Subsidized netbooks with integrated 3G are all the rage these days. It seems every carrier is offering them, and the reaction is mixed. There are some who find the convenience of having 3G connectivity in the netbook to be worth the data plan cost, and others who don’t like having the 3G tied to one device. I am definitely in the latter camp, finding the Verizon MiFi meets my needs while letting me use the 3G with any devices I wish. My step-daughter is getting a subsidized netbook, however, and I have to admit her needs make that the best fit for her.

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You can expect to see two more netbooks on store shelves when visiting AT&T this holiday season. Later this month, both the Acer Aspire One and the Samsung Go will appear in the cellular carrier’s brick-and-mortar locations. They’ll also be available online at a netbook product page on AT&T’s web site, which is already live. Both devices run Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition and are configured with an Intel Atom processor, 160 GB hard drive, integrated webcams and 1 GB of memory. The price for either is $199 after a promotional card rebate and requires a new 2-year data agreement. The standard 5 GB plan is $60 a month, but AT&T is lowering the 200 MB plan cost to $35 a month from $40. Strangely, the AT&T netbook site currently shows the Acer and a Dell Mini 10 for $149, along with a Lenovo S-10 for $99.

Although it’s been said many times and many ways (GigaOM Pro, subscription required) — yes, I’m prepping for Christmas carols — that $199 netbook is really costing you much more due to the monthly data service. If you don’t plan to use the netbook outside of the home or office where you have Wi-Fi, I wouldn’t recommend the purchase. In a more stationary case, you’re better off just buying a device at full price for $350 or $400 with no monthly fee. Having said that, I’m starting to wonder about the success, or failure, of notebook subsidies. I’d love to see some breakout numbers of how many netbooks are subsidized as opposed to how many are bought outright. I know that the subsidy model is a little more prominent outside of the U.S., but I don’t expect that sales of subsidized netbooks are very high here.

Do we have any readers that have bought or considered buying a subsidized netbook?

This is usually the season for door-busting sales, but I think this one has to do with reducing inventory more than anything. MSI is touting a new online promotion in India, the UK, Australia and Italy, and although I’m not near any of those parts, I checked it out. The promotional link took me to a deal for a free MSI Wind netbook with the purchase of an X600 notebook. The free netbook is the same U100 model I purchased in 2008 and is worth roughly $350. To get the deal, you actually have to print out the online coupon and take it to specific vendors.

Purchasing the X600 gets you a skinny 15.6″ notebook with 1366 x 768 resolution running on an Intel ULV chip and ATI Radeon HD 4330 graphics processor. The 2.1-kilogram notebook with 6-cell battery should run for nearly a full workday, and of course, you can always migrate over to your free netbook if you run out of juice.

It’s no surprise that the current Intel Atom platform is long in the tooth. After much chatter about the upcoming PineTrail platform, we’re about due to see a slew of products use Intel’s latest in a netbook. The first one caught on film at Wireless Goodness might be an unnamed Lenovo IdeaPad that is making the FCC rounds. There isn’t much to go on and it looks like most every other 10.1″ netbook we’ve seen in the past few years. Oh, but that telling label might make all the difference in the world: said IdeaPad will have a 1.66GHz PineView processor. Wasn’t that worth the wait?

All other labeled specifications appear to be within normal operating parameters: 1024 x 600 display, 250 GB 5400 RPM hard drive and Wi-Fi. The  keyboard looks fairly standard, but SlashGear notes that the trackpad is buttonless. The label also notes 2 GB of memory right from the get-go, so no need to spend more money on a RAM module after purchase. Of course, we’ll have to wait for an official announcement to see when that purchase will be, and for how much. Any guesses on the number of PineTrail-powered products announced at CES in January? I’ll wager a dollar on 83.

Credit: LAPTOP Magazine

A few weeks ago, I ran some battery tests on my netbook. I have  both Windows XP and Windows 7 installed on my Toshiba NB205, which takes hardware variances out of the equation. My early looks show that Windows 7 offers 10% less runtime on the exact same device. I’ve since done some additional testing, thinking that the graphically intensive Aero features of Windows 7 might be the biggest factor. Unfortunately, that’s not what I found — using Windows 7 with all of the advanced Aero features off not only makes your netbook look like a Windows 95 beta, it doesn’t help run time in any noticeable way.

Readers offered up great commentary on the testing techniques and I can’t argue that there are many ways to run these tests. But even my informal testing shows the same trend continuing. When I use XP in my normal work day, it runs longer than when I use Windows 7 on the same hardware and in the same use cases. But don’t take my word for it. Brad Linder of Liliputing confirmed the same results not long after my testing and now LAPTOP Magazine completes the trifecta.

In fact, LAPTOP put three different netbooks through the paces — and all of them offered less run time on Windows 7. They used an entirely different approach as well, one that’s more reflective of real world usage, so it’s a safe bet that you’ll see less battery life on a Windows 7 device. Will there be exceptions? Of course there will — everyone uses different power management settings, not to mention they use their devices in different ways. But by and large, it looks like there’s a small battery life sacrifice with Windows 7 on a netbook. Should that stop you from using Windows 7? My opinion, is no, but if you’re happy with XP and don’t want or need some of the new Windows 7 features, you might want to stay put.

It’s far too early to condemn a product market when shipping products don’t exist, but frankly, I’m worried. Yesterday saw what’s likely the first smartbook, although the device could be a design prototype. It’s made by Lenovo, powered by Qualcomm and will be sold by AT&T. I’m fine with those three pieces of the puzzle, but not so much with the device itself. From the picture and the expectations being set on future devices in this class, I see a huge problem — it’s an underpowered netbook with no gain in portability. The device reminds me of an OLPC running a fresher version of Linux.

