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Toshiba won’t release netbooks in the U.S. — for now

September 18th, 2008, 6:01 pm by

Mini-computers known as netbooks may be the biggest trend among PC makers but Orange County’s own Toshiba America is holding off on releasing one of its own, according to a Toshiba spokesperson I spoke to today.

While the company’s European operations have apparently announced the first Toshiba netbook (pictured on right), that model will not be available in the U.S., according to my contact. We may even hear of other Toshiba netbook launches — Mexico? Asia? — but nothing here.

“The company is still evaluating the netbook in the U.S.,” is all my contact at Toshiba would say.

The local Toshiba computing group, based in Irvine, may be wondering as I did, whether people really want netbooks. These mini computers are smaller than laptops with 7 to 10-inch screens and cost around $300 to $600. But they are also less powerful, with Intel’s smallest chip, the Intel Atom. Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo plus a slew of lesser-known brands have already released a netbook or announced one. (See “Mini PCs you may have missed“).

But maybe people do want them? Netbooks were recently on sale at Amazon.com. And this week, Amazon said that mini-laptops like the ASUS Eee PC and Acer Aspire One were among five netbooks in the top 10 best-selling notebooks from June till now. Eight of the top 10 best selling notebooks right now are netbooks.

More on netbooks:

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OC’s Averatec offers twist on computers

September 15th, 2008, 10:31 am by

A computer that flips, a sleek monitor with the built-in PC and the computer du jour netbook — Averatec is back and trying to get our attention again.

Netbooks, twists on netbooks and all in ones

The Santa Ana company, a division of the Korean PC maker TriGem Computer Inc., plunged right back into the ultra competitive PC industry after being rescued last year from bankruptcy by Celrun Co., one of Korea’s top IPTV box makers. But it hasn’t been as easy as Darren Lee, Averatec’s director of marketing, had hoped.

Even with a spiffy new lineup, Averatec has not been able to get its computers into stores easily. Retail has always been a tough market to crack and few second-tier PC companies make it onto store shelves, according to Richard Shim, who tracks PCs for market researcher IDC. The only name to recently crack the top 10 computer sellers at retail? Dell.

“In order to get into consumer retail, it’s a long-term term relationship. You’ve got to prove you can push brands in the channel. It’s not the place where an unstable company can just show up one day and get in,” Shim said. “It’s not a flea market, it’s Best Buy.”

But Averatec did it back around 2003 when its low-priced 12-inch notebooks got picked up by Best Buy and Staples stores.

“Our biggest asset is that we still have relationships with retailers,” Lee told me when I stopped by his office last week.

Averatec's Darren Lee

Averatec's Darren Lee setting up the new netbook twist, an all-in-one PC based on a netbook computer.

The local office, which didn’t think it would be affected by TriGem’s bankruptcy, was severely gutted. Its staff of 50 dwindled to six as they pulled out of retail to focus on small contracts. Thanks to Celrun’s recapitalization of Averatec last year, the local group is now up to 15 employees.

This year, Averatec already released its signature product, a no-frills 12-inch laptop for under $1,000.  But I, of course, was more interested in the other stuff.

Averatec’s Netbook

Averatec’s upcoming netbook computer

Let’s start with the company’s netbook, which I mentioned in a post last month. Netbooks are the lighter, cheaper but less powerful alternatives to laptops. Most of them have Intel’s tiniest chip, the Atom. There already are a slew of netbooks available or on the way from big names like Dell and HP to the small guys like Hannspree and MSI.

Averatec’s netbook has the guts of competitor MSI, which was one of the first with a netbook, the MSI Wind. It’s one of the better reviewed netbooks out there.

“MSI is hands down the best in class, but you can’t find them,” Lee said. Read the rest of this entry »

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A netbook with an 18-inch monitor

September 12th, 2008, 4:07 pm by

Santa Ana’s Averatec is coming out with an 18-inch netbook, which sounds contradictory to the whole netbook idea of being thin and light (some netbooks are tiny laptops with a mere 7-inch screen for $299).

