NetbookShow

MeeGo running on an Acer notebook? Hardly surprising stuff. Pairing that OS with a Sandy Bridge CPU, however, is something to take note of. Contradicting Acer’s past claims that the company would only issue the operating system on Atom-based netbooks, the Aspire 5749 has popped up on Amazon.de serving up a 2.1GHz Core i3 processor and 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display.

Weighing in at 2.6kg (about 6lbs) and measuring 34mm in thickness, the Taiwanese-made laptop will set you back 400 Euros (about $577), and comes packed with 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB of storage, Intel’s GMA 3000 graphics set, DVD burner, three USB 2.0 ports, a 2-in-1 card reader and, of course, WiFi. Itching to get your import on? Then skip past the break and head to the source below.

Although laptops are the epitome of convenience and mobile work efficiency, snags like dead batteries can leave you frustrated and impotent. Battery life is a key feature of battery performance is affected by computer usage, so you can take an active role in extending its life. Use these 5 simple tips below to use less energy and get the most out of your laptop’s battery.

1. Lower the LCD Screen’s BrightnessOne easy way to improve your laptop’s power consumption is to lower the brightness level of its LCD screen. When the screen’s brightness is lowered, images may appear darker on the screen. However, if there is an adequate light source available, higher brightness settings are unnecessary. Lowering the brightness is also likely to lengthen the life of your screen.

2. Use Power Saving Options. All laptops should have features that allow a person to improve power consumption. In Windows, these features can be found in a menu named “Power Options” that is located in the Control Panel. For Mac users, there is a feature called “Energy Saver” that is located in the System Preferences menu. You should be able to use these options to tell your laptop how long to wait until it powers off when it remains idle. You should also be able to set warnings to alert you a set period of time before your battery dies so you can save your files.

3. Use Standby More Often. Often people leave their laptops running when they leave their work desk. However, this needlessly consumes battery life. Instead, a person can use standby mode to cut down on power consumption when not using the laptop during these brief periods. Standby mode can usually be accessed by going to Power Options in the Windows Control Panel. Sometimes, this mode is referred to as Hibernation. This power saving mode can commonly be accessed by holding in the F12 key.

4. Disconnect Unused Devices from Your Laptop. Sometimes, a person may keep certain peripheral devices plugged into a laptop even when they aren’t being used. However, even though they aren’t in use, they may still be draining power from the laptop’s battery. If possible, these should be unplugged. Alternatively, certain devices can be disabled if they aren’t in use. Take for example a memory stick. If the memory stick is disabled by the laptop user, it won’t be consuming any of the battery’s power.

5. Turn off the Audio Speakers and headphones often use up a lot of a laptop battery’s power. If you turn the volume down, power consumption is greatly reduced. If the audio is muted, consumption stops all together.

Some say the best thing you can do for yourself is get a massage or start an exercise program or go on a (gasp) diet, but if you really wanna improve your life, get an SSD. Reader Osama plans to buy a new Corsair SSD at the same time he purchases an HP dm1z laptop, but he’s wondering how he’ll move the Windows 7 OS and programs from the old drive to the new. He writes:

A few months ago, I read an article in LaptopMag which suggested installing an SSD to improve a PC’s performance, among a list of other changes and upgrades. I have done a fair bit of research, and wish to install an SSD in the next laptop I purchase, in order to get a faster boot time and slightly better battery life.

I am about to purchase an HP dm1z (Specs: AMD E-350 Processor, 4GB RAM, 750GB 5400rpm HDD). I want to change the HDD with a Corsair 120GB SATA Solid State Drive. The HP will ship with Windows 7 installed on the 750GB hard drive (along with the other usual ‘bloatware’), and I intend to swap the HDD with the SSD before any installing any additional software. The HDD will later be formatted for use as a data storage drive.

My problem (or question) is: How can I smoothly transfer the Windows 7 on the 750GB HDD to the 120GB SDD, without causing any major problems for any of the related hardware? Bearing in mind that the HP dm1z does not have a DVD drive and I do not plan on buying an external DVD drive.

Most of the articles and/or forum posts I’ve read so far recommend a clean install of Windows 7 on the SSD. How can that be accomplished legally, without purchasing another copy of Windows 7?

