Upgrading the SSD in a Netbook Makes a Difference [Storage]

Netbooks are netbooks. Usually based on Intel's Atom chipset, and generally not that fast. What you gonna do? Well, I upgraded the SSD in my Hackintosh. Not just to bump the drive from 32 to 128GB, but for SPEED.

The drive is one of few things easily upgradable on these devices. On the Dell Mini 9, its a matter of removing two screws on the back plate, and two screws that hold the drive in place (which, if you've never seen a netbook SSD drive before, looks more like a RAM module.) The 64 and 128MB modules take up the space reserved for the WWAN card, so don't go that route if you have WWAN.





While I was able to restore my Mac OS X Time Capsule backup, it wouldn't boot til I used the DellEFIbootmaker (allows you to boot into the drive you just restored) and then ran DellEFI to restore the partition to a bootable condition. Oh, the Leopard install process which you use to restore won't read off of a Time Capsule, so you have to copy the restore file to a USB drive before hand. Anyhow, none of this is the point.





Look at how much faster the writes are, especially the random ones. The only sacrifice you end up with is a bit of big block read performance.

It's a bit of a shame the stock SSDs h! ad these compromises in the first place, though. If you're buying a netbook, its worth checking the forums for results like these on the models you're interested in, and perhaps buying a low capacity stock model, and upgrading to an aftermarket drive later. (The Super Talent drive I tested wasn't cheap, though, at $200 for the 64GB model and $380 for 128GBs.) Kind of ridiculous next to the cost of a $200-$300 netbook, I admit. *shame*

One other thing to consider: The runcore SSD upgrades for netbooks have little microUSB ports on them, so you can load up and back up files/images from another machine. Handy for Hackintoshing, for sure, but I think they top out at 64GB, taking up only a single wide form factor.
[Super Talent Dell Mini 9 SSD]

Read More...

Summary only...

Should We Be Excited About the Archos9 Windows 7 Tablet Netbook? [Tablets]

We already knew pretty much everything about the Archos9 tablet netbook running Windows 7, but with nobody sure what kind of touchscreen the thing uses, we're left to wonder if we'd want anything to do with a resistive-touchscreen tablet.

Crave got a little hands-on with the svelte Atom-powered Archos9, and without even thinking about it, published their post calling it a fairly accurate capacitive touchscreen. That makes us happy: Tablets, especially a little guy like this 9-incher, need as accurate tracking as they can muster. Archos's previous "tablets," the Archos 5 and 7, used mushy resistive touchscreens that worked okay but are firmly last-gen right now, and we're excited to see a slick capacitive interface with the highly-touchable Windows 7 OS.

Yet in Archos's press release for the Archos9, they list the screen as resistive. Now we trust Crave, and we believe that they (like the rest of us) can tell the difference with each finger press. So what's the story here? Crave doesn't seem to have any idea; all the documentation says resistive, but it certainly didn't feel that way to them. This may seem like nitpicking, but it might be a dealbreaker for us. Handwriting recognition is far worse with resistive screens, they can only pick up one signal at a time (so multitouch is out), and the screens thems! elves ar e often much muddier or washed-out looking than capacitive.

So help us out, Archos. We want to like this thing, we really do, but we'd like to know what we're dealing with first. Anyway, full presser below. [Crave]

ARCHOS REDEFINES MOBILE COMPUTING WITH ITS TABLET PC

New Ultra-Thin and Ultra-Fast ARCHOS 9 PCtablet Delivers Full PC Computing, Video Conferencing and Access to Media on a Full Touch Screen Handheld Device.

DENVER, CO – July 2, 200Your browser may not support display of this image. 9 ARCHOS is leading the innovation charge in the MiniPC market with the introduction of the ARCHOS 9 PCtablet. This new PCtablet combines the performance of a high-end PC with breathtaking design, excellent ergonomics and an astonishing touch interface. It gives PC users an entirely new way to work, stay connected and enjoy the Web and digital media on an ultra-thin and extremely fast full touch-screen tablet.

The ARCHOS 9 PCtablet is the ultra portable PC; extremely thin, just 0.63", and ultra lightweight, less than 22.29 oz. The ARCHOS 9 pushes the boundaries of style and function.

With a full touch-sensitive 9" screen, users can enjoy a comfortable computing experience. The resistive screen allows emails and documents to be composed easily via a built-in virtual keyboard. The innovative optical trackball and buttons allows easy navigation on screen, and provides an uncompromised PC experience.

The ARCHOS 9 features the new Z515 Intel® processor, Microsoft Windows 7® Operating system and an integrated multimedia platform that uses WiFi 802.11b/g connection and Bluetooth 2.1 for extremely fast computing anywhere, anytime.

Additional software includes Microsoft Office®, Web TV & Radio, video conference, antivirus, parental control, photos and movies edition applications and more.

The ARCHOS 9 PCtablet will be available this fall, 2009.

Read More...

Summary only...

LG Making iPhone Competitor, Android Phone and Prada III [Lg]

It would be amazing if LG could make an iPhone competitor, an Android device and a Prada III that's one single device, but somehow I don't think that's what LG's president means.

In an interview for a Korean news agency, Ahn Seung-kwon says (besides the details above) that LG will make another luxury phone (unrelated to the Prada) that will be similar to Nokia's crazy overpriced Vertu. He also said that they aim to be the number two cellphone maker in the world by 2012. The current #2? Samsung. So it's like Predator vs. Aliens, except instead of Predator and Aliens, you have a bunch of Koreans. [Unwired View via Boy Genius]

Read More...

Summary only...

Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet does a little hands-on time

Looks like the Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet has made it out of the labs (and controlled show floor settings) and into the hands of Crave UK, where that seemingly-amazing resistive touchscreen continues to impress -- so much so that they initially thought it was a capacitive unit. We actually pinged Crave ed Nate Lanxon to find out what was up, and the real story appears to be a mystery -- either Archos PR is mistaken in telling everyone that it's a resistive screen, or the company has somehow improved the tech to the point where it's virtually indistinguishable from a capacitive display. Given our experience with previous Archos resistive touchscreen devices that felt like mush, we've got to say we're going with Occam's Razor on this and that it's really capacitive, but we're definitely ready to be proven wrong -- hey Archos, you feel like sending us a new toy to play with?

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet does a little hands-on time originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Cannes Swept by PR, Integrated, Internet Winners Ad Age Is Over -- or, at Least, It's Evolved to Higher Plane - http://ping.fm/EhjwG

Read More...

Summary only...