The computer, dubbed All in One Design, is really an 18.2-inch 18.4-inch widescreen monitor with the netbook hardware as its base.

I stopped by its office this week to get the scoop from Darren Lee, Averatec’s director of marketing.

Netbooks tend to be smaller, cheaper and less powerful laptop computers. They’re being pitched to consumers as machines meant for Internet usage, and then some. It seems that everyone has a netbook these days, including the big companies Dell, HP and Acer. Averatec plans to release a standard netbook by Christmas.

But this all-in-one netbook (keyboard isn’t attached) is definitely unique. I do remember a similar design from prototypes that I saw a few years back, but I have never seen such designs in stores.  The arm attaching the monitor to the base flexes until it’s flat against the back of the monitor and top of the base. Thus, it’s easy to mount to the wall.

Watch my video of Averatec’s Darren Lee demonstrating this feature:

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.

Averatec’s computer has a lot of useful features: webcam, 160 GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and card reader. But missing is Bluetooth. If you’re going to mount this to the wall, it’ll need a wireless keyboard. That means you’ll have to use one of its 5 USB ports to add a bulky wireless dongle. But with Bluetooth, you won’t have that excess clutter.

The 9-pound contraption also claims to be the thinnest all-in-one design, with the LCD at 0.59-inch thick and the base at 1.3-inches. While white and black units are being made, only the black version will be available in the U.S. Estimated price: $549.99!

More specs: Read the rest of this entry »

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Dell jumps into netbooks with $399 PC

September 4th, 2008, 6:17 am by

Dell Inspiron Mini in Alpine WhiteAnother mini computer is on the way. This time, it’s from PC biggie Dell, which plans to announce the Inspiron Mini 9 today (pictured on right).

Dell follows many of the other big-name PC brands. Acer, HP and Lenovo already have their own netbooks, all of which came out earlier this summer. And, of course, nearly a dozen smaller computer companies have launched a netbook this year.

Still missing from the tiny notebook revoloution are Apple, Gateway and Toshiba, the latter two are based in Orange County.So far, though, Gateway officials have told me it has no plans to add a netbook.

Toshiba offered a vague response to the same question:  It “offers a unique growth opportunity that should be thoughtfully considered,” said Jeff Barney, Toshiba’s vice president and general manager, told me in last month’s story, “Netbooks everywhere. Do people really want them?”

As for Apple, the rumors continue.

Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9  appears to be in the mid-size range of netbook computer (check out my growing list of netbooks at “Mini computers you may have missed“). It has an 8.9-inch LED display, weighs 2.28 pounds, and includes a solid-state drive.

Few details were available before the release date, but it does have Wi-Fi. Bluetooth and a webcam will cost extra. Two colors are available: Obsidian Black and Alpine White.It’s $399 if you want Windows XP on it. Coming in the next few weeks, Dell plans to release a netbook with its own operating system, starting at $349.Dell Inspiron Mini in Obsidian Black

Images courtesy of Dell Past Gadgetress posts on netbooks:

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Acer cuts price of its 2-month old ‘netbook’ PC

August 22nd, 2008, 5:30 am by

Acer Aspire oneJust two months after launching its first netbook computer, Acer America plans to announce today that it chopped $50 off these 2-pound laptops. The Acer Aspire one is now $349 for the Windows XP version and $329 for the Linpus Linux Lite version.

Why the sudden price drop? To lure the back-to-school crowd, says Acer.

Netbooks, the newest category of computers, are a new option for students this fall, thanks to last spring’s debut of Intel’s tiny Atom chip. Most netbooks — also called nettops, ultra portables and mini computers — are around 2 pounds, have Wi-Fi for Internet access, screen sizes below 10 inches and cost between $300 to $500.

But with the onslaught of netbooks in recent months — about a dozen since spring– I wondered if people really wanted them or if this was all just a marketing ploy by PC makers to expand the computer market. Everyone from HP to newcomer Sylvania and Hannspree were coming out with one (the only PC brand without one rumored on the way is Irvine’s Gateway, which is owned by Acer). An analyst I interviewed believes companies think the market is bigger than it actually is.

