Tablet Computers . . . dumb or dumber?

My good friend (Kickstartnews Contributing Editor) Mario Georgiou and I disagree on the usefulness of tablet computers. He likes them - I don't. While the iPod Touch/iPhone are probably the best currently examples of how a highly responsive touch screen should work, the option of a hardware keyboard option within the same form factor seems to escape the priority list at Apple. So we're left with the heavy, awkward and rather powerful notebook-sized laptop tablets. What I want (hmmm, make that, what many tablet computing fans want) is a tablet which combines the best of all worlds in a form factor that is not much larger than the best netbooks. They're coming. They're here. The HP EliteBook works extremely well and it almost qualifies as an ultralight. With a 12.1" screen, it's very portable - bigger than a netbook; smaller than a typical laptop. This should be considered by business travelers as a great all around workhorse. The Lenovo ThinkPad X200 clocks in slightly heavier than the HP, but noticeably tougher for business use, travel, college/university use and so on. It's our best buy. Lenovo had a few quality control problems which began a couple of years after it took over the ThinkPad line from IBM. Time, focus and attention to detail have put the ThinkPad line back near the top of the heap. The HP Pavillion tx2500z is the least expensive of the good quality 12.1" tablets PCs. It's tough to beat for home use. The Asus Eee PC T91MT netbook tablet has the typical 8.9" netbook screen, but rather than a hard drive for storage features 16GB of SSD/Flash memory. Useful for certain - at home, traveling, and for casual use just about anywhere. Limited storage capacity and the slightly underpowered Intel Atom processor will limit its popularity. A good little machine nonetheless with almost 5 hours of battery life and very light weight.

Acer Aspire One 10.1-Inch Netbook

Building on its line of popular Aspire One netbooks, Acer makes it even easier to stay productive while on the go with the larger 10.1-inch screen of the Aspire One AOD150-1165. A great choice for students as well as business travelers who like to travel light, the affordable Acer Aspire One weighs just under 3 pounds and has a 6-cell battery that provides up to 5 hours of battery life for extended use and productivity when away from an AC outlet. Designed especially for mobile devices, the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor uses a brand new design structure new hafnium-infused circuitry, which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors to conserve energy. Packed with roomy 160 GB hard drive--great for storing a mobile digital audio and video library--this Aspire One also features 1 GB of installed RAM (1.5 GB maximum), 54g Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g), multi-format memory card reader, multiple USB ports, and built-in email, web browsing, and digital media applications. It comes preinstalled with the Microsoft Windows XP Home operating system, which offers more experienced users an enhanced and innovative experience that incorporates Windows Live features like Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging and Windows Live Mail for consolidated email accounts on your desktop. Order yours today for only $349US!

Acer leads Netbook market share

The one bright spot in the computer sales market is in the demand for Netbooks. So what is a Netbook you ask? A Netbook is basically a small laptop that is about 2-3lbs and is defined by price, horsepower, and operating system. These mini laptops are great for those who want to travel light and still be able to check e-mail, surf the web and work on the go. In newly released data for Q3 2008, DisplaySearch stated that Netbook shipments grew by 160% with Acer leading the way with 38.3%, followed by Asus with 30.3% and HP with 5.8%. Check out the following link for the top selling Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Netbook

Dell Mini 9 with 32GB SSD an Extra $100

Mini 9 buyers can now opt for a decent 32GB solid state drive and all for only a $100upgrade over the cost of the standard 4GB SSD. Thats a pretty decent deal by any standard.

Dell Inspiron Mini 12

Dell have just announced the big brother to their Mini 9 netbook. The Mini 12, features a 12in display. Dell has aimed the laptop at "teens, tweens, travellers and "Tweeters" to surf the Web, chat with friends, blog, stream content, upload photos or enjoy online videos, music and games." Coming in at around 1.2Kg, it is also less than an inch thick and comes with Windows Vista Home Basic, a built-in webcam, 1GB of Ram and a choice of 60GB or 80GB hard disk drives. Thanks to gizmodo.com for the lead...

Raon Digital Announces Netbooks

Ra­on­ D­ig­ita­l ha­ve relea­sed­ their n­ew­ SSD­-ba­sed­ Everu­n­ N­ote N­etbooks which will be available in tw­o version­s the low­-en­d­ S16S & the hig­h-en­d­ D­24S. The S16S fea­tu­res 16G­B of SSD Storage, a 1.2G­Hz­ Sempro­n­ CPU an­d­ comes with Lin­ux­ Ub­un­t­u O­S. The more expensive D­24S feat­ures 24G­B­ of SSD, a 1.2G­Hz­ T­urio­n­ 64 X2 CPU­, a­n­d Micro­so­f­t Win­do­ws XP O­S. The D24S is cu­rren­tl­y shipping whilst the S16S will be released in mid-N­o­v­ember.

Toshiba Unveil Netbook Concept

Toshiba's has revealed a prototype for a netbook type product which will have a 5.6" touch screen display, Microsoft Vista, a 64GB SSD, GPS chipset and an Intel Atom processor. From the way the device looks, it will be in a different class from units like the Eee PC and other netbook type products.