Charbax from Armdevices.net has been testing the Hivision PWS700CA Android powered notebook, which he thinks could easily be sold at retailers like Walmart or Best Buy for under $100.

As he points out in the video review of the Hivision PWS700CA, Android is replacing Windows CE and other “crappy” versions of Linux as the operating system on these very cheap computers which is a welcome change but the demonstration shows that there are still some limitations.

While it is great to see a more modern operating system coming to these ultra cheap devices the video demonstration only highlights the problem with putting an inherently mobile and touchscreen based OS onto a non touchscreen device. The function keys have had to be tweaked to handle standard home and menu buttons found on mobile phones, the on screen keyboard shows up even though there is a hard keyboard attached, you have to click and move the page for scrolling and there is no access to the official Android Marketplace.

Still, the device is snappy and loads web pages pretty fast over the MiFi connection that is being used and it looks much better than the Windows CE cheap notebooks that I have seen. Hopefully Hivision will be able to make the Android OS work better on a notebook style device before they attempt to bring it to market. Even with the Chrome OS coming quickly, an ARM powered Android Notebook like the Hivision PWS700CS has a place in the market so long as they can overcome the hurdles of porting a touchscreen driven OS to a non touchscreen device.

image via Armdevices.net

Hivision PWS700CA Specs:

• Rockchip RK2808 600mhz ARM926 processor
• 128SDRAM
• 7″ 800×480 screen
• 720p Video playback support
• WiFi, Ethernet, audio input/output
• Weighs 1.4 pounds
• Estimated cost under $100

Review of the $100 Android Notebook: Hivision PWS700CA is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

I happened to hear a little bird on Twitter, the Dell Factory Outlet, who regularly sends out coupons for many of their numerous refurbished, scratch and dent, and previously ordered products.  As I have written before, the advantages of buying factory refurbished items can often save you hundreds of dollars.  I rarely purchase an electronic item from a major manufacturer that isn’t refurbished.  Refurbished products are factory inspected, fully tested, and come with equal warranties to new products.

The 15% off coupon that was released on Twitter was for the Dell Mini 10/10v series netbooks.  After doing a little research, I found that the 15% off coupon dropped the regularly priced $249 Mini 10v to a ridiculously priced $211.  The unit I purchased is cast from the traditional netbook mold.

Dell Mini 10v Specs:

• 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor
• 160 GB Hard Disk
• 1 GB RAM
• 1.3 Megapixel Webcam
• 10.1″ LED backlit glossy screen
• 92% full size keyboard
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi capabilities
• Multi-card Reader

The Good

Keyboard:

The keyboard of this netbook is one of the best I’ve used.  I can easily and quickly touch-type.  It simply does not feel like typing on a stereotypical netbook keyboard.  Unlike some netbooks, the keys are appropriately placed for my hands.  The flex of the keyboard is minimal, although some might feel that the keys have a longer travel than a similar Asus Eee PC 1000H series netbook.  The keys are wider than those found on the chiclet-styled Asus netbooks.

Screen Size:

I believe that anything less than a 10.1″ screen is a deal breaker when it comes to a netbook.  My first Eee PC was the 701 which featured a miniscule 7″ screen.  There is plenty of screen real estate to work with Microsoft Office documents, watching videos, or even creating a small PowerPoint presentation.  Going from the Mini to my MacBook Pro at the end of the day does feel as though I’m working with a 32″ monitor, but the Mini 10v has enough size to get the job done.

Battery Life:

I am easily able to get 6 hours out of a full charge with the Mini 10v’s 6-cell battery.  I prefer the 6-cell battery not only for its longer provided computing time, but because it slants the keyboard at a comfortable angle as well.  It also makes a nice handle when moving it around from desk to desk.  While the Mini 10v is fan-less and this may slightly promote increased battery life, it definitely makes for a very quiet computing experience.

Power Adapter:

The power adapter of the Mini 10v is one unit; there is no brick between two wires.  I love the design as it’s easy to grab and go.  It conserves space in my bag and is easy to wrap if I’m in a hurry.  The adapter is a little on the large size when compared to a cell phone power adapter, but the over all portability makes it perfect for a netbook.

Video Out: VGA

One of the major differences between the Dell Mini 10 and the Mini 10v is that the 10v has a VGA out, while the Dell Mini 10 has an HDMI port.  The VGA port is more functional for what I will be using the Mini 10v for, primarily for classroom presentations.  Most LCD projectors still rely on VGA as the default video connection.  My HDTV also contains VGA in so I’m still able to connect it to my HDTV to watch videos.

