Asus has put out full renders of the Eee PC 1200 series netbooks that they’ll be pimping out at CES next week. Judging by the photos, the new netbook will feature very slim bodies totally wrapped in a solid color – a nice touch, by the looks of it – and a MacBook Air-styled hinge where the lid’s back end slides over the base.

The 1200 series will include netbooks that run on different configurations: the 12-inch 1225B will run on AMD’s Fusion platform, while the 1225C will be based on Intel’s Cedar Trail Atom processors. Full details haven’t been revealed yet, but the photos show them featuring chiclet keyboards and a ‘stealth’ trackpad, and body colors that include black, blue, red and purple.

Pricing and release details haven’t been revealed, but we should know more when Asus officially unveils the netbook at CES.

[via Notebook Italia]

In case you were looking for a highly portable notebook and you don’t really want to spend that much on the sexy new ultrabooks that have been popping up lately, here’s a sign that the netbook segment isn’t dead yet. Lenovo has put out a product tour video that walks us through their latest netbook, the IdeaPad S110, which runs on Intel’s new Cedar Trail Atom processor. It’s a step up compared to the netbooks of old though. This one rocks a 10.1-inch HD display and an optional camera that’s capable of recording 720p video. [Video after the break]

The Cedar Trail spec gives the new netbooks better graphics and 64-bit OS support, while the platform also comes with support for faster USB 3.0 ports. The Lenovo IdeaPad S110 has been revealed by the video to rock a 1.6GHz Atom N2600, 1GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive.

The product tour video also shows a relatively stylish device that measures 16mm thick, weighing 1.15kg. The S110 has also been listed at online stores like ProVantage to cost $321 (in red, blue, black and white colors), but it could drop down to around $300 once Lenovo officially starts shipping it. No one knows when that’s going to be though, but we should know more once CES rolls around.

Despite the slim and light frame – it weighs two pounds and measures only .69 inches thick – it still runs on a typical netbook’s spec with a 1.33GHz Atom N435 processor and 1GB of RAM. The relatively low price also comes with a possible downside regarding the operating system it ships with: the X101 ships with MeeGo, which you may or may not be familiar with, and is limited to an 8GB SSD for integrated storage (Asus is also throwing in access to unlimited WebStorage for saving your stuff to the cloud).

The rest of the spec includes the typical list, with 802.11n Wi-fi connectivity, a pair of USB ports, a VGA cam, an SD card slot for adding more memory, and a slim battery that’s rated to last four hours.

No word on a definite ship date, but the preorder listing means that we’re close to a launch.

It’s currently listed at ExcaliburPC for $199, CDW for $210, and on Amazon for $226.99.

If you’re still looking into netbooks, then the ultra-slim Eee PC X101 that Asus unveiled at Computex in late May should have caught your attention. Not just because the netbook had a sexy 0.69-inch frame, but also because Asus mentioned that it could sell as low as $199. Now, if you’re still holding out for a netbook, you won’t have to wait long to pick this one up. If a recent report proves true, the X101 could be out by July.

The cheap, $199 version might not be as awesome as we initially believed it to be though. According to the DigiTimes report, it’s going to come powered by a single-core 1.33GHz Intel Atom N435 processor —  not the newer 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor that they initially announced it with.  The $199 model is still slated to come preinstalled with MeeGo though, with Windows 7-based models (the version that will probably use the newer Atom processors) set to cost somewhere between $310 to $350.

Google’s Chrome OS partners said they’ll be out by June 15th, which means we’re only a few days away before we get to see some of the first Chromebooks. But if you want to get a jump on them early, two of them – the Acer Cromia and Samsung Series 9 – are already up for pre-orders on Amazon and Best Buy right now.

The Acer Cromia features an 11.6-inch LED-backlit LCD with a wide 1366 x 768 resolution, and sports a dual core 1.66GHz Intel Atom processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM and a 16GB solid state drive under the hood. The spec’s rounded out by a 1.3MP webcam and a six-hour battery. It’s the cheaper of the two, with the Wi-fi model priced at $380. The 3G version costs $450.

The Samsung Series 5 costs considerably more, starting at $430 for the Wi-fi version, but adds a larger 12-inch screen and 8.5-hour battery. Otherwise, it comes with the same spec as the Cromia. The 3G version tops out at $500.

