In fact, some people who only use such devices for entertainment and occasional communication are getting by with just their smart phones! Ultimately, you can choose just about any of these types of products from any standard mobile service company such as O2Deciding which products you want is all about assessing your own needs and preferences.

One of the most difficult distinctions and choices to make among the products listed above is between smart tablets and netbooks. Both of these are essentially products designed as more convenient, more portable versions of laptop computers – however, there are significant differences between them. Here is a brief outline of some of these differences.

Tablets – Known mostly for high internet speeds and extreme portability, tablets are absolutely fantastic for entertainment and web browsing purposes. Generally tablet screens are about 10 inches or less in size, and they are very light, meaning that they’re easy to travel with no matter where you’re headed. Most tablets are very simple to navigate and operate, and are recommended for web browsing, music, and entertainment such as watching movies and playing games.
Netbooks – More similar to laptops than tablets, netbooks are in fact, for all intents and purposes, mini-laptops. Unlike tablets, they operate via a fold-out keyboard instead of a touch screen, but due to their smaller sizes they are still very portable and convenient. The disadvantages to netbooks are that they simply don’t function as quickly or smoothly as tablets in some cases, which makes them less ideal for game play, movie watching, etc. However, netbooks are still very capable when it comes to web browsing, and are generally considered very good for work-related activities. Thanks in part to the included keyboard, netbooks work well with word processing, which is one reason they are better for most work activities.

Ultimately, it is not difficult to assess which type of device would be better for you. If you plan on using your device for lots of work and typing-related activities, the netbook is probably the way to go. However, if you’re simply looking for a device that offers you portable internet access and entertainment sources, you can’t go wrong with a tablet. Both are spectacular products overall, and the differences are actually surprisingly subtle in the end.

AmigaOS is the OS largely forgotten by time.  It came before Windows, Mac, and Linux operating system and was originally designed for Amiga computers sold by Commodore starting in the 1980s.  It quickly earned a a reputation for offering high quality graphics and advanced multitasking capabilities.

Recently AmigaKit and A-Eon Technology have launched a new desktop computer designed to run AmigaOS 4.1 called the AmigaOne X1000. It uses a 1.8 GHz dual core processor, ATI Radeon R700 graphics, 2GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive.

But,  Hyperion’s Steven Solie and Hans-Joerg Frieden have also confirmed that a new AmigaOS powered netbook will also be built.  It will run AmigaOS 4 as the desktop PC, and will be powered by a PowerPC processor.  It’s expected to cost between$300 and $500 US dollars and the netbook in testing.  Prototypes are said to be equipped with 512MB of RAM, a small amount of flash storage, integrated graphics, 2 USB ports, WiFi, and Ethernet. Those details are all subject to change though. The netbook is expected to launch by the middle of 2012.

via OS News

The South African subsidiary of Vodafone called Vodacom has launched a 10 inch netbook with an ARM-based processor and Ubuntu Linux OS.  The new Vodafone Webbook  is aimed ot be a low cost computer for South Africans that may have had little to no access to the internet apart from cellphones.

The Webbook will cost 1499 Rand, or about $183 US Dollars.  There’s also a package for $234, which gets customers a SIM card and 100MB of data each month for one year.  Alternatively, customers that sign up for a 2-year contract can get the Webbook and a modem for just 189 Rand, or about $23.

The Vodafone Webbook has a 10 inch display, a Freescale iMX51 processor, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of flash storage. Vodacom says it should get up to 7 hours of battery life.

via The H and Engadget

In short, no.  Netbook prices continue to fall and these small, light laptops represent and there are far more people walking around with 10 inch laptops that weigh less than 3 pounds than there were a few years ago.  Most of these people probably bought a netbook in addition to a more powerful notebook.

For those of you, however, that want to replace your laptop Intel is hoping you’ll consider an ultrabook – Intel’s new design this summer for thin and light computers with solid state disks, higher-performance processors and higher resolution displays than you’ll find on most netbooks. They’ll also carry higher price tags. Intel wants ultrabooks to sell for under $1000.

