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This week in laptops

As this week drew to a close I whipped out my trusty Magic 8 Ball and asked it: "Will there ever be an end to the little-laptop news?" And the Magic 8 Ball replied: "My sources say no."

Those are some reliable sources, because the tiny laptops just kept coming this week. For example, we learned the OLPC XO laptop may switch from Linux to Windows XP. The Asus Eee PC 900, the 9-inch version of everyone's favorite super cheap portable, got an official launch date (May 12) and an official price ($549). Little-known U.… Read more

Asus' bamboo laptops may finally get on the stick

Just after Michael Dell unveiled a bamboo PC as his Earth Day gift, Asus is reportedly making plans to release its own laptops made with the sustainable material this summer. The first models from the Taiwanese company will be notebooks with 12- and 11-inch screens for about $1,650, according to Boing Boing, citing reports from publications in Asia.

We have just one thing to say: Finally. We've been teased by photos of these computers for more than a year, only to see their models multiply with no word of ever coming to market. In fact, the company has … Read more

Asus Eee PC 900 launching 5/12 in the U.S. at $549

The upcoming 9-inch version of the popular Asus Eee PC has already been spotted in Europe and Asia, but details about an American launch were scarce--until now.

Sources at Asus tell us the Eee PC 900, which we discussed in detail earlier this week, will be available in the U.S. starting May 12 for $549. That's a little more than the $500 figure everyone was assuming, and certainly more than the $399 7-inch version.

For the extra money, you do get more system RAM (1GB vs. 512MB), a higher 1,024x600 screen resolution, and more solid state hard-drive … Read more

This week in laptops

Blame it on the tax man, but it was a relatively quiet week in the laptop-osphere. That was good news for Dell, which refreshed its Vostro small-business laptops. We got a look at the 13.3-inch Vostro 1310, which makes a pretty decent value proposition for companies with fewer than 25 employees.

We also had a look at the Enpower ENP780, a desktop-replacement laptop with the heart of a thin-and-light. Elsewhere in reviews, NotebookReview.com posted its impressions of the new Toshiba Satellite L355D; we have a review unit in our Labs and will post our buying advice soon.

As … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 705: Why court the pwnage?

In the news today, Safari saves your bacon with a hole-patching update, and NASA says it's better at math than teenagers (which we fervently hope is true). Yahoo and Google get closer to a deal, which we fervently hope is just going to happen, already, so we can quit speculating, and we're planning our summer road trip to Pittsburgh. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 705

NASA statement on student asteroid calculations http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/apr/ HQ_08103_student_asteroid_calculations.html

Yahoo-Google deal advances http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9920997-7.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120839839184321833.html… Read more

Asus Lamborghini VX3 pulls into the lab

Maybe it's because we live in Manhattan and don't drive, but computers named after cars have always caught our eye. We've seen licensed laptops based on the Ferrariand Lamborghinibrands before, but we're still waiting for a Prius-branded "green" laptop -- surely a winning marketing tie-in if there ever was one.

We saw the latest entry in the Asus Lamborghini line, the VX3, briefly at CES back in January, and now the final product has roared into the CNET Lab, ready to take on all comers with a brand-new Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 CPU, … Read more

Nine-inch Asus Eee PC 900 details unveiled

We've been spilling a lot of virtual ink about the popular 7-inch Asus Eee PC lately, but the real buzz is about that system's follow-up, a slightly bigger 9-inch version Asus has been teasing us with since last year.

It's now officially called the Asus Eee PC 900, and the first reviews are starting to trickle out in the U.K., where the system has a set release date of May 1, although we don't have an official U.S. price or release date yet.

According to Asus, the new system adds more than just a … Read more

This week in laptops

The minilaptop reigns supreme for yet another week (will we never see another behemoth laptop?) with the debut of the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. The little guy was designed for students, but has a decidedly more upscale look than the similarly low-priced Eee PC and Classmate PC. The real shocker, though, is inside the case, where you won't find an Intel Atom CPU; the company opted to use a low-cost processor from Via, a manufacturer that's better known in Europe and Asia than here in the United States.

In other little-laptop news, Asus shipped a Window XP version … Read more

Unboxing the Asus Eee PC (with Windows XP)

FedEx had a special delivery to Crave's headquarters this morning: the Asus Eee PC running Windows XP (not Linux). It's already undergoing testing at CNET Labs, but we got some hot shots of its "unboxing" below. It's worth noting that the packaging looks and feels a bit like opening up a digital camera since everything is so tiny. The cords and cables are all white, and even the mouse that comes with it matches the Stormtrooper white facade of the laptop, albeit with a bit more gloss.

Stay tuned for the official review.