OS, check out Tech Digest's in-depth guide.

MSI are ready to launch two new gaming notebook models, the GT740 and GT640.

Coming in 15.4 inch widescreen for the GT640 model and 17 inch widescreen for the GT740, the machines house Core i7 quad-core processors and nVIDA GeForce GTS 250M 3D graphics cards. In angry-looking red and black casing, both notebooks will also hold a 640GB SATA HDD.

Both will also feature Eco Engine power management tools to get the most out of battery life during a long gaming session, and dedicated movie playback Cinema Pro technology for enhanced video quality.

Sound fidelity looks to be a high priority with both notebooks, unsurprising considering they are both very capable Blu-ray packing movie players. The GT740 squeezes in five SRS premium sound speakers, one of which is a sub woofer, while the cheaper GT640 opts for two discrete high definition speakers.

They're a bit pricey at £1399 and £1349 for the GT740 and GT640 models respectively, but the notebooks appear to be cramming in a lot of gaming muscle for their size.

Acer are set to launch two new notebooks to coincide with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Official sponsors of the games, Acer are readying a limited edition of their Aspire 1410 CULV Notebook.

The 1410 notebook will be packing Windows 7 Home Edition with an 11.6-inch LCD LED back lighted screen displaying a 16:9 ratio. The Aspire 1410 will also feature an Intel GMA 4500MHD GPU, an Intel GS45 Express Chipset, up to 4GB of RAM and will come with a 250GB HDD.

While there are fewer details available for the Aspire 4810T Olympic special, the notebook is said to be a special edition release within the Acer Timeline series.

No word yet on whether the notebooks will ship with a chilly-weather battling thermos though.

Via: Akihabara News

ASUS and Toshiba's PC division are in partnership talks, according to ASUS chairman Jonney Shih.

ASUS have seen steady growth in the netbook market, and are looking to have completely overtaken rival manufacturer Dell by 2011, a move which would make them the third largest PC vendor.

Toshiba have an estimated 5% global share of the PC market, a sizeable portion which would certainly bolster the ASUS plans for expansion.

While Shih has admitted that talks with Toshiba have begun, no deals have yet been finalised.

First announced back in July, reports from Tech Crunch and Reuters are suggesting that the source-code to Google's Chrome OS could be released later this week.

Chrome OS is set to be stripped back affair. Its emphasis will be on speed and ease of use, and will initially be pitched towards the netbook market. There will also be a focus on cloud applications and internet use.

Google hopes that success in the portable market will build up a following loyal enough to take on the might of Microsoft's own Windows OS

While it will be interesting to get an early insight into what Google's Chrome OS will offer it's users, especially in relation to the fledgling cloud computing platform, we will have to wait until 2010 for a full retail release of the product.

If you're thinking of buying a new Windows 7 laptop, Toshiba are launching a new trade-in incentive that keeps not only the environment healthy but your wallet too.

Once a customer has purchased a new Toshiba laptop they login to the dedicated Toshiba Trade-In website, register their details and input information about their old laptop. Once the customer has registered, their old model is collected, the valuation is confirmed and a tidy sum of up to £150 is sent their way.

Toshiba vow to either remarket the traded laptop (with all your details safely wiped) or dispose of it in an eco-friendly way.

If you're interested in the scheme, check out www.toshiba.co.uk/tradein

Sony's new CW series is available in several different colours including blue, red, pink and white, as well as a gloss black step up model with Blu-Ray and 500Gb hard drive. There's a 16:9 14inch widescreen X-black LCD screen with LED backlight and an on-board NVIDIA GeForce graphics processor to handle HD video editing and 3D games.

Three buttons just above the keyboard give one-touch access to useful functions, including a button to start surfing in seconds without waiting for the PC's operating system to boot up and a VAIO button which launches Media Gallery, letting you browse digital photos, videos and music tracks.

Also on board is an HDMI output which connects the VAIO to any BRAVIA for enjoying big-screen movies on your HDTV and a web cam for video chatting with friends and family. The CW Series is available October 22nd. Other VAIO ranges that Sony has just announced include the L Series and X Series.

Billed as the world's lightest notebook (until the next one comes along that is) Sony's latest 11.1inch laptop tips the scales at just 655g and is 13.9mm slim.

Designed primarily for the business traveller, the X Series is available in three finishes: gold, black and premium carbon. Customers can choose the specifications that suit them best and create their own personal VAIO X with 'VAIO by you' custom ordering from Sony's website.

Sony claims that because the chassis is sculpted in tough, light carbon fibre it is both strong and incredibly light. The aluminium palm rest is designed to provide a stable base for comfortable, error-free typing on the keyboard while a new multi-finger touchpad simplifies navigation through your files.

The 11.1inch X-black widescreen LCD with LED backlight technology offers high contrast and true-to-life colours, reckons Sony, while thanks to its extremely low voltage processor and power-efficient LCD panel, the VAIO X Series offers approximately 8 hours of charge. An optional extended X battery accessory boosts stamina further still, up to 16 hours of battery life.

When away from a Wi-Fi hotspot, the VAIO Everywair WWAN lets users stay connected with high-speed access to 3G HSPA mobile broadband networks at download speeds up to 7.2 Mbps. Two USB, Gigabit Ethernet and VGA ports are complemented by 802.11 b/g/Draft n and Bluetooth connectivity. There's also a mic, headphone jack and card slots for Memory Stick and SD media. A 2.25mm Motion Eye camera is provided for videoconferencing with clients and colleagues.

