Nokia has jumped onto the netbook bandwagon. I have no idea why it calls it a mini-laptop. For me, I classify all laptops that is powered by Atom processor a netbook. Initial specification looks delicious featuring 10″ glass screen, 3G connectivity, A-GPS and it only weights 1.25kg. To add, it is powered by Microsoft Windows.

Lets hope Singapore gets this!

Powered by the efficient Intel Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet 3G delivers impressive performance with up to 12 hours of battery life, enabling people to leave their power cable behind and still be connected and productive. Delivering the rich experience of a full-function PC inside an ultra-portable aluminum chassis, the new mini-laptop weighs 1.25 kilograms, measures slightly more than two centimeters thin, and has the features one would expect from the world’s leading mobile device manufacturer. A broad range of connectivity options – including 3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi – gives consumers high speed access to the Internet, including Nokia’s broad suite of Ovi services, and allows them to make the most of every moment and every opportunity.

“A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility,” said Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s Executive Vice President for Devices. “We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.”

The mini-laptop also comes with an HDMI port for HD video out, a front facing camera for video calling, integrated Bluetooth and an easily accessible SD card reader. Other premium features include the 10-inch glass HD ready display and an integrated A-GPS which, working with the Ovi Maps gadget, can pinpoint your position in seconds and open up access for a truly personal maps experience. The Nokia Booklet 3G also brings a number of other rich Ovi experiences to life, whether its access and playback of millions of tracks through the Nokia Music Store, or using Ovi Suite to sync seamlessly from your Nokia smartphone, to your mini-laptop, to the cloud.

The Nokia Booklet 3G will widen the Nokia portfolio, satisfying a need in the operator channel, and bringing another important ingredient in the move towards becoming a mobile solutions company.

Further information, including detailed specifications, market availability and pricing, will be announced at Nokia World on 2nd September 2009.

Nokia Conversations: Nokia Booklet 3G mini laptop unveiled

Introduction
The new Acer Aspire Timeline series mark the beginning of a new era in mobile computing, where users stay connected and enjoy entertainment with their notebooks for a longer time. With the new Aspire Timeline series, Acer reached a delicate equilibrium between computer lightness and battery life, creating a series of featherweight notebooks that give you an entire day of computing on a single charge.
Long lasting battery life for all day computing Acer based the new Aspire Timeline notebooks on a simple yet revolutionary idea: a series of ultra thin and light notebooks which are more efficient, reducing energy consumption to the minimum for maximum usage time. The result is a notebook as light as 1.6kg, and with more than eight hours battery life, so that important tasks will not be interrupted by a loss of
power.

In addition, with the Acer Smart Power key, battery life can be further extended through advanced settings. Press the Smart Power key to boost power saving capabilities and extend battery life, thus expanding the time of computing freedom to more than 8 hours.

Front View

Side View

Features

• Acer Comfy Touch Technology – An innovation with Intel Laminar Wall Jet Technology
  Besides enhancing battery life, Acer is dedicated to improve user experience with the Acer Aspire Timeline by developing a cooling technology in collaboration with Intel – Laminar Wall Jet Technology. It exploits the technology that has been used successfully for cooling turbine blades. Through the addition of louvers to the inlet vents, the cooling airflow is redirected along the bottom side of the notebook chassis, putting fresh air precisely where it’s needed to better cool the skin. The result of Acer Comfy Touch technology – thermal comfort of close to 6 degrees lower than the user’s skin temperature.
• Ultra Thin and Lightweight
  Through designing the Aspire Timeline, Acer broke another barrier by creating the finest and lightest notebooks to provide all-day computing. The Aspire timeline is 24mm (less than one inch) at its thinnest point. All thanks to the aluminum cover, it remains featherweight, ranging from 1.6 kg for the 13.3″ model up to just 1.9 kg for the 14″, making it both lighter and easier to carry around than anything else.
• Go Eco-friendly with energy efficient components
  The Aspire Timeline Series complies with the strictest Energy Star 5.0 prerequisites, with the notebook being efficient even when using the power adapter. Acer Power Smart adapter does even more, as it consumes 66% less than required by Energy StarPlus, the Power Smart adapter enters adaptive charging mode automatically when the battery is fully charged this stops consuming energy and reduces the tear and wear on the battery.
• High Definition Enjoyment
  Available in two form factors, 13.3″ and 14″, presenting bright, lifelike images through Acer CineCrystal LED backlit display with true 16:9 aspect ratio, 1366X768 HD resolution for exceptional media playback. To let users enjoy a fully immersive entertainment, the Aspire Timeline series is equipped with Dolby Sound Room that offers a spectacular surround sound from any pair of speakers or headphones.
• Data freedom
  Harnessing the latest Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Ultra Low Voltage solutions, the Aspire ,Timeline series comes with integrated Intel Graphics and is equipped with DDR3 system memory to breeze through multitasking requirements. Ample storage is provided by an HDD with up to 500 GB of capacity. Born to offer ultra-mobility and total freedom, the Aspire Timeline Series comes with the most up to date communication options: built-in Wi-Fi functionalities, supporting Acer SignalUp, allowing full connectivity for unprecedented mobility. The Acer Crystal Eye webcam with enhanced Acer PrimaLite technology delivers superior video performance on the Aspire one for video conferencing. higher-quality images, smoother video streaming performance are delivered with better frames-per-second (FPS)
  rate.
• Effortless Backup
  For a total ease of mind, Acer Backup Solution, combining Acer Backup Manager and Easy Launch Back up key, places back up at your fingertips. Acer Backup Manger offers flexible management, allowing efficient and hassle free data back up. Data backup can be scheduled at specific intervals with compression of files across different media types such as external hard disk drives, USB medias or optical discs. The data backup solution also boasts more security enhancement: a password can be added to protect user. With the Acer Timeline notebooks the limits of space and time become blurred taking you in a dimension where you are the master of your time.

