From Ubuntu to Windows 7, All the best OS for Netbooks

Netbooks have become a hugely popular hardware category. So much so, that netbooks have in some cases started to outsell laptops, considering their low prices, excellent portability and web centric approach.

But these mini machines are a lot different from our usual ultra powered laptops and notebooks. They have different hardware set ups from their laptop congeners and thus have different software needs. Keeping in view their moderately powered processors, these netbooks may not be able to handle the elephant that Vista is, though they can pick the load of his brother that we know as XP. But using an OS that is specifically built for a netbook has its own aura.

We will tell you about these Operating Systems that your netbook will just love to spend its day and night with.

Moblin

Moblin is short for Mobile Desktop. It’s an open source project which aims to develop software for Mobile Internet Devices or, Netbooks and Nettops. Moblin is the brainchild of the people behind this initiative and Moblin.org. Built on a customized Linux build, it uses a tailor-made Gnome environment. It’s still in development, with V2.0 Beta already in the market. Targeting netbooks, Moblin is specifically designed for Intel Atom processors, that most netbooks are based on. With version 2, Moblin has brought an intuitive and easy to use user interface, built for a better media and social networking experience. It also sports a new graphical shell designed to provide the best experience on netbook devices and the likes. The bar placed on the top of the desktop holds different panels called ‘zones’. Each zone holds applications for different uses. Web surfing is handled by Moblin's self customized browser which is based on Mozilla’s Gecko engine. The media library can be browsed from the top bar from where a user can access music, videos and image gallery.

The connectivity can’t be ignored. With Moblin, you can easily create connections, whether Wifi, 3G, WiMax or a wired one. All of this is handled from the top panel. The home screen, that you see above, shows recent appointments and tasks. It also shows tabs of recently visited websites and messages from social media websites. Last.fm and twitter are supported till now and more should be added as Moblin progresses out of beta. Twitter is also integrated within the panel from where a user can quickly update his status. Moblin can be downloaded from here, although note that it is still in development and may cause some glitches.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is simply a spin-off of the original Ubuntu, customized for Netbooks and similar devices. With Ubuntu at it’s heart, you will get the security, user friendliness and customization options that Ubuntu promises.

Specifically designed for netbooks, the Netbook Remix has an intuitive interface with large icons and buttons, making it easy to ‘tap on’ with fingers when the OS is used with a touchpad friendly monitor. The default install takes up nearly 2GB, clearly disappointing users with 2GB EEE PCs. But considering the netbooks that come these days, with large volume hard drives and SSDs, this won’t be a problem at all. It comes with most of the default Gnome applications. OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Evolution all come bundled and the Gnome Web cam app, Cheese is also packed which works out of the box. The current version is 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope. corresponding to the desktop release. It’s just another Ubuntu release (tuned up a bit though) and you should expect it to work like one. The Ubuntu Netbook Remix supports many popular netbook models like Asus Aspire One, Asus EEE 1000, 1000H, 900a & 901, Dell Mini 9 & 10v and a lot more.

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s

The wheels were set in motion for the advent of the ThinkPad T400s ($1,995 direct) the minute Lenovo launched the ThinkPad X300 (and subsequently, the X301). A larger version of that highly sought-after 13-inch business ultraportable was the next logical step. At the same time, though, the flagship ThinkPad T400 desperately needed an update, so it's fitting their paths would intersect. Lenovo just added an "s" to the model name, but the system changes are dramatic. The ThinkPad T400s takes the X300's exquisitely thin dimensions and widens them with a 14-inch LED widescreen. Certain features such as a FireWire port, an extra card slot, and options for discrete graphics aren't available on the T400s. Luckily for those who can't do without these things, the old T400 models will still be around.

Design
Above everything else, the T400s is an aesthetic overhaul. Taking the brilliant engineering that went into the X300 and applying it to a 14-inch model was something Lenovo aficionados were waiting for. It measures exactly one inch thick (13.3 by 9.4 by 1 inches, HWD) and that includes optical drive. It and the Apple MacBook Pros are the only laptops that can pull-off these compact measurements without sacrificing the optical drive (a dual-layer DVD burner in our test unit; a Blu-ray reader is also available).

At 3.9 pounds, the T400s is officially the lightest laptop with a 14-inch screen, a title that was previously shared by the Toshiba Tecra R10-S4401 (4.2 lbs) and the Samsung X460-44P (4.2 lbs). More compelling is that the T400s is over a pound lighter than the original T400 (5.2 lbs), with the Dell Latitude E6400 (5.6 lbs) and the HP EliteBook 6930p (5.3 lbs) heavier still.

You may wonder how the T400s's bland-looking exterior can possibly be considered an aesthetic makeover. Well, you have to look beyond its all-black frame. Stripping the black from a ThinkPad would have been like stripping its brand identity, as Lenovo found out when it tried out a platinum version of its now-defunct ThinkPad Z61m. Likewise, Apple abandoned its black MacBook—certain colors will forever be paired with a particular brand. The T400's chassis is fortified with carbon and glass-fiber, making it both accident-proof and long-lasting. Within the rigid frame is an inner metallic skeleton called the Roll Cage, a concept similar to that used in cars to keep the occupants (in this case, the processing components) from harm. These engineering feats, perfected in X300, have been carried over to the T400s.

The 14-inch LED widescreen is energy efficient and thinner than that of the T400, yet it's not susceptible to bending. The panel is bright and its colors are sharp, and much of the credit belongs to the 1,440-by-900 resolution (the same as the T400). The 1,280-by-800 (or WXGA) resolutions found in the Tecra R10-S4401 and the X460-44P aren't as sharp. Meanwhile, you can find similar resolutions in the Dell E6400 and the HP 6930p. Just as black is synonymous with ThinkPads, so is the magnificently built keyboard, Lenovo's signature TrackPoint pointing stick, and the soft mouse buttons. Lenovo has added texture to the touchpad, which makes it more enjoyable to use than the standard one found in the T400. A ThinkPad's typing experience simply has no equal. (Next: Features and Performance)

10 Questions for Google's New Chrome OS

Google’s not-so-surprising announcement that it would launch an operating system, the Google Chrome OS, in 2010 was full of heady promises, but painfully lacking in detail. Naturally, I have some questions for Google.

