The earliest netbooks had low resolution 7 inch displays. Over the past two years we’ve seen companies ship netbooks with 9 and 10 inch screens, and now there’s a push to includes 11.6 inch and 12.1 inch laptops in the netbook space. They may not be quite as small or portable as their little brothers, but these laptops, often powered by Intel Atom or VIA Nano processors, are still thin, light, and cheap compared to more traditional laptops.
This week Asus posted an official product page for its upcoming Eee PC 1101HA mini-laptop. This 11.6 inch laptop will be the first Eee PC model with a screen larger than 10.2 inches. While most smaller netbooks use the Intel Atom N270/N280 chipset, this model will come with a 1.33GHz intel Atom Z520 CPU, US15W chipset, and GMA 500 graphics. It’s possible that a slightly faster version with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU could ship in the future, but for now it looks like you’ll be stuck with the slower processor.
Meanwhile, Acer’s first 11.6 inch Atom-powered laptop is already shipping, and the folks at Laptop Magazine have posted a detailed review of the Acer Aspire One 751. Like the Eee PC 1101HA, the Aspire One 751 includes an Atom Z520 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and a 1366 x 768 pixel display. Laptop Magazine reports that the pokey processor makes this laptop feel considerably slower than most netbooks with faster Intel Atom N270, N280, or even Z530 processors. On the bright side, it excellent battery life, running for over 7 hours on a charge.
via Netbook Choice