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.
With all the attention that tablets have been getting recently, netbooks seem like old news. The netbook is by no means considered ‘dead’ though, since there’s always going to be a need for basic, ultraportable Windows-running notebooks that can be had for less than $400. Nevertheless, they’re still pretty basic, with a spec that pretty much limits you to browsing and office suites. HP is looking to spice up the boring old ‘basic netbook’ market though. They just updated their Mini 210 netbooks with a new exterior look and, get this, Beats audio.
Intel has just introduced the new dual-core Atom N570 processor for netbooks at CeBIT. Yeah, we know that, like the small mammals that toppled the dinosaurs before, tablets have been basically pushing out netbooks. But the market’s still there, and in case you ever need to pick up a low-cost, portable PC in the near future, then this is what you’re going to want to ask for. The new processor is rated with a 1.66GHz clock, which makes it faster than the previous dual-core Atom, and is built with a 45nm process and a TDP of 8.5W to keep it cool and energy efficient.
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 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.
