Asus Eee PC 1016p and 1018pg Hands-On

The Asus booth here at Computex is like a netbook design museum with literally Thinkpad T60 Battery dozens of models with different shapes, sizes, and colors on display. We took a few moments to examine the two most interesting systems on display, the Eee PC 1016p and the Eee PC1018g. Both were first shown at CeBit it Germany, but they haven’t shipped in the U.S. yet and this was our first time seeing them Vostro 1500 Battery in person.

The 1016p (pictured at the top of this post) has an attractive chassis that reminded us a lot Vostro 1400 Battery of the HP Mini 5102 or the HP ProBook 5310m. Like the HP systems, the Eee PC 1016p has brushed surfaces on the lid and the bezel, though the 1016p’s are brushed plastic instead of metal. The deck is a soft plastic that is soft, but not quite as nice as the rubberized deck on some HPs.

We really live the look of the touchpad, Latitude E4300 Battery with its smooth surface and textured button area. We wish there was a divot to separate the left and right buttons, but they have a good feel anyway.

The 1016p also has a 10-inch, 1024×600 screen, either an Atom N455 or Atom N475 CPU, 1GB Latitude E6500 Battery of DDR3 RAM, and USB 3.0. That’s not a typo; Asus is putting USB 3.0 in some of its netbooks now, which is a great step forward that we hope to see from other vendors. Check out our hands-on video with the 1016p for a closer look.

Where the Eee PC 1016pg uses brushed plastic Latitude E5500 Battery that looks like metal, but feels like plastic, the Eee PC 1018pg actually has real brushed metal on its deck and even on its touchpad. Its blue status lights give it a near, futuristic look. Unfortunately, the sidess, bottom, and lid are not metallatic. Instead, they are covered covered in white plastic that has the texture of a golf ball. Many people will like the two-tone contrast of the white lid with the metal interior, but we we would have preferred Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery that ASUS keep the metal throughout the design. The bezel is Acer Laptop Battery the most boring, because its made of the same shiny black plastic we see on most Eee PCs.

The Eee PC 1018pg has a 10-inch, 1024×600 screen, an Atom N455 or N475 CPU, a choice Sony VGP-BPS9A/B of 160/250/320GB hard drives, 1GB of DDR3 RAM, and USB 3.0. In addition to 802.11n Wi-Fi, this netbook has built-in 3G,though we’re not sure what carriers it will support. The Eee PC 1018p (without a “g”) is the same netbook, just without mobile broadband.

Check out our hands-on video below for a closer look at the Eee PC 1018pg. We also have a photo good battery gallery, featuring the 1018pg, the 1016p, and a few other Eee PCs we spied at the Asus booth.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10e

Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10e isn’t just the S10 rebranded for the education akku hp 6715s market; it offers some features its successful predecessor doesn’t, including a Quick Start OS and a long-lasting six-cell battery. If you’re charged with buying a notebooks for a K–12 one-to-one laptop program or want a secondary computer for the home that the kids can use, the S10e, Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad T60 Battery at $429, is a strong contender.

Design

Although aimed at children, the S10e has a design mature enough to appeal to grown-ups. The lid comes in an understated gunmetal gray, and Sony Laptop Battery although glossy, it doesn’t pick up smudges. Inside, the chassis, keyboard, and akku hp 6720s palm rest are all matte black, but turquoise and white accents on the keys keep the system from looking dull.

At 2.8 pounds, the S10e is the same weight as the MSI Wind U120 but 0.1 inches thicker. Particularly compared with the CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate akku hp 6510b PC, a 3-pound tablet with a handle and 1.5-inch-thick chassis, it seems svelte. Even with the six-cell battery jutting out slightly in the back, the 9.8 x 7.7 x 0.9–1.4-inch S10e was easy to hold in the crook of our arm.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard stretches almost all the way across the 7.7-inch-wide chassis, with little room to Dell Latitude E4300 Battery spare on the sides. Even for our adult hands, the layout was large enough; we were able to score 83 words per minute on the online typing test Ten Thumbs (we scored 88 words per minute when we took the same test on our desktop computer). The keyboard showed visible flex, but in general the keys had a nice, springy feel.

The biggest turnoff Dell Latitude E6500 Battery on the S10e is the shrunken right Shift key, which is located to the right of the up arrow. We much prefer netbooks withlayouts that position the right shift key to the left of the up arrow such as on the HP Mini 1000 and MSI Wind U120 —so you don’t accidentally move up a line when you intend to capitalize a letter.

Although the touchpad is tiny, measuring 2.3 by 1.1 inches , it felt large enough for dragging the cursor across the screen. But when we used two fingers to pinch and Dell Latitude E5500 Battery expand Web pages using the S10e’s good battery multitouch capability, we craved more room. Plus, Web pages looked a bit jerky as they resized themselves. The two discrete metal touch buttons were easy to press, but on the loud side.

