Ubiquitous Netbooks, a cheap Acer, and WiMax cometh: The week in laptops

Netbooks: So little, so ubiquitous

So, I'm thinking about changing the name of this feature to "The week in Netbooks." Seriously. This week we had rumors and then confirmation of Asus' "premium" Netbook, the Eee PC S101. The company also confirmed that 2009 will bring a touch-screen Eee PC. Meanwhile, the MSI Wind made its way to retail store shelves even as rumors of its successor, the Wind U120, made their way to the Web. And software maker CyberLink hopped on the bandwagon, announcing a Linux version of its PowerDVD movie player so you can watch films on that tiny Netbook screen.

Of course, to change the name of the feature we'd have to define the term "Netbook"--oh, look, Best Buy has handily done it for us.

If you like the Netbook price tag but want something a little larger, check out the 15.6-inch Acer Aspire 5735 we reviewed this week, which costs a mere $399. (It's certainly preferable to the Compaq Presario CQ50-215nr, which we don't recommend.) We also reviewed the opposite of a Netbook, the 18-inch Toshiba Qosmio G55-Q802, as well as the stylish (though flawed) Mobile Edge Element laptop briefcase.

Elsewhere in the news, Best Buy announced a new product initiative with two new "Blue Label" laptops: the HP Pavilion dv3510nr and the Toshiba Satellite E105. The launch of Sprint's Xohm network in Baltimore brought with it WiMax-equipped laptops from Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, and Asus. And our colleagues at Crave Asia have found one laptop accessory to eliminate fatigue.

And finally, some company in Cupertino is going to make a laptop-related announcement next Tuesday. Of course, we'll be there, so stay tuned!