1. Why Do We Need This?
Consumers like variety, but stress levels tend to rise when there are too many technology options. I think this is mostly because each platform has its own metaphors. And while some may tell users that this operating system is better than that one, most users are too scared to switch because they don't know if they can learn to use a new OS. Google, however, is applying the same thinking it used when the search giant launched the Chrome Web browser: We can do it better. They did build a super-fast Web interface, but Chrome still lacks many of the basic features we've come to expect from a good browser. Will a Chrome OS have similar gaping holes?

2. Hardware Support?
Google's blog post on the new Chrome OS seems to gloss over hardware support. "[Users] don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware." In other words, the Chrome OS should work seamlessly with all of the peripherals you currently use. But why is that? The OS is being built on a Linux kernel, which means that while driver support is decent, it's not foolproof. Will Google work with OEMs to have a rich set of drivers available within the OS? Will you have to download all the drivers you need for your existing hardware? How will they ease the process of installation?

3. Linux? Really?
I know I've said this before, but why do people keep going back to Linux as the best alternative to Windows? There are excellent Linux distros out there, such as Ubuntu, but none of them are quite as easy to use as Windows or the Mac OS. More importantly, two years of Vista did not create a new user bonanza for the Linux platform. It didn't even do all that much for the Mac OS. Instead, Windows users suffered but stayed put. Now many feel like they're about to be rewarded for their patience with Windows 7. Look at it this way: When gas prices soared to record highs, people did drive less and they even traded in their Hummers for Hyundais. What they didn't do is rush to hybrid vehicles. I know there are more of them on the road than ever before, but they are far outnumbered by traditional gas-guzzlers. Face it, the tried and trusted (Windows) seems to stick around even when better alternatives are available.

4. What About Android?
Android is a decent little mobile operating system, and it may even do a good job of powering a new generation of netbooks—I'm still waiting to see the first one—but it hasn't exactly taken its primary market by storm. In fact, it's taken almost a year for the second Android-based phone to arrive. I don't know what caused the holdup. Perhaps it's the same problem that Linux has: consumers have found the mobile platforms they really prefer and aren't interviewing any others.

5. Which OEMs?
Most major PC manufacturers have offered Linux boxes at one time or another, but they don't push them. There are no ad campaigns out there, and they're typically not featured on, say, Dell's homepage. Google certainly has the clout to get into the offices of Acer, Dell, and HP, but how receptive are these companies to Google's platform overtures? Like the rest of us, they've suffered through a bad 2008 and a dismal 2009. Would they really want to risk precious marketing dollars on an untested platform? All are gearing up for Microsoft's Windows 7 push (which kicks off in earnest on October 22). It's the closest thing these manufacturers have to a sure thing. The Chrome OS has risk written all over it.

6. Can We Trust Open Source?
The open source community is brilliant at building out new OS features, but it also tends to fracture. Does anyone know how many different Linux distributions exist? Can Google depend on the open source community to put the interests of the lowest common denominator first?

7. Will the OS Be in Beta?
Okay, I'm asking this one somewhat facetiously. Google officially grew up this week when it pulled most of its major apps and services out of Beta. I'd say it's no coincidence that it did this right before the Google Chrome OS announcement. The ever-present "beta" tag on many of the company's products made it seem somewhat less than serious about software. The company can't afford that perception now.

8. Is Chrome Chrome?
One thing that isn't clear is whether the Chrome OS desktop is actually going to be a brand new interface, with new code, or if the whole thing is simply a rejiggering of the Chrome Web browser with a Linux kernel underneath. Google's blog post makes it sound more like the latter. That could be kind of cool; you get things like tear off tabs and an incredibly lean, speedy interface. On the other hand, how does it handle tasks and applications, navigation, file storage, networking? Does that all get passed off to the Linux platform?

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Asus W90Vp : World’s Most Powerful Gaming Laptop

Asus W90Vp is a desktop replacement notebook that offers record-breaking performance in a stylish, aggressively-designed chassis inspired by high-performance luxury vehicles.

Based on an ASUS motherboard using an Intel X38 desktop chipset, the W90Vp boasts a Discrete Graphics Engine (DGE) using a pair of ATI Radeon 4870 videocards with 1GB of video memory in CrossfireX, 6GB of system memory, and an overclockable Intel Core 2 Quad-core processor for class-leading performance. The DGE with its dual Radeon cards offers mind-blowing performance, allowing it to reach over 15,000 3Dmarks in 3DMark06 in overclocked mode – a score that puts all notebooks, and some desktops, to shame.

The W90Vp is a portable movie theater with its Blu-ray drive, glorious 18.4” LCD running at full 16:9 HD 1920x1080 resolution, and an amazing Dolby-certified sound system. The sharp display features an edgeless cover for a true home theater experience that is complimented by booming audio from the integrated 5.1 Altec Lansing speaker system with a built-in subwoofer.

Seven Second Boot with Express Gate
With the W90Vp you can quickly and easily access the web, instant messages, look at photos and more with its Express Gate quick-boot environment. Just press the W90Vp’s Express Gate button and in seconds you’ll be in a fully-functional Linux environment – perfect for quickly checking your email, listening to music, or making a Skype call.

Specifications

Processor and Cache Memory
Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T9600/T9400/P8600/P8400
Intel® X38 + ICH10R Chipset, FSB=1066 MHz

Operating System
Microsoft® Vista 64 bit SP1 Premium

Main Memory
DDR2 800MHz, up to 6GB, 3xSO-DIMM slots support

Display
* 18.4” widescreen HD ultra-bright LCD display (W90Vp/W90Vn)
* 17” widescreen WUXGA ultra-bright LCD display (W90V)

Graphics Card
* ATI CrossFireX™ technology with ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4870 graphics, GDDR3 1024MB VRAM (W90Vp)
* NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS, GDDR3 1024MB VRAM (W90Vn)
* ATI CrossFireX™ technology with ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3850 graphics, GDDR3 1024MB VRAM (W90V)

Hard Disk Drive
320 + 320GB / 250 + 250GB / 500 + 500GB (5400rpm)

Optical Drive
Blu-ray Combo/ DVD Super Multi DL

Video Camera
2.0M Pixels Auto Focus Webcam

Communication
* 802.11 Draft N wireless connection
* BlueTooth 2.1+EDR
* 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
* 56k Modem

Audio
* 5.1 channel Altec Lancing speaker (w/ subwoofer),
* 2nd Generation Dolby™ Home Theater

Interface
* 1 x HDMI
* 1 x E-SATA
* 4 x USB 2.0
* IEEE 1394
* VGA-out (D-Sub)
* Headphone (SPIDIF)
* Mic-in
* 8 in 1 Card Reader
* 1 x Express Card
* 1 x CIR
* RF-in (w/ TV SKU)
* 1 x Modem jack (RJ11)
* 1 x LAN port (RJ45)

The W90Vp-A1 features an introductory MSRP of $2,499 USD and is available immediately at leading online e-tailers. (story Link)

Review: Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T Notebook

Acer’s engineering approach has fairly assisted to innovate, highly advanced notebooks, which have tremendously attracted the notebook users, towards the Acer Brand. It is really true in the case of, Acer Aspire Timeline  4810T Notebook – a smart combo of creativity and truly the breaking news to the notebook zealots.

