Netbooks Carnival

In late August 2009, the highly anticipated Disney Netpals are expected to ship.  Parents of computer-curious children ought to get one before collectors of Disney memorabilia buy out the entire supply. 

The Disney Netpal is a fantastic gadget to have.  The look-and-feel simply captures the magic of Disney and packages it in a neat little netbook.  The Disney Netpal is available in two colors: Princess Pink and Magic Blue, both very Disney in their decor.  But then again, what can you expect from a perennial pop culture icon.

Disney Princess Wallpapers and friends

The software package comes fully loaded with custom Disney-themed application and programs.  Children can tailor their desktop theme using wallpapers and icons made exclusively for the Disney Netpal such as Disney Princess wallpapers.  The theme selection includes more recent favorites such as Cars, Toy Story, and WALL-E.  Classic Disney is, of course, available with vintage Mickey Mouse and other classic characters.  Club Penguin and Disney Fairies are also part of the selection along with Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers.

Disney Mix and Disney Pix

Fun learning is at the core of the Disney Netpal.  Hence, two applications for music and images are included in the software package, the Disney Mix and the Disney Pix.

The Disney Pix application has a bobblehead program which lets kids insert images of their faces on top of bodies and create their own scenes.  They can download these images to videos or postcards.  The Disney Mix allows kids to create their own musical play list and synch it with their own music players.  Along with other Disney-themed software, kids can spend hours and hours exploring their imagination.

It's a Disney laptop, not a toy

Despite all the fun things that kids can do, the Disney Netpal is not a toy.  It's a fully operational netbook built for use by young and curiously-minded 6-12 year old children.  While the trend for netbooks in late 2009 today is 10"+ screens, the 8.9 inch screen that made a splash in the netbook scene in 2008 is perfect for children.  The Disney Netpal's technical specs are also on par with current netbook offerings.  Specifically it has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB DDR-2 RAM (expandable to 2GB), 160 GB hard disk space, wireless capability, and Win XP.  With these specs, the Disney Netpal can also be a netbook for use by the young-at-heart because you'll be able to do what other netbook users can do.

Parental Control

But what's important for parents is safe web browsing and content access by their children.  In this regard, the Disney Netpal has plenty of tools and control that parents can use.  For example, email can be setup so that the address from which the child can receive and send is pre-selected.  This should prevent communication from unwanted strangers.  Parents can also set up which websites the child may browse, thus, keeping them away from accidentally surfing mature only sites.  Also, the time for use of the Disney Netpal can be scheduled, such as weekend only, 4PM-6PM only, etc.

When it comes to the Netpal, Asus and Disney really did their homework so that both parents and children are happy and safe.  It also retails just for $350, making the Disney Netpal by Asus a worthwhile and affordable gift for kids.

Fashionistas will like the new Samsung GO N310 netbook.  It's cooler than the rest in its "netbook" class.  It's just as powerful.  The Samsung N310 netbook has the same technical detail as any other netbook.  It uses a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor.  Hard drive and memory is typical for Windows XP at 160 GB and 1 GB RAM, respectively.  It also has fast ethernet and WI-FI connections, much like any other netbook nowadays.  And the screen size is larger than many at 10,1 inches with a LED-backlit LCD display.  Which is good, but it is still within the range of typical offerings.  On the technical side, it doesn't offer you anything more than other netbooks out there.

What it gives you for your money is the stylish pebble design that is, for now, unusual in netbooks.  It also has an amazingly long battery life that lets you operate up to 9 hours from a single charge.

The Samsung GO Netbook's pebble design is Chic

Samsung pulled one out from the cell phone industry.  The last gadget that touted the soft rounded design was the Motorola PEBL.  It did marginally well in the cell phone market until the iPhone trounced it along with other smart phones. 

Well, the style is back again, this time, in the netbook industry and designed by award-winning Japanese artist Naoto Fukasawa.  The surface is rubberized so that it's easier to grip.  It can probably do without the big "SAMSUNG" name on the cover which could be a turn-off to some.  It comes in turquoise blue, midnight blue, sunset orange, and jet black.

Samsung N310 Netbook has a long battery life

One more thing that students and business professionals will appreciate is the energy efficient 6-cell battery that can operate up to 9 hours from a single charge.  Currently, most netbooks average 3 hours of battery life.

Students won't have to worry about running out of battery in the middle of a lecture or while typing papers at the beach.  Business professionals on the "go" can keep working.  A typical non-stop flight from the US West Coast to the East Coast is 5 hours with possible airport wait.  The Samsung GO netbook with a full 9-hour charge keeps you productive while traveling so that you can do something else when you get to your destination, i.e. cocktail hour at the bar instead of catching up on work in your hotel room.

Samsung GO N310 is pricier than most, but still less than $500

If style is important to you, then the Samsung GO N310 netbook is a must.  If you really want to stand out, then I recommend the turquoise or the orange.  You don't see those colors often.  The Samsung GO netbook will be pricier than most of its competitors, but it will still be under $500.  Much, much less than conventional laptops that can run between $1000-$2000.

See more Samsung GO N310 Netbooks on sale

Way back when I use to go school, I had a Compaq laptop with batteries that lasted less than 2 hours before I had to plug it in to recharge.  It wasn't a big deal, except that whenever I was in a rush, I seem to always be in the middle of a charging session.  So most of the time, I had to decide on what's more important, eating lunch with friends or not writing down my poli-sci notes by hand.  In the big scheme of things, the outcome of the choices was not important, but life would have been so much easier if there were less conflicting choices to make.

So now, whenever I dabble into laptops, either as an advisor to a friend or for my own use, I do pay attention to the battery life of the product.  To me, it's one of the selling points.  What's great is the current consciousness in green technology because it pushes the envelope on energy efficiency.  We see that predominantly in cars and household appliances.  And now, the laptops through netbooks are staking their claim.  Foremost among them is the Toshiba Netbook NB205 with an amazing battery life of 8-9+ hours.

I don't know about you, but when I'm looking at mini netbook specs, they all seem to look the same to me.  They're pretty much Atom-based Intel processors, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB disk space, and hi-speed WI-FI connection.  The few things that I notice changing are screen size, dimensions, and operating systems (Linux, Win XP, or Vista).  Disk space change too between XP or Vista, but they're pretty much at least 160 GB.

One thing that's catching my eyes is the improvement in battery life.  Many netbooks are pushing the envelope to 6+ hours of operation with 6-cell batteries before having to recharge.  Many more are at the 2+ hour range with 3-cell batteries.  Contrast this with top of the line laptops, such as the gaming specced Dell XPS M1730 uses a 9-cell battery.  It can only operate for much less than 2 hours before having to charge (Digital Trends).  To be fair, gaming laptops are used differently and equipped with top of the line components that are resource hogs.  Just like any other competitive activities, equipments are just as important as skills and training for the winning edge.  You don't cut corners in order to win.  Makers of gaming laptops know this, so they're willing to sacrifice energy efficiency for faster performance.  That's why their cost is at the $2000 range.

Netbooks, however, are ideally made for students to aide in their school work and business professionals for work away from the office.  They're just using the netbook for word processing and Internet connection for research and communication.  Portability and long working session are important.  The Toshiba Netbook NB205 with a 8-9+ hour battery life delivers just that (APC Mag) for less than $500.

See Toshiba Netbook NB205 for sale on Amazon.