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Kevin recently wondered where the netbook was headed, and a few of you made it clear you were betting on the smartbook to become a player in the small notebook scene. The smartbook is the small notebook pushed by Snapdragon chipmaker Qualcomm, designed to be an instant-on, always connected portable computing solution. We have been following smartbook news for some time, wondering when we would see devices start to appear. That appearance is drawing near, as today Qualcomm announced a new smartbook produced through a partnership with notebook giant Lenovo.

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs showed off a red smartbook at an analyst meeting in New York, and went on to share that the smartbook would be appearing at the CES in January. The small smartbook is to work with the AT&T network in the U. S., and no pricing information was offered by Jacobs.

When questioned if the new smartbook would offer a full Internet experience, Jacobs said Qualcomm worked with Adobe to put a full implementation of Flash on the new device. He also mentioned that the new smartbook, as yet unnamed, will play high definition video.

Liliputing found a fuzzy pic of the new smartbook as pictured above.

Related research: The Future of Netbooks (subscription required)

Nokia created quite a stir by entering the crowded netbook field, and the Booklet 3G set the bar high with an appealing design and special features not found on other netbooks. The metal casing, MacBook-like design and integrated 3G make for a stylish entry into the field for Nokia. The Booklet 3G also has higher display resolution than most other 10-inch netbooks (1280 x 720). The first reviews are starting to appear as the Booklet 3G gets closer to distribution, and our friends at Laptop Magazine have given the new netbook a go. How did it fare? They found the performance a bit lacking for a premium-priced netbook.

The Booklet 3G is a netbook at its heart, with an Atom processor powering the system. Laptop found that to be a problem for displaying video, much the same as other, cheaper netbooks. A particular bottleneck they noted was the slow, 4,200 rpm hard drive, which hampered performance.

“The tardy hard drive was just as bad when it came to file operations. It took a leisurely 7 minutes and 3 seconds to complete the LAPTOP Transfer Test, in which we copy 4.97GB of mixed media files from one folder to another. That’s a rate of 12.0 MBps, which is below the category average of 15.4 MBps and way behind the ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell (22.2 MBps) and Toshiba mini NB205-N330BL (17.9 MBps).”

Nokia has promised all-day battery life with the Booklet 3G, and Laptop verified it does indeed last a long time. Their web surfing over Wi-Fi benchmark saw the Booklet 3G lasting almost 8.5 hours, a decent endurance. The gist of the review finds the Booklet 3G to be well designed, but not excelling in any one area to justify the high price that Nokia is asking for the netbook in the U.S. — it sells for $299 with a 2-year data plan, $599 without the plan.

Well that didn’t take long! Lenovo now has the U150 product page showing availability in the U.S. — if you don’t mind a two-plus week wait – and Netbooked already has a review of this thin-and-light device. One could say they cheated as they have a Japanese model, but why quibble when you can get a first-hand look at this new 11.6″ notebook?

The extensive review covers a lower end model with 1.3 GHz Intel Celeron SU2300 CPU paired with the Intel X4500 integrated graphics. Specs will vary by region, but here’s what $699 buys you in the U.S.:

• 1.3 GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor SU4100
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel Integrated Graphics X4500
• 3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz
• 11.6 ” HD WXGA LED 1366×768
• 250GB 5400 hard drive
• 6 cell battery rated for 57 Whr
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi

So you’re paying around 40% more that you would for a slightly smaller netbook, but you’re getting better performance and five hours of runtime in a 3.26 pound package. Tacking on a Core 2 Duo and another gigabyte of memory will set you back another $150, which puts you in traditional notebook pricing tier. So unlike the $399 Acer Aspire 1410 — which is compared in this review– the Lenovo U15o doesn’t stand a chance to make netbooks obsolete. Regardless, if this package sounds appealing, you’ll want to read the Netbooked review. It’s full of videos as well as benchmarks and observations. Looks like the U150 is a nice machine, but too “in between” for my tastes.

The rise of the netbook helped bring reasonable computing power to smaller packages. While that’s good, one of the downsides is trying to cram all the expected ports and jacks in a thin, small device. USB ports and audio jacks aren’t so bad, but when it comes to that VGA output — well, lets just say it can be a design challenge. In fact, some netbooks don’t use a full-sized VGA out. The HP Mini 1000, for example, uses a mini VGA jack, which requires a small cable adapter. I’m all for simplicity, so I’d rather not have extra adapters to carry and potentially lose while on the go, but I can understand why HP and a few others went in this direction. But that size constraint may soon become a thing of the past.

Today, the Video Electronics Standard Association, or VESA, issued a mini DisplayPort Standard for version 1, Rev. 1A. If mini DisplayPort (mDP) sounds familiar, it should. This is the video adapter interface developed by Apple, who will now be licensing it to VESA for inclusion the DisplayPort standards going forward. In fact, VESA is already finalizing the DisplayPort 1.2 standard, which will include mDP — the new standard is expected to double bandwidth to 21.6 Gbps for video. VESA says “[t]he increased bandwidth enables new capabilities such as multi-monitor support via a single output connector, higher resolutions, refresh rates and color depths, along with high performance 3D displays.“

That all sounds well and good, but the biggest netbook and notebook benefit I see is the smaller port size. mDP is smaller than VGA by a bunch — I have such an interface on my MacBook and I’d love to see it on my netbook. Unfortunately, in my current setup the mDP interface requires that dreaded adapter since my external monitor offers DVI and VGA inputs. Regardless, this development could lead to thinner netbooks and notebooks — well, if they can lose the blocky RJ-45 jack for wired Ethernet, that is.