This latest model notebook operates on two types of systems, either on Intel® Centrino® 2 or Intel® CoreIM2 Duo SU9400 ultra low voltage processor.  It is also operating on Intel® CoreIM2 Solo SU3500 highly low energy consumption processor.

Out of many features, motherboard flexibility gives users far more alternatives to select either they intend to use it for web surfing or business scheduling.   This new model has a fitted-in dual-channel DDR3 SDRAM slot for memory enhancement that can assist up to 4GB 1066MHz memory.  The memory capacity can be upgraded to 8GB, you may have rarely thought for before. (story Link)

Netbook vs Laptop Performance

It's safe to say that netbooks are here to stay, and they could even come to dominate the laptop landscape in a couple of years. Since their humble beginnings as cheap laptops that could be used to surf the Web, compose e-mails, do light office tasks, and play music or videos but not much more, they are evolving into more substantial machines. Set against their low price and portability are limitations such as screen and keyboard size, and lack of a built-in optical drive. But perhaps the biggest differentiator between netbooks and other laptops is performance. We know netbooks can easily handle the sort of basic tasks I mention above, but how do they do at more rigorous tasks such as resizing photos, transcoding videos, or ripping an audio CD? And how do they stack up against mainstream laptops?

First, I'll say a few words about netbook limitations other than performance. We know that the small screens (most less than 12 inches), lack of optical drive, and constricted keyboard influence price (and buying decisions), but we'll keep our focus here on performance, which for many users is paramount.

Key to the performance of any PC, netbook or otherwise, are its processing parts. The vast majority of netbooks (including the two we'll focus on here) run on an Intel Atom processor, a small percentage use VIA processors, and a scant few with processors from Texas Instruments and ARM have trickled out. Netbooks typically ship with 1GB of memory, while bigger laptops are standardizing at 3GB and 4GB now. And let's not forget that graphics components and hard drives can influence the performance of a netbook.

Performance-wise, netbooks are configured with very few differentiating features between them. But how do they fare against other laptops that cost a little more, run faster processors, and pile on memory? Is improved performance commensurate with the increase in price? Well, we took two netbooks—the Acer Aspire One (10-inch) and the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, which cost $350 and $500, respectively—and compared them with mainstream laptops that aren't outrageously expensive (ranging from $700 to $1,300) but cost considerably more than your average netbook. —Next: How We Tested >

Is Windows 7 Starter really just Windows 7 Trial Version?

Some comments in our article and forums about the possibility of a Windows 7 Starter $200 netbook inspired me to take a deeper look into the issue. If Windows 7 Starter is keeping companies from pushing out $200 netbooks, then why aren’t free Linux alternatives already doing so? Although Linux has zero costs when it comes to licensing and code, there are still a few other expenses OEMs have to cover when building a Linux system:

• Testing and creating drivers
• Hiring and training staff that are ready to work on Linux and provide tech-support
• Costs in repackaging due to the increased return rate on Linux machines

There are many other factors I didn’t list but these three points give you an idea of why Linux netbooks aren’t cheaper than they are. If Linux netbooks are still in the $300 range and Windows says they can offer a $200 netbook, how much are they actually charging vendors for Windows 7 Starter? What if Windows 7 Starter is really a cloak for what is actually Windows 7 Trial Version?

The possibility of that being true isn’t unrealistic. If you think about it, Starter contains a few inconvenient restrictions that draw away from the complete Windows experience, particularly the inability to have three simultaneous applications open.

One of Windows 7 Starter's restrictions include the inability to change your wallpaper

What saves Microsoft from being bashed upon for these restrictions is their Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU) program, which allows a user to upgrade to a higher-level version of Windows at any time. As bad as many of us think Starter can be, there’s virtually no risk in purchasing a Starter-equipped machine at all. Seeing that Starter is the cheapest version of Windows you can ever put on a computer, why wouldn’t OEMs be willing to put it on their machines. It would allow OEMs to have much lower list prices and WAU would reduce the fear of customers of not being satisfied with Starter. This begs the question of whether Microsoft really intended for you to stay on Starter permanently. Let’s take a look at a possible scenario:

1. You walk into the store to look for a cheap and affordable laptop
2. The cheapest laptop is $200 and has Windows 7 Starter. You can upgrade any time so there’s no risk, why not buy it?
3. After a couple of days on your netbook, you’re about to explode after the 100th notification from Windows telling you need to keep the app-count to less than three
4. You want to upgrade. The price is less than the laptop but it might be more than what you want to pay. You’ve already got a laptop but you’re not completely satisfied, so you opt for the upgrade

If you haven’t spotted it yet, the trick being used here is upselling. After being stuck with a Starter netbook you’ve purchased because if was “no-risk” and cheap, you now want to upgrade. People are also more likely to go through small changes or make smaller transactions than large ones. Meaning that most people are probably more likely to upgrade to Home Premium or a higher edition like Microsoft originally planned to. (story Link)

Xtreme Notebooks XN1 — Extreme Mediocrity

The XN1 is neither a notebook nor extreme. Let’s discuss: Though striking similar to Sony’s LT series, the XN1 is nowhere near as polished. And its specs keep it mired in mediocrity; its 1.87-Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and 2-GB RAM are entry-level fodder, and a skimpy 80-GB hard drive is simply unacceptable. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find the XN1 running the 64-bit version of Vista Ultimate. It’s a capable machine, just not extremely capable. —Claude McIver

WIRED Good inputs, including a eSATA port for high-speed hard drives, and dual coax for digital audio. Slim, slot-load HD DVD-ROM drive.