Another circulating opinion suggests shrinking of the partition containing Windows 7 and using Acronis to clone that partition on the SSD. How will it be possible to go about this approach, and how feasible will it be?

The answer to Osama’s problem is really simple; he just needs the right disk imaging program and a wire to connect the SSD to the notebook while he performs the cloning. There’s no need to reinstall Windows or any other program on the SSD as the software will copy every piece of data bit by bit to the new drive.

Before you begin, purchase an external enclosure that will let you connect your SSD to the notebook’s USB port and use it as an external drive during the copy process. You can get a SATA to USB hard enclosure like this Vantec NexStar for under $10 on sites such as NewEgg. You’ll also need to download and install cloning software on the notebook. We recommend Acronis Migrate Easy, which costs $39.99, but has a free trial version that may run long enough to do the copy for you.

We have a full tutorial with pictures and video that explains how to do the drive cloning and SSD install. Follow those instructions and you should be good to go.

MSI has just announced the availability of two new notebooks – the X460 and X460DX. Featuring an ultra slim profile, and 14″ displays, these notebooks are designed for professionals on the go. The computers pack Intel Core processors, Intel Integrated GMA HD or NVIDIA GeForce GT540M video cards, Microsoft Windows 7, up to 6GB of RAM, 500-750GB of hard disk space, and THX TruStudio PRO.

What’s great about these notebooks are their touted battery life of 8 hours – something you don’t hear very often these days but as usual, battery life depends on what you do with the notebook. Other features include Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) 2.0, USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, and an integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam for video chatting purposes. The notebooks are available now from Newegg and Amazon, with prices starting at $799.99.

Always dreamt of a Apple notebook with built-in WWAN? Looks like today’s your lucky day: a prototype MacBook Pro just surfaced on eBay, replete with a SIM card slot and retractable antenna in tow. Expecting a nonfunctional parts machine off Craigslist, its newfound owner managed to resuscitate the 2007-esque gizmo into booting, but was unfortunately unable to coax any GSM goodness from the thing.

According to the seller, regular MacBook Pros from the era contain the same (but unused) solder points for the SIM card as the proto, lending credence to the notion that Cupertino might have seriously considered a 3G variant. Either way, if you’ve got a knack for rare Apple collectibles, or feel the need to ogle and some red-colored innards, hit the source below.

Apple made Lion, its eighth major OS X release, available to Mac computer users on July 20th, and the Cupertino-based tech giant noted in the first sentence of its press release that Lion includes “more than 250 new features.” Unfortunately for a seemingly large group of users — this editor included — the only new features that really mattered were the numerous annoyances that came to light after just a few minutes of usage. The new autocorrect, the annoying new event behavior in iCal, the lack of key repeat, the bizarre defaults set throughout the OS… we could go on for quite a while. Some love these new features while others seriously considered rolling back to Snow Leopard.

While unhappy users will have adjust to much of the new behavior if they wish to continue using Lion, there is now an answer for several common gripes: Lion Tweaks. Developed by “Fredrik W,” Lion Tweaks allows users to dial back some of the improvements that are common sources of agony, including the new spelling correction feature, a bunch of annoying animations and more. Lion Tweaks is at version 1.2 right now, and it looks like the app is being actively developed, so we can hopefully expect new capabilities soon. Hit the break to download the utility from the developer’s site.

The Asus Eee PC X101 hasn’t gone on sale in the US yet, but it’s expected to hit the streets in September. Meanwhile, the folks at Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn have already managed to get their hands on the mini-laptop. The Eee PC X101 is one of the first netbooks from a major computer company to ship with MeeGo Linux instead of Windows. But that’s only one of the things that makes it special — it’s also expected to sell for under $200 in the US (or about 169 Euros in Europe).

In the unboxing video, you can see that the Vietnamese version will come with several different power adapters. I suspect US customers will get just one. The reviewer also shows off the tablet’s thin sides (it measures about 0.7 inches thick), 2 USB ports, Ethernet jack, and VGA port.

