Netbooks—small, light, inexpensive laptops designed for basic business tasks like e-mail and Web browsing

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Netbooks—small, light, inexpensive laptops designed for basic business tasks like e-mail and Web browsing

Netbooks—small, light, inexpensive laptops designed for basic business tasks like e-mail and Web browsing—first hit the market in the late ’90s (although they weren’t called netbooks back then). They have proved to be a solid seller since then. However, with the advent of the tablets—including the very popular Apple iPad, Hewlett-Packard’s convertible EliteBook, Dell(Dell Vostro A840 Battery)’s soon-to-come Streak and many others in development—a whole new flock of competitors has arisen.

The Onkyo DX1007A5B notebook is why I flew 7,800 miles to attend Computex. It doesn’t feature the fastest processor, or break new ground in terms of the platform. But this is exactly what I expected to find at the show, and it doesn’t disappoint.Become more productive by taking your digital life with you.

Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which allows a laptop to switch between integrated graphics and its discrete card depending on what type of application is running, was launched several months ago, but was only introduced for a handful of systems (mostly from Asus) since then. This week’s Computex show has changed that, as more than a dozen notebooks using Optimus have been announced here.

The Acer(Acer Aspire 7520 Battery) Aspire 7741G proved a comfortable and likeable laptop to use. It’s not the powerhouse its size may suggest but for a busy household looking for a solid and affordable laptop, we found the Acer Aspire 7741G a good all-round option.

Apple announced on Monday that it marked the 2 millionth iPad sale this week and now Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, predicts that Apple(Apple M6392 Battery) will sell as many as 6.2 million devices in 2010 citing strong international demand for the device.

4.3-inch, 800 x 480-pixel screen. 4G WiMax with wireless hotspot powers. 8-megapixel, 720p video camera. Front-facing camera for video chat. 1GHz processor. HDMI out. Kickstand. The Evo’s dossier reads like a phone nerd’s sticky back-of-napkin fantasy, which is precisely the point. The Evo is an icon, manufacturer HTC gleefully tugging at customers’ hems: Look what we can do!

When it came to using the Acer Aspire 5741 out and about, the 2.8kg chassis is a little bulky for daily use but using it around the house is more than comfortable. What’s more, we even managed to get close to five hours from the Acer Aspire 3100 battery, which is great for an entry-level machine.

The NV59C09u includes every port most users could need, including three USB 2.0 ports; HDMI and VGA output for high-def and standard-def monitors and TVs, respectively; an Ethernet jack; and headphone and mic ports. Rounding out the list is a 5-in-1 memory card reader. The Blu-ray player takes up most of the right side, save for two of the USB ports; the rest of the ports are on the left side (the memory card slot is tucked into the front edge).

On a whim, I ran the World in Conflict benchmark test and received a score of 8 frames per second (fps) at 1,024 by 768 resolution, which is unplayable. A score of 4 fps at its native resolution (1,366 by 768) is like watching paint dry. The Lenovo(Lenovo IdeaPad Y430 Battery) IdeaPad Y460, which can switch between an integrated GPU and a discrete ATI 5650 GPU, turned in a much more impressive score of 43 fps while running on ATI power. The Samsung R580 and its Nvidia GeForce 310M GPU, came in at 21 fps.

So make good use of the Internet as you watch and prepare for a storm. Prepare your computer by backing up files, using a surge protector and having ample laptop battery power in case of a long term outage. And stay safe this hurricane season.

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