Prices
It will be available at all Acer Authorised Resellers from 15th May 2009 onwards and prices range between SGD$1,598 and SGD$1,998.

Specifications
The official Acer Timeline Specifications is in a terrible mess, I can’t understand a thing from it. I have taken the liberty to scan the brochure that were given to us. You can view it here (532.3KB).

Personal Comment
I do not have a good impression of Acer laptop because of its poor battery life because Li Xiang is using a laptop and just after a year, the battery can go flat within 30 minutes. I do not believed that the wear and tear effect is so fast, my 3 years old Fujitsu can last me for almost 3 hours and on top of that I always plugged in to charge and use at the same time even though my battery is full.

But this time round, I believe Acer is going to rebrand itself and target towards longer battery life. When the Press Release states 8 hours, the value is derived by setting the brightness to the lowest and offing WiFi and the laptop will play a movie continuously till the battery is totally drained.

I like the fact that the laptop is very thin and light! It weights just about 400 grams more than the average netbook but come equipped with a Intel Core 2 Solo or a Duo processor.

The Intel Laminar Wall Jet Technology is amazing! The laptop that were showcased to us were not plugged in to any power outlet and has been switched on for more than 2 hours and the laptop is still cool! It is definitely cooler than my Fujitsu laptop and even more so when compared to my MacBook Pro.

The finishing is done in brushed aluminum for its rigidity because it is thin and hence plastic is not a suitable material.

The Acer power management software will automatically shutdown devices and that has been idle to conserve power. For example if you DVD-Rom has been idling for let say 15 minutes, it will automatically cut the power to the DVD-Rom and hence conserving power. Likewise for USB flash drives.

So interesting things, the DVD-Rom eject button is not on the DVD tray but located just about the keyboard.

Links

• Acer Website
• Acer Timeline Website

I ordered my Fabrix Cases for my MacBook Pro last Sunday and it got delivered to me on Wednesday via post. It is not by courier but a normal mail post (SGD$1.50 stamp). I am also wondering how the postman manage to squeeze the laptop sleeve into my letter box.

I ordered the Delux Laptop Cases and I chose Black Suite as the design. It cost SGD$59.90 and you can pay by Paypal. Delivery is free if it is within Singapore.

We bought a Asus F8Sg laptop from South Asia Computer at Funan for my dad.

At the moment, he is using his friend’s laptop to Skype with us and hence he is constrain by the timing and duration of each Skype call. Since there is wireless Internet in his apartment and even better still the wireless access point is installed in his room. We think it would be better to have his own laptop and hence we got 1 for him.

The original price is SGD$1,899.90 and since we are paying by cash, we manage to bargain till SGD$1,850. The free gift is one black 160GB Western Digital Passport Portable Hard Disk Drive worth about SGD$120.

Brief Specifications:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz)
• 3GB of DDR2 RAM
• 250GB Hard Disk Drive
• NVIDIA GeForce9300M G with Ext 256MB VRAM
• 14.1 WXGA Screen (1280×800)
• 1.3M high-resolution Swivel webcam
• Built-in WLAN 802.11 a/g/n with Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Just thought of blogging this last night before I went to bed.

Did you all actually count how many monitors, televisions and computers are there in your household?

Here is a breakdown of mine for a family of 4 living in a HDB 4-room flat.

My Room:

• 1x LCD Television
• 2x LCD Computer Monitors
• 1x Desktop Computer
• 1x Laptop Computer

Brother’s Room:

• 1x CRT Television
• 2x LCD Computer Monitors
• 1x Desktop Computer
• 1x Laptop Computer

Parents’ Room:

• N/A

Living Room:

• 1x LCD Television
• 1x LCD Computer Monitor
• 1x CRT Computer Monitor
• 2x Desktop Computers
• 1x Laptop Computer

Kitchen:

• 1x CRT Television

Total:

• 2x LCD Televisions
• 2x CRT Televisions
• 5x LCD Computer Monitors
• 1x CRT Computer Monitor
• 4x Desktop Computers
• 3x Laptop Computers