The guys over at Lenovo have sure been busy innovating this year, there was a lot of buzz at the CES 2010 about the Lenovo U1. At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking it was just another netbook, but this one has a very unique twist, a detachable screen which turns into a internet tablet in it’s own right!

While connected to the base unit or dock i suppose it could be called, the system operates as any other netbook, running from it’s Intel Core2 Duo processor with Windows 7, but when detached it switches to the Snapdragon CPU built into the tablet and the linux based Skylight OS. The tablet will also have integrated 3G so it can always be online.

Lenovo also tout the fact that switching between the two modes will be seamless, so for instance if you are browsing the web while the unit is a whole you will be able to carry straight on where you left off when detaching the screen.

Pricing has been set at $999 when it launches in the US and it should start shipping later this year, it is certainly something we at Gizmospy are going to be keeping a keen eye on, so watch this space

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Yes you did read the title correctly, Nokia have dipped their toe into the netbook market and brought us the Nokia Booklet 3G. So does the mobile phone company cut the mustard in the computer world or should they stick to what they’re good at? We’ve sent our agents in to bring us a full report.

The Good

The new Nokia Booklet 3G certainly makes a good first impression, it has a certain Macbook-esque look about it with an aluminium chassis that also doubles up as a heat sink enabling Nokia to do away with a fan and vents. The fact that they have used aluminium does mean the netbook weighs a bit more than most (1.2Kgs) but this is far from a bad thing, it feels much studier and better built than a lot of the recent netbooks on the market. The outer lid has glossy plastic which isn’t interchangeable unfortunately but does come in 3 different colours, black, silver and blue, of course the glossy finish tends to attract fingerprint marks so you’ll be glad to hear that Nokia even include a little cloth to keep the Booklet 3G spick and span.

Lifting the lid reveals a 10.1 inch LED backlit display, which in fact is very easy on eye, it runs at 1280 x 720 which provides a good amount of screen real estate for a netbook. Just above the screen is a built in 1.3MP camera and beneath is a chichlet style keyboard, the keys are very comfortable to work with, if ever-so slightly smaller than the norm but we didn’t find this to be a problem with our chubby digits. The mouse trackpad we were very impressed with, it is only a basic touchpad and doesn’t support all the fancy pinching and twisting gestures, but still was very easy to use and a good size.

There are plenty of connection options on the Booklet 3G, consisting of three USB sockets, headphone jack, HDMI output and a SD card reader all found on each side. Nokia have also decided to integrate a GPS chip which we thought was a nice touch and not often found in other netbooks/laptops, while it doesn’t work brilliantly inside a thick walled building it does work nearer to a window or while strolling outside, it accurately tracked our location and we could plot destinations with ease. It also of course offers connectivity via Wi-Fi and even bluetooth, but the Nokia Booklet 3G really comes into it’s own with it’s built-in 3G.

The Booklet 3G has a SIM card slot on the side which allows you to connect to the 3G network in those times where a Wi-Fi hotspot isn’t available. Installation is a breeze and as soon as you insert your sim card, Windows 7 picks it up and has you connected via 3G in no time at all. You can currently use a SIM card from any network as the Booklet 3G isn’t locked into one or the other, but this may change if they start to offer a subsidised model in exchange for a mobile broadband contract.

Battery life on Nokia’s offering is truly excellent, lasting a good 7/8 hours under load, under normal use you could easily expect it to last a good 12 hours+ between charges which should be more than ample for those on the go.

The core of the netbook is an Intel Atom Z530 running at 1.6GHz combined with 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a 120GB hard drive

The Bad

Even though the low power Intel Atom CPU provides the system with excellent battery life, it does suffer a bit in the performance stakes, if you try and have too many applications open at once it will start to struggle. That being said the same is true for most netbooks using the Intel Atom chip, but in the price range in which this one lies a little more would have been nice.

Nokia have bundled in Windows 7 as well, but only the starter edition unfotunately, while it does the basics very well you won’t find any of the bells and whistles to be found in the more advanced editions.

