Words have it that Acer is planning to launch a new ultra-thin notebook that will feature a frameless design.

Would it be thinner than this?

The new ultra-thin laptop from Acer will come with a touch keyboard and use the back of the panel’s glass substrate as the cover.  According to sources from notebook players, Acer is expected to adopt Corning’s reinforced glass substrate and simply print color on its back to allow the substrate to function like a notebook cover for a frameless design.

The design will help reduce the thickness of the ultra-thin notebook and can also reduce material costs. Acer will also adopt a touch keyboard to allow the notebook to be even thinner, the sources noted.

Acer is expected to release the new ultra-thin laptop with the frameless design and touch keyboard in the second half of 2010.

Popularity: 1% [?]

In a recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC CEO Peter Chou said that HTC has been actively designing Tablets and Netbooks.

Unfortunately Chou also stress that although HTC are studying and designing Tablets and Netbooks, they won’t be releasing it to the market soon. He was quoted saying;

“We will design, we will study, we will research, but that doesn’t mean we will do it.”

Chou stressed that if they are going to join the netbook foray, they will do it with a partner.

I think this is a great news for all of us as having HTC as one of the contender in the Netbook and Tablet market will surely put some competition on the active and big player. As HTC are well known for their innovation and creativity, they are sure to bring some improvement in the boring netbook market.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A source familiar with Intel’s plans said Intel will officially release the latest Atom N470 processor on Monday, which should bring faster performance and longer battery life to netbooks.

Atom chips go into small, low-cost laptops called netbooks that are designed to surf the Web and run productivity applications. The N470 chip processor will run at a speed of 1.83GHz, making it Intel’s fastest chip for netbooks to date. The new processor is based on a new second-generation Atom chip architecture that Intel released in December.

Intel at the time announced the first chip belonging to the architecture, the Atom N450 processor, which runs at a speed of 1.66GHz. The processor can be found in netbooks priced between US$299 (RM1000) and $499 (RM1699). Systems based on N470 could start shipping as early as next week, the source said. Some PC makers displayed netbooks with the N470 processor at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year in Las Vegas, but no systems have officially shipped yet.

Intel officials declined to comment on the product. The architecture integrates a graphics processor and memory controller inside the Atom chip, which allows for faster system and graphics performance than its predecessor. Intel has claimed that the integrated graphics processor could smoothly play back 720p high-definition video.

The new Atom chips are also more power-efficient, which could extend the battery life in some netbooks. Some netbooks have shown battery life of more than 10 hours. The integration also makes the chip smaller, which allows PC makers to build smaller and lighter netbooks. Intel also offers the Atom D410 and D510 processors for low-cost desktops.

More improvements for Atom netbooks are on tap, including a graphics boost in early March when Nvidia launches the Ion 2 graphics platform. The platform couples an Atom processor with an Nvidia graphics processor to bring full high-definition video to netbooks. Acer has already announced a netbook, the Aspire One 532G, with the Ion 2 platform.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Lenovo Malaysia has announced the arrival of the Lenovo Y Series which consist of Lenovo Ideapad Y450 and Lenovo Ideapad Y650 in Malaysia.

The new Lenovo Ideapad Y450

The 14-inch IdeaPad Y450 all have a 16:9 widescreen display, up to 4GB of memory, optional NVIDIA GFX graphic and up to 500GB hard drive. They have WiFi and optional Bluetooth.

Like the new Lenovo Ideapad S10 netbook, these three laptops feature VeriFace facial recognition, multi touch touchpad, and Lenovo’s OneKey Rescue System.

The IdeaPad Y450 laptop starts from RM2,499 in Malaysia and stocks will be avaiable from local retailers starting from mid-April onwards.

Popularity: 26% [?]

This is a good news indeed. HP is going to offer a 3-year warranty for its laptop battery from now on. The laptop battery which uses Sonata cell produced by Boston Power Inc, a battery producer based on Massachusetts, can afford to take full charge for 1,000 times.

HP laptop battery

There are some other attractions for the lithium-ion battery. First of all, users can charge 80% within 30 minutes that you can not find in any other lithium-ion battery.

The batteries will be available in 18 laptop models from Hewlett-Packard (HP), but as of now, the Sonata batteries will not be available in HP business laptops, though talks between Boston Power Inc and HP over the extended use of this battery in HP laptop line up is currently going on. The battery seems to be environment friendly as it does not use polyvinyl chloride, and thus, earning Nordic Ecolabel certificate.

As it lasts for longer time than any other lithium-ion battery, users would require less or no replacement in what would cut the waste. However, this laptop battery from HP costs $20 more than many other lithium-ion batteries as it is priced at $150. Now, let us see if the battery can live up to the expectation of laptop users.

It still unclear wheter HP Laptop Batteries with 3 year warranty is available for HP products in Malaysia yet. But knowing HP and their excellent customer service, you can be sure it won’t be long before this extended warranties reach Malaysia.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Today Lenovo has introduced the Lenovo “e” Ideapad S10e netbook for educational purpose. The Lenovo “e” Ideapad S10e netbook was designed for student in classrooms and campus.

Lenovo Ideapad S10e

Scott Divalerio was quoted saying that following the popularity of recently introduced Lenovo consumer netbooks, Lenovo are expanding the IdeaPad netbook line with models customized to the unique needs of students, teachers and education customers.

The “e” Ideapad S10e netbook from Lenovo provides basic functionality for word processing and light multimedia capabilities.

The “e” Ideapad S10e netbook for education came with a 10.1 inch display with a built in webcam. Also included with Lenovo “e” Ideapad S10e is the Quick Start(1) feature allows students to quickly check email, browse the Internet, conduct video conferencing, view photos or listen to music without having to fully boot the operating system.

Student can choose Microsoft Windows XP Home or Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop from Novell as the Operating system for Lenovo “e” Ideapad S10e.

The Lenovo “e” IdeaPad S10e netbook will be available through Lenovo education sales and business partners starting at the end of November.

Popularity: 10% [?]