The Bad

Trackpad:

The trackpad on the Dell Mini 10/10v is goofy to say the least.  The entire trackpad mimics that of the new MacBook Pro in that the entire pad is touch sensitive, including the buttons.  The Mini 10v does have two specific regions for the left and right click, but even they are touch-sensitive.  Problems sometime arise when trying to click as the cursor can jump off target.  It takes some getting used to, but it continues to be slightly annoying.

Glossy Screen & Case:

The 1024×600 screen of the Dell Mini 10v doesn’t seem as crisp as other devices that I’ve used.  Again, it’s certainly no deal breaker, but the colors don’t pop as I’ve experienced with the Asus 1000HE.  I imagine that the color settings can be modified, but the default setup feels a little bland.

I’m also not a huge fan of glossy screens, especially since these devices often find themselves being used outdoors.  The screen is very reflective as seen in the pictures.  I often have to move the screen up or down so that there isn’t a huge glare.

The case itself is very glossy.  The top of the lid can be a fingerprint magnet, although it does not seem as bad as the Asus Eee PC 1000HE.  A simple swipe with a cleaning cloth and the problem is resolved.

It’s a Netbook:

Keep in mind that the Dell Mini 10v is not a full-fledged, powerhouse notebook.  It has the same limitations in processing power and functionality as other netbooks, but it’s perfect for basic tasks.  You’re not going to be doing any video editing, heavy Photoshop creating, or intense gaming, but the 10v will easily handle a few YouTube videos, Hulu, and your social networking.  My parents were so impressed with my Mini 10v that they purchased one a week later without the 15% coupon.  A netbook such as this meets all of their computer needs and doesn’t put a dent in the wallet.  Their 3-cell version was around $259.

Of the several netbooks I’ve owned, I am most satisfied with the Dell Mini 10v.  Perhaps the only thing missing on this netbook that I’d like to have is Bluetooth, but at $211 the lack of Bluetooth wasn’t enough to prevent me from purchasing.  Unlike the others that found their way to eBay, I’m certain that the 10v will have a long life in my household for years to come.  I don’t rescind my previous argument that the MacBook Pro is all I need.  Netbooks are still underpowered, largely overpriced, and quickly obsolete, but who wouldn’t grab one of these for $211?

Additional Pictures:

The 6-cell battery makes a nice handle.

The Dell Mini 10v

The right side of the 10v has VGA out, audio in/out, USB 2.0, and ethernet.

Follow Matthew on Twitter.

Dell Mini 10v Review: I Believe in Netbooks Again is a post by Matthew Dillon from Notebooks.com.

These 2009 Black Friday Predictions come to you from the team at DealNews.com which managed an 82% accuracy rate on their 2008 Black Friday Predictions and have an uncanny ability to know what’s going to be on sale. How good are these guys? Before I spoke to the Dan de Grandpre, the CEO of DealNews.com, I thought I knew about retail sales but this guy puts me to shame. I’m pretty sure he eats deals for breakfast and washes them down with a heaping glass of retail trends and that’s just the start.

Dedicated Black Friday shoppers will definitely be interested in the entire roundup but for anyone looking to pick up a great deal on a notebook, Macbook, monitor or accessory here’s the scoop. Remember, this is just a brief sampling of the many 2009 Black Friday Predictions made by the DealNews.com staff.

Notebooks – Expect a low end netbook for $129 and well equipped (4GB of RAM, Core 2 Duo) for $399.

Macbooks – You should see 5-10% off of the latest Apple Products and Free Shipping which is a $49 value on its own.

Monitors – If you’ve been looking for a 24″ monitor then November 27th is the day with prices expected to hit $145.

Back it up – You knew this was coming, a 1 TB external USB hard drive for just $49.

Q &A with Dan de Grandpre about Black Friday:

Q. Not content to just tell you to be on the lookout for a well equipped notebook on Black Friday we asked Dan where he thinks you’ll be able to find the best high end laptop deal during the 2009 Black Friday season. So Dan, should we look to a retailer like Best Buy or will a custom order from a manufacturer like HP be our best bet this year?

A. According to Dan while the brick and mortar retailers like Best Buy and Staples will have “ridiculous” deals on laptops, if you’re looking for a higher end rig, “odds are the best deals will be online.” He did caution that Black Friday may not be the best time to purchase a high end notebook since it is typically focused on super cheap products.  Your best bet is to do your research and look at how big the discount is. You may end up finding that the best deals come during the Black Friday Season rather than on the actual day itself.

