Sure, Asus played up the Eee PC T91 netbook with the 8.9 inch convertible touchscreen during the company’s presentation this afternoon. But when all the talking was done, you know what I discovered? An Asus Eee PC T101H hanging out on the stage. It’s basically the same machine as the T91, except it has a 10 inch display and a shiny new keyboard with the shift key located to the left of the up arrow!

The keys are also flat and MacBook-like, rather than the concave keys you find on most existing Eee PC mini-laptops. I personally prefer the concave keys, but I know a lot of folks have been waiting forever and a day for Asus to change the location of that shift key. And for thos people, I have some more good news: The Asus S121 also has a nice large shift key to the left of the up arrow.

In fact, Asus reps I spoke with said that pretty much every new Eee PC will feature the new keyboard layout with a larger shift key on the left side of the up arrow. The one exception is the Eee PC T91, which seems to use the same keyboard as the Eee PC 900/901 series.

The pricing on the Eee PC T91, T101H, and Asus S121 haven’t yet been finalized, but I think it’s fair to say that the S121 with its 512GB SSD is going to cost quite a bit more than your typical netbook. The goal is to keep the price for the Eee PC branded tablets comparable to other Eee PC netbooks. 

The tablets on display at CES weren’t quite 100% functional, but Asus expects to have them on the market early this year, possibly within the next few months.

You can find a few more photos of all three machines after the break.

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HP Mini 1000 Mi Edition

HP is now accepting orders fo the HP Mini 1000 Mi Edition netbook running Linux. And the price is about $50 lower than what HP had announced a few months ago. Of course, that makes sense since HP has also dropped the base price of the Windows XP version to $359. 

The HP Mini 1000 Mi Edition runs a customized version of Ubuntu Linux designed by HP to be user friendly and multimedia-centric. 

The base price will get you a netbook with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom mCPU, an 8.9 inch 1024 x 600 pixel display,. 1GB of RAM, and an 8GB SSD. If you want a higher capacity hard drive or a larger display you’ll have to shell out a few extra bucks. The base model also comes with a 3 cell battery, but to my knowledge HP hasn’t made a 6 cell battery available for the HP Mini 1000 yet.

via Liliputing Forums

There’s still no word on pricing, but Asus CEO Jonney Shih says the Eee PC T91 convertible touchscreen tablet netbook announced minutes ago will be available within the next 3-6 months.

And if you can’t wait that long, you can check out a photo gallery of the netbook after the break.

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As the Asus press event continues, CEO Jonney Shih played a short video demonstrating the company’s upcoming convertible tablet netbook. The Asus Eee PC T91 will feature an 8.9 inch touchscreen with a swivel that lets you fold the screen down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode. The T91 will also come with the option of a TV tuner or built in GPS. 

Asus says the netbook will weigh 2 pounds and measure just 1 inch thick. The netbook will run Windos XP Home Edition, but it looks like Asus has slapped some multimedia software on top of Windows to make it easier to navigate using the touchscreen.

Update: Asus has also unveiled the Eee PC T101H, which features a 10 inch display and a brand new keyboard design.

I’m at the Asus pre-CES press event in Las Vegas, and Asus CEO Jonney Shih just pulled out a slide with some details about the new Asus S121 notebook. It’s not exactly a netbook, but it’s pretty darn sexy. As previously noted the S121 looks like an Asus Eee PC S101 clone, but it features a 12.2 inch display which makes it a bit big to be a netbook. And now that we’ve had a glimpse of some of the other specs, I feel pretty confident in saying that the S101 will cost a lot more than most netbooks.

We’re talking a 512GB SSD (Asus says it’s the world’s first), 8 hours of battery life, and well… you can read the rest in the slide above.

More details, hopefully including the price, coming soon.

After spending most of the day in airplanes and airports, I’ve arrived in Vegas. My rented Sprint wireless connection is being a bit wonky at the hotel, but hopefully it will work better on the show floor… cause that’s likely, right? Right? 

Anyway if all else fails, I’m springing for WiFi access at the cheap hotel I’m staying at which is where I’m writing this post, and where you can see that fabulous view from the window. On the bright side, I’m just a 15 minute walk from the convention center. Who needs a shuttle bus?

