Netbooks to lookout for in the year 2010

With dozens of cheap tablet PCs expected this year, netbooks are rushing to play catch-up in a quest to stay desirable. Key area of challenge in the space is providing increased processing power with minimum rise in power consumption and weight. To that effect, HP and Acer are coming up with devices that are powered by new processors from Intel and AMD. Some of these netbooks are offering dual-core processors, multi-touch, brighter screens, and video acceleration for HD videos; while at the same time offering a working day's worth of battery life.

 

Dell Inspiron Duo

Showcased at this year's IDF, the Inspiron Duo is a unique swivel Tablet/Netbook hybrid - the display hinge can be flipped around to turn it from a netbook to a tablet. It is expected to ship by the end of the year with a dual-core N550 Atom, Windows 7, and a 10-inch touchscreen.

 

HP Mini 5103

 

The HP Mini 5103 is the most customizable netbook on this list. The company is offering a choice between dual-core Intel Atom N550, N475 (1.83 GHz) and Intel Atom N455 (1.66 GHz) processors, accompanied by 1GB of DDR3 RAM that can be upgraded to 2GB. Graphics acceleration option is between Intel’s Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 and Broadcom’s Crystal HD adapters. Choice of display is between 10.1” LED backlit screens and a capacitive multi-touch screen feature, only if your choice of OS is Windows 7. Speaking of which, operating systems on offer for this netbook are Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (32-bit), Windows 7 Starter (32 –bit) and SUSE Linux Enterprise 11. The starting price for HP Mini 5103 is about 400 US dollars.

[Acer] Aspire One D255, Aspire One 521

 

Acer’s Aspire One D255 is available with a dual-core Atom N550 or the single-core N450 processor and a choice between a gigabyte of DDR3 or DDR2 memory. Graphic acceleration is powered by the built-in Intel 3150 and the display is a 10.1” TFT LED backlit screen. The AOD255 also comes with an integrated webcam, 802.11b/g/n wireless adapter and a multi-touch track pad. Acer’s AO521 uses the AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processor, which integrates integrated ATI Radeon HD 4225 for its processing needs. Rest of the system configuration is more or less the same as the AOD255.

The dual-core variety of AOD255 is approximately USD 330, whereas the AO521 is priced a little higher at USD 350.

Samsung NF310
Priced at $399 in the US, the NF310 runs on a 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 dual core processor, 10.1 inch HD display (1366 x 768 resolution), Windows 7 Starter, and claims battery life of up to 9 hours. The NF310 also boasts Samsung’s USB Sleep & Charge, which let you charge cell phones, MP3 players or other USB-powered devices even while the NF310 is powered off. Technically, could use its battery to charge an iPad.