Crave

The "smartbook" aspires to put the smartphone into the laptop. Will it be able to elevate an Apple iPhone or Motorola Droid-like experience to a larger device, or is it just more marketing mumbo-jumbo?

Two companies are hoping that the smartbook will turn out to be more than just another quickly-forgotten device sales pitch. Qualcomm and Freescale, which are both supplying key silicon technology for the devices, are pushing to make smartbooks different enough from laptops--and Netbooks--that consumers will take notice.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs holds the Lenovo smartbook, which will appear at CES in January.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

The first tangible evidence of smartbooks to come will be seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, where Lenovo, among others, is expected to show, if not roll out, smartbook designs.

One pesky question won't go away, however. Why go out of the way to call it a smartbook? Doesn't Netbook suffice? (And it can potentially be very confusing for consumers since both terms have "book" in them.) On one level, the nomenclature choice is simply to counter the Microsoft-Intel Netbook juggernaut: Another Netbook among dozens already on the market won't draw much attention.

But at a deeper level, the two companies are trying to make the smartbook substantively different from a Netbook. Qualcomm sees it, in essence, as a large smartphone, which leaves the outdated Windows desktop experience in the dust. "A Netbook in our view is just a cheap laptop that runs Windows. We see the smartbook cannibalizing the Netbook. ... Read more

This is one of five designer colors you can choose for this dirt-cheap Netbook.

(Credit: Lenovo)

Update No. 5 (7:40 a.m. PST, Sunday): Now Target has that same 10-inch Aspire One for $199! It's in-store only, though, so call before you drive. Thanks to reader Travisp11 for the heads-up!

Update No. 4 (7:45 a.m. PST, Saturday): Amazon has a deal that's nearly as good: the Acer Aspire One for $229 shipped. (Note: Add any of the available colors to your cart to see that price.) I've reviewed this netbook; it's superb.

Update No. 3 (11 a.m. PST): Sorry, folks, looks like the deal is definitely dead this time.

Update No. 2: Working again! Make sure you follow step 5 and add Bluetooth, otherwise you won't get the color choices.

Update: Sigh. I knew this wouldn't last. Looks like Lenovo has already taken it down (or at least removed the custom-color options necessary to drop the price). My apologies. Deals are so ephemeral right now.

Best Netbook deal of the year, right here, right now. I have no idea how long it will last, so let's get to it.

Lenovo has a 10-inch IdeaPad S10-2 Netbook for $208.70 shipped. The specs are pretty standard, including a 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth, and Windows XP Home. And it's new, not a refurb!

There's a little hoop-jumping here, so stay with me:

1. Head to the Lenovo Family and Friends page.

2. Enter passcode familyandfriends and click Sign In.

3. Wait for the red Holiday Gift Ideas banner to appear, click it, and then click it again on the subsequent page.

4. Click the Netbooks tab, then click Customize & Buy on the IdeaPad S10-2 at the far left.

5. Scroll down and add Bluetooth. Then choose one of the five designer color options (Flower Sea is pictured here). Alas, there's no preview, but they're all pretty gorgeous.

6. Click Continue a couple times and then add the S10 to your cart. Finally, apply coupon code USP12NETBOOK for a final price of $208.70.

Awesome. Just plain awesome. Gotta give shout-out credit to Dealnews for this deal, which should tickle those who've been waiting for a Netbook.

I don't even need a Netbook, and I'm this close to grabbing one anyway. How about you?

(Credit: Nokia)

For this week's installment of the weekly Crave giveaway, we're offering up Nokia's new stylish Netbook, the Booklet 3G, which has just hit stores (thanks, Nokia for providing the unit for Crave readers).

CNET's Dan Ackerman reviewed the Booklet recently, and while he wished it was equipped with the faster version of the Atom processor, he said it was one of the most upscale-looking and well-built Netbooks we've tested and the battery life is great.

He also noted how the AT&T mobile broadband service connects automatically, and the process was "wonderfully transparent, especially compared with the software setup and manual log-ins required by other mobile broadband laptops." (Read the full review here.)

Normally, Nokia's Booklet would cost you about $599 (with a service plan from AT&T, it would cost $299), but you have the chance to get it gratis.

