Lenovo about to launch smartbook with AT&T
Lenovo smartbook: Smaller than a Netbook, or a smartphone in a different body?
(Credit: techtickerblog.com)Remember how we said new Netbooks were coming for CES? We might as well expand that statement to include smartbooks. The new terminology, coined to describe laptop-style devices running sub-Atom processors (Snapdragon from Qualcomm being one of them), is rapidly gaining in fashion lately, especially in relation to cell phone carriers. Packaging these types of extremely small and cheap smart devices in with cellular data plans seems like a match made in gadget heaven.
We've seen prototype smartbooks from Nvidia featuring the Tegra processor (the same that's in the Zune HD), but the Lenovo smartbook unveiled ever-so-briefly at a Qualcomm event Thursday is new and intriguing, and is the first smartbook to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon. Reports say that it runs a variation of a Linux OS (Windows 7 stops at Netbooks) and has an HD-supporting screen, although it's not clear whether HD video can actually be played.
On Tegra smartbooks, we know that the answer to that question is yes, since the Zune HD can easily handle HD video. Our other question--one we've asked before--is: if this essentially has a smartphone processor in a laptop's body, would you simply prefer a smartphone instead? The picture's fuzzy, but which would you want most, a smartbook, Netbook, or smartphone?
More details should be forthcoming at CES, which is only two months away.
(Via Liliputing)
Scott Stein, a New York Jets fan and CNET senior associate editor, has written about tech, entertainment, video games, and viral culture for outlets including Laptop, Wired, Maxim, Esquire Online, Asylum, and Men's Journal. He also appears on the Digital City podcast. In his spare time, you might see him performing improv in New York City (when he's not being a dad). 
as soon as it hits the market. Just like all the other smartbooks...
- by Slick1of2 November 12, 2009 4:55 PM PST
- I'm confused. How does this function differently than notebooks? And are there anymore specs mentioned somewhere?
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- by heulenwolf November 16, 2009 2:14 PM PST
- The potential is amazing. I wonder if the implementation will live up. A "smartbook" is a little like the child of a smartphone and a netbook. It has a faster-than-usual processor for a smartphone and slower-than-usual for a notebook in the Qualcomm Snapdragon . It runs a smartphone-ish OS. Past smartbook-ish demos have run Android. I suspect actual products might run Chome OS. Its got a built-in 3G data connection, in this case, tied to AT&T. Its like a netbook in terms of form factor - keyboard, screen, battery, etc. IMHO, in order for a smartbook to live up to its potential, it should:
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(3 Comments)1) Return from sleep in low-single-digit seconds (<5 sec to usable browser or app)
2) Have all-day battery life when in use, over a week of life in sleep mode
3) Run a fully-capable web browser, hopefully with Flash support
4) Have all the latest data radios: 3G HSDPA, Fast Wifi (N please!), Bluetooth
5) Weight 2 lbs or less for a 10-inch screen form factor
6) Allow for flash-card (SD?) storage expansion and reading/writing of camera and phone memory cards
7) Much prefer it be network agnostic (Qualcomm has the Gobi chipset for 3G UMTS and CDMA, use it!)