I wouldn’t mind ditching my 6-pound laptop for a smaller, lighter laptop. Not that lightweight laptops are new. For many years, the lighter laptops, like Toshiba’s old 7-inch Libretto for $2,000, were just too expensive. The new netbooks skimp on features but at $399, you may not care.

Acer Aspire one

Acer’s Aspire wasn’t the most expensive out there, nor the cheapest. But with the $50 price drop, it does become one of the cheapest, next to a very low-end $299 Eee PC from ASUS.

The $349 Aspire AOA150-1570 , in particular, weighs 2.17 pounds, and has 1GB of memory, a 120 GB hard drive and Windows XP. The Aspire one AOA110-1722 is the model with Linux.  A third model, the AOA150-1447, includes better specs, such as a six-cell battery and 160 GB hard drive, and costs $399.

Images courtesy of Acer

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Will crazy colors spur interest in new netbooks?

August 19th, 2008, 7:31 pm by

Sylvania g Meso netbooksI can’t get enough of these netbooks! And now they come in four new colors: Onyx, Snow, Solar and Blossom.  (I guess that’s artsy speak for black, white, yellow and pink).  Sylvania unveiled its ‘MESO‘ line ” to match your attitude,” says the press release.  Sylvania G Meso netbooks

These smaller, thinner and cheaper computers are sprouting up everywhere whether or not people want them. I definitely like the idea of a lighter computer, but I’m a girl who likes performance so trading the extra pounds for a less powerful processor and minimal features hasn’t made me bite. Yet.

These new 2.2-pound MESOs have an 8.9-inch screen, an Intel Atom chip,  80 GB hard drive, 512 or 1 GB of memory, Wi-Fi, web cam, card reader, 3 USB ports and your choice of Linux-based Ubuntu Netbook Remix or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition. Battery lasts 4 hours.

That’s not too bad, especially for the $399 price tag (or the price of a 16 GB iPhone and a year of its e-mail service, MobileMe). It’s on pre-order right now at Amazon, TigerDirect and others. See how it compares to the other netbooks on the market at “Mini PCs you may have missed.”

But I do wonder why Sylvania skipped blue and green. Could they not think of some creative twist on the name? Got any colorful suggestions?

More pics: From Sylvania g’s web site:

Sylvania g Meso netbooks Sylvania g Meso netbooks Sylvania g Meso netbooks

Related posts on netbooks:

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Another PC company to launch cheap ‘netbook’

August 11th, 2008, 2:11 pm by

Averatec’s upcoming netbook computerSanta Ana’s Averatec is jumping into the category of smaller, cheaper computers with its own netbook.

Averatec, the brand name of Korean manufacturer TriGem Computer Inc., already has laptops with 12-inch screens (and recently launched a nifty-looking iMac-ish all in one computer). But the new netbook-sized computers will be around 10.2-inches, which puts them on the larger end of netbooks.

Averatec’s upcoming netbook computer

Darren Lee, Averatec’s director of marketing, filled me in on the details. This new PC will also be an Intel Atom-based netbook but Averatec is going after folks who just want a smaller laptop — not a larger PDA.

The larger screen plus a near-fullsize keyboard with a real ‘Shift’ key will also have a larger hard drive of around 120 GB, Lee said. It’ll still be sub-3 pounds and cost around $399 or $499. Expect the new netbook by Christmas.

“Here’s our take on it: Everyone’s getting in. It’s a trend happening right now. We have the resources to get in so we will,” Lee said. “Since we have a relationship with (retailers), we can get it into stores.”

Most companies sell their netbooks online only.

Who doesn’t make one these days? Read my last story on this: Netbooks everywhere. Do people really want them? and feel free to take the poll HERE.

