Updated Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook with Atom N450 CPU gets announced

Dell has just announced an updated version of its popular Inspiron Mini 10 netbook with Intel's new Atom N450 processor. The Atom N450 is part of Intel's Pinetrail family of processors, which features integration of the CPU and GPU on the same die and reduces power consumption by about 20% while also reducing the overall footprint. Available in four different colors, the updated Dell Inspiron Mini 10 comes with a 6-cell battery good for about 9.5 hours of use, the usual assortment of I/O ports with USB, VGA-out and audio jacks, as well as options for upgrades like a built-in TV tuner, GPS, WWAN, Bluetooth and a higher resolution screen at 1366x768. Pricing starts at a sweet $299 USD (about 13,948 Pesos), but you won't be seeing any of these babies until January 2010. Continue reading for a gallery of the new Dell Inspiron Mini 10.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics pleads guilty to LCD price fixing with five other unnamed companies

TFT-LCD maker Chi Mei Optoelectronics has plead guilty to LCD price fixing and has been ordered to pay a $220 million fine by the U.S. Department of Justice. Chi Mei conspired with five other unnamed companies to fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels during a five-year long period from Sept. 14, 2001, to Dec. 1, 2006. According to the DOJ, the total value of the TFT-LCD market was $70 billion after the price fixing period ended. The market sure grew a lot during the five years this went on unnoticed.

Source: [eWeek]

Acer chairman faults Dell and HP for weak adoption of ultra-thin notebooks

Acer chairman JT Wang knows what consumers want their notebooks like: ultra-thin and with lots of battery life. Acer has put out quite remarkable models in their Timeline-series of notebooks, and they're enjoying a fair number of sales, but Wang believes that the numbers could be bigger if only American companies like Dell and HP wouldn't get in the way. Acer's Wang blames Dell and HP for preventing ultra-thin notebooks from becoming the mainstream product in the market by bringing down prices of its own non-ultra-thin mainstream notebooks to as low as $399. The small price gap is what holds back adoption of ultra-thin notebooks, which are usually underpowered (for the sake of prolonging battery life) compared to current mainstream notebooks. Acer is currently planning on releasing more ultra-thin models in the future, but if Dell and HP won't let up, there's a chance that we might not see these products ever released at all.

Source: [DigiTimes]

Dell Vostro V13 ultra-portable laptop gets a hands-on

Dell's Vostro V13 ultra-portable laptop seems mighty interesting on paper, what with its 0.65-inch thickness and overall portability. But how well does one fare in real life, both from an aesthetics as well as business standpoint? I probably won't have a chance to handle one in person until later this month or early next year, but the gang over at Engadget has already spent a bit of time with the Dell Vostro V13. Their early impressions imply that they walked away satisfied, saying that "there are compromises, just like in life, but for the most part this is one of the least timid computers we've seen from Dell in a while." Watch their quick hands-on video of the Dell Vostro V13 which I've posted above for a better look at things. Meanwhile, I'll be over here waiting to get my hands on a sample.

Source: [Engadget]

Ultra-portable Dell Vostro V13 business laptop officially announced

Even before Seagate gets a chance to unveil its much-touted 7mm Momentus Thin hard disk drives, Dell has already gone and announced a new ultra-thin model in its Vostro series of business laptops called the Vostro V13. The Dell Vostro V13 measures a mere 0.65-inches thick (16.5mm) and weighs 3.5 pounds (1.6 kilos), running on Intel's Mobile GS45 Express Chipset with compatible Ultra Low Voltage processors and GMA 4500MHD graphics.

Thin and sleek as it is, the Dell Vostro V13 features a 13.3-inch LED-backlit 1366 x 768 "anti-glare" screen, support for up to 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 802.11 g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, Gigabit Ethernet, a 5-in-1 card reader, 34 mm ExpressCard slot, 3.5mm microphone and headphone jacks and 2 USB 2.0 ports (with one being part of a USB 2.0/eSATA combo port).

Dell offers the Vostro V13 with either Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Ubuntu Linux and asks $450 USD or about 20,677 Pesos for it (though you can expect it to become slightly more expensive when it becomes available here in the Philippines). See a gallery of the Dell Vostro V13 after the break.

Dell launches Inspiron Zino HD mini desktop PC in the UK

Dell has just introduced a small- form-factor desktop PC called the Inspiron Zino HD and it is available in a wide-array of colors plus a set of features that brings all generations of Apple's Mac Mini to shame. Despite being about the same size as the OS X running equivalent from Cupertino, the Dell Inspiron Zino HD offers up to 1TB hard disk space and up to 8GB of RAM, while touting AMD Athlon processors and ATI Radeon graphics.