So, how do you try to win this Nokia Booklet 3G? (Note: no wireless service is included.) Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

• Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.
• Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
• Leave only one comment. You may enter this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
• The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive (1) Nokia Booklet 3G Netbook (without wireless service). Approximate retail value is $599.99.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, November 23, at noon EST.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 PM ET on November 23, 2009. See official rules for details.

Good luck.

Netbooks running Google's Chrome OS might be a little different from the standard Netbook, based on Google's specification requirements.

(Credit: Google)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--There's still an awful lot about Google's Chrome OS project that remains up in the air, but Thursday's demonstration did reveal a bit about how Google thinks the Netbook should evolve.

At an event here Thursday, Google showed off the browser-based operating system for the first time since announcing it in July. Chrome OS won't be available for consumers to purchase for about a year, although developers can get started playing around with the source code as of today, thanks to the open-source release of the code.

Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google, took about 50 members of the press through a basic tour of Chrome OS that didn't reveal a whole lot more about what was already known about Google's plans for the operating system. The basic look-and-feel of the software greatly resembles the Chrome browser, as expected, and it's designed to provide a fast lightweight computing experience for Netbook users.

Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google, explains Google's vision for Chrome OS Netbooks Thursday.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

But Google did provide some glimpses of what it thinks a Netbook should resemble. For one thing, it plans to develop a detailed specification of hardware components that Chrome OS Netbook makers must adhere to in order to use the operating system.

"We really want software to understand the underlying hardware," Pichai said. Whether he intended to or not, with that statement he revealed that for Google, reinventing the personal computing experience is about more than the software.

How so? Google seems to agree with a fair amount of Netbook users--not to mention Apple COO Tim Cook--that current Netbooks with cramped keyboards and small touch pads aren't going to cut it in the long run. Pichai did not provide specific details, but hinted that users could expect Chrome OS Netbooks to have slightly larger keyboards and screens than some of the current models for sale.

Chrome OS will run on either x86 or ARM processors, giving hardware manufacturers some choices as to how they want to build their systems. But they will have to use solid-state drives based off of flash memory, presumably for performance and reliability reasons, although they won't have to use a lot of memory because Chrome OS is designed to start most data in the cloud with very little local storage.

These Netbooks will be designed with 802.11n Wi-Fi chips in mind, Pichai said. However, a device such as this--designed almost exclusively for online use--may not be as compelling if users are stuck bouncing from Wi-Fi hotspot to Wi-Fi hotspot.

(Credit: Asus)

Hot on the heels of the well-regarded HP Mini 311, Asus has moved the Netbook bar forward by taking a 12-inch Netbook chassis and including both Nvidia's Ion graphics and a dual-core version of Intel's Atom processor (called the Atom 330). We've previously seen dual-core Atoms only in a handful of Nettop desktops, because of heat issues, and it's unlikely we'd see one in anything smaller than a 12-inch laptop body.

While still small, the 1201N fits in a full-size keyboard and a 250GB hard drive (plus access to 500GB of online storage space). The system comes with Windows 7 Starter and 2GB of RAM. Asus claims the 6-cell battery should last up to five hours, similar to what we've seen in other Eee PC models.

In a brief hands-on demo, we noted that the Asus Eee PC 1201N looks very similar to the current Eee PC line, including the popular 1005HA, with a black glossy finish and textured touch pad.

Combined with a 1,366x768 HD display, the Nvidia Ion GPU makes for a great video watching experience, once you download the new Flash 10.1 beta, which allows the Ion to accelerate streaming Flash video.

When it's available later this year, the Eee PC 1201N should retail for $499, which is a $100 premium over the HP Mini 311 (with Windows XP and 1GB of RAM).

As most laptops are essentially commodity products comprised of the same stock list of components and parts, one might assume that all laptop brands are the same, at least as far as the general reliability of the hardware itself.

Warranty firm SquareTrade has just released a research paper analyzing the failure rate for 30,000 laptops comparing brands and hardware categories--and the results might surprise you.

The headline news is that over three years, one out of three laptops will fail, and that Asus and Toshiba laptops have the lowest failure rates, while Acer, Gateway, and HP have higher than average failure rates. Additionally, two-thirds of those problems are hardware malfunctions, while the final third are classified as accidental damage.

Netbooks, in particular, didn't fare as well--as one might expect from low-cost machines. They failed at a rate 20 percent higher than mainstream laptops. But keep in mind, since Netbooks are a relatively new category, this is based on only one year of data.