French retailer LDLC is putting a new spin on low-cost by shipping a netbook without an operating system for about 260 Euro.  Typically, OEM manufacturers are paying Microsoft between 20-40 Euros for Windows XP, so presumably the netbook would be right around the 300 Euro average otehrwise.

The LDLC Mercure NB1 netbook has a 1.5 GHz Intel Atom N550 dual core processor and a 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 pixel display. On the company blog, LDLC recommends installing Joli OS, a Linux-based operating system initially designed to run on netbooks.

via Blogeee

The Razer Switchblade, first unveiled at CES in January.  Already unusual is that it’s a 7 inch netbook, but in addition tot the 7 inch touchscreen display, the keyboard has series of touch-sensitive displays, allowing you to treat the entire keyboard area as a touchpad , or as intended store custom key configurations for each game that you play.

The device is powered by the brand new 1.5 GHz Intel Atom Z670 Oak Trail processor and Windows 7. It supports USB 3.0, HDMI and measures just 6.8″ x 4.5″ x 1″. That makes the computer rather big and clunky by Nintendo DS standards, but for a Windows gaming laptop it’s pretty impressive.

The Switchblade isn’t available in the US yet, but the folks at Netbook News discovered that Chinese internet service provider Tencent has reached a deal with Razer to offer the Switchblade in china soon.

Check out the video after the break.

The SunBook from Clover Systems is the first 10 inch netbook to ship with a Pixel Qi transflective display. The Pixel Qi display lets one use a netbook normally – as in  full color mode for viewing pictures, watching movies, or doing just about anything else you’d expect to do on a netbook. But you can also kill the backlight to view the display in a sunlight-readable high contrast, low power mode.  When you shut off the backlight, when it looks like a netbook with an E Ink-style display.

Unfortunately that Pixel Qi screen comes at a cost. The SunBook went on sale this weekend for $795 (in the US).  And, the rest of the specs are pretty much standard netbook fare including a 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. The computer runs Windows 7 Starter and has a touchpad with multitouch gesture support, 3G and 4G options, and a battery which Clover Systems says is good for 8 to 12 hours of run time.

Check out Liliputing’s hands-on video after the break.

Shanzhaiben have spotted a new Chinese netook/laptop mix that packs teh brand new 1.8GHz dual core Intel Atom D525 processor and NVIDIA ION 2 graphics. It has 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB hard drive, HDMI output and something else you wont’ find on most Atom-powered netbooks – a DVD burner.  That’s because the laptop has a 14 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, so there’s enough space to house an optical drive.

Perhaps the best feature of this device is it’s price =- it will reportedly sell for around $340 in China.

You’d be forgiven if you took one look at the new Laser One Chinese laptop and thought it was yet another variation of Acer’s Aspire One 10 inch netbook series. I’m pretty sure that’s what the manufacturer wants you to think after all. But als, it’s just another cheap knockoff.

Shanzhaiben reports that the Laser One is also both cheaper and larger than your typical Acer netbook, with a 12.1 inch display and $230 price tag. It also skips Acer’s typical keyboard design (with flat, wide keys) and instead uses a pretty traditional keyboard design complete with a row of Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys on the right side. I guess that’s the advantage of using a larger display than the notebooks you’re copying (although Acer doesn’t typically dedicate a full row to these keys even on its 11.6 inch laptops).

The rest of the specs are pretty typical, including a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive. The laptop has a 6 cell battery and comes in black, red, blue or white.

via Shanzhai.com

Indian company Novatium has a range of small form factor pcs and netbooks for the Indian market. Rather than just offering the hardware, though, there’s also integration with the cloud for a small monthly subscription.  Novatium also offers a USB stick which you can plug into any computer to access your remote desktop.  Novatium computer users store their OS in the cloud (and of course their personal files), so it can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.

Novatium’s devices include the Nova Neon netbook, Nova Navigator desktop, Nova Navigator Plus, which has a hard drive, and the Nova cNergy USB stick. It looks like the products have been around for a while, but not living in India, I just heard about them recently.

For now, the service is only available in India, but the company is looking to expand to other countries as well.

via mydigitalfc