ARM-based chips are all the rage these days in tablets, smartphones, set-top-boxes, and other low power computing devices. But while many of the latest chips can support HD video, 3D graphics, and other high-performance graphics, you generally need to use supported software to get all the benefits — because chip makers don’t offer open source graphics drivers. But there are…
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The vast majority of 9 and 10 inch netbooks with Intel Atom chips and GMA 950 graphics have the same native screen resolution: 1024 x 600 pixels. While that’s generally good enough to view most web pages, some web content doesn’t really fit on a display that small. And some programs won’t even run if you don’t have a 1024…
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Microsoft is launching Windows 7 tomorrow, and dozens of new and updated notebooks, netbooks, and other computers running the new operating system will be available. But for users who are looking to upgrade their existing netbooks from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, there’s hope. PC makers are beginning to offer Windows 7 drivers for a number of existing…
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With Windows 7 due out exactly a month from today, expect to see a ton of product announcements for computers running the new OS in the next few weeks. But something else we’re going to start seeing a lot of is companies issuing updated drives for existing computers to make it easier for users to upgrade to the new OS….
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One of the biggest complaints I had with the Asus Eee PC T91 was it felt rather sluggish thanks to its low power 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor and integrated GMA 500 graphics. But it looks like Intel has released an updated GMA 500 driver for Windows XP which some users are reporting improves streaming video performance on the Eee…
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Asus has made a full set of Windows drivers available for the Eee PC 1005HA, which was announced earlier this week. On Wednesday, the company created a support page for the netbook, but at the time no drivers were available. Today, you can download BIOS tools, power utilities, and drivers for the chipset, audio, video, touchpad, and other hardware. What’s…
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Asus is set to begin shipping the Eee PC 1008HA any day now. This is the company’s thinnest and lightest netbook with a 10 inch screen to date, and Asus has been teasing us with pictures of it for months. Last week we heard a rumor that the netbook could be available in June. But I’m starting to think it…
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The Asus Eee PC 1004DN may not have started shipping yet. But Asus has begun uploading drivers, software, and support documents for its first Eee PC model with an optical disc drive and fingerprint scanner. You can currently download the latest version of the BIOS, drivers for most of the computer’s hardware, and user manuals in English or Chinese. There…
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After a co-worker asked me to install the Windows 7 beta onto his wife’s new Aspire One, I ran into a common netbook frustration. My freshly-loaded OS couldn’t find an appropriate wireless driver. A couple of Google searches later, and I was starting to get disheartened. Finally, I came across atheros.cz. If you’ve got an Aspire One, the file you…
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OS X is only officially supposed to run on Apple-labeled hardware. But ever since Apple started using Intel chips in its Mac line of computers hackers have been figuring out how to load the operating system on unsupported machines. And at this point almost every Intel Atom-powered netbook has run OS X at least once or twice. But the darling…
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The Samsung NC10 isn’t due out in the US until November. But the company has posted a ton of material on the English language support page. You can find the user manual, plus drivers for Bluetooth, the webcam, chipset, LAN, Sound, touchpad, Graphics, and WLAN. Samsung has also posted utilities like a battery manager, a network manager, a software…
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Update: You can now download the drivers from Acer’s support site. A few weeks ago AspireOneUser uploaded a series of drivers that you could use to get Windows XP up and running on an Acer Aspire One Laptop. Now it looks like you don’t have to rely on these unofficial drivers anymore, since Acer has uploaded its own drivers to…
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