CES 2010 – HP Netbooks
CES 2010 – HP Netbooks
Jan. 6, 2010 (12:01 am) By: Sal Cangeloso
HP doesn’t do small roll-outs. When the company’s computing division puts out new products it’s never one or two products, it’s more like 17, and CES 2010 will be no exception. There is a lot of information to take it–this article (followed up by a few more) will be attempt to break it all down into bite-sized nuggets for you.
Let’s start off with HP’s 2010 netbooks. You can read about HP’s 2010 notebooks here.
Mini 210 and Mini 2102
This will probably end up being one of HP’s biggest announcements at CES 2010 simply due to the volume that will be sold and the popularity of its predecessors (Mini 1000, Mini 110). The naming here is extremely confusing, so just keep in mind that the Mini 210 is the consumer model and the Mini 2102 is the business model. Each will use Intel’s new Atom N450 processor (Pineview).
Start at 2.69 pounds, under 1-inch thick
10 hours battery life with 6-cell, 5 hours with 3-cell (Mini 110 had 6 hours with 6-cell)
Colors: 210: black, silver, blue, red; 2101: black
93% full-size keyboard. The 210 will have two keyboard options (standard or chiclet-style).
The netbooks got a consider design overhaul, with new, much slicker exteriors. The chiclet-style keyboard and complete lack of screws on the exterior greatly adds to the visual appeal, as does the new trackpad design which integrates the two buttons into the bottom of the “clickpad” (as we saw on the Envy 13 and Envy 15). The pads support gestures including 2-finger scrolling, pinch-to-zoom, and rotation.
The Mini 210 will have a number of available options, including an HD display (1366×768 instead of 1024×600), Broadcom HD accelerator (compatible with Flash 10.1), and an edge-to-edge display that will come with the colors.
Other details you might want to know include that the systems will not have HDMI ports but they will include HP services like QuickSync local computer syncing, Cloud Drive remote storage, and MediaStream for streaming media playback. They will also include Quick Web, HP’s version of the SplashTop instant-on desktop. HP’s version will be heavily influenced by HP’s MIE Linux OS and the expected boot time is 15 seconds
The 2102 is technically the business model. It is very much like the 210 but without some consumer-focused options and less color choices.
Trying to figure out how the 210 differs from the 2102? An HP rep had this to say:
There are some software differences between the Mini 210 and Mini 2102. While both Mini models will have HP QuickSync, only the consumer Mini 210 will offer HP QuickWeb, HP CloudDrive and HP MediaStream. The Mini 2102 will only come in a black color, but all other specs and options are the same between the two models. Also, the Mini 210 and Mini 2102 will have different distribution channels.
These models will be available January 7th. The Mini 210 still start $299. The colors will ship with Windows 7 for $369. The Mini 2102 will start at $329. Both will be available for purchase January 7th.
Mini 5102
This is the company’s premium netbook. It’s the successor to the acclaimed 5101, as well as the 2140 and 2133, and is sort of an ultramobility flagship for HP. They company says it’s aimed at education and business buyers, but it will be a great pick for demanding consumers as well.
This system saw considerable upgrades and some nice surprises, though the design did not change as much as the Mini 210.
There will be a touch display option in the form of a 10.1-inch capacitive touch panel.
0.91-inches thick and 2.64 pounds starting weight
It has a 16:9 LED backlit panel
There is now an optional handle for carrying the system. It has to be factory installed. It folds out from the bottom and is aimed at the education market.
95% chiclet-style keyboard, spill-resistant
Works with HP QuickLook 3, QuickSync
Gobi mobile broadband option
Battery life: 4.5 hours with 4-cell and 10 hours with 6-cell
Integrated facial recognition for logging into Windows and websites
This computer includes business software from HP’s security suite, including HP Disk Sanitizer, Face Recognition for HP ProtectTools, Computrace BIOS support, and Drive Encryption for HP Protect Tools
Starting weight is 2.64 pounds, 0.91-inches thick
Color options will be black, red, and blue. Something rare for HP’s business products.
Starting price $399, but it will be more for the colors and options (handle, etc.)
Options for the 5102 will include the handle, Bluetooth, the Broadcom HD accelerator, and mobile broadband (GPS-enabled). There will be an option for a 80GB and 120GB SSDs as well as 7200RPM hard drives. HP’s services mentioned above will be available as well, including QuickSync which will be important for the netbook’s companion PC usage.
As Published on http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/ces-2010-hp-netbooks-2010016/
CES 2010 – Netbooks, Netbooks, Everywhere!
Anand and Ryan are running around Vegas, but lucky for me I get to cover the show remotely – it’s a lot less stressful and at the end of the day my feet don’t hurt. With the recent launch of Intel’s Pineview and Arrandale processors, we expect to see a plethora of new laptops, netbooks, and notebooks at this year’s CES based on these platforms. We will also see some new laptops using AMD processors. Since I’m not actually at the show, I can’t comment specifically on LCDs, keyboards, or build quality, but I will do my best to provide some analysis of the various product launches.