TIRED Though the smallest drive available on their website is 200 gigs, our review system came with a laughable 80-GB drive. Just 26 fps in our P.R.E.Y. benchmark with its nVidia GeForce Go 7600. $1599, xtremenotebooks.com (story Link)

9 Ways How Windows 7 Will Save Battery Life

Microsoft recently released a new 14-page whitepaper entitled “Windows 7 Power Management” to outline the power management technologies in Windows 7 that reduce power consumption. For those curious as to how exactly Windows 7 will use less power, this is your answer. For those who just want the quick scoop, here are 8 different ways how Windows 7 mainly save battery life:

9 Ways How Windows 7 Will Save Battery Life
1) Idle Resource Utilization

This is one of the most important power management technologies because idle time is a significant portion of the time a computer is turned on. Idle efficiency in Windows 7 is improved by reducing resource utilization and enabling hardware to go into lower power states during long periods of inactivity. This includes the processor, disk, memory, and network activity on the computer. To demonstrate just how much power can be saved, CPUs consume nearly 0 watts when idle, but up to 35 watts at full power.
2) Trigger Start Services

Services were usually started automatically right after startup and would run in the background waiting for an event to occur. In Windows 7, certain services are only started when triggered by an event such as device insertion or an IP change. This makes it unnecessary to have services starting all the time and reduces the amount of background processes.
3) Enhanced Processor Power Management

Windows 7 will include device driver support for the latest PPM technologies. PPM allows Windows 7 to choose the appropriate processor performance state depending on the load and scale performance accordingly.
4) Adaptive Display Brightness

Microsoft says that the average display is set to turn off after 10-15 minutes of inactivity. Often times however, there are shorter periods of inactivity in between. To save additional power, ADB defines will allow dimming the display. ADB can also utilize hardware sensor technology to adjust display brightness accordingly to ambient light.
5) Low-Power Audio

Windows 7 will support the latest Intel HD Audio low-power specification, which introduces a new power state known as D3Cold. This is the lowest unresponsive power state that a codec can go into. It can also further conserve power when an audio device is not in use. Windows 7 also supports selective suspend technology that extends to USB audio-class devices such as microphones and web-cams.
6) Timer Coalescing

Modern processors reduce power consumption by taking advantage of idle time between executing instructions, but many PPM technologies require a minimum amount of idle time before obtaining any net-power savings. Timer Coalescing increases the average idle period by letting the Windows kernel combine periodic software activity.

Additionally, Windows 7 will defer non-critical background activity when the user is on a battery-powered setup (netbook or notebook).
7) Bluetooth Power Improvements

Windows 7 will enable a state of “selective suspend” when it detects that a Bluetooth device has entered a low-power state.
8. Networking Power Improvements

Network adapters enter a lower-power state (known as D3) if supported by the adapter and driver whenever a network cable is removed. Low-power mode capability for wireless network controllers has been improved. Low-power mode is only entered if the access point supports it. Vista was unable to detect if the mode was supported and would cause computers to suddenly disconnect from the wireless network. Windows 7 will detect compatibility before entering the low-power mode.
9) Optimizations to key user scenarios

In addition to the improvements listed above, Microsoft also looked at specific key scenarios they could optimize including search, Internet browsing, and casual gaming. Here is an example of some of the optimizations made to a DVD Playback scenario:

* The ability for the CPU to stay in lower performance states without affecting playback performance
* Improvement of the Desktop Windows Manager (DWM) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) utilization through architectural changes
* Smart data caching that allow optical disk drive spin-down

These are the nine key ways Windows 7’s power management will improve, saving a lot more battery life than its predecessors on portable computing. In addition to these great improvements are power-management diagnostics to help IT pros determine problems that may be affecting power efficiency. For full technical info and additional resources, click here to check out Microsoft’s site to download the whitepaper. (story Link)

Duel Systems DuelAdapter—Double Your Connection Pleasure

That slot on the side of your fancy new notebook may look like a standard PC Card connector, but chances are you got stuck with an ExpressCard slot instead: a replacement technology which is incompatible with PC Cards and for which precious few peripherals exist. If you've got old PC Card hardware which you don't want to upgrade, the Duel Systems DuelAdapter provides a lifeline. The device has an ExpressCard on one end and a PC Card dock on the other, connected by a hefty, foot-long cable. Install drivers and you've got a way to use nearly any old PC Card on your laptop. We tried it with a Cingular WWAN card, PC Card hard drive, and Microdrive adapter and had no problems. Just try to ignore the unfortunate homophone in the name.  —Christopher Null

WIRED Practically plug-and-play, can swap cards in and out without reboots. Works on Windows XP and Mac machines. Broad support even for notoriously "difficult" PC Cards, like WWAN adapters.

TIRED No-frills design; a status light on the unit would have been nice. Extremely old PC Cards probably won't work with it. No Vista support yet. A little bulky at 5.8 ounces and a bit awkward to try and fit in a messenger bag. $119, duel-systems.com (Story Link)

HP EliteBook Notebook Series – All Muscle No Fat

HP India has announced the launch of its HP EliteBook Notebook PC series designed for the style-conscious corporate mobile professional.
Launched in a gym to reiterate the ruggedness of this series that is inspired by aircraft construction, these notebooks adorn military-standard durability, which is designed to be business-rugged withstanding dust, vibration, altitude and high temperature.

The HP EliteBook series comprises a total of six premium business notebooks - 2530p, 2730p, 6930p, 8530p, 8730w and 8530w - encompassing the professional (p) and mobile workstation (w) class notebooks series.
"HP EliteBook's sleek, innovative designs combine a sophisticated look with durability, thus aligning to the evolving mobile work environment," said Anurag Arora, Country Manager – Business Notebooks, Personal Systems Group, HP. "Furthermore, HP has incorporated the right amalgam of hardware and software features to deliver a dependable business notebook PC that delivers enhanced security & improved ease of use in a stylish new package." (story Link)

17" Unibody Apple MacBook Pro

Part media center, part workstation, the Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch has been revered over the years by a nation of professional photographers and film editors, not to mention average media folks who can't get enough of this thin-bodied cinematic wonder. When the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Dual Graphics) and the MacBook 13-inch (Aluminum) launched with their "unibody" enclosures—in each case, a heavily promoted slab of aluminum that rids the frame of all detachable parts—a "uni-seventeen-incher" was clearly on the way. The Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody) ($2,799 direct) is still the lightest and the prettiest media center laptop to house a maximum-resolution screen, and the changes are significant.

