UK Netbook Review

If you thought netbooks were small, check out the Viliv N5. It reminds us of an old school PDA crossed with a netbook. It’s spec’d like a netbook – with an Intel Atom Z520 processor (1.3ghz), 1gb RAM, WIFI, and a 32GB SSD, but the screen is only 4.8″ with a full res of 1024×600 pixels. There’s also a fully qwerty keyboard, alebit with tiny, tiny keys. is kind of what you’d get if you crossed an Intel Atom powered netbook with… something smaller. Basically, this little guy has all the specs of a relatively mundane 10 inch netbook, but packed into a device with a 4.8 inch display that’s small enough to fold up and put in your coat pocket. It’s now available for purchase from Dynamism, which is offering same day shipping.

Bringing a refreshing change from the usual Atom N450 based netbooks, Australian PC maker Pioneer Computers has introduced a new 10 inch netbook based on a 533MHz VIA 8505 ARM-based processor. That may seem low powered but for the tradeoff you get a device that weighs just 1.28 pounds and looks extraordinarily thin.

ASUS CEO Jerry Shen sure is making the rounds this week talking up the company’s upcoming entry into the tablet arena, the upcoming Asus Eee Pad tablet. Before we got details about the upcoming Asus Tablet, however, he clarified that he doesn’t anticipate tablet sales surpassing that of netbooks. The latter category is for personal computing while tablets are based on consuming content and Cloud computing.

We just posted a first look at the new Alienware M11x gaming netbook yesterday and already there’s video of it in action -playing Left 4 Dead 2. Using a yet unamed Core 2 Duo processor and switchable Nvidia GT335M graphics the video (after the break) shows it playing Left 4 Dead 2 at around 50 FPS, at the native 1366 x 768 resolution, high settings with no AA. Now I’m no gamer, but that seems pretty impressive.

Alienware, now a part of Dell, has apparently been working on this Alienware M11x thin and light / netbook gaming machine for 5 years according to a post on the Direct2Dell blog today. Technically, we should call this a ‘thin and light’ since it features a Core 2 processor and an 11.6″ screen vs. the ubiquitous Atom processor and 10″ screen that define the netbook segment. Specifically, this ultra-portable gaming machine from Alienware will pack an Intel Core 2 Duo CULV processor mated with NVIDIA 335M graphics and a 11.6 inch with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. According to the company, it will be able to play modern games including Call of Duty 4 and Left 4 Dead 2.