High Speed Internet Access (HSIA): Mobile Broadband

The latest HP netbook, the HP Mini 5101 will be available in Australia later this month. It’s aimed at business users and is feature packed and customizable. The reviews so far have been excellent with praise for the build quality and finish, the superb keyboard which is almost full size and the optional extras that can be purchased to make the spec very impressive.

The previous versions of HP netbooks have been impressive and the HP 5101 comes with a larger keyboard, bigger hard drive, high resolution display and in-built 3G mobile broadband.

The finish is professional with a beautiful, matt black, aluminium and magnesium chassis. It’s protected from shocks and bumps by HP’s DriveGuard technology.

The basic model in Australia will be on a sale at a price of around $799 with Windows XP Home and a 160GB hard drive. The next model up comes with Windows XP Professional or Vista Business and a 320 GB hard drive.

The Dell Mini 10v netbook is available in Australia and Dell have a special deal on it with $50 cash off until 23 July. More details on the offer are on Dell’s website.

The ‘v’ stands for ‘value’ and it’s a good option if you want most of the features of the mini 10 but at a reduced price. The Mini 10v is on sale this week at $549. The mini 10 is $699. The specs are very similar. The Mini 10 has a HDMI port and a higher definition screen but if you don’t need these options then the Mini 10v is a good buy.

Both netbooks have a great widescreen and excellent keyboard. The keyboard is 92% of a full size keyboard. The Mini 10 comes with optional artwork stickers at an additional cost.

See full specs and buy online from Dell.

Dell are launching a GPS option for the mini 10 netbooks. In the short term it will only be available in the US but depending on how it is received it is likely to be available globally at some point.

The Mini 10s will be fitted with an internal GPS card which will give turn by turn directions through CoPilot satnav software. Wi-fi locationing will be provided through Skyhook wireless wi-fi position solutions. The complete solution is known as Dell wireless 700 location solution.

What’s interesting about the news is not the added functionality for the Mini 10 but the reasons behind introducing GPS in a netbook. Questions are being asked about the practically of using a netbook as a GPS system. In a car it’s hard to envisage how a netbook could be mounted, or how it could be used otherwise. Walking down the street it’s equally hard to imagine carrying a netbook as a GPS device.

GPS within the Mini 10 is not meant to replace a dedicated GPS device but Dell believe that GPS will become pervasive and it’s a way for them to test the market with the netbook solution. The GPS capabilities will link in to websites and social networking sites that can take advantage of location information to provide customized services. It’s this aspect of GPS which will enable an enhanced level of mobile broadband taking advantage of location based services.

A US survey has found that there is some dissatisfaction amongst the purchasers of netbooks. Only 58% of those surveyed said that they were very satisfied with their netbook purchase. However the survey is obviously extracting information about the purchasers’ intentions before the purchase and whether they specifically set out to buy a netbook or whether they were looking for a notebook and ended up with a netbook. 70% of those who intended to buy a netbook all along were very satisfied with their purchase.

The conclusions by the research firm analyst are hardly surprising. When the expectations were not clearly set before the purchase there was more likely to be a feeling of disappointment because the netbook didn’t quite match up to the functionality and performance of a notebook.
Netbooks have smaller screens, keyboards and hard drives. They also are likely to be running on XP rather than Vista. Performance can be an issue depending on what you want to do and the ability to connect to other devices such as speakers, printer, DVD drive etc is limited.

The disappointment was greatest amongst the 18-24 year old group and their biggest issue was poor performance.

On the plus side the purchasers were impressed with the portability of netbooks although interestingly quite a large percentage never actually took the netbook out of the house.

The level of dissatisfaction is a bit surprising given the fact that netbooks are obviously smaller than notebooks. It’s the whole point given the aim of enabling mobility. With that comes inevitable sacrifices in terms of screen and keyboard size. For anyone wanting to keep in contact with friends, family and work colleagues, do a bit of web surfing and maybe keep up with social media sites like facebook or twitter, netbooks are ideal. Maybe the dissatisfaction amongst the younger age group was due to expectations of being able to do high end activities such as gaming or photo editing and being lured by the lower prices and portability advantages of netbooks over a more suitable notebook.

We have a list of popular netbooks that you can buy online at good prices. We also have a netbook buying guide if you are new to netbooks and need more overall information about typical features and functionality.

Dell are in the process of revamping their suite of netbooks. Up until now, in Australia, Dell netbooks comprised the Inspiron Mini 9, Inspiron Mini 10 and Inspiron Mini12. The Mini 9 has disappeared from Dell stores in many parts of the world although it is still available in Australia. Now, the Inspiron Mini 12 has been taken off the Australian Dell online store.

The changes were anticipated a while ago after a Dell roadmap was leaked on a German website and reported in Australia by APC. At that point it looked like Dell were going to offer a low cost version of the Inspiron Mini 10 called the Inspiron Mini 10v. This was thought to be available from March but it now seems as though the launch date in Australia is the end of June.

The Mini 12 will be replaced by an 11.6” netbook codenamed “Argos” at this point and described as being very thin and light.