Conclusion

For it’s price tag the Nokia Booklet 3G certainly looks the part, just let down slightly by it’s ability to multi-task. If it’s style and looks you are after then this is your baby, but if you want more performance bang for your buck then keep shopping around.

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2. Acer Ferrari One review
3. Samsung N130 review

The Samsung N130 10.1 inch Netbook is a great model from Samsung in the netbook range. Its usability, low price and long battery life help it stand out from the crowd in a tough market.

The Samsung N130 comes with an Intel Atom processor which is used to increase energy efficiency to extend the battery life giving you up to 6 hours battery life making it a great model for those on the move. The N130 also comes with 1Gb of memory. The N130 is sleek and elegant making it very portable as a netbook should be but with a 10.1 inch XD display giving proper 16.9 aspect ratio it can play true wide-screen content. Although slim it packs in an ergonomic keyboard which is normal size so typing is easy and un-compromised.

Storage is a capable 160GB hard drive and the Samsung N130 also comes with a 3-in-1 card reader making it good for multi-media use. Three USB ports let you connect peripherals such as external disks, CD / DVD drives or memory sticks while 802.11n Wi-Fi provides high-speed wireless connectivity. The Samsung N130 also comes with an integrated webcam fitted above the screen.

The Good
The Samsung N130 is a great product for those that truly want a portable netbook. The great battery life makes it ideal for those who want to use the netbook for a good portion of the day without access to power. The full keyboard makes typing on this netbook easy so is very good for people who want to do a lot of typing on the move, such as chat or content writing.

The sleek design also make this netbook great for those who truly want portable computing and online access on the move.

The Bad
There are few negatives with the N130 model. The mouse can be over sensitive making it a bit annoying when hovering over as it can move the mouse. The Webcam is off to the right which means you won’t appear centrally if you are sitting directly in front of the netbook but this isn’t a reason not to buy this product, just more of an annoyance.

Spy Rating
Great netbook for those who want portability. Great battery life, good performance and a great price make this a true netbook and what netbooks are all about. Sure there are models out there with better specifications and more features but if you are looking for a netbook which gives you online access on the move with the capability you expect from a netbook then this is a great product for you.

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3. Acer Ferrari One review

In a similiar vein to the Italian car manufacturer with which it’s partnered, the new Ferrari One netbook from Acer is designed to be sleek, sexy and quick. But does it live up to it’s namesake? We sent our agents to check out what’s under the hood on the new addition to the netbook market.

The Good

At first glance it is obvious that some time has been spent on aesthetics, the glossy scarlet red lid sporting the ever famous prancing horse logo may not be everyones cup of tea but it certainly sets this model apart, we almost felt like cracking out the chamois leather to give it a quick buff up. Even the plastic wristrest has been made to resemble carbon fibre and a quick look underneath will reveal four rubber feet in the style of tyres.

The Ferrari One is a little bigger than most netbooks available at the moment, but boy do Acer make good use of the extra space. The keyboard is quite possibly one of the best we have seen on a notebook and for that matter a large number of laptops, the primary keys are a nice big size and the general keyboard layout is good, it takes no time at all to become comfortable and up to your usual typing speed. The mouse trackpad also allows you to use pinch, stretch or twist gestures similar to that on the Macbooks or iPhones to manipulate things on screen which is a nice touch.

The larger frame also means that Acer could sneak in a 11.6 inch screen which, when compared to the 10 inch screens of the majority of netbooks really makes a lot of difference. The larger screen also means a higher resolution than most of it’s competitors, 1366 x 768 to be exact which provides a nice workable area.

The Ferrari One is not all about style though, from the word go it’s evident that this netbook is a cut above it’s rivals in terms of performance as well, mainly helped along by the fact that it is the first of it’s type to make use of the AMD Athlon X2 L310 CPU, with two cores running at 1.2GHz each and 1MB L2 cache which easily runs the pre-loaded Windows 7 installation. Backing up the CPU is 2GB of RAM which can be expanded to 4GB if required and an integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200, the latter of which is a huge improvement over the Intel integrated graphics that are shipped with most netbooks. It can even run some of the latest games, albeit at a lower performance level, but still playing the likes of World of Warcraft on this baby should be a walk in the park. It can also quite adequately handle HD streaming/playback.