The Eee PC X101 has an 8GB solid state disk instead of a hard drive and runs MeeGo Linux. It also uses a 1.33 GHz Intel Atom N435 processor, which is one of the least expensive (and least powerful) Intel Atom chips available. Those decisions were made to keep the laptop’s price low. Asus will also offer an X101H model for a higher price. That version will be available with a 250GB hard drive and Windows 7.

MeeGo is an operating system optimized for netbooks, tablets, and in-vehicle entertainment systems. The user interface feels like a cross between a desktop OS such as Windows and a mobile OS such as Android. Most apps, for instance, run in full screen mode instead of in smaller windows.

There’s no start menu or taskbar, per se, but there are a series of tabs at the top of the screen that you can use to switch between different parts of the operating system. One window shows a list of installed apps, while another shows system settings. A third area shows networking settings, and a fourth shows updates from your social networking sites.

While the unboxing video is in Vietnamese, it’s worth watching with the sound off if you want an overview of how the first MeeGo Linux netbook from Asus will work.

Asus has finally published a product page for its Eee Pad Transformer. We can assume it’ll be out fairly soon. A rumour suggests that the Asus Eee Pad Transformer 2 is on its way. Asus claims that the sequel tablet should be ready by October.

Such rumours, albeit coming directly from Asus, should not be taken as gospel truth. The Asus Eee Pad MeMO for example has been delayed twice already and as things stand no one is really sure whether the Eee Pad Transformer will ever see the light of day.  The Asus Eee Pad Slider is on its way to launch in August, and the Asus Eee Padfone has not yet been confirmed.

Fan of ASUS‘ affordable, yet competitively specced Eee Pad Transformer, but still haven’t committed your credit to its 10.1-inches? Well, if this bout of rumor-mongering proves true, you might want to put the wallet down until early fall. Harbinger of supply chain gossip Digitimes is reporting that the electronics maker has just enlisted Wintek to provide touch panels for its next gen tablet, slated to launch this October.

The parts supplier is said to be working in tandem with HannStar Display to ramp up production should this iteration be met with its predecessor’s unforeseen popularity. Adding more ambiguity to the speculative fire, ASUS’ Chairman Jonney Shih recently confirmed to Forbes that an updated Transformer is on its way, saying only that it’d be very “impressive,” and would be available before CES. Jonney didn’t comment on the upcoming slate’s supposed use of NVIDIA’s quad-core Kal-El, but with the chip’s promised August launch date, we wouldn’t rule it out. While talks of a Transformer 2 are still just gossamer promise, you can always snag that Eee Pad Slider while you sit and wait.

Fragmentation feels like a dirty word these days, but let’s face it: not all Android devices are running the same version of the operating system. And it seems like it gets a little worse every day as Google keeps pushing out updates and it’s up to manufacturers to determine if and when to push out updates for their products.

Case in point: As promised, Asus has started rolling out an Android 3.2 software update for the Eee Pad Transformer. Users are reporting that they’re already getting notifications about the update. And as expected, there aren’t a lot of huge changes in the new tablet software. There’s better support for apps written for smartphones with lower resolution displays, and there’s support for multitouch gestures when using the optional Transformer keyboard dock.

But at the same time, Acer is still rolling out Google Android 3.1 for its 10 inch tablet, the Acer Iconia Tab A500. Acer started offering the update earlier this month, but German customers are just getting the new software today. It’s not clear when the company will offer an Android 3.2 update

Honestly, there’s not much difference between Android 3.1 and 3.2 as far as most users are concerned. Apps written for one version of the operating system will likely work on the other. But that’s not always the case when it comes to operating system updates. Many apps written for Google Android 3.0 and up won’t run on Android 2.3. And many apps written for Android 2.1 and up won’t run on phones using Android 1.6.

That’s not a huge surprise. I wouldn’t expect a Windows 7 app to work on Windows 3.1, after all. The difference is that those two operating systems were released nearly 20 years apart. The pace of change in the Android world is much faster, and there’s no guarantee that if you buy a tablet today you’ll be running the latest software next month.

Fortunately there’s an active community of hackers that does a pretty good job of offering the latest software for Android phones and tablets even when the manufacturer doesn’t — so there’s not a huge risk of your device becoming completely obsolete. You just might have to be willing to void the warranty to keep running bleeding edge software.