NetbookShow

MSI has introduced a new addition to its X-slim thin and light series of Notebooks, the X370 . The X370 features the Dual core AMD Zacate E-350 or Single core E-240 APU,  along with discreet Radeon HD 6310m graphics chipset. It has a 13.4 – inch 1366 x 768 resolution display along with HDMI and VGA output , two USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card reader and 1.3 megapixel webcam.

Connectivity options include WiFi B/G/N and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and Gigabyte Ethernet. It will ship with 4Gb of DDR3 RAM with HDD options including 320/ 500 /640 Gb worth of spinning platters. However it does offer 4/8 cell battery options, with MSI claiming up to 8 hours of battery when using its ECO engine power management software, speaking of which,  Windows 7 home premium 64 bit will be the OS.

For those unfamiliar with the X-slim series from MSI, it was originally created to be in competition with the Macbook Air, while the series has not been as thin as the MBA, it has  been lighter amongst the 13 inch models, weighing in at 2.9 pounds on the X320 model. This model weighs 3.3 pounds with the 4 cell battery.  MSI lists the X370 for $599 on its US Website.  However price / configuration varies by region.

MSI started showing off the Wind U270 laptop in December and I got a chance to check out the portable notebook at CES in January. But the company has finally gotten around to putting out a press release, so we finally have detailed specs for the MSI Wind U270.

It turns out the laptop has a 12.1 inch display, not an 11.6 inch screen as I had initially thought. Whoops. The rest of the specs aren’t too surprising:

* 1.6 GHz AMD Zacate E-350 dual cor eprocessor
* AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics
* 12.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display
* Up to 8GB of DDR3 memory
* Up to 320GB of disk space
* 720p webcam
* 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 USB 3.0 port
* 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1
* HDMI output
* 3 or 6 cell battery options
* Windows 7 Home Premium

The laptop also has Easy Face software that lets you login to Windows or to some web sites by pointing your face at the camera.

There’s still no word on pricing or a launch date for the MSI Wind U270.

This is a pleasant surprise. Last I’d heard Lenovo had delayed the US launch of the ThinkPad X120e business-class ultraportable laptop until March. But guess what showed up on the Lenovo web site today?

The Lenovo ThinkPad X120e is now available for purchase for $399 and up. The base price gets you a laptop with an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, a 1.5 GHz AMD E-240 single core processor, AMD Radeon 6310 graphics, 2GB of DDR3 memory, a 250GB hard drive and a 3 cell, 40 W/h battery. The laptop comes standard with 802.11b/g/n WiFi.

If you want a dual core AMD E-350 dual core processor, Bluetooth, additional memory or hard drive space or a 6 cell, 56 W/h battery, you’ll have to pay extra. But I was able to configure the laptop with a high capacity battery and dual core processor for just $489, which still isn’t bad at all.

The base price also includes Windows 7 Home Premium. The ThinkPad X120e is also available with Windows 7 Professional for $50 more.

HP has started taking orders for its new 11.6 inch laptop with an AMD Zacate chip.

The base model of the HP Pavilion dm1z is selling for $449.99  and packs a 1.6GHz dual core AMD E-350 processor with Radeon HD 6310 graphics, 3GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB, 7200RPM hard drive, an 11.6 inch 1366 x 768 pixel display, a 6 cell battery, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. The laptop comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Upgrade options include Windows 7 Professional, 4GB or 8GB of RAM, up to 750GB of hard drive space or a 128GB SSD, and a spare battery. Clearly those options will drive up the price. A fully pimped out dm1z can easily run you well over $1000.

When I spotted the Eee PC 1215B laptop at the Asus booth this weekend I had no idea that the AMD Zacate-powered machine had a little brother. But the folks at Notebook Italia dug up some info on a related model called the Asus Eee PC 1015B.

The 1015B has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display and a smaller case and keyboard design. But it has the same 1.6GHz dual core AMD 350 processor and AMD Radeon HD graphics, which should offer an overall speed boost over a typical Atom-powered netbook and a much better graphics experience (on par with what you would get from a machine with NVIDIA ION graphics).

There’s no word on pricing or availability yet.

PC maker MSI helped to jump-start the netbook revolution in 2008 with some of the most exciting budget 10 inch notebooks available at the time.

But the company has been pretty quiet for much of 2010, launching a few minor revisions of its netbook and laptop lineup. Things could get a bit more exciting again in 2011, now that MSI is preparing to launch an 11.6 inch laptop running AMD’s new Zacate chipset.

The Zacate chip combines a low power CPU with high performance integrated graphics capable of handling HD video, 3D gaming, and other tasks that you would normally need a discrete graphics card to handle.

The MSI U270 has a 1366 x 768 pixel display, up to 500GB hard drive, and up to 4GB of RAM. The Zacate processor is a 1.6GHz chip which uses 18W of power or less. The laptop has 1 USB 3.0 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, VGA and HDMI output, and an SD card reader.