When the folks at Netbook Navigator first asked me to write about the company’s new 9 inch tablet PC I had a hard time getting past the high price tag of nearly $1200. But that price was for an early model that packed 3G capabilities and was intended for early adopters. Now Netbook Navigator has updated the pricing for the Nav 9 tablet and the base model costs just $799. Yeah, that’s still enough money to pick up 2-3 netbooks, but here’s what you get for the money:

  • Display: 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel multitouch display
  • CPU: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU
  • Graphics: Intel GMA 950
  • Storage: 16GB SSD
  • RAM: 2GB
  • OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
  • Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, LAN, optional 3G HSDPA or CDMA
  • I/O: 3 USB ports, MiniSD card slot, SIM card slot, port replicator w/VGA/LAN adapter, 1.3MP webcam
  • Battery: 3 cell, 1700mAh (2.5 hours max)
  • Dimensions: 10″ x 6.6″ x 0.8″
  • Weight: 2 pounds
  • Other: car charger

The 3G module will cost you extra, as will a higher capacity battery which is good for up to 4 hours of run time. You can also get the Nav 9 with a 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB SSD. The most expensive unit will run you $1399, but the $799 starting price is certainly much more appealing than the $1200 the company was charging earlier.

Netbook Navigator has also put together a handy chart comparing the Nav 9 tablet to the upcoming Apple iPad and the already-on-the-market Archos 9 tablet. The long and short of it is that the Nav 9 supports multitasking, supports USB peripherals and SD card expansion, and comes in more varieties. Oh yeah, it can also run most Windows applications. On the other hand, it’s thicker and heavier than the other tablets.

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24 replies on “Netbook Navigator’s Nav 9 slate PC gets affordable, guns for the iPad”

  1. If the price is right and the product is good and not just another touch screen device. Then you will have more customers that are happy with their products which means more money for that company. However, these company over charge for any new product which will be their downfall. overpricing
    Anyway I like the web cam idea and the fact that you can use a pen to take notes with. kenny aka bigkm

  2. I made the mistake of buying this thing. The device is absolutely useless.
    To begin with, it came with faulty aux 3.5 jack. Microphone is hardly working either. The built-in speakers are too quiet – you can hear the sound comfortably enough only in a completely silent room. I contacted Netbook Navigator and they offered to send it for repairs to some industrial estate in China. I decided against it and bought an external USB soundcard instead. That solved the problem but used up one of the three USB ports.

    The idea behind me buying a tablet was
    1) to use it to show photos (I am an amateur photographer),
    2) to transfer just taken photos from my camera and to view them on a bigger screen,
    3) and to listen to mp3s in the car or anywhere else.

    1) It turned out that I can’t use it for viewing and showing photos because the screen is too dark – the contrast ratio is horrible – and if a picture has darker than medium areas they turn into black.
    2) It is very heavy to carry around in addition to a heavy enough camera and lens, so not very useful for using as a storage device. Also, the image does not rotate to fit the screen – you have to change between landscape and portrait orientation manually which is fiddly and takes time.
    3) And because of the problem with 3.5 jack and poor speakers its use as an mp3 player is limited either.

    Well then, I though, I’d use it for reading books and for games.
    But it is too heavy to hold while reading, its cooler is very loud for comfort, and unfortunately, so far I could not find any decent games for it.

    To summarize – completely useless device, complete waste of money.

  3. hi there you are right i want a ipad over this but if apple did a 128 gb ssd ipad for $999 or a 256 gb ssd for $1,299 and a 512 gb ssd ipad for $1,499 toshiba and other ssd companies have 512 gb ssd out like last year in 2009 soo a 1 terabyte ssd option coming soon i hope but this thing cost $1,399 soo you can buy 3 16 gb ipads for $499 apiece and kindel dx new runs $489 too bad e-books and nothing else verses ipad ibooks internet mp3 player video you tube hd

  4. I guess affordable is a relative term. To me, it seems like a lot to pay for a tablet when there are netbooks that convert to a tablet format but turning the screen.

  5. It looks nice but not for the price stated above. There are other tablet pc’s that I find more appealing and cost way less than this one.

    1. Care to name a few? I am in the market for one, and so far, this is top of the line for me. Nevermind the price, this is for corporate use.

      1. I am sure this site – Liliputing – would have a list with comparisons. One that comes to mind might be the Haleron iLet. They have a small one called the Mini. It might be worth checking out.

  6. Dumb product.

    First off, ignore any tablet with an Intel processor. There isn’t enough room in that form factor to stuff enough battery to feed one. And until Intel manages to ship a CPU+Chipset that can idle under a watt this iron law will remain.

    Which logically leads to a second rule: if it ships Windows forget it since Windows doesn’t run on ARM (yet) or MIPS (anymore).

  7. This is nothing else than last year’s standard netbook hardware – except the 8.9″ touchscreen, and it has a ridculous battery life…

    So why the heck should anybody pay a 500$ premium just for a small touchscreen packed onto a boring old netbook?

    1. I dunno, why would anyone pay as much as $829 for a giant iPhone that doesn’t even have a webcam? Yet somehow Apple predicts 5,000,000 sales in 2010…

  8. OK someone needs to steer this conversation in the right direction. It seems everyone is so quick to bad mouth this device because they think it is trying to replace a netbook. That simply is not the case. More than 500,000 UMPCs were sold last year… and I doubt any one of them were meant to “replace” a netbook.

    Think about it, in the right setting, these devices are extremely useful. I would much rather use a 3G Tablet than a folding Netbook for things like giving powerpoint presentations, photo editing, video conferencing, graphic design, etc. Architects use them to build blueprints, doctors use them for medical diagnostics, professors and students can use them as a teaching tool… and so on.

    Give credit where credit is due… that fact is, while it may not be a netbook replacement, as a tablet device this product is simply better than its competitors based on what is currently available.

  9. Here is the crux of the tablet/slate market. If we have a netbook would we ever bother buying one of these devices? No, I don’t see that happening. I would pay less for an ereader and be done with it. Could you just buy a tablet/slate for your mobile computing? No. You really need a netbook/laptop for that. Why aren’t people seeing this?

  10. Why so heavy? And, why so much?

    Sorry, they had a plan to sell these at $1,300 and now they can’t…but they couldn’t have done that even before iPad.

    Every manufacture want to make touch a premium functions…but it is not. Touch is just expected and it is not an ‘add-on’ that allows you to tack on $400. Any company who wants to succeed in this tablet space will need to put out an Atom level device at $425.

  11. This thing is garbage. I’d rather have the iPad. I don’t even want an iPad and id rather have it more than this.

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