Q. Longtime readers will remember the troubles that many shoppers including our own Xavier Lanier had trying to take advantage of the 40% CashBack offer that Live CashBack, now Bing CashBack, offered for HP.com. Given these troubles do you expect to see similar deals this year? Have retailers worked out the bumps?

A. Dan still expects to see cashback deals specifically ones involving PayPal but cautions that you should, “only buy if you like the price before cashback.” This is similar to the way I used to view mail in rebates and makes a lot of sense when dealing with any type of rebate.

Well there you have it, a first look at what Black Friday 2009 has in store for technology addicts like us. Be sure to keep your eyes on Notebooks.com because we’ll be bringing you all the Black Friday information you’ll need as we approach the most anticipated shopping day of the year!

image via jardenberg

The 2009 Black Friday Predictions Have Arrived is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

This notebook isn’t incredibly exciting, but it is $70 cheaper than the 14-inch eMachines notebook Best Buy is selling and our contacts at Gateway (the makers of eMachines) tell us that it will be even cheaper during the holidays.

The eMD620-5777 is about the most basic 14-inch notebook you can buy right now. It has an AMD Athlon 2650e processor (which is a desktop processor), ATI Radeon X1200 graphics, 1GB of memory, DVD burner and 160GB hard drive. Its 14-inch display has a resolution of 1280×800 pixels.

It does not have the muscle that you’d expect out of most 14-inch notebooks, but it may be a good alternative to those considering netbooks solely for their low prices. Netbooks can be a good option for the budget -concious who value mobility, but there are a lot of people that just need the basics and would rather have a larger scree, full size keyboard and roomier hard drives.

At 5.29 pounds, the eMD620-5777 isn’t nearly as thin and light as a netbook and its desktop processor ensures relatively short battery runtimes. But if you spend most of your computing time near a power outlet that shouldn’t matter much.

The eMD620-5777 is a prime candidate for a Black Friday special. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the eMD620-5777 sell for as low as $249 on Black Friday. Other retailers are sure to get in on this low-priced eMachine notebook action, but their eMachines will carry a different SKU number and have slightly different specs.

eMachines eMD620-5777:Best Buy to Sell 14-inch Notebook for $429 is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The CQ70 has relatively tame specs compared to many 17-inch notebooks. It comes with an Intel Pentium dual-core processor, 3GB of RAM a 250GB hard drive and DVD burner. The display has a resolution of 1440×900 pixels. The CQ70 has integrated Intel graphics.

The CQ70 includes an integrated Web cam, multi-format media card reader and a full numeric keypad. This notebook is fine for home users with relatively basic needs. It should playback DVDs just fine and is ok for basic video editing, but if you plan on working with HD content or playing 3D video games this computer isn’t for you.

The Compaq Presario CQ70 is now available from Circuit City for $579 after a $120 discount and a $30 rebate.

Compaq Presario CQ70-120US Product Page

Compaq Presario CQ70: Budget 17-inch Notebook for $579 is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The Acer Aspire one that comes with a 120GB hard drive, Windows XP Home and 1GB or RAM was $399, and is now just $399. The Linux version with 8GB of solid state drive and 512MB of RAM is now $329.

Acer is still offering a $399 version of the Aspire One, but they’ve added a six-cell battery and a 160GB hard drive to the mix.

via Laptop Mag

Acer Drops Aspire One price to $349 is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The IdeaPad S10 looks great in person and feels very solid for such an affordable Netbook. The 10.2-inch screen is much easier on the eyes compared to its competitors with 8.9-inch displays.

The IdeaPad S10 runs on an 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, has 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. An additional 1GB of RAM can be installed by the user.

The IdeaPad is available in black, red and white.

IdeaPad S10 Demo (video) is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The S9/S10′s chasis feels pretty well solid and well balanced for such an affordable notebook, but the prototype wasn’t functional so I couldn’t play with it as much as I wanted to. The IdeaPad in the below video has a 9-inch display and will be marketed as the S9 in Asia (notice the thick bezel around the display), but is otherwise identical to the 10-inch version that will be sold in the U.S.

update: in my rush to record and get this video up I referred to it as the IdeaPad S10, but it’s actually an S9. The S9′s and S10′s chassis are identical.
IdeaPad S10 Pricing and Specs

Video: IdeaPad S10 Hands On is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

Acer boasts that the Aspire One can run for up to seven hours on an optional six-cell battery, which is very impressive for such an affordable notebook.