If you’re wanting to read up on netbooks, check out my past posts on the topic:

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Mini PCs you may have missed

August 11th, 2008, 3:06 am by

 

**FYI** This version of “Netbooks everywhere. Do people really want them?” published in Tuesday’s paper **

In researching the whole netbook phenomena, I wanted to put them all in one, simple post for anyone looking for the new options. These smaller, usually cheaper, laptops have sprung up in recent months thanks to the new tiny Atom chip from Intel. However, not all use the Atom.

In a past post, “Netbooks everywhere! Do consumers really want them?” one analyst mentioned that it seems like every PC maker is jumping in because, well, everyone else is doing it. HP, Acer, Lenovo plus a slew of other brands have jumped in. Rumor is that Dell and Toshiba may make the jump soon. Here’s what we know so far … (Click on images to enlarge photo.)

 
HP announced the Mini-Note PC last April. It uses a processor from Via Technologies. The 2.63-pound netbook has a 8.9-inch screen and a keyboard that is “92 percent the size of a full size keyboard.” Price: $499. HP Mini Note PC 

HP Mini Note PC
The Acer “Aspire one” came out last month, weighs 2.17 pounds, has a 8.9-inch screen, Wi-Fi and a 3-hour battery. Other features include a webcam, five-in-one memory card reader plus an SD card reader, and 3 USB ports. It’s $379 if you get the 8 GB solid-state drive; or $399 for the 120 GB regular hard drive. Acer Aspire one 

Acer Aspire one
MSI Wind NB is a 2.6-pound, has an 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and keyboard that is “80 percent of a full-size notebook.” Other features include 3-hour battery, 3 USB ports, and a 4-in-1 card reader. It’s priced at $480. (Don’t forget to check out the “Love” edition.) MSI Win NB U100 

MSI Win NB U100
ASUS Eee PC 901 – Has an 8.9-inch screen, 12 GB storage, 1 GB of memory, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a webcam and lasts about 7.8 hours. It’s $549. Two other Atom-based Eee PCs, the 1000 and 1000H, are $699 and $649, respectively, because of larger screens and storage space. ASUS Eee PC 901ASUS Eee PC 901
SYLVANIA g – Has a 7-inch screen, a Linux-based operating system and weighs 1.8 pounds. It starts at $399. Coming this month, Sylvania is adding an 8.9-inch and 10-inch model to its netbook lineup — both run on Intel’s Atom chip. Those are expected to cost less than $500. Sylvania g netbook 

SYLVANIA g netbook
SYLVANIA g MESO –
Announced 8/18: The 2.2-pound MESOs have an 8.9-inch screen, an Intel Atom chip,  80 GB hard drive, 512 or 1 GB of memory, Wi-Fi, web cam, card reader, 3 USB ports and your choice of Ubuntu or  Windows XP. Battery lasts 4 hours. Price: $399.		 Sylvania G Meso netbooks 

SYLVANIA g MESO
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 – Has a 10.2-inch screen, a keyboard that is 85 percent the size of a laptop’s keyboard and an energy-efficient LED backlit display to conserve battery. Also includes Wi-Fi, two USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, Express Card slot, webcam and includes Windows XP. Available in October for $399. Lenovo IdeaPad S10 netbook for $399 

Lenovo IdeaPad S10
ASUS finally unveiled the Eee Box, a desktop version of its miniature notebook computers.The 2.5-pound, 1-inch computer is touted as “slimmer than a paperback novel.” Features include an 80 GB hard drive, Intel Atom chip, and 1 GB of memory. It’s $349 and doesn’t include a monitor.

ASUS Eee Box

ASUS Eee Box
Upcoming: Hannspree, a TV company in Irvine, plans to launch its netbook by the end of the year. It’ll have the Atom chip, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a hard drive — essentially, the usual laptop components. Expected price is $299.

Hannspree’s netbook

Hannspree’s netbook
Upcoming: Averatec, a PC company in Santa Ana, plans to launch its netbook by the end of the year. It’s thinking bigger — with a 10.2-inch screen, 90-percent keyboard, 120 GB hard drive. Still hopes to stay below 3 pounds for $399 or $499.

Averatec’s upcoming netbook computer

Averatec’s netbook

Recent posts on netbooks:

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