It looks like a tablet, and the dimensions certainly makes it feel like a tablet, but the Fujitsu LifeBook TH40/D is actually a netbook. One that’s powered by Intel’s 1.5GHz Oak Trail Atom Z670 processor, 1GB of memory, a 120GB hard drive, and runs on Windows 7 OS. So yeah, it’s a netbook. But with a 2.4-pound weight and 10.1-inch 1200 x 600 resolution touchscreen, you might as well rock it like a tablet. One that’ll let you slide out a slim keyboard if you feel the need to hammer out long lines of text comfortably.

In any case, just think of it as a device that brings the best of both worlds if you want a full PC OS and all the ports that a regular netbook brings, with Wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a pair of USB ports, HDMI-out SD card slot, and a small optical trackpad beside the spacebar for moving around without smudging the screen.

The setup looks pretty slick all in all if you’re in the market for a portable Windows system. Unfortunately, this kit’s due out in Japan in June, with no word on an international release. But if you’re willing to have it shipped, it’s going to cost you ¥80,000 ($990).

[Fujitsu, via Akihabara]

So what do you get? Well, you still get the same performance overall: it still runs on a single-core 1.66GHz Atom N455 chip, 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. But the inclusion of Beats audio system at least gives you audio quality that’s way better than your standard netbook or mainstream laptop.

The new Beats-equipped HP Mini 210 is due out on June 15 for $300.

The new processor also supports Intel’s Hyper-Threading tech, with support for four threads DDR3-667 memory, and packs 1MB of L2 cache. Asus, Lenovo and Samsung are expected to be one of the first companies to put out netbooks that rock the new chip (expected later this month), with demo units currently being displayed at CeBIT.

Look what Japan’s NEC recently came up with: it’s a netbook called the LiteTouch Note. While it’s pretty hard to get worked up on new netbooks these days, but this one’s different from your typical Windows/Intel Atom-powered netbook. It runs on Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor and an Android OS, which is pretty rare. We’ve seen tablets rocking a netbook’s spec before, so this makes up the flip-side.

The LifeTouch Note is as compact as it looks, with a frame built around a 7-inch, 800 x 480 screen that was pretty common back when netbooks ruled the market. Specs include an accelerometer, GPS sensor, a 2-megapixel camera, and an SDHC card slot for storage expansion. It’s unknown what kind of apps will work great on the form factor, but it can hook up with the Android Market if you need any.

Three models will be available when it arrives in Japan in March: a Wi-Fi only version with 4GB of built-in storage that costs $477, a Wi-fi version with 8GB, and a high-end model that comes with 3G, Wi-fi and 8GBs of built-in storage that’ll sell for the equivalent of $537. No word on availability outside of Japan, but if you were looking for a seven-inch Android-based netbook, you know where to go to get one. [via Akihabara]

The teaser video Dell released earlier this month was definitely eye-catching: it showed off a touchscreen tablet that flips into a notebook thanks to an unorthodox hinge that twists the screen in its frame. Of course, it could all well be just a gimmick, since convertible tablet/notebooks have been around for ages, but at least it’s what makes the Dell Inspiron Duo interesting enough to set it apart from hundreds of netbooks and the growing number of tablets popping up.

The Inspiron Duo is essentially a convertible netbook (a really attractive one, if you’re into good, slim designs) that features a 10.1 inch multitouch screen, and a 1.5GHz dual core Atom processor, 2GBs of RAM, and a standard 250GB hard drive. It’s also capable of 1080p HD video playback thanks to a Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator, and can be equipped with an optional JBL speaker dock to turn it into a nice 10-inch touchscreen media player.

Hands free: The optional JBL dock turns the Duo into a 10-inch touch-based multimedia player.

To make it touch-friendly, the Inspiron Duo also comes with a custom interface on top of Windows 7 that gives you quick access to media, the web, and an e-reader in case you want to flip it into tablet form and just lay back.

Set for an early December release, the Inspiron Duo is a little bit more expensive compared to a standard netbook at $549, but if you’re in the market for a compact Windows-based tablet and a new netbook for getting some work done, it’s an interesting option. Buying it along with the JBL dock raises the price to $649.