The full report can be found at the SquareTrade Web site, and we've excerpted some of the most interesting charts and graphs below (and note that some of the numbers presented below are projections based on previous data).

The key takeaway is that laptops in general fail much more often than many other types of consumer electronics--in part because they're among the most complex devices one can buy, and perhaps because pricing pressure has led to lapses in quality control in the design and manufacture of many of these systems.

(Credit: SquareTrade )

(Credit: SquareTrade )

(Credit: SquareTrade )

More mobile carriers are offering Netbooks as a way to lure new customers--a trend that's likely to surge and encompass notebooks as well.

Hewlett-Packard Mini 1151NR via Verizon Wireless.

Credit: Verizon Wireless

By 2013, more than 60 percent of all mobile devices, including Netbooks and notebooks, are expected to be sold directly by wireless carriers, according to research released Wednesday by In-Stat. Almost 31 percent of notebooks alone will be sold through carriers, In-Stat predicts.

Bundling an inexpensive Netbook or notebook is a small price to pay for a carrier, which can then charge customers for a monthly data plan.

"In the U.S., carriers are charging up to $60 per month for a two-year contract with the subsidized purchase of a Netbook," In-Stat analyst Jim McGregor said in a statement. "While the subsidy costs the carrier $50 to $100, it generates $1,440 or more in service fees over the life of the contract."

Carriers such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint have already been dangling Netbooks as carrots to attract more mobile customers. Verizon is selling Netbooks from Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. AT&T is selling Dell, Acer, and Lenovo Netbooks, as well as a Nokia Booklet 3G. Sprint is also selling a Dell Netbook.

Thanks to the success of low-cost Netbooks, U.S. carriers are further testing the waters by bundling full-size notebooks along with a two-year contract. The strategy isn't just limited to the United States, noted In-Stat. Carriers in Europe and Asia are giving out Netbooks with a data plan, but often at lower prices than in the U.S. Asian carriers have also been offering the kissing cousins of Netbooks: mobile Internet devices and ultramobile PCs.

This trend will intensify as carriers boost the number of services offered and cut prices on those services due to higher competition and better bandwidth, In-Stat said. The mobile market itself is also expected to become more attractive, with richer content and increased bandwidth.

Got an HP Mini 311? Download the Flash 10.1 prerelease update ASAP.

The HP Mini 311 is one of our favorite current Netbooks, thanks to its hi-def screen, reasonable price, and Nvidia Ion graphics. Our main knock has been that the accelerated video, while great for basic gaming and HD video file playback, didn't work with the kind of streaming flash video used by Hulu and other sites. In our recent review, we said:

Video playback was excellent, and our test HD WMV file ran flawlessly--something no other Netbook has been able to do. Web-based video is a bit of a different story, but an updated version of Flash (reportedly available in November) will let streaming Web video take advantage of the GPU. For right now, Hulu on-demand content ran decently as-is, but not radically better than other Netbooks.

So, we're pleased to see the Flash player 10.1 update is available (as a prerelease version) for download. It's not even in official beta form yet, but we downloaded and installed it on an HP Mini 311 Netbook to test it out.

Even in this early form, full-screen HD video via Hulu was much improved. Playback was mostly smooth, with a tiny bit of occasional stuttering. Prior to the Flash update, low-res Hulu programming played reasonably well (and even then, not in full-screen mode), and HD video was very hard to watch.

If you're interested in installing the pre-beta version of Flash 10.1 on your Nvidia Ion Netbook or Nettop, you can find it here.

Samsung Go for cheaper: this used to be a pricier Netbook.

(Credit: CNET)

Whether or not you choose to take this path, subsidized Netbooks are everywhere. For those who choose to use a 3G data plan, going subsidized offers a little bit of upfront savings.

AT&T has announced updates to its Netbook offerings for the holidays, and the Samsung Go and Acer Aspire One have joined its subsidized offerings. The Samsung Go, with its eye-catching textured color and smooth bubbly look, is certainly a change of pace from most Netbook designs. Both come with Windows 7 Starter installed and sell for $199 with a 2-year data plan.

Is the Samsung Go more appealing to you than a $299 Nokia Booklet 3G?

As for the Acer Aspire One, it wasn't that expensive a Netbook to begin with at $299. Does $100 savings and a 3G antenna/Windows 7 Starter seem worth it?

Read our reviews of the Samsung Go and Acer Aspire One AOD250.