The thought of a ThinkPad netbook is enough to make anyone even vaguely familiar with Lenovo suspicious, but according to ThinkPadToday that’s exactly what the company have up their corporate sleeve. They’re claiming that the rumored ThinkPad X200e will actually drop as the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e on January 5th 2010, with the tagline “Entry level ultra portable, the first ThinkPad of its size”.
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Having heard earlier this week that Apple had blocked Atom processor support in their latest build of OS X 10.6.2, we're now being told that the low-power Intel CPU has once again been welcomed back into the Mac fold. A newer 10.6.2 build, 10C535, has restored Atom support, meaning owners of netbook-turned-Hackint0sh machines may not be left without the latest software in their DIY Apple ultraportables.
Given that most netbook press releases look like photocopies of each other, we’re particularly intrigued by the Litl Webbook. Spotted last week whipping through the FCC, the Webbook is described by Litl as “an internet computer for the home” and uses a home-grown always-on OS; it can be used as a standard netbook or, flipped round, as a more passive TV device with an optional remote control and “TV style” control knob.
While we often can be found heaping scorn onto the me-too Atom N270 netbook ranges that pass our viewing window, Intel’s low-power chip does occasionally find its way into an interesting machine. Stealth Computer have slotted the 1.6GHz chip into their latest “Little PC”, the Stealth LPC-395F, a fanless nettop with a ruggedized chassis and front-loading 2.5-inch hard-drive bay.
Apple may be reluctant to launch a netbook – and given their financial success selling mid- to high-end notebooks we can’t really blame them – has spawned a busy community of Hackint0sh creators, many of whom turn to humble Atom-based netbooks such as the MSI Wind for use as donor machines for OS X. All that might change, however, with the news that Apple have tweaked Mac OS X 10.6.2, their upcoming operating-system update, to prevent installation on Atom-based computers.
When companies like ASUS are reasonably legitimately launching desktop supercomputers, describing your performance PC as a “personal supercomputer” seems like asking for trouble. Still, that’s how Maingear are referring to their latest desktop, the SHIFT, packing as it does a choice of Intel Core i7 processor, stacks of DDR3-1600 memory, Asetek liquid-cooling and a choice of up to six regular hard-drives or twelve SSDs.
Remember Lenovo’s mysterious all-in-one that showed up in the company’s Flickr stream last week? The desktop has been named and detailed today, as the Lenovo ThinkCentre A70z, and while it’s targeted at small and medium businesses there’s still plenty of appeal if you like your desktops functional rather than showy. The ThinkCentre A70z has a choice of Intel Celeron or Core 2 Duo processors, 19-inch display and – while the specifications are really nothing to get excited about – does at least do a convincing impression of a simple LCD monitor.
Having gone up for preorder in Europe midway through October, the upcoming multitouch-capable ASUS Eee PC T91MT has now shown up for preorder in the US. Amazon are listing the convertible touchscreen netbook – the T91MT-PU17-WT, to give it its full, catchy title – for $549, though they don’t have any specific release date.
Gadgets leaked by text are far less exciting than blurry, hurriedly-snapped photos, but we won’t turn up our noses at a preview no matter the method. It now appears that Cowon have a touchscreen MID in the works, the Cowon W2, according to a test page at the Bluetooth SIG, though specifications are still scant.
The weeks are just flying by, time change is this weekend so I hope you aren’t late for anything. The holidays will be here before we know it. This has been another busy week in the gadget world. HTC has confirmed that Android 2.0 smartphones are incoming and the HTC Dragon is the likely first Android 2.0 device to come from HTC.
JP