I’m frantically trying to catch up on the day’s news, grab something to eat and run out to an Asus event, so I’m going to do something a bit unusual here and just present you with my reading list. Here are a few stories that piqued my interest. I may come back to some of them with longer articles soon, especially if I can get some more information and photos from the show floor in the coming days.

• Engadget has the first photos of the Sony Vaio P subnotebook
• Netbook 3G has some photos of a computer that could be the upcoming Samsung NC20
• Sandisk has some new SSDs designed for netbooks

More goodies coming soon.

2.5 inch hard drives are generally cheaper and often faster than 1.8 inch and smaller hard drives. But as you may have guessed, they’re also larger, which makes them harder to fit into tiny laptops like the Acer Aspire One. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it if you try.

Italian site Netbook News has put together a tutorial for installing a 2.5 inch hard drive in an Acer Aspire oNe A110 netbook. While Acer does offer a netbook with a hard drive and Windows XP, the A110 comes with a rather slow 8GB SSD. So if you want more storage or a faster write speeds, and you’re OK with voiding your warranty, you might want to check out the step by step instructions. Although the site is Italian, there’s an English language version of the page.

Linux4one is a custom Linux distribution based on Ubuntu and built specifically for the Acer Aspire One netbook. The first version of the OS was only available in Italian, but Release Candidate 2 is now available with English localization.

Linux4one RC2 features the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface for small screen laptops like the Aspire One. It also has a custom kernel built to support the Aspire One’s hardware. Most hardware should work out of the box, including the SD card slot, microphone, and WiFi.

One of the most significant updates since RC1 is the availability of a localized version of Linux4one in English. The first version of the OS was only available in Italian. The operating system is based on Ubuntu 8.04, which is the latest Long Term Support version of Ubuntu, but not the latest version of Ubuntu.

The operating system also comes with a handful of applications preloaded, including Flash 10, OpenOffice.org 3.0, and the VLC media player. Most of these apps are available from the Ubuntu repositories, but it’s nice to have them built in. Of course, if you’d rather remove or replace them, you can always uninstall these programs using the Synaptic Package Manager.

You can check out a video of Linux4one RC2 after the break.

via Netbook News.it

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AMD has announced the first plans for its Yukon platform: moderately priced light weight notebook computers with a new AMD Neo CPU. The idea is to create a machine that falls somewhere between a chap netbook and a more traditional subnotebook (which typically carries a premium price tag). Think MacBook Air-sized computers with processors that are a bit more powerful than an Intel Atom, but without offering bleeding edge quad core performance.

I’m about to board a plane so I’ll provide more details later today. In the meantime, you can find more information here:

• AMD: Creating a new notebook category
• AMD’s Netbook counterstrike
• Q&A: Yukon to outperform Atom, not destined for netbooks

More soon…

HP has announced the sucessor to the HP 2133 Mini-Note. What, you thought they’d already done that? Nope, the HP Mini 1000 is something completely different. The new HP 2140 Mini-Note looks exactly like the original HP netbook, with a sleek aluminum case and excellent keyboard (and not so excellent touchpad). But looks can be deceiving. This puppy has a new display and a new processor. 

Here’s a brief rundown of the specs:

• CPU: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270
• Display: 10.1 inch, 1024 x  576 or 1366 x 768 pixels
• Storage: 160GB HDD or 80GB SSD
• 2 USB ports, mic input, headphone out, VGA port
• 3 or 6 cell battery
• HP 3D Drive Guard (which shuts off the hard drive in the event of a fall)

The folks at Laptop Magazine have been testing an HP 2140 for a while and have a complete review. It’s interesting to see that HP is offering the option of an even higher resolution display than the 1280 x 768 screen on the HP 2133. Many people were disappointed when HP dropped the resolution to 1024 x 600 pixels on the HP Mini 1000. I’m a bit disappointed to see that HP still thinks 2 USB ports are enough though.

The HP 2140 Mini-Note will have a starting price around $499, although you’ll have to pay more for features like the 6 cell battery or the higher resolution screen.

The custom Linux distribution formerly known as Ubuntu Eee is now called Easy Peasy. And as of tonight, it’s available for download. 