Pine Trail Netbooks
The biggest area in laptops right now appears to be the netbook. Everyone is making something using the latest Atom N450 CPU, it seems. Netbooks are also all over the show floor, which is no surprise considering their light weight, small size, and stellar battery life. If there’s one usage case where netbooks excel, running around a tradeshow floor has got to be it! Personally, I’d still take a slightly larger 11.6″ CULV laptop, but there’s no accounting for taste.
First out of the gate with a new Pine Trail netbook is Acer, with the Aspire One 532h (AO532h). We expect to see quite a few netbooks with similar specifications, so it’s really going to come down to availability, pricing, and overall design. The AO532h comes with an Atom N450 CPU, 10.1″ chassis, WSVGA (1024×600) LED backlit LCD, 1GB DDR2-667 RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. With a 6-cell battery it weighs just 2.76 pounds and delivers more than 10 hours of battery life. The AO532h is available in Onyx Blue, Garnet Red, and Silver Matrix with an MSRP of $300.
Plenty of others are showing Pine Trail netbooks. Toshiba had their NB305 on display, rated at up to 11 hours of battery life with a 6-cell battery. The NB305 has a couple models, with the less expensive starting at $350 with a typical keyboard and a glossy black exterior while the $400 model gets a chiclet keyboard and a “scratch resistant” surface.
Samsung announced a bevy of new netbooks, differentiated by battery life and exterior design. The N210 and N220 have a “crystal pattern design” and offer up to 12 hours of mobility, while the N150 and NB30 reach 8.5 hours and 11 hours respectively. The hinge on the N150 has a modified “integrated hinge” and the NB30 is designed to withstand harsher treatment with features like a water-tight seal and freefall sensor. Availability is expected any day now.
And just to round things out, yet another N450 netbook is the HP Mini 210, which Engadget reports has been seen at retail shops for $350. One feature that’s clearly different from other netbooks is the unibutton touchpad. I’ve tried Dell’s latest touchpad on the Inspiron 11z and 14z, though, and the thought of losing my discrete left and right buttons does not appeal to me! Sure, it works for Apple, but this netbook is running Win7, an OS designed with two mouse buttons in mind.
There are other N450 netbooks coming, and the core features are all the same. HDD capacity and amount of RAM are going to be the primary differentiators in terms of specs, but look for other features like non-glossy LCDs (we hope!), matte chassis, varying battery capacities, and other stylish elements to define these netbooks. As we noted in our ASUS 1005PE Pineview article, one of the things Pine Trail lacks is support of H.264 offload, but some netbooks should also include a Broadcom chip to handle HD video decoding. That’s probably the biggest feature we’d look for if we were out shopping for a new Pine Trail netbook right now.
Lenovo Breaks their Mold
When it comes to Lenovo, you can always count on them to provide conservative styling… right? Well, no longer, as it seems Lenovo has decided to mix things up a bit. Today Lenovo announced several new laptops. The one that’s almost certain to catch your eye is the new ThinkPad X100e, an 11.6″ laptop – Lenovo is careful to state it’s not a netbook – using AMD’s Neo processors. Both single-core and dual-core CPUs will be available, but the big news is that the X100e will be available in traditional black as well as… red. Yes, you saw that right: a red ThinkPad! “Heatwave Red” to be exact.
You can’t tell me that isn’t just a little bit too sexy for a ThinkPad!
Unlike most other laptops, this new red ThinkPad still uses a matte surface, and it looks pretty cool. Lenovo also worked hard to maintain full-size keys with their traditional chiclet style keyboard. Their customary pointing stick is also present and accounted for. Battery life is less than we see from typical netbooks; Lenovo claims up to five hours of battery life, and that’s presumably with a single-core processor. On the bright side, performance should be substantially better than Atom-based netbooks, but then the real competition is probably CULV designs. Pricing for the 100e will start at less than $449, though we expect better equipped versions will cost quite a bit more.
Lenovo Goes Glossy? Meet the ThinkPad Edge
Another new move for Lenovo is the ThinkPad Edge, which is a glossy black (or red) version of your typical ThinkPad. It looks really nice in the pictures, but you can see fingerprints even in their promo video. Considering I’ve complained about all the glossy laptops for the past couple of years, the Edge isn’t something I’m super excited to see. The good news is that Edge is merely an alternative design; as Lenovo states at the end of the video: “Classic or Edge, the choice is yours”. Personally, we’d stick with the Classic design. The Edge laptops will also be available with Intel or AMD processors; the Intel models state that they can reach up to 7.8 hours of battery life, and we suspect AMD models will be about 25% lower (5 to 6 hours).
And just to assuage your fears, there are plenty of new Classic ThinkPads in the works, including reworked T410s, T410, T510 and W510 models.
AS PUBLISHED ON: http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=3707
