Astone UMPC Available in Black Color

by atticus ~ July 21, 2008

The Astone UMPC is now available in black color from TechHypermart in Malaysia. Specifications wise, the black Astone UMPC is similar to the silver model. HDD size remains at 60Gb while RAM size remains at 1Gb. Selling for RM1,599 (USD494), the VIA NanoBook from Astone ships to both Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysia Borneo.

Couldn’t decide on the color? As they say, you would never go wrong with black.

Sylvania G Netbook Notebook PC Video

by atticus ~ July 20, 2008

A video on the Sylvania G Netbook.

The Ultimate UMPC for Travelers - ECS G10IL

by atticus ~ July 18, 2008

Travel website, Nomad4ever, has crowned ECS G10IL as the uber gadget for travelers. A normal UMPC or Netbook itself is a great device for travelers. Nomad4ever listed the following advantages of a mini laptop:

• It’s small, light and handy, not so bulky like a full-blown laptop
• You can bring, create, store and upload your documents while you travel
• Upload your pictures to Flickr or Picasa without the need for backups, which might get lost along the way
• Maintain your Contacts, Calendar, Notes and Social Networking sites on the go
• Use Skype or other VoIP telephony to stay in touch with loved ones
• Can use a Netbook in Internet Cafes without exposing your personal data to Keyloggers and Viruses
• If it gets broken or stolen, you will lose only a fifth or even tenth of the price of a normal laptop

But a normal UMPC like CloudBook CE1200V or Eee PC 900 does not solve a problem commonly faced by travelers - searching for a free wireless Hotspot in not so developed countries. Besides the standard wifi, yhe mini laptop from Elitegroup has inbuilt tri-band HSDPA and HSUPA, which allows you to surf the internet with just a SIM card. Nomad4ever says it best:

“Just throw in your local SIM card and you are set to go. No extra cables, adapters, routers or sitting on the roadside near that Wifi spot, because their food or drinks are too expensive. “

Fellow travelers, what do you think? Personally, I thought it would be expensive to use the 3G option. A combination of free wireless hotspots and internet cafes seem to work well for me.

UMPC for Traveling - Eee PC 900 Reaches South Korea

by atticus ~ July 15, 2008

South Korea is the most wired nation in the world and most hotels and guesthouses offer free wireless internet access. Not to mention, open and free wireless hotspots are aplenty. It’s about as much as a traveler with a laptop can ask for.

Here are some photos of Asus Eee 900 which I brought along for my Baegundae hike at Bukhansan National Park, located north of Seoul.

Packard Bell Easynote XS Price Drop

by atticus ~ July 12, 2008

Packard Bell Easynote XS might be the first VIA NanoBook to appear in the market but they did not make it to the news as much as the Everex CloudBook CE1200V. One of the obvious reasons is the high retail price of the Easynote XS. Compared to the US$399 CloudBook, the Easynote XS is priced at around US$700 for the European and Asian markets.

But Packard Bell appears to be making amends by recently lowering its price to EU$395 (US$555). With so much competition around, I wonder if this price drop is enough.

Source: UMPC Portal