News Bits: Notebook Shipments Increase, Acer Buys Packard Bell, M1330 with Linux

Asus Eee PC touch-screen not happening

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Asus announced Jan. 30 that it will not be offering touch-screen functionality on the Eee PC anytime soon because it is not in high demand from Eee PC customers. The company has suspended its plans for including touch-screens.
For those willing to do some DIY modding, the Eee PC can have touch-screen functionality for about $100.

NotebookReview.com Review of the Asus Eee PC
Read More (DigiTimes.com)

Acer takes Packard Bell

Acer has finally bought European PC maker Packard Bell. Acer today announced to the Taiwanese stock exchange it would acquire 75% of PB's parent company, PB Holdings. Acer is paying $45.8 million for the stake.

Read More (Hexus.net)

MacBook Air miniature Core 2 Duo coming to more notebooks

The custom-fit Core 2 Duo in the MacBook Air is on its way to other ultraportable PC notebooks. The Core 2 Duo in the MBA is miniaturized, 60% smaller than the typical Core 2 Duo processor even though it is made on the same 65nm process. The advantage of the small CPU will not be long-lived, as Intel's Montevina platform with 45nm CPUs ships in May.

NotebookReview.com coverage of the MacBook Air
Read More (Engadget.com)

Dell XPS M1330 available with Ubuntu in the US

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The Dell XPS M1330 is now available in the United States with Ubuntu 7.10 Linux pre-installed as Dell said it would be. The base price is $954 as of writing as compared to $999 for the standard Windows XPS M1330. The savings are not exactly drastic, and I have to say that $45 for Vista Premium isn't bad.

Product Page (Dell.com)

Worldwide notebook shipments up 33% in 2007

The IDC has released a report that said worldwide notebook shipments grew 33% on-year versus 2006. 109 million notebooks were shipped and 151 million desktops; desktop shipments only grew 4%. HP shipped the largest number of units at 23.3 million, and Acer was in second place with 15.42 million. Dell was a close third at 15.29 million.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

 

Just priced the difference in the m1330 with & without Ubuntu: $1384 vs $1429. No dedicated graphics or wireless N option for Ubuntu either. And apparently, Linux can only support the 'Tuxedo Black' color. For $40 it'd probably be worth having a legit copy of Windows, plus extra for dedicated graphics. The specs:

Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB, 2MB Cache)
Ubuntu Linux version 7.10 with DVD Playback
Standard Display with 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
Speed: 200GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
High Definition Audio 2.0
My Software & Accessories
My Service
1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor,24x7 Phone Support

Also Includes
No Fingerprint Reader
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor
Standard LCD with Tuxedo Black Casing and Camera XPS M1330

 

@$45 difference and with Vista SP1 just weeks away, no dedicated graphics, no wireless N, the only reason to buy a Linux version is for purely political activism reason at this point.

Now that Linux drivers for the XPS are available, anyone can install Ubuntu for free and have the best of both worlds.

In other news, looks like the era of the desktop is coming to a close. Perhaps in 5 years, desktop shipments will represent less than 25% of the market.

Good news for gaming as now game developers will have to tighten up their code to run their games smoothly on integrated graphics which represents the majority of notebook graphics. And/or Nvidia will have to fatten up their mid tier graphic specs. Or, and this is perhaps the best option - Really push MXM as a standard so that 3rd party devolopers will sell retail plug in GPU cards like they do with desktops now.

 

Wow, Acer is rapidly growing. After taking over Gateway now they widen thier market by acquiring Packard Bell. Though many consumers in the US would stay away from Acer products, their market in Asia Pacific is grown day by day because notebook market here subject to budget notebook which is Acer's specialization.

 

PB = acer, one more brand I will not buy - just add that to my list...

Acer... crap service
Gateway... owned by acer
PB .... owned by acer
Apple, Mac OS and cost.
... what else is acer going to buy? or infect?

 

Exactly. I can't say I'm disappointed at the pricing - I pretty much expected it. Dedicated graphics & wireless N would be good to have as an option. I suppose Dell wants to limit their support as much as possible.

 

Acer , Gateway and now Packard Bell ?

Those companies were like the axis of evil but without the Italians styling or the Germans engineering . And here goes a Japanease Kamikaze 45m$ nose dive .

Lol at

 

I bought the Vista m1330 in September and have been running Kubuntu on it ever since. It runs great.

 

Wow, can you get more racist than this?

 

Wow , can't you get the WWII axis metaphor ? and didn't you mean prejudicist ?