There are many uses for netbooks, and one that I use my Lenovo Ideapad for, is to stream music to my vintage Pioneer SX-1280 receiver.   These vintage audio receivers sound great when playing vinyl, but sometimes it’s just easy to pop on a Spotify radio station and let it go.

It’s easy to connect a netbook to your receiver or amplifier.  The easiest method is to utilize a 3.5mm to RCA cable.  Then, plug the 3.5mm headphone jack into your netbook, and the red and white rca cables into the AUX jack of your receiver.

If you’d like better sound, and you’re ready to spend some money, find a USB DAC.  The DAC will take a data stream from your netbook’s USB port and convert it into analogue sound that can be fed to your receiver!

The Netbook vs. Tablet argument is one that is ever rife. There are obviously benefits to both, but when it comes to poker which one provides you with the best gaming experience? This article takes a look at the pros and cons of both the Netbook and Tablet for online poker. Both a Netbook and Tablet are a good option when travelling as they are more portable than a desktop computer or laptop and as long as you have access to the internet you should be able to access many of the main poker sites. Now however, you need to consider whether a Netbook of Tablet would be more suited to your gaming needs.

Tablets: Tablets are often preferred for general internet activity as they are high speed, extremely portable and perfect for web browsing. However, when it comes to online gaming, not all real-money mobile poker providers support tablet devices, it will depend on the operating systems they use. That said, as tablet devices become more and more popular, many sites including PokerStars have adapted their iOS and Android applications to also support iPads and a number of other tablets. A further issue to consider when making your decision is the lack of keyboard. Many poker players like to have a mouse and a keyboard and are put off by the idea of playing solely with a touch screen.

Netbooks: Netbooks are essentially just a mini-laptop. Such that, they have a fold-out keyboard rather than a touch screen, a similar processor yet they are generally more portable and convenient. Some people would argue that the smaller screen proves an issue for game play, however again it depends on the type of gamer you are. For example, how often you play and what types of games you partake in? For example, when multi-tabling some players would prefer to play with a full-sized screen. The disadvantages of a netbook are that they are generally not as fast or smooth as a tablet. Again this is something that would need to be considered dependant on your gaming needs.

Hopefully this has helped you identify the pros and cons of both types of device. Remember a few things to consider when choosing which device you are going to use:
Which factor is most important to you? Are you more concerned with transportability or speed? Do you need a keyboard or can you rely on touch screen?
What are your gaming habits? How often do you play? Which games do you tend to play?
It the type of device supported by your choice of provider? This is definitely worth checking if you’re going for a tablet. You can usually find this out by looking at the mobile device section of the provider’s website.

The latest Asus Zenbook UX31 has the  ability to resume from sleep nearly instantly and now Asus is bringing the same feature to its Intel Atom-powered netbooks.  The feature is available on the latest Eee PC 1025C and 1025CE  and also adds a new sleep mode that allows an Eee PC netbook to resume from sleep in just 3 seconds.  Asus says you should also get about 21 days of sleep time while using Instant On, so the sleep mode isn’t exactly a battery killer.

The company is also adding a few other new apps to its latest netbooks including one called Smart Camera and another called Media Sharing, but the quick resume technology is the most impressive, since it’s the type of feature you normally find in significantly more expensive computers.

The Eee PC 1025C  is expected to launch this month for about $299, while the 1025CE with a slightly faster processor is expected to run $319 and up.

ViaJames!

The Lenovo ThinkPad X130e is a netbook/laptop with a 11.6 inch display and a rugged case designed for students and schools. It will be available starting December 20th for $469 (US dollars).  The X130E will be available with AMD or Intel processors, but all models weigh less than 4 pounds, provide up to 8.5 hours of run time, and have rugged design elements including a rubber bumper on the top cover, strong corners and hinges, and reinforced and recessed ports.  Intel models will feature the Intel Core i3-2367M processor, while the AMD models are available with AMD E-300 or AMD E-450 processor options.

The laptop comes with 3 cell, 31.2 Whr or 6 cell, 62.4 Whr battery options, up to 8GB of RAM, a 320GB or 500GB hard drive, and a VGA webcam with low light sensitivity.

There are a range of ports including VGA, HDMI, and Gigabit Ethernet, 3 USB 2.0 ports including one powered USB port, and a flash card reader. The laptop has WiFi and Bluetooth and optional mobile broadband.

Intel’s latest vision in the laptop space, called ultrabooks , are basically a thin and light laptop which weighs less than 3 pounds and measures less than 0.8 inches thick.  Intel also specifies premium components including solid state disks and the latest Intel chips.

Intel envisioned ultrabooks coming in at less than $1000 (USD) but that target has been hard to hit with components available today.   DigiTimes reports that the first two companies to ship ultrabooks are only expected to move about 100,000 units by the end of the year. That’s despite initial plans to ship two to three times as many.