RIM’s “Fresh But Familiar” Strategy is Dangerously Safe

I usually don’t pay close attention to the way executives act on akku hp 6715s stage when they’re launching new products, but I got the feeling that RIM’s co-CEO Mike Laziridis was pretty nervous as he introduced the BlackBerry Torch. And I don’t necessarily blame him. This is the device that’s supposed to keep the BlackBerry faithful from jumping ship to Android or iOS at a time Nielsen just reported that half of BlackBerry owners are considering a switch to one of those two platforms.

And that’s not the only battle RIM is fighting. The smart phone superpower butted heads this week with the governments Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad T60 Battery of India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, because they all want to tap BlackBerry’s akku hp 6720s encrypted messages. I suspect RIM will be able to negotiate its way out of the latter mess. It’s the company’s “fresh-but-familiar” Torch and new BlackBerry 6 OS that has some pundits saying the company is doomed. I wouldn’t go that far, but RIM must find a better way to compete with the likes of Apple, HTC, and Motorola before akku hp 6510b BlackBerry becomes the next Windows Mobile.

When you think about it, there are plenty of parallels between the Windows Mobile Dell Latitude E4300 Battery 6.5 OS Microsoft scrapped and the BlackBerry OS. Historically, both platforms have had success with business customers (RIM more so with BlackBerry), and over time, each company has attempted to tack consumer-friendly features on top, including better touch support, an improved browsing experience, and enhanced media playback. The difference? RIM is starting from a much stronger position with BlackBerry 6. Yes, BlackBerry has now fallen to second place behind Android (33 percent vs. 28 percent) Dell Latitude E6500 Battery in the U.S., but RIM is still ahead of the iPhone (22 percent). That’s probably why RIM didn’t want to start with a clean slate, as Microsoft is doing with Windows Phone 7—BlackBerry actually has fans. Still, that doesn’t excuse RIM from equipping the Torch with last year’s specs.

At a time when Apple is touting its 3.5-inch Retina display with a 960 x 640-pixel resolution while HTC, Motorola, and Samsung are trotting out superphones Dell Latitude E5500 Battery with 4-inch and larger screens with 800 x 480-pixel resolutions, the Torch comes to the party sporting a 3.2-inch, 480 x 360-pixel screen.

To be fair, the Palm Pre Plus has a smaller and lower-res screen (3.1 inches, 480 x 320), but Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad T60 Battery it’s based on a design that was introduced in January 2009. During our initial hands-on time, we also noticed that the Torch was a bit sluggish, perhaps because it’s saddled with a 624-MHz processor. RIM says it’s a relatively new chip, but the original BlackBerry Bold 9000 that debuted in late 2008 was running at the same speed. Today’s state-of-the-art Android phones clock in at 1 GHz.

The BlackBerry 6 OS itself Dell Vostro 1500 Battery is the biggest news, and RIM deserves some credit for finally giving users a modern WebKit-based browser. The presentation is more desktop-like, and the browser supports pinch-to-zoom and slick tabs for quickly switching between open pages. I also like the separate Social Feeds feature that aggregates Facebook and Twitter, though the dedicated BlackBerry apps with which they integrate pale in comparison to what you’ll find on Android and iOS. While a welcome addition, Universal Search— which allows users to scan for apps, e-mail, and more Sony Laptop Battery by typing from the home screen—feels like it was lifted from the webOS playbook. The imitation-as-flattery motif continues with an Dell Vostro 1400 Battery Android-like notification window that drops down from the top of the screen with a tap, albeit with a cleaner look. BlackBerry 6 does bring some unique ideas to the table as well, including the ability to sync music with your PC over Wi-Fi, but some early reviews have cited inconsistent results.

The Achilles’ heel of the BlackBerry platform remains its lackluster selection of apps, VGP-BPS9/B Battery which tops out at 9,000, compared to 70,000 for Android and 225,000 for iOS. RIM has confirmed that BlackBerry 6 will not support 3D APIs or OpenGL 2.0, so the OS will continue to trail the competition when it comes to high-quality games. The biggest improvement this time around is that you can now charge apps to your AT&T account, but that convenience won’t matter if there aren’t any cool impulse buys.

Overall, RIM hasn’t reinvented the wheel VGP-BPS9A/B Battery with the Torch or BlackBerry 6, and it’s not pretending that it did. But by playing it safe RIM likely won’t be able to steal shoppers away from the iPhone or the best Android phones. The OS and device do look good enough to keep at least some current BlackBerry owners around. Just as Microsoft learned the hard way with Windows Mobile, sometimes you have to be willing to alienate some of your core followers to create the best possible combination of hardware and Latitude E6400 Battery software. And that’s one fundamental advantage RIM still has over Android. Unless the company can match its new OS with more modern specs and help its developer partners roll out more compelling apps, the BlackBerry brand’s flame might get extinguished.

Editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer directs LAPTOP’s online and print editorial good battery content and has been covering mobile and wireless technology for over a decade. Each week Mark’s SpoonFed column provides his insights and analysis of the biggest mobile trends and news. You can also follow him on Twitter.