The Vaio X series runs Genuine Windows 7 Professional while Energy Star 5.0 rating reduces your carbon footprint. Optional accessories include a luxurious slip case in genuine leather, external USB DVD drive and a wireless mouse.

The VAIO X Series notebook PC is available from November 2009.

KEY FEATURES
* VAIO X Series: just 6551 and 13.9mm slim
* Stay productive for longer with up to 162 hours of battery life
* Clear, bright 11.1inch widescreen X-black LCD with LED technology
* Stunning aluminium/carbon fibre design available in three finishes
* High-speed Mobile Broadband with Everywair Wireless WAN

Courier User Interface from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Remember the Microsoft Courier from a week or so ago? If not it is a very cool looking tablet style PC with two screens that resembles a book. Well Gizmodo, which got the scoop on the Courier in the first place, now has a video from Microsoft which highlights how the manufacturer thinks we might use it.

It is not what you might expect either. Apparently the Courier is not all about content consumption, having a web page on one screen and video running on the other etc. It designed for content creation with the owner using a touch screen and pen to put together a kind of diary which can be re-created online. Interesting stuff.

Gizmodo has just pulled off one hell of a scoop. The site has got its mitts on the Courier, an innovative new device from Microsoft that just might bit the kit that makes the company cool.

Apparently in its late prototype stage the Courier is a booklet (and not a Tablet) style PC which sports a pair of seven inch screens. They are multi touch and are designed for writing flicking and drawing using a stylus. There's also a sophisticated user interface, wireless facilities and an integrated camera.

In short it looks much more like what we'd expect from Apple than the crew in Seattle.

Gizmodo will have more on the Courier over the next few days. It'll be very interesting to see what kind of reception the Courier gets. It certainly looks very cool.

It hasn't been a great F1 season for Ferrari, or their great rivals McLaren Mercedes for that matter too, but that hasn't stopped Acer from teaming up with the Italian sports car company to produce a new go faster laptop the Ferrari One.

Of course all that the PC has in common with the car is its dancing horse logo and red livery, but don't let that put you off. Under the hood it has a dual-core AMD Athlon X2 L310 1.2GHz CPU and 2GB of 800MHz DDR 2 memory, a 250 Gig hard drive and an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor.

Also on board is a memory card slot, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, an 11inch 1366 x 768 display and optional Bluetooth.

It will sell for around £400 when it arrives in stores next month.

In a departure from its usual mobile phone product launch, Nokia has announced a Windows based mini-laptop PC, the Nokia Booklet 3G. Powered by an Intel Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet 3G promises up to 12 hours of battery life.

Weighing just 1.25 kilograms and measuring slightly more than two centimeters thick, it offers - as you might expect - a broad range of connectivity options, including 3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi, giving users high speed access to the Internet, including Nokia's range of Ovi services.

I can normally see where the extra money goes when paying through the eyeballs for a Sony Vaio but I can't say it was all too obvious when I got my hands on the Sony Vaio Mini W. It looks and feels just like pretty much any netbook out there and, in fact, there are much slinkier ones in the shape of the Acer Aspire One for example. Take a look and see what I mean.

At approcimately £400 that's quite a lot more than any other netbook and the only thing it really has going for it, on first inspection, is the keyboard. It's still pretty small but Sony has somehow managed to keep their isolated keys design while making it easy enough to type on. I'm not saying I'd want to write a book on the thing but it'll drive you a lot less crazy than a lot of the others out there.

I'd need some up close and personal time with the thing to really see how much I'd pay for it but, until then, I'm not going to be losing any sleep. Oh, and brown was the other colour I was after.

Sonystyle

Canadian company Datawind, the guys behind the Pocket Surfer, has entered the netbook market with the UbiSurfer.

Spec wise I'm afraid it gets absolutely blown out of the water compared to other netbooks available. An Arm processor with just 128GB of RAM is pretty poor. As is the SSD of just 1GB. But it does have a few features going for it that make it an attractive proposition.

Firstly, it's tiny. If you're looking for a really compact netbook you'll struggle to get more compact that this. The screen is just 7-inches and it weighs just 700g. Secondly it's only £159.99. Lastly, and by far the most crucial aspect of the UbiSufer is that it comes with a pre-installed Vodafone SIM that will allow 30 hours of GPRS web surfing a month. It's not 3G but it's better than a poke in the eye.

If more than 30 hours are needed a £5.99 a month fee will allow unlimited usage. The 30 hours a month deal lasts for a year, and then it's just £29.99 a year after that. Roaming charges are pretty cheap too - just 5p a minute in Europe and the States.

30 hours should be more than enough for most surfers - the netbook has Wi-Fi as well so it wouldn't be totally dependent on the Vodafone connection.

So overall, fairly poor netbook, fairly good data deal. For £159.99 it might be worth a punt. Get it online from Maplin.

Sony has launched a rather middle of the road Vaio range in the UK today known as the NW series. Now, that's not supposed to be as damning as it sounds. I say middle of the road because you probably wouldn't call it a portable at 2.7kg and you you might not rely on it as your main home PC with a 15.5" screen. I think its best description is as your secondary home machine. What do you mean? It's a Vaio. Of course you can afford three computers.

Like the little one from earlier, it's got a 16:9 WXGA Sony X-Black LCD which should provide a lovely picture and an HDMI port on the back so you can watch all your HD downloads on your nice big Sony Bravia. You get 500GB of HDD for your storage or if you opt for the upgrade you get a Blu-ray combo drive to playback from plus a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card for good measure too.