Netbooks worth waiting for..

 

Recently, we sent out a few mails to major manufacturers asking them if they had any dual core netbooks, or any that could do HD video and had HDMI out available in India. We couldn't find any that fit our requirements. That is, unless you classify the Alienware M11x as a netbook, which is priced higher than most fullly featured laptops. We would have gladly settled for the Samsung N510, Lenovo IdeaPad S12, or the HP Mini 311, three Ion netbooks that could have achieved this, but they have not been launched in India, as far as we know. A quick survey of what's available in the west, these are netbooks by form factor, but with none of the shortcomings of the former.

Asus 1201N: ($489.99 on Newegg) A 12.1-inch WXGA (1366 x 768 )screen, powered by a Nvidia 9400M ION graphics, the 1201 uses a dual-core Diamondville Atom originally intended for nettops - the N330. It supports VGA and HDMI out,  can be fitted with upto 4GB DDR 2 memory, runs on Windows 7 Home Premium. While games and HD playback are possible with the 1201N, don't expect much battery life on this netbook, as this is the old nVidia ION.. not Optimus.

Acer Aspire One AS1410 ($400-$550 on Newegg) The Acer Aspire AS1410, powered by a Celeron dual core SU2300 will give you a significant performance boost, and starting at $400, it's good value for money. The AS1410 has many configuration options, but here’s what comes standard: 11.6-inch screen, 2 GB DDR2 667 memory (upgradeable to 4 GB), HDMI, a full size keyboard, Multi-touch trackpad, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (4400 mAh), and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. For $549, you can get the the AS1810: Pentium SU4100 (1.3GHz), 11.6?, 3GB DDR2, 320GB.

MSI Wind12 U230-040US ($479 on Newegg) If you're willing to live with 4 hours of battery life, this netbook will compensate for that shortcoming in every other possible way. This dual-core netbook, powered by the AMD Athlon Neo X2 L335(1.60GHz) paired with ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics will handle casual gaming and HD video, and has an HDMI port  as well, if you want to go beyond the 12.1-inch WXGA 1366x768 pixel screen. 2GB DDR2 memory, 320GB HDD, & a 6-cell battery.