Laptop Club

Dell Inspiron 910 mini-laptop,the device, due to compete directly with the likes of the Asus Eee PC series, Acer's Aspire One, the MSI Wind, LG U110, Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Mini and Lenovo S9, will sport a classic SCC design and spec, the source indicated.The site reveals that the 910 is highly accessible for hardware modders, with a base panel that can be removed to expose the solid-state drive, the cellular modem, the memory and the WLAN adaptor.

It also notes that the 910 has just two status lights: one for the battery, the other for the mains power. "There are no Num Lock, Scroll Lock or Caps lock LEDs on this computer," Dell notes - and presumably no wireless light either.

The TouchSmart tx2 , the fingertip controls will allow users to move objects around on the screen, shrink or expand them and open and close applications by tapping. It also comes with a pen controller to supplement the mouse and keyboard.

The 12.1 inch notebook has a hinged screen that allows it to be used as a laptop and comes with a range of AMD dual core Turion processors and Windows Vista. The base specification starting price is $1,149.

Netbooks are designed to work over the Internet. That assumes persistent broadband—which, as anyone who's tried to find a hotspot on the go can attest to, can be a tricky thing. But as Wired reports, more and more netbooks may come with built-in WWAN radios—that is, if buyers are willing to pony up $60 per month to activate them.


Acer, Radio Shack, and AT&T have taken the usual cellular modem idea a step further by requiring a contract with their latest subsidized netbook. The Acer Aspire One costs only $99 up front but requires a two-year agreement (just like a cell phone). It features an 8.9-inch screen, an Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard disk. 

ASUS, a company known for making laptops and laptop parts, recently launched its own answer to the XO laptop, the EeePC, a 2-pound ultraportable that's well worth its $400 price, even though it has only 4GB of storage and a Linux operating system.

Price as Tested: $400.00 Street

Type: General Purpose, Ultraportable, Value, Netbook
Operating System: Xandros Linux
Processor Speed: 900 MHz
RAM: 512 MB
Weight: 2 lb
Screen Size: 7 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 GM
Storage Capacity: 4 GB
Networking Options: 802.11a/g
Primary Optical Drive: External
www.asus.com

In response to ASUS' Eee PC 4G, HP quickly launched the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, which I reviewed this past April. HP's latest netbook, the Mini 1000 ($550 direct), is modeled after the polished look of HP's Pavilion line and includes the Intel Atom platform

Price as Tested: $550.00 Direct

Type: General Purpose, Ultraportable, Value, Netbook
Operating System: MS Windows XP Home
Processor Name: Intel Atom N270
Processor Speed: 1.6 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Weight: 2.5 lb
Screen Size: 10.2 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Storage Capacity: 60 GB
Networking Options: 802.11g
Primary Optical Drive: External

The new Alienware M17 gaming rig takes a slightly different, more affordable approach. At $2,060 (direct), this 17-inch behemoth can be heavy at times, but its sleek Stealth Black case and ATI CrossFireX dual-GPU configuration are well worth the price.

Price as Tested: $2,059.00 Direct

Type: Gaming, Media
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
RAM: 3 GB
Weight: 9.4 lb
Screen Size: 17 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 CrossFireX
Storage Capacity: 160 GB
Networking Options: 802.11n
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+R DL
www.alienware.com

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation on Monday revived its Give One, Get One (G1G1) program on Amazon.com. 

Consumers in the U.S. can now buy one of the open-source, Linux-based XO laptops for themselves and donate another one to a needy child for $399. Don't want a laptop but want to help? Donate one of the devices to OLPC for $199 per machine.
In an effort to drum up support for its laptops, OLPC started its G1G1 program in November 2007 with a short-term, two-week promotion. Prior to this program, supporters could not purchase the $200 computers for themselves.