You probably would assume that the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody) is simply a bigger version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro, but leave it to Apple to throw us yet another curveball. Although the elimination of the FireWire 400 port was to be expected, the battery latches—indicative of a removable battery—were nowhere to be found. That's because Apple fitted this rig with a high-capacity lithium polymer battery, which—controversially—can't (or shouldn't) be removed by non-Apple employees. With this new battery, Apple is touting 7 to 8 hours of battery life on a single charge—but that all depends on what you're doing on the machine.

No other media center can even come close to this system's thinness. Its dimensions of 15.5 by 10.5 by 0.98 inches (HWD) make it seem half as thick as either the HP HDX18t or the Sony VAIO VGN-AW190. Apple's unibody aluminum enclosure has gained wide attention. Without question, the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody)'s design is jaw-dropping; what makes it even more impressive is the sense of security its rigid frame provides. Yet Apple has still managed to produce the lightest laptop in its class. At 6.6 pounds, this system is' roughly 2 pounds lighter than the HDX18t (8.7 pounds) and the AW190 (8.4 pounds) and lighter even than the Dell Studio XPS 16 (6.9 pounds), which has a smaller widescreen.

I love it when a screen fills the lid's entire "canvas," leaving barely detectable strips as borders. The 17-inch widescreen is magnificent; it's about as close to an edge-to-edge screen as one can get. The Apple 15-inch (Dual Graphics) and the 13-inch (Aluminum) have thicker borders, so the screens don't fill up their inner lids' full dimensions the way the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody)'s does. Although the new panel is still an LED screen, it's a slight departure from its predecessor's. Apple is claiming a greater color gamut—up to 60 percent greater—for the new screen. Unlike the RGB LED screens (or colored LEDs) that illuminate the Dell XPS16 and the Lenovo ThinkPad W700, the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody)'s screen uses white LEDs. It's a brighter, more sophisticated panel than the one in the previous 17-inch MacBook, more in line with Apple's desktop Cinema displays. Apple offers both glossy and matte (antiglare) screen options. Along with the wider color gamut, an antiglare screen is an important selling point for the MacBook's target audience, especially for professional photographers who need to judge colors on the fly. Though there's only one resolution, it's the highest possible for such a display: 1,920 by 1,200. (story Link)

Installing Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9

If you’re looking to get a notebook to install Mac OS X on, I recommend the Dell Mini 9. It’s one of the best, no-compromises platforms according to the BoingBoing compatibility chart for netbooks running OS X and one can be yours for around $400 depending on the options that you choose.

In this post I’m going to detail the easiest way to install Mac OS X on the Dell Mini 9. This tutorial borrows heavily from John Mahoney’s excellent piece on Gizmodo, which in turn is based on a tutorial on the MyDellMini forums by “bmaltais” — and both deserve high praise. Refer back to Mahoney’s piece on Gizmodo if you run into problems and if you really get into a bind you’ll have to refer to the MyDellMini forums for help.

A note about Hackintoshing: Apple doesn’t like it and may send the black helicopters from Cupertino to visit you if you follow the instructions after the jump. If you end up in Gitmo for installing OS X on non-Apple hardware, please let me know so that I can blog about it.

Note: I’ve separately posted a photo gallery of the process.

Prerequisites:

• Dell Mini 9 with 16GB SSD (around $400)
• A retail copy of Mac OS X ($129) not an OEM/bundled/upgrade version
• An external USB DVD drive ($50) or Blu-Ray ($99)
• About 8 hours (albeit mostly unattended)

Mahoney’s tutorial for Gizmodo walks through installing Mac OS X on a USB Flash drive, which is overkill IMHO. Do yourself a favor and invest in an external USB DVD drive as it saves about eight steps over the “Mahoney method.” I opted for the slimline Blu-Ray drive from FastMac which costs$100 for the Blu-Ray reader, $300 for the 1x writer, $400 for the 4x writer.If you don’t want to purchase a USB optical drive you can also use a high-capacity (8GB+) flash drive as outlined in the Mahoney Method, but it will take a longer.

STEP 1
Download the  “Type11″ bootloader DellMiniBoot123v8.01.iso.zip unzip it and burn the resulting .iso to a standard CD-R using Apple’s Disk Utility. If the download link eventually breaks, search for the file name on the MyDellMini forums.

STEP 2
Connect your external DVD drive to your Mini 9 and power it on and press 0 (zero) at startup to bring up the list of bootable devices.

STEP 3
Choose optical/DVD from the list (it should be the second choice) and you’ll end up a command prompt that says “boot:”

STEP 4
Take out the bootloader disk and put in your retail Mac OS X install DVD, keeping the Mini 9 running. Press Escape at the boot: prompt to bring up the drive options. Then type “9f” (minus the quotes) then press Enter. (”9f” is the hex code for the external DVD, “80″ is hex for the primary internal SSD. )

Tip: Give it some time. Mine took two plus minutes for the OS X DVD to boot. I got a weird EBIOS error but it eventually booted from the OS X DVD. If it never boots from the DVD drive, you may have to go the Flash drive route outlined in the Mahoney Method.

Note: While you’re installing Mac OS X, the screen will be stretched to 800×600 rather than your Mini’s native 1024×600 resolution. This is normal and will be fixed later.

STEP 5
Before running the Mac OS X installer you need to format your SSD via Disk Utility. Create a single Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) partition, go to Options and select GUID Partition Table. Then click Apply. The 16GB SSD nets about 13 usable GB

STEP 6
Go back to the Installer and install OS X to the SSD. Click Customize and uncheck as many options as possible to save space on the SSD. I turned off everything except the printer drivers for my specific printers. The install will take about 47 minutes to an hour, so go talk to your family, they miss you. If you come back to an Install Failed error message at the very end don’t panic. It’s normal.

STEP 7
Swap discs and boot back into the Type11 bootloader by holding down the zero key at boot and choosing the optical drive. At the boot: prompt hitEscape and type “80” to boot from SSD, press Enter. Back at the boot: prompt, type “-f” and hit Enter again to boot. This will load all of OS X’s kernel extensions (.kexts) to enable things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the webcam. Mac OS X will boot and it’ll walk you through the typical OS X setup process.