Acer have gone to great lengthes to highlight the Ferrari One’s audio capability. It ships with a pair of integrated stereo speakers, and its sound card can easily handle Dolby Home Theater v3, which features Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Pro Logic IIx and, more usefully for a netbook, Dolby Headphone, which produces a fairly realistic 5.1-channel surround-sound effect.

Other features include an ample 250GB hard drive, more than enough for the average netbook user, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Gigabyte ethernet. External connectivity on the Ferrari One is mostly as you would expect. It has two USB ports on the right side, along with a five-in-one memory-card reader, a mic jack and a headphone jack that also doubles up as an optical digital SPDIF audio output. The left side houses a third USB port, a D-Sub VGA video output port and something a bit different, an ATI XGP port (More about that in a minute).

The Bad

Now moving on to the things our agents didn’t particularly like (There aren’t many), firstly the ATI XGP port, it allows users to connect an external graphics card which can then output to up to four monitors. Now this sounds nice in theory, but not many are going to be willing to buy another peice of kit for something that may never be used, a nice HDMI output would have been better in our opinion.

The mouse trackpad may take a little getting used too, it is a slightly odd shape and not quite as smooth as some may have used in the past, not that this is a major issue as we quite quickly became accustomed to it but thought it best to highlight.

Conclusion and rating

While we liked the styling and bold appearance of the Ferrari One, obviously it isn’t going to appeal to everyone. But one things for sure, it’s specs and performance make it one of the, if not THE best netbooks available today. Our agents have absolutely no qualms in recommending it to anyone looking for a bit of ompf in their netbook.

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3. Dell Inspiron 11z Review

Dell introduced a new line of NetBooks as they are becoming more popular. The latest gem of a model, the Dell Inspiron 11z series netbook was released towards the end of 2009, with models boasting a 1.3MHz Intel Celeron or Pentium SU4100 Ultra Low Voltage processor, ultra light design and laptop like performance. The 11.6″ HD TFT Screen makes this a little larger than the Dell Mini Series, but packs more power and performance yet is still a bargain at little over £350.

Some other features include latest built in Wifi, a 1.3MB Webcam to stay connected and optional extras soon to be available like bluetooth and mobile broadband

The Good

Like all Dell hardware, they can be customized with very reasonably priced upgrade components, but also the entry level models still prove to be very good for the average user. The Inspiron 11z has the benefit of still being a very portable and ultra light netbook weighing only 1.4kg and only 1″ thin. With a slightly larger screen, the 11.6 inch Hi-def WLED 1366 x 768 pixel display, while the Mini 10v has a smaller 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600.

Entry level models comes with 2GB 800MHz SDRAM, 160GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard drive, decent Intel processor which fares better than the Atom processors in most netbooks and the best bit of all they are extremely well priced. Because of the Ultra Low Voltage Processor the battery life is also very good giving approx 6hrs with the larger 6 cell battery. The 11z series also feature a near full size keyboard beacuse of the the larger chassis and a HDMI port unlike the Dell Mini series.

The Bad

Our Spys have informed us that some users experience problems with the touchpad, mainly because the left and right buttons are now intergrated which can be frustrating at first but think this would be one of those things to get used to. This does allow for doing a 2 finger pinch type zoom like you would on the Iphone, and some users actually prefer this.

For the full battery life you will need to opt for the larger 6 cell battery and this will also add some extra weight and size to the machine and isn’t always suitable for on the go Spys.

Spy Review & Rating

A very affordable netbook with the power of a laptop, also very stylish and lightweight design. The Dell Inspiron 11z netbook would be very suited to the average Spy or general public who is on the go with a decent battery life for researching secret missions or just browsing the internet. The added benefit of 2GB ram a decent processor and decent lcd screen will not affect the performance and allows for doing more advanced spy tasks like watching covert operations in HD or topping up our skills in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

Verdit = If you are looking for style, portable, lightweight for most basic tasks then go for the entry level. If you are after performance and have to upgrade from the entry level then you may be approaching similar prices to some best good performing laptops such as the

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