Intel is rolling out a new reference design called KeeleyLake for ultrathin netbooks.  The Keeley Lake design features a base so thin that there’s no room for USB ports or other connectors near the front of the laptop. Instead the ports are allon the back – presumably where the battery resides as well.

The Keelye Lake reference design also puts the  hinge connecting the screen to the laptop base is in the center rather than on the sides. This allows you to rotate the screen and fold it down over the keyboard so you can use the computer in tablet mode. Notebook Italia spotted a Keeley Lake prototype on display in Taiwan, but more details will likely emerge once the Computex trade show officially gets underway tomorrow.

Intel has launched a new solid state disks that are a mere 1/8th the size (measuring 2″ x 1.2″ x 0.2″) of their current X25 SSDs while offering similar or better performance. The new Intel SSD 310 is a small form factor solid state disk ( it looks like mini PCI Express card), but actually uses a mSATA interface.

The new SSD supports read speeds up to 200 MB/s and write speeds up to 70 MB/s and comes in 40GB and 80GB capacities, with the 80GB model offering those top speeds. The 40Gb model is a bit slower, but it’s also cheaper at just $99. The 80GB model runs $179 in the US.

Intel is targeting computer makers looking to build dual disk notebooks, single-disk netbooks and tablets, or low power embedded systems.

AMD’s new low power, moderate performance chips feature in the new Acer Aspire One 521 and Dell Inspiron M101z.  But, AMD is not content to leave it there.  Today AMD unveiled new details about its upcoming Bobcat platform for small, low power devices such as netbooks, nettops, and tablets.

The new Bobcat is the processor core that will show up in the Ontario chips due out in early 2011. AMD says Bobcat is capable of operating on less than a watt of energy, but it’s an x86 processor with out0of-order execution, which means it should be more than capable of powering Windows and other complex operating systems. The Bobcat core offers 90% of the power you expect from a mainstream chip today, while using less than half the silicon area. Ontario chips will combine the Bobcat CPU with a graphics processor and high speed bus to offer a complete chipset.

No word yet on how the AMD Bobcat chops will compare  to the goliath on the block – namely Intel with their Intel’s Atom  and ULV platforms.   By the time these new chips are released early next year Intel will likely have launched its next-generation Oak Trail platform for mobile devices.  Likely provding stiff competition.

Chip designer ARM has announced an agreement with semiconductor manufacturer TSMC that will seek to utilize 28nm (nano-meter) and eventually 20nm production processes.  This should lead to smaller, more efficient, and more powerful chips to power netbooks, smartbooks, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.  The current ARM and TSCM chips utilize 40nm technology, so you can see this will be quite a leap ahead.

ARM says the agreement will allow the company to start developing the technology for the new chips as soon as possible — although it could be a while before we see these new chips hit the streets.

via Engadget

Installing the Pixel Qi netbook screen is very much a DIY project we’re told and Engadget tells us exactly how to do it in five easy steps. Even better, they assure us that it takes no more than about 30 minutes, so check the entire process here.

So that first batch of Pixel QI screen sold out pretty quickly but we’re told there are more on the way, and we saw in action on video too.  In the meantime, check out this this video of one customer installing the Pixel Qi screen on the Acer Aspire One netbook.

Predictably, a few daysPixel Qi started selling their display kits, we’ve have a video from one of the first users to have actually purchased one.  Quick first impressions:  installation was pretty simple, and incredibly good visibility in full outdoor light.  Yes, on the outdoor setting it pretty much looks like a black and white screen, but most (glossy) netbook screens are completely unusuble in outdoor light.  Then, there are the benefits to battery life, and it’s great screen for reading period.

You can check out a video after the break.

DigiTimes reports that processor manufacturer AMD is waiting to see if the tablet market even takes off. The silicon firm will still work on desktop PC products and graphics cards, but is currently focused oultraportables, including netbooks and thin & light notebooks.   Aaccording to the publication, they’re also not terribly interested in following in competitor Intel’s smartphone footsteps. Engadget reached out to a company spokesperson this afternoon, and received the following statement:

Our current generation of notebook platforms has not been designed for tablets. Our focus continues to be on ultrathin and mainstream notebooks which address the vast majority of the PC market opportunity.

The Pixel Qi screen combines the benefits of the low power, high contract e-ink dispalys found in many ebook readers, and the full colour displays currently in netbooks.    Better yet, the Pixel Qi display’s power consumption is said to range from just .5 watts, without backlight, to 2.5 watts with the backglight on.

Today, at Computex 2010, JKKmobile got some hands-on time with the new screen.  The issue with  poor viewing angles  has been fixed and with this version. We get to see a few prototype tablets with the Pixel Qi display on board and even a test run outdoors in direct sunlight.

Check out the hands-on, outdoors and side-by-side with the iPad videos.

Broadcom’s Crystal HD video accelerator is a popular solution to boost the meager grahpics capabilities of non-Nvidia Ion powered netbooks.  It’s a PCI Express card that simply slots into a slot in your netbook  to enable 1080p HD video playback on a computer that normally wouldn’t have enough processing power to handle high resolution video. Now, Broadcom’s second generation Crystal HD video accelerator is about half the size of the original model.

The first generation card was called the BCM70012, while the new model is the BCM70015. It looks like while the BCM70012 required a full sized mini PCI Express slot, the new video accelerator will fit in a half-sized spot.