STEP 8
Time to clean house. After a base 10.5.1 install I had used 11.4 of the available 13GB on the SSD. In order to make room for the base 10.5.6 update (which needs a minimum of 4.9GB) I trashed a bunch of apps I knew I wouldn’t run on the Mini 9 (AppleScript, Automator, Chess, Front Row, Image Capture, PhotoBooth, etc.) then I ran Monolingual and removed every available Language, Input Menu, and all the unwanted PPC code using the Achitectures tab.

STEP 8
Run Software Update and install the 10.5.6 Update, again you need about 4.9GB free for the base update and about 6.0GB free for the corresponding QuickTime, iTunes and AirPort updates. I installed just the base 10.5.6 update first then I installed the other updates.

Note: The 10.5.6 update takes about two hours to download and another two hours to “Install and Shutdown.” Again, talk to your family.

Tip: My Mini 9 got a little weird during the long installs with no user interaction. When I came back to check on the install, the screen was frozen in time, still saying 47 minutes remaining for example. But after a few clicks and waiting upwards of 3-4 minutes the screen would suddenly refresh and the Restart button would suddenly appear. Do not force quit or power down in this scenario. Be patient, young jedi. Click around and press Enter a few times and the screen should eventually refresh.

STEP 9
Boot into the Type11 bootloader one last time by press zero at boot. At the boot: prompt hit Escape and type “80” to boot from SSD. In OS X navigate to the DellMini9Utils folder on the Type11 CD and run the DellEFI installer. This will load all of the Mini 9 .kexts and drivers as well as a special bootloader to boot your SSD install. Do the default install and resist the urge to check the two unchecked options.

STEP 10
Reboot one final time, this time directly off of your SSD and enjoy the glorious 1024×600 resolution!

OPTIONS

• The “AboutThisMac.pkg” inside the Type11 utilities folder on your bootloader CD fixes the “Unknown Processor” bug in the About This Mac window, replacing it with the proper “Atom 1.6GHz” designation.
• While you’re at, do a Get Info on the DellEFI Installer application, click on the cool Mini 9/Leopard icon and copy and paste it to be your SSD icon. Much better!
• This trick fools oversized windows into shrinking to better fit the Mini 9’s 1024*600 screen.
• This trick can enable some multitouch features (i.e. scrolling) on the Mini 9’s Synaptics touchpad.
• This trick will enable mobile broadband – if your Mini 9 has it (mine doesn’t).
• The MyDellMini forums are your friend. Register for an account and search there if you run into any problems.

Congratulations, you did it! You’re now rocking the best netbook in town.

As always, I encourage you to post your experiences in the TalkBack below.

Update: Life’s not all peaches and cream in netbook-ville. It’s not a Mac, so don’t expect it to act 100% like a Mac from Cupertino. For example, my Mini 9 is currently having narcolepsy issues. It will often go to permanent sleep requiring a power cycle to bring things back. Sleep in general appears to be a little flakey, so beware. Also when booting/rebooting you need to see the grey Apple screen with the spinning wheel below it. No spinning wheel, no boot. Try again.

Update 2: I got 2.5 hours of battery life running an iTunes music stream over Wi-Fi with the visualizer on and display sleep set to Never. I’m pretty confident that 3+ hours of run time is attainable with minor conservation. The Mini 9’s battery takes about two hours to fully re-charge.  (story Link with Thanks)

Battle for Best High-End Mac OS X netBook

I’ve been busy installing OS X on the Dell Mini 9 (CNet review) and fellow podcaster Rob Parker prefers the Acer Aspire One (review) but guest blogger Bob DeGrande thinks that the Asus 901 (review) and MSI Wind(review) make better high-end Mac OS X netbooks.

I think there is a better deal on a Linux netbook at the moment. The Asus 901is a high end netbook.  It normally sells in the $360-380 range, but there is a $100 rebate going on through early March, bringing it into the same price range as the Aspire.

It has excellent features - a 1.3MP webcam, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery, 20GB of SSD in the Linux version, and a Synaptic touchpad which supports two finger scrolling like a MacBook. The Asus 901 network card identifies itself internally as a gigabit card (even though the specs say 10/100) and it also has 802.11n wireless (most others only have b/g).

I have some experience running OS X on a netbook (I have a legal license). I use the MSI Wind. I have upgraded to 2GB RAM, a 7200 RPM 320GB hard drive, and a 9 cell battery.  It’s still under 3 lbs., and this machine runs OS X well - I load up Spaces with Tweetdeck, Firefox, Mail, and iTunes, and I have no problem running additional applications without slowing down.

Time Machine works, including using Migration Assistant to move apps from an existing Time Machine backup by USB.  There are some minor issues, I have to run a program to switch between speaker and headphones and there is a program that runs at startup to connect to Wi-Fi, but that is automatic. I am also dual booting XP, as I have a digital TV USB stick that only works with Windows.

BoingBoing has recently updated their compatibility chart for netbooks running OS X. What’s your favorite netbook for running Mac OS X? (story Link)

Who’s buys a Mac mini?

Apple on Tuesday updated its $599 Mac mini and said that the box is faster and greener than before — a no brainer since its been ages since the line was refreshed (a year and a half) and this update was something that Mac watchers have fretted over. But what kind of customer buys a Mac mini? I say: Mac and Linux geeks.

The common wisdom says that the Mac mini appeals to switchers from Windows. In this model, the customer is totally interested in the entry price of the  box.

Certainly, with the current economic distress, this price-point consideration must be growing.

Still, since its introduction in 2005, I’ve met very, very few switchers who have bought a Mac mini. They mostly purchase iMacs and MacBooks.

When Steve Jobs introduced the Mac mini in 2005 in his keynote address for the San Francisco Macworld Expo, he said that the Mac mini was first a “Mac that costs less.” Next, it was quiet. And  that it was a “robust computer, but it’s very very tiny.”

“We want to price this so that peope who are thinking of switching will have no excuse. [For] people that want a second Mac in their house — or a third or a fourth — it’s really going to be easy,” he continued.

From what I’ve seen there are two segments that buy Mac minis. First, there are customers from the installed base of Mac owners, who want an inexpensive Mac and who already own a monitor, display and keyboard. These persons are either purchasing a second (or third or fourth as Jobs said) machine or are replacing an ancient PowerPC-based Mac.

But from what I’ve seen in the past couple of years is that the growth segments are Mac and Linux geeks who are using these inexpensive Macs as servers, virtualization machines and colocation boxes.