Dell have a deal on the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook. It’s on offer for $749 with the inclusion of a fully integrated TV tuner card. It’s likely that the TV tuner card will be an option you have to pay for at the end of the special promotion.

The Inspiron 10 comes in 6 standard colours and there is also the option of a customised design from urban artist Tristin Eaton for an additional $145.20.

The pros of the Inspiron 10 are:

• One of the thinnest and lightest of the 10” netbooks
• Good keyboard, 92% of a full size keyboard
• Multi touch trackpad which means scrolling and zooming easy

Cons:

• Three-cell battery

Samsung have entered the Australian netbook market with four new netbooks. Considering that Samsung have won awards for their netbooks launched in US and Europe last year and that they have an army of dedicated fans, it’s good news for Australian consumers. APC have all the details but here’s a summary of what’s available in Australia now and what we can expect in the coming months.

Samsung NC10

This 10.2” netbook will only be offered as part of a subsidised mobile broadband plan. The full details aren’y known yet but Samsung have said that the NC10 will be available through multiple carriers so consumers will have a choice of providers and plans.

Samsung N110 and N120

This is a pretty standard spec compared with netbooks of a similar size. It has a 10.1” screen, Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows XP Home, wi-fi, Bluetooth, 3 USB ports, webcam, 1.3 megapixel camera, memory card reader. Battery life is excellent compared with similar netbooks given that it has a six cell battery rather than the more standard three-cell battery.

The N110 comes in black. The N120 is pearly white and has a 2.1 channel sound system. It will retail for slightly more than the N110. The Samsung N110 is available to

Buy online now from i-Tech for $799.

Samsung NC20

This is the bigger version netbook with a 12.1” screen and full size keyboard. It has a VIA Nano ULV U2250 processor instead of the Intel Atom but other than that the specs are the same as the N120. Buy online for $940.

Samsung N310

This model hasn’t arrived yet. It is due in Australia in Q3 this year. The most interesting aspect is the design. It was styled by a Japanese designer and has some unique colour and style aspects.

Netbooks are taking market share from notebooks. This has been known for awhile with the huge surge in demand for netbooks worldwide. The figures are in now from DisplaySearch, a market research firm and they say that netbook sales made up 20% of all notebook computer sales in the first quarter of this year.

Acer led the field in netbook sales with a market share of 30.5%. Asus came in second.
Penetration rates for netbooks is much higher in Europe than anywhere else and DisplaySearch make the comment that this could be due to the volume of subsidised netbooks that are sold alongside mobile broadband contracts. This practice isn’t so common in North America or in fact Australia.

There’s no shortage of speculation on the future of netbooks. A few days ago we reported on how Apple see the netbook market and whether they as a company are likely to produce some kind of netbook. Today there’s an interview with Lenovo’s Worldwide Competitive Analyst, Matt Kohut in which he puts forward his opinions on the second generation of netbooks.

He sees the next wave of netbooks being bigger, cheaper, running Windows 7, having touch functionality and with in-built 3G mobile broadband.

He touches on the overlap between netbooks and notebooks and surmises that if people want something a bit bigger but with basic functionality and processing power, they might choose a notebook with a lower end Celeron processor rather than one of the high end netbooks.

There probably will be some confusion with definition over the high end netbooks and the small, light, ultra-portable notebooks. However Matt Kohut’s comment that “There is no reason why a netbook has to be a small system” is a bit strange because, for many people, that is the total point of netbooks. If you can fit it into your bag or even pocket, easily carry it around and yet still have a reasonable screen and keyboard compared with a phone then it’s something that is desired. The cheap prices make it a no brainer but it’s the distinctive small size that has seen the netbook market explode.

The HP Mini 2140 has been awarded Editor’s Choice of netbooks by notebooks.com particularly for the business professional.

The features which most impressed the reviewer were the build quality, the battery life, the customisation options and portability.

The Mini 2140 has a brushed aluminium exterior which makes it very durable as well as looking great. It will keep its appearance for longer than plastic alternatives and stand up well to any knocks and dents. It also has a steel hinge again extending the life and a rigid magnesium chassis.

The battery options are three-cell battery, six-cell battery or both. The HP Mini 2140 has a long battery life compared with other netbooks. The six-cell battery lasted over 7 hours in the review.

As far as portability is concerned, the HP Mini 2140 is slightly bigger than the Mini 2000 but still very small and light. It is 1.05” thick and only 2.62 pounds. The height and width are 10.3” and 6.5”.

The slightly bigger build than the previous Mini 2000 model is more than compensated for by the extra features such as the ExpressCard slot, VGA port and microphone jack.

HP minis are renowned for their excellent keyboard. The keyboard in the Mini 2140 is 92% the size of a full size keyboard and has good features such as a special coating to make the keys spill resistant. The screen is glossy which is great for indoor use but has its critics because it can be hard to see outside.

All in all it gets the thumbs up and is recommended as being well worth the price even though the recommended retail price is a bit more expensive than other netbooks currently on the market.

I-Buy have a great deal on the HP Mini 2140 at the moment. They are knocking $100 of the retail price to bring the price under $700. There is more information on the i-buy website and you can buy the HP Mini 2140 online.