Acer's latest ultraportable notebook, the Aspire 1410 - the US version of the Timeline 1810T - has shown up for sale at CostCentral. Priced at a reasonable $460.33, the 11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 notebook packs an Intel CULV 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor and 2GB of RAM into a slimline casing strikingly similar to that of the Acer Aspire One 751h we reviewed yesterday.
It's perhaps a fact of life that with age comes a paunch, but who would've thought the MSI X-Slim X340 would go from toned ultraportable to tubby laptop so quickly? The company have been showing off their updated model, which gets a girth increase thanks to a new, extended 8-cell battery intended to address complaints about poor runtimes.
Dell may have canned their Inspiron Mini 12, but they've replaced it with a new CULV ultraportable in the shape of the Inspiron 11z. The new notebook has an 11.6-inch display running at 1,366 x 768, paired with Intel's Celeron 723 1.2GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard-drive. Thanks to stepping up to CULV rather than Intel's Atom range, the 11z gets past the CPU/storage limitations the chip company insists upon; that should mean buyers get a more capable ultraportable for their money.
UK retailer Dixons is preparing its own MacBook Air rival for the holiday shopping season, in the shape of the Advent Altro. The 13.3-inch CULV ultraportable measures 21mm thick and weighs 1.6kg, and packs 3GB of RAM and an Intel Celeron processor. Unlike the Air, however, the Altro will start at just £600 ($987; the Air retails from £1,149 in the UK).
Having teased us mercilessly back in July with the banner for their IdeaPad U450p, Lenovo have finally put the 14-inch CULV ultraportable up for sale. Kicking off from $799, the U450p has a choice of Intel 1.3GHz Pentium SU2700 or 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo SU3500 processors and up to 4GB of DDR3 memory.
With official photos, full specifications, an unboxing and demo video behind us, all that’s left for MSI’s X-Slim X600 – before a post eventually saying it’s been retired, of course – is a full review. Happily LaptopMag are on hand to deliver just that, putting the 15.6-inch CULV ultraportable through its paces to see if it’s more than just good looks or falls flat like its smaller X340 sibling.
Acer's Aspire Timeline 1810T ultraportable has begun to show up in the wild, with at least two sites - ITC.ua and PCHome.net - getting their hands on the CULV ultraportable. As you might expect, first impressions are that - in terms of the hardware you can see - the 1810T is very similar to the Acer Aspire One 751 it in effect replaces; unfortunately there's no benchmarking feedback as yet to prove whether the ultraportable runs better than its lethargic predecessor.
We've not heard much regarding MSI's Wind U200, their first CULV ultraportable, since we saw it fondled on video back in May, but the 12-inch notebook seems finally to be showing up for pre-order. German online retailer notebook.de are listing the U200 - which uses Intel's 1.3GHz Pentium US2700 processor - for €629 ($906).
Scant details of Lenovo's upcoming IdeaPad, the U450p, have appeared on the company's site. While full specifications, pricing and release availability are unknown, the IdeaPad U450p is known to have a "nice" 14-inch display and Core 2 Duo ULV processor (most likely from Intel's CULV range).
More of the more tempting models from ASUS' upcoming notebook line, the ultraportable UX30, has found its way to the desk of Netbook Live, and they've been putting the 13.3-inch pre-release unit through its paces. Theirs is the entry-level 1.3GHz SU2700 model, using one of Intel's CULV processors paired with 2GB of RAM and GMA X4500MHD graphics.
Of Viewsonic's new ULV lineup from last week it was the nettops that prompted the most interest. The Viewsonic VOT 130 and 132 (on the left) and the Viewsonic VOT 120 and 121 (on the right) offer such notable features as NVIDIA Ion (in the VOT 132), a magnetically-attached DVD drive (the 13x models) and 1.3GHz CULV processor (the VOT 121). NetbookNews stopped by for a couple of video hands-on demos with the nettops.
Video hands-on after the cut
Earlier this week word slipped out from Acer and ASUS that N-series netbooks were on hold until the launch of Pine Trail in early 2010, with the two companies focusing on CULV “ultrathins” instead. Now it seems that they’ll have significant competition from HP, who are believed to have commissioned a new 11.6-inch machine that will go into production next month, with production of a 10.1-inch netbook revision beginning in September.