There are several companies that offer hosting plans with dedicated Mac minis. Some Mac managers are more comfortable with these boxes since they can use familiar Mac tools for controlling them remotely.

At the Macworld Expo in January, I am fairly certain that I saw several rackmount solutions for Mac minis, including the MX4 Rack Tray, which holds 4 Mac minis in a 2U rack.

I remember the Internet News story from last year, where Sean Michael Kerner mentions a the Firefox development offices and discovered that they were running an array of 80 Mac minis, which dispelled his “illusions of Mozilla super cluster grandeur.”

From a testing framework point of view (since Mozilla is constantly building and testing) they are using an array of about 80 Apple Mac Minis. According to Beltzner the reason why they’re using Macs is easy — they handle  virtualization easily.

BTW: If you’re interested in packing a Mac mini with virtualized Windows or Linux machines take a look at the recently released VMware vCenter Converter 4.0. (story Link)

Windows 7 broadband bundles

Speaking to ZDNet UK at Microsoft's Growth and Innovation Day in Brussels on Thursday, Neil Holloway, vice president for business strategy at Microsoft International, said the company was in talks with telecoms companies and other service providers to work out how netbooks running Windows 7 could be bundled with other hardware and services, in order to increase market reach.

"Microsoft is working with telcos as a specific channel," said Holloway. "The way that Carphone Warehouse bundles phones, PCs and laptops is phenomenal. We will do something slightly similar, and make some offer which includes Windows 7 and Windows Live."

Holloway added that "netbooks are here to stay", and reiterated Microsoft's announcement from February that it is developing a pared-down version of the Windows operating system for use on netbooks.

Because of their inherent mobility, netbooks have become a standard offering from most mobile operators, who are keen to extend usage of their 3G networks.

Although the cheap subnotebooks started life as Linux-bearing machines, Windows XP is now the dominant operating system on netbooks — partly because Microsoft dropped its XP prices to encourage uptake among netbook manufacturers, and partly because of customers' familiarity with the OS.

Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer recently said that the Windows 7 Starter Edition aimed at netbooks would be made available "at the current Windows XP price point".

This article was originally posted on ZDNet.co.uk.

Review: Samsung NC10-14GB

From cell phones to HDTVs, Samsung products have successfully found their way into American homes for the past decade. But the company hasn't made much headway with its laptops, and for good reason: The laptops have only recently started selling in the United States. Samsung needed a strategy that would jump-start its laptop presence. A netbook was the obvious choice, as this category is taking the market by storm. The Samsung NC10-14GB ($480 street) is a lot like every other netbook, but it has a few small advantages. It comes with a six-cell battery instead of a puny three-cell, and the keyboard is a tiny bit (1 percent) bigger than those of the MSI Wind and the HP Mini 1000. Ultimately, though, it loses out on price: The MSI Wind is a lower-priced package for now (by about $50, which in the netbook category is significant).

The white exterior of the ASUS EeePC 4G, once thought of as sleek and sexy, has been copied over and over for other netbooks like the Wind, the Acer Aspire One, and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10. Splashed in navy blue, the NC10 is neither bland nor head-turning. The HP 1000's embedded patterns and the metallic lid of the ASUS EeePC 1002HA are taking netbook designs to another level, and the trend won't stop with them. At 10.3 by 7.3 by 1 inches, the NC10's dimensions practically identical to those of the ASUS EeePC 1002HA. The HP Mini 1000 (10.3 by 6.6 by 0.9 inches) and the Lenovo S10 (9.8 by 7.3 by 0.9 inches) are slightly thinner and smaller. At 2.9 pounds, the NC10's frame seems heavy, but once you factor in the standard six-cell battery, its weight is actually on a par with its 10-inch counterparts.

By 10-inch, I mean the size of the widescreen. Netbooks like the Acer Aspire One (2.1 pounds), the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (2.3 pounds), and the ASUS EeePC 900 (2.2 pounds) are noticeably lighter because they have smaller 8.9-inch widescreens. The viewing experience is obviously better with a bigger screen, but the 1,024-by-600 resolution is the same across the board. The NC10's brightness and contrast levels are consistent with those of other 10-inch netbooks and make for pleasant viewing. Its 93 percent keyboard is 1 percent larger than those found on the Mini 1000 and the MSI Wind—not a huge difference, although the keys are noticeably bigger and the typing experience better. Consequently, the touchpad is minuscule compared with those of the EeePC 1002HA and the Wind, resulting in a tighter pinch when using your thumb and index fingers to navigate.

The NC10's features are consistent with those of other top-rated netbooks. It comes with three USB ports, a VGA-out, an Ethernet port, and an SD slot. Lenovo opted to forgo a USB port in its S10 to make room for an ExpressCard slot, which is a handy addition for expansion devices that enable 3G wireless services and other specialty ports. Both the HP 1000 and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 have 3G wireless built in, simplifying things even further. A 160GB hard drive is included and appears to be the capacity that everyone is settling on. By next year, you'll see netbook hard drive capacities standardized at 320GB.

The NC10 contains the same parts as every netbook. Its 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and 1GB of memory are no surprise. The same could be said about the integrated graphics. The ASUS N10Jc-A1 is an exception, a netbook that utilizes two sets of graphics chipsets to its advantage—one for 3D work and another to save battery life. The NC10's SYSmark 2007 Overall score topped the Wind's by a point, though you wouldn't notice it in real-world applications. The NC10 was a bit slower on video-encoding tests, trailing the others in the comparison by at least 2 seconds. (full Story)

Review: HP EliteBook 2530P

It's rare when a laptop can pull off great battery life with either its standard battery or an extended one. The HP EliteBook 2530p ($2,099 direct)—a business ultraportable—has the battery capacity to last from a breakfast meeting to a late-afternoon powwow without sacrificing performance. Its long battery life can be attributed, in varying degrees, to the low-voltage CPU and the solid-state drives (SSD). I needed a laptop that was light, durable, and had a full-size keyboard for a weeklong business trip, so I brought the review unit of the 2530p with me. (Its internal optical drive didn't hurt either, since two DVD flicks came for the ride.) Suffice it to say that the 2530p delivered in spades.

