NetbookShow

Chinese PC maker has unveiled two new laptop computers which will eschew the usual Intel or AMD processor for an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core ARM Cortex-A9 chip. The company isn’t showing off the actual laptops yet, but Charbax spotted spec sheets at a trade show in China.

The Malata PC-B1002 is a 10 inch laptop with a 1024 x 600 pixel display, up to 8GB of storage, up to 1GB of RAM, and a 2200mAh battery. It features 802.11b/g/n WiFi and optional 3G and weighs about 2.4 pounds.

The Malata PC-B1301 has a 13.3 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display and  a 4400mAh battery. The rest of the specs, other than the size and weight, are pretty much the same as for the 10 inch model.

Charbax says Malata will likely show off the new tablets at Computex in June.

Charbax is in China and he’s come across a Rockchip Netbook with the RockChip RK2918 processor running at 1.2 GHz on a ARM Cortex-A8 processor which supports Adobe Flash.

The netbook looks like a Nokia Booklet knock off but the OS is a tweak version of Android. Its by no means polished as when you try to enter text an on screen keyboard pop up but there is no touch screen supported on the 10.1 inch device. They’ve also added a mouse pointer to help you navigate this touch interface with out touch. You’ll notice that the device has 2 USB 2.0 ports, audio ports and speakers.

When will this device make it to the US, my thoughts are most likely never! But if it does Charbax imagines that you’ll be mobile computing for a ridiculously long time thanks to the ARM processor. Would be nice to see some battery life testing and some 3rd party performance benchmarks on Rockchip’s latest processor.

What happens if you take the Asus UL30, scoop out the insides and replace the Intel CULV processor with an Atom chip and NVDIIA IOn graphics? I have no idea, but the folks at Phecda have done the next best thing by producing a UL30 clone called the Phecda P13.

The notebook has a 13.3 inch, 1366  x 768 pixel display and the same case design as the original Asus UL30A, although the keyboard looks lke it was ripped from an Acer Aspire notebook.

But while the Asus UL30 shipped with a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU, the P143 has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom D510 dual core processor and NVDIIA ION 2 graphics. It comes with 2GB of DDR2 memory and runs Windows 7.

There are just two (fairly major) problems. First, the 2450mAh battery probably won’t provide very much run time. And second, the laptop is unlikely to show up anywhere outside of China anytime soon.

The Dell Adamo laptop is a high priced, high powered thin and light machine, with prices starting at $999. The Shenzhen Zingzheng Yu N98 isn’t. But it steals many design cues from Dell’s high end notebook. The difference is that on the inside, the N98 is all netbook — and it has the low $209 price tag to match.

The N98 has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and a choice of 512MB or 1GB of RAM and an 80GB or 160GB hard drive. It’s equipped with a 2400mAh battery, which probably isn’t going to provide more than a few hours of run time.

The laptop does have a few features that you won’t find on a typical netbook, including a metal chassis and an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display. But while this little guy looks a bit like the Dell Adamo, I don’t expect any machine with an Atom N270 processor to be a match for an Adamo with an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, high performance SSD, and 2GB or more of memory.

If there’s one thing that’s not hard to find in China, it’s Macbook Air clones. I hear that’s popular there too. But back to Macbook Air clones, we’ve seen a number of underpowered thin and light laptops with a distinct Apple-like style. One of the latest is a machine from Shenzhou Vayee.

The laptop has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and netbook-like specs including a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor. It has a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of memory and a SIM card slot.

But the most distinctive thing about the Vayee laptop is it’s Apple-like design with an island-style keyboard and a metallic finish. The sides of the notebook aren’t quite a sleek though, with an array of ports staring you in the face, including an Ethernet jack and a few USB ports.

The computer is about an inch thick, and weighs about 3 pounds. There’s no word on pricing or availability.

Tired of netbooks that have too much space around the keyboards? The Aoson R169 from China’s Shenzhen Anson doesn’t have that problem. The netbook’s case is barely any bigger than the keyboard, providing just enough room for two touchpad buttons below the spacebar. Instead of a trackpad, there’s a Thinkpad-esque pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard.

The netbook is bound to draw comparisons to the Sony Vaio P thanks to the fact that it’s a bit longer than it is tall. But while the Sony Vaio P has an 8 inch, 1600 x 768 pixel display, the Aoson R169 has a more traditional 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. It also packs a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, and optional 3G mobile broadband.

The Aoson R169 measures 10.4″ x 5.4″ x 0.9″ and weighs 1.8 pounds. No word on pricing or availability, but I don’t expect to see this model outside of China anytime soon.

By definition a netbook is a small, light, and inexpensive netbook. But there are two things that generally dictate just how small a netbook can be: the screen and the keyboard. Some of the first netboks had 7 inch displays and tiny keyboards. But most models on the market today have 10 inch displays that are easier to read and larger keyboards that are easier to type on. Unfortunately, this makes today’s netbooks a bit bigger and heavier.

But Sony came up with a solution when it introduced the Sony Vaio P early last year: drop the touchpad and replace it with a pointing device. Since then we haven’t seen too many major PC makers follow suit. But a ton of Chinese companies known for making cheap knockoff products have followed Sony into the touchpad-free realm.

The latest is BYD, which has produced the BYD ODM netbook. It bears a passing resemblance to the Sony Vaio P thanks to the large bezel around the edges of the display and the lack of a touchpad. The base of the computer is almost all keyboard.

The BYD ODM has a 10 inch display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 1.8″ hard drive, 2 USB ports, and a SIM card slot for an optional 3G modem. There’s no video output or Ethernet port. No word on the final pricing, but BYD expects to sell the netbook to distributors for about $300.

I don’t know why we don’t see more netbooks with a pointing device instead of a touchpad. I suspect some folks would prefer this sort of layout to a touchpad with integrated left and right buttons like those found on the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 and Lenovo Ideapad S10-3.