The Acer Apire One features Intel’s Atom, which is designed specifically for small mobile devices. It has an 8.9-inch display with a resolution of 1024×600 pixels and an integrated Web cam.

Available in three models, the Acer One is available with either Windows XP Home or Linux operating systems.

If you wan the Linux operating system you have two choices. The base model costs just $379 and comes with 512MB of RAM, 8GB of flash memory and a 3-cell battery. For $499 you get a 120GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM and a 6-cell batery.and no hard drive.

Those that want to stick with Windows XP only have one option for now, which includes a 120GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM and a 3-cell battery.

One very cool feature of the Acer Aspire One is that there are dual memory card readers, one of which can be used to expand the paltry 8GB of flash memory on the base model.

Acer Aspire one AOA110-1722: $379

* Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
* 512MB Memory
* 8GB SSD NAND Flash Module
* 8.9-inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite 1024 x 600
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
* Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
* 10/100 Mbps LAN
* 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified WLAN
* 3-Cell battery
* Multi-in-1 Media Card Reader
* SD Storage Expansion Card Reader
* Linpus Linux Lite
* 3 USB 2.0 Ports

Acer Aspire one AOA150-1570: $399

* Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
* 1GB Memory (512MB On-board)
* 120GB Internal Hard Drive(3)
* 8.9-inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite 1024 x 600
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
* Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
* 10/100 Mbps LAN
* 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified WLAN
* 3-Cell Battery
* Multi-in-1 Media Card Reader
* SD Card Reader
* Windows XP Home
* 3 USB 2.0 Ports

Acer Aspire one AOA110-1566: $449

* Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
* 1GB Memory
* 8GB SSD NAND Flash Module(3)
* 8.9-inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite 1024 x 600
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
* Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
* 10/100 Mbps LAN
* 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified WLAN
* 6-Cell Battery
* Multi-in-1 Media Card Reader
* SD Card Reader
* Linpus Linux Lite
* 3 USB 2.0 Ports

Acer Aspire One Available in U.S. (Pricing and Specs) is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.

The $279 price tag sure sounds low, but the total cost of ownership over the first two years is at least $638 if you want automatic updates, unlimited support and online backups. If you want to buy the Zonbu notebook outright the cost is $479.

âہ“People fell in love with the Zonbu Mini because it freed them from all of the hassles associated with computer maintenance,â€Â said Zonbu CEO Gregoire Gentil. âہ“Now they can have the same benefits on-the-go with the new Zonbu Notebook.â€Â According to Gentil, people shouldnâ€â„¢t have to be their own IT administrators. âہ“We donâ€â„¢t want people to spend a single minute worrying about configuration, setup, crashing hard drives, viruses, hackers, or data loss. Thatâ€â„¢s our job,â€Â said Zonbu CEO Gregoire Gentil.The Zonbu notebook can be ordered now with a beta version of the operating system and software. The final software will be available in eary 2008 and will automatically be installed on Zonbu notebooks when it’s ready.

Zonbu is billing its notebook as the “first green computer,” and plays the climate change card. It is energy efficient and Zonbu offers a free recycling program. Zonbu purchases carbon offsets to make each Zonbu computer carbon neutral.

The Zonbu notebook runs on the Zonbu OS, rather than Windows. It comes bundled with more than 20 apps, including a version of Sun Microsystem’s Star Office, which is capable of editing Microsoft Office documents.

For more info, visit Zonbu.com

Zonbu Notebook Specs:

# Processor: 1.5GHz, VIA C7-M Intel-compatible, low energy use
# Display: 15.4″ WXGA Widescreen (1440 x 900) and VGA output
# Memory: 512MB
# Hard Disk local storage: 60GB (58GB for your data)
# Optical Drive: DVD-ROM/CD-RW
# Graphics: VIA Chrome9 HC IGP (64MB shared memory, 128MB maximum)
# Audio: built-in speaker, microphone and headphone ports
# 3 USB 2.0 ports
# Ethernet: 10/100 Mbps built-in – broadband ready
# Wifi: Built-in 802.11b/g
# Power Supply: 65W AC-DC Adapter, 15W average power usage
# Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion, 2h30 to 3h, depending on usage
# Measurements: 14.1″ x 10.7″ x 1.5″ (35.8cm x 27.2cm x 3.8cm)

Zonbu Notebook fot $279: Cheap and Green is a post by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com.