With the EliteBook line, HP has come a long way with its business laptops. I'm used to the bland, conservative attire of Compaq-branded frames, so it's nice to see that the 2530p has the looks to go with its brains. It's completely surrounded by anodized aluminum, a moldable metal that's both durable and sleek. Its looks are more appealing than those of the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 and the X301. With a thickness of 1.1 inches, the 2530p is not as thin as the Sony VAIO VGN-Z590. At 3.7 pounds, it's heavier than the Z590 (3.2 pounds) and the same weight as the Lenovo X200. Even with the standard battery and an optical drive, the 2530p is pleasantly light and can minimize the hassle of an airport security check, since it's easy to pull out of and return to your bag.

The typing experience a laptop offers is crucial for me as a writer, and I didn't miss a beat with the 2530p's full-size keyboard. The number "1" key is about half the size it should be, but every other key is standard size. If I had to rank the typing experience, I'd say that the Lenovo X200 is easily the best, the 2530p a close second, and the Sony Z590's uniquely styled keys, third. The 2530p uses dual pointing devices: a pointing stick and a touchpad. The pointing stick is too stiff for my taste, but the touchpad is both responsive and appropriately sized. Along with those of the ThinkPad X200 and the Dell Latitude E4300, the mouse buttons are the quietest and the least resistive in the industry.

The 16:10 format, 12-inch LCD widescreen is acceptable for office productivity, but I found the 13-inch one on the Sony Z590 better equipped for viewing movies and photos. Even with a bigger screen, the Z590 is at least half a pound lighter, as well, thanks to its carbon-fiber frame. If a bigger screen is a must, the HP EliteBook 6930p has the same exact look and a 14-inch screen. A matte screen is another business feature of the 2530p and the ThinkPad X200—it offsets any glare coming from a bright light source. (full Story)

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The G-Drive vs the Future of the PC

Every so often, the mainstream media puts out a story that says the PC is on its last legs. The latest, a Fox News story that "Google's Rumored GDrive May 'Kill' the PC," suggests that the Google Drive would shift consumer interest away from Microsoft's OS in favor of cloud computing.

I've read stories about the death of the PC for the last 15 years, and as you know, PCs are still going strong. Even in a down economy, manufacturers will still sell at least 260 million of the things worldwide in 2009. But it's true that what constitutes a "computer" will change over time; the more interesting debate should be around what forms, what functions, and what processors will dominate the PC landscape in the future.

In the most extreme view of this new computing model, applications, data, and back- and front-end processing will exist in the cloud. In essence, it's the mainframe model of the past, with the cloud serving as the mainframe and the PC as a terminal or thin client of some type. There is a measure of truth to this idea, though it assumes that we'll get much faster broadband speeds. And even then, the front-end dumb terminals would more than likely resemble PCs—screens and user interfaces built into appliances, thin clients, and perhaps even netbooks with lightweight OSs. I think this view of the future is what the Fox News story was trying to evoke.

Even if we did get a GDrive that served as our computing back-end in the sky, many front-end devices, depending on what they are being used for, could still need serious CPU and graphics coprocessors to handle mainstream business and consumer applications. Hence the future of the PC seems more complex than this story would lead us to believe.

A more likely scenario is that the average home will have at least one very powerful PC that can handle the video and graphics-intensive applications consumers will demand in the future. Think of things like HD video, 3D images and games, and next-generation apps running simultaneously—and instantly accessible. This PC would also become the home media server. Since PCs of this nature really do become the center of a family's digital lifestyle, people will want as much processing power as they can afford so that they could benefit from what Cisco calls a more "visual networking" environment. A lot of people will also have smaller laptops (thin clients, perhaps) in other rooms of the house for accessing and manipulating their stuff, whether in the cloud or local. And we'll have computers built into our refrigerators and stoves that rely pretty much exclusively rely on the cloud for their data and back-end processing.

At the business level, computing will shift away from desktops, moving almost entirely to portable computers, including laptops, netbooks, and smartphones. There will be a place for thin clients, too, especially for use in call centers and for other types of data-processing functions, and we will continue to need workstation-class PCs in the enterprise for things like desktop publishing, graphics creation, and scientific and engineering applications. (full Story)

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Sony’s Lifestyle PC VGN-588EQ

It was more than two years ago that Mike Abary, senior vice president at Sony, reached into his inner suit pocket and pulled out the Sony VAIO VGN-UX180P. At the time, he called this handheld PC, which ran a full-blown version of Windows XP, "an achievement in ingenious design." Little did he know he'd be pulling the same stunt again at a quaint hotel in Manhattan, where I was one of a handful of journalists invited to preview Sony's take on the netbook revolution. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a clamshell the length of two UX180Ps, not even an inch thick. This, as he described it, is Sony's answer to the surging netbook market, only it's not being classified as a netbook, it's not an update to the UX180P, and the intended audience, interestingly enough, is women. It's the Sony VAIO VGN-588EQ ($1,199 direct), better known as the Sony Lifestyle PC.

The Lifestyle PC is unlike anything you've seen before, in large part because of the 8-inch LED widescreen, the first of its kind. Even from afar, you may feel a tingling sensation as soon as you lay eyes on it, and your first instinct is to pick it up. Sony handed me a review unit while I was at the CES 2009 show in Las Vegas, allowing me to use it in multiple scenarios. I really don't want to call this a netbook, but there's no other way to classify this gorgeous device. It runs the Intel Atom platform, it's inexpensive for a Sony-branded laptop, and the keyboard is undersized—all netbook symptoms. On the other hand, it's so much more than a netbook. It weighs half as much as one and packs in features like 3G wireless, a pre-boot Linux environment, and a high-resolution screen. Although the Lifestyle PC is now at the pinnacle of design engineering, performance is an issue when Windows Vista is the only operating system offered, and the price is over $1,000 with the solid-state drive option. Based on design alone, though, I think Sony can create a huge following with this pseudo-netbook.

Even though there are no ties between them, the Lifestyle PC conjures up images of Intel's Moorestown concept device. It weighs a mere 1.4 pounds, only 0.2 pound heavier than the original UX180P. And it measures 9.7 by 4.7 by 0.8 inches, which is about the length of the ASUS EeePC 1002HA but only half its depth. It fits nicely in the inner pocket of a suit jacket or a Coach clutch bag, and is thin enough that you can slide two of them into a manila envelope. Its look is unique, and its design intentions are clear: Sony wants to dissociate the Lifestyle PC from the likes of the MSI Wind, the ASUS EeePC, and the Acer Aspire One—some of the more popular netbooks in the market. In my opinion, it has successfully done so. (full Story)

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