Remember the Mini 5101 that HP released 6 months ago to target high-end customers with business related aspirations? Turns out it’s not alone – as a matter of fact it has a new twin brother that carries the title Mini 5102. The latest, which belongs to the growing Pine Trail family, packs inside an Atom N450 processor along a 10-inch display, offered with a WSVGA or WXGA panels. But as a premium portable device, one can guess it boasts a lot more than usual. What else is new? We’re talking about a Broadcom HD video accelerator, added to the pile, while keyboard is at 95% from the regular one. Besides that you can toss inside any possible operating system available, either it’s FreeDOS, SUSE Linux, Windows XP or Windows 7 Starter/Premium editions. Battery wise, you can choose between 4-cell and 6-cell flavors, but the most attractive alternative, marked as optional, is that super cool capacitive (multitouch) touchscreen which turns that netbook into a tablet (well, not exactly, but you know what I mean). It ain’t going to be cheap, boys and girls, but we still can;t tell how much and when. PR words added after the break.
Update1: Apparently, the Mini 5102 cover is made out of a stunning brushed aluminum plate and the chassis hides an optional handle for ‘A-grades’ students. Checkout the hands-on video the good people at engadget just shared.
Update2: We’ve added another video from the CES show that demos HP’s touchscreen netbook capabilities, this time with a snapdragon and Android platforms running inside. Check it out right after the break.
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Those of you who anxiously look for high-end netbook machine with business exterior flavors, HP might have the right solution, as the company recently announced a new netbook, the Mini 5101, which comes with a slick aluminum and magnesium alloy body, housing Intel’s 1.66GHz N280 Atom processor, together with four-cell or six-cell batteries, 2 MP webcam, Bluetooth 2.0/ WiFi b/g/n connectivity and up to a 320GB HDD or an 80GB SSD. Additionally, you get to choose between a standard 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 WSVGA display or HD-compatible 1366 x 768 LED screen at the same size, paired with optional WWAN module and either Windows XP Home, SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 or FreeDOS systems aboard, offered at a starting price of $449 from July. See how the Mini 5101 netbook really looks, with HP’s official video after the break.
Update1: Looks like the Mini 5101 is finally available to purchase, starting at $399.99 and including a 10.1-inch LED-backlit display, along with a flat chiclet keyboard and all the basic stuff we noted above. However, for extra cash you can get inside the business edition a 128GB SSD drive and 1366 x 768 resolution, but it will cost you a lot more.
[via HP]
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Online digital music market is getting warmed up, as US retail giant, Best Buy, announces it will acquire Napser for an astonishing $121 million price tag. The transaction is set to be accomplished in Q4 of this year and we have no doubt it was carried out in order to try snatching a substantial share from iTunes’ market dominance. Napster allows its 708,000 subscribers to access an unlimited library of music or using the “Napster Mobile” platform, on their mobile phones, for a small monthly fee of $15. Having said that, the company has never turned a profit, during its long years of existence.
Best Buy president Brian Dunn confirms the company’s desire to expand Napster services and to use “Napster’s capabilities and digital subscriber base to reach new customers with an enhanced experience for exploring and selecting music and other digital entertainment products over an increasing array of devices.” Be sure it’s just the beginning and we expect more developments to take place in the near future. We do hope this move will increase the competition and at the end of the day, will be profitable for the consumers.
[via ZDNet]