Acer and Asus have already begun selling ultrabooks including the Acer Aspire S3 and the Asus ZenBook UX21 and UX31. Prices range from $899 for the entry-level Acer model to $1449 for the top-of-the-line ZenBook UX31 from Asus.

In fact, some people who only use such devices for entertainment and occasional communication are getting by with just their smart phones! Ultimately, you can choose just about any of these types of products from any standard mobile service company such as O2 Deciding which products you want is all about assessing your own needs and preferences.  If you are looking to get internet access for your tablet or netbook, then visit uSwitch to compare broadband deals and find the best deal for you.

One of the most difficult distinctions and choices to make among the products listed above is between smart tablets and netbooks. Both of these are essentially products designed as more convenient, more portable versions of laptop computers – however, there are significant differences between them. Here is a brief outline of some of these differences.

Tablets – Known mostly for high internet speeds and extreme portability, tablets are absolutely fantastic for entertainment and web browsing purposes. Generally tablet screens are about 10 inches or less in size, and they are very light, meaning that they’re easy to travel with no matter where you’re headed. Most tablets are very simple to navigate and operate, and are recommended for web browsing, music, and entertainment such as watching movies and playing games.
Netbooks – More similar to laptops than tablets, netbooks are in fact, for all intents and purposes, mini-laptops. Unlike tablets, they operate via a fold-out keyboard instead of a touch screen, but due to their smaller sizes they are still very portable and convenient. The disadvantages to netbooks are that they simply don’t function as quickly or smoothly as tablets in some cases, which makes them less ideal for game play, movie watching, etc. However, netbooks are still very capable when it comes to web browsing, and are generally considered very good for work-related activities. Thanks in part to the included keyboard, netbooks work well with word processing, which is one reason they are better for most work activities.

Ultimately, it is not difficult to assess which type of device would be better for you. If you plan on using your device for lots of work and typing-related activities, the netbook is probably the way to go. However, if you’re simply looking for a device that offers you portable internet access and entertainment sources, you can’t go wrong with a tablet. Both are spectacular products overall, and the differences are actually surprisingly subtle in the end.

One of the first Asus netbooks to ship with an Intel Atom N2600 Cedar Trail processor is now available for purchase in the US. The Eee PC X101CH comes with a 10.1 inch display, 1GB of memory, a 320GB hard drive.  With a price tag of $280 or less, it’s also firmly in the budget end of the Asus lineup.

You can see the netook at Newegg in the US for $279.99.

The 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N2600 dual-core Cedar Trail chip should offer slightly better performance than the Pine Trail chips used in earlier Asus netbooks.  It will be one of the first netbooks from the company to be able to handle 1080p HD video playback thanks to Intel’s improvements to the integrated graphics for its Atom chips.  The netbook has an HDMI port and a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. It runs Windows 7 Starter Edition and has a VGA webcam above the display.

One of the reasons this netbook is low cost is because it comes with a small 3 cell, 23Whr battery instead of the 6 cell batteries that are more common among netbooks these days. Asus estimates you should get up to 4.5 hours of run time out of the standard battery.

Toshibas’s latest NB510 netbook looks much like Toshiba’s last few netbooks but under the hood it has a shiny new Intel Atom Cedar Trail processor.  That means better video performance, and in that light, there’s also a new HDMI port on the side of the computer along with a VGA port, Ethernet jack, and 3 USB ports.

Toshiba’s netbook will be available with either an Intel Atom N2600 or N2800 processor, a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, and 320GB of storage — although the demo model on display at CES has 2GB of RAM, so it looks like the memory should be upgradeable.

Bucking the trend in modern thin and light laptops, the NB510 also seems to have a user replaceable battery.

Toshiba is going to launch a new line of netbooks with 10 inch displays and the new Intel Atom Cedar Trail processors. The folks at Notebook Italia have obtained a few photos and we should have more details once the Consumer Electronics Show is underway next week.  We do know the Toshiba NB510 netbooks will be available with Intel Atom N2600 or Intel N2800 processors, 1GB of RAM, and 320GB hard drives.  The new models will have 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel displays and run Windows 7 Starter Edition.

We also know that the new netbooks will have the usual ports including 3 USB ports, a headphone jack, Ethernet, and VGA ports. But the Toshiba NB510 also adds an HDMI output to take advantage of the new HD video playback capabilities that come with Intel’s latest low-power Atom chips.

Intel’s third-generation Atom chips intended for netbooks have started to ship and the company says products with Cedar Trail chips will debut in early 2012.   The first netbooks are expected from the usual players such as Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba

Prices will remain steady for new netbooks are expected to start at 199 pounds, with higher prices for those netbooks with advanced features such as touchscreen displays.

The new Cedar Trail processors support 1080p HD video playback and use about 20 percent less power which Intel says will allow netbooks with Cedar Trail chips will offer up to 10 hours of battery life.  The new chips also support Intel’s Wireless Display technology and new features to speed up resume from sleep and connect to the internet more quickly.