Easy Peasy is based on Ubuntu 8.10 and includes custom drivers and software to ensure that the operating  system works properly on most Asus Eee PC hardware. The disc image weighs in at just over 800MB, so you’ll either want to burn it to a DVD (rather than a CD) or use something like UNetbootin to install the OS using a USB flash drive.

I don’t have time to take Easy Peasy for a spin tonight as I have to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow (actually several hours before hte crack of dawn) to catch my flight to CES. But if you have a chance to try Easy Peasy out before I do, let us know what you think in the comments. How does it compare to Ubuntu Eee 8.04.1? What about Eeebuntu?

thanks bkobb!

…Aura Mae of Washington State.

We received more than 200 entries and Aura was chosen randomly. Hoda Technology will be sending out a touchscreen kit for an Acer Aspire One netbook.

Thanks again to everyone who entered, and hopefully there will be a few new contests coming up soon. You never know what kind of goodies I might come back from CES with.

It’s been a while since VIA introduced its OpenBook reference design. A good long while. But now it looks like at least one company is preparing to release a VIA Nano-powered mini-notebook based on the OpenBook design.

Dr. Mobile will be showing its FreeStyle Mini netbook at CES this week. The laptop features an 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, up to 2Gb of RAM, and a 160GB, 2.5″ HDD. It also comes with optional Bluetooth, WiFi, WiMAX, GPS, and 3.5G support.

It looks like the FreeStyle Mini will be able to use either a VIA C7-M CPU or the new VIA Nano processor. The machine comes with 3 USB ports, a webcam, and a 4 cell, 2600mAh battery. It measures 9.5″ x 6.7″ x 1.4″ and weighs 2.4 pounds.

Update: Engadget has some hands-on photos of a non-working model, and reports that we should see working units on the floor at CES.

via UMPC Portal

It seems like all the cool kids are letting folks know what they’re putting in their CES gear bags. And I’m a sucker for peer pressure, so here are a few items I’m about to pack away.

• Asus Eee PC 1000H - This has been my primary netbook for the last 4 months, and I expect to use it for most of my on-site blogging.
• HP Mini 1000 - I happen to have this as a loaner, and at just over 2 pounds, I figure it doesn’t hurt to have a backup with me in case my Eee PC battery dies or my machine crashes or get stepped on or something.
• Sierra Wireless AirCard for connecting to Sprint’s 3G wireless network - WiFi access is notoriously spotty during CES, so I figured I should go prepared. I’m renting this card for a week from Rovair.
• Mini-tripod for the Canon PowerShot A590/S camera I’m using to take this photo, and which I will use to shoot photos and video from Vegas.
• Dell Axim X50v PDA with Windows Mobile 2003SE - It’s an oldy but a goody, and this PDA is loaded up with music and movies to watch during the plane ride, phone numbers and appointments I’ll need during the week, and in a pinch I can use its WiFi adapter to get online if I need to.
• Sony PCM-D50 digital audio recorder - I don’t expect to use this recorder very much, but as a radio journalist I feel silly leaving home without it. If I need to conduct any audio only interviews they’ll be recorded with this device, and I’m hoping to get a chance to compare it to some new recorders for bradlinder.net, where I frequently write about digital audio production gear.
• Kensinton travel mouse - Best $15 I ever spent. This tiny optical mouse takes up next to no room in my gear bag and has a retractable cord. Since it’s USB, it works with any netbook, no setup required.
• Sony MDR-7506 headphones (in the background) - Again, the audio geek in me figures if I’m taking my pro audio recorder I should also take some pro audio headphones. They’re also much better than earbuds for downing out sound on the plane.

File this away under “netbooks that probably aren’t coming to the US anytime soon,” but Exper appares to be releasing a machine called the Exper Style that hits all the generic netbook points: 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 8.9 inch display, and 802.11b/g WiFi. The Expert Style also sports an 8GB Flash drive in place of a hard drive, has 1GB of RAM, and runs Windows XP.

You can see a video overview of the device at the ShiftDelete forums, but I’m not really sure what language the dude is speaking, so don’t ask me what he’s saying. It does look like the netbook comes in a variety of colors including blue, red, black, purple, and pink. If you ask me, the only color that doesn’t make the mini-laptop look like a toy is black. But if you’re going for the toy look…

via Netbook News.de