Netbooks are a little like Marmite, in the sense that you either love them or hate them. Personally, I'm in the love them category but although I find them to be mighty useful, I won't be stepping out to buy one until the next wave of higher-performance netbooks hit the market.
With the traditional hardware combo - that's Intel's 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor and 945GSE chipset - having firmly established the netbook category, these little systems won't be going away anytime soon. Instead, they promise to improve in terms of performance and functionality throughout the year as a result of an industry-wide effort to push low-cost, low-power systems further.
We've got NVIDIA pushing forward with ION, a GeForce 9400M-based chipset that could give Intel's Atom processor a very useful boost in media-orientated systems. Despite forever playing catch-up with Intel's dominating chip, VIA isn't giving up either and it's low-power NANO processor and S3 Graphics chip are winning support from the likes of Samsung. Last but not least, there's also AMD's Neo processor. As part of the Yukon platform, it sits inside systems that live somewhere between the netbook and notebook market.
Before all that, there's an upgraded Intel Atom platform, and it's arriving right about now as part of ASUS' Eee PC 1000HE.
It may look like the numerous Eee PCs you've seen before, but it's sporting a different CPU-and-chipset combo. Out goes Intel's 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor and 945GSE chipset, and in comes the new 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor and GN40 chipset.
In addition to the minor bump in core frequency, the Atom N280's front side bus is raised from 533MHz to 667MHz. The GN40 chipset, which Intel is still keeping under wraps, promises HD-capable playback and may go someway toward dampening NVIDIA's ION.
Although further chipset details remain few and far between, we'd assume that Intel has managed to clamp down on power consumption and create a more efficient platform as ASUS claims the Eee PC 1000HE can offer users a solid 9.5 hours of battery life.
Completing the system is a 10in LED backlit display, Wireless b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth, a 160GB hard-disk drive and a redesigned keyboard. Sound good? It's up for pre-order on Amazon.com at a cost of $374.
We'll have to wait to see if ASUS' claimed battery life holds true, but 2009, it seems, will be another good year for netbooks and nettops alike.
