netbook – rgbFilter

Sony Vaio P review

November 18, 2010December 2, 2010 Doug Groves lifestyle PC, netbook, review, Sony, Sony Vaio, Vaio, Vaio P, Windows 71 Comment

Sony first launched the subnotebook sized Vaio P line of computers back in early 2009, during the heyday of the netbook. At that time they sold the line as a ‘lifestyle PC’, and not to competitive to netbooks, though many of the internal components were similar to netbooks. Price was certainly one differentiator between the Vaio P and it’s component cousins, as the 1.33 GHz Vaio started at $900 US. Since that initial launch, Sony has made some much welcome tweaks, including a very handy touchpad and a faster CPU…

Acer launches four new notebook models in Canada

August 25, 2010August 29, 2010 drsquid 5741, Acer, Acer Aspire, AO533, AOD260, AS8943G, Aspire One, canada, netbook, notebook, press release0 comment

Acer continues to make sure that every segment of the notebook market is covered with their latest releases. For the power user, the AS8943G series, with an 18.4 inch edge-to-edge glass display, include 4GB of RAM and use Core i3 or Core i5 processors depending on price point, and for graphics include ATI’s 1 GB Mobility Radeon HD5650 with Direct X 11 support so it should be up to snuff when it comes to gaming as well. Another interesting feature of these is the dual mode trackpad, which can easily…

Gateway launches new LT32 and LT22 Netbooks in Canada

August 9, 2010August 9, 2010 drsquid Acer, AMD, ATI Radeon, canada, facebook, Flickr, Gateway, HD, HDMI, LT22, LT32, Microsoft, Neo, netbook, social networking1 Comment

Gateway, the sister company of the world’s number 2 PC maker Acer, has just announced two new netbooks, the LT32 & LT22. Both these machines sport single-core AMD Neo processors, which are more powerful but more power hungry than the Intel Atom CPU’s found in most netbooks. This additional horsepower, with the addition of ATI Radeon 4225 graphics and an HDMI port, allow these ‘Premium Netbooks’ to server as portable HD entertainment centres – they both should have no problem outputting 720p video to any HDTV (however we can’t comfortably…

An rgbFilter review: X’s hands-on with the iPad

April 6, 2010April 15, 2016 Danny X Apple, eReader, iPad, iPad in Canada, netbook, review, ultra mobile6 Comments

When I came into the office this morning, the very last thing I expected to see on my desk was a shiny, new, 16gb, Wi-Fi-only iPad. Right about the time I was thinking to myself what I’d done recently to deserve such a gift, the owner came by to pick it up and apologize for cluttering up my work area. Fortunately, I’d had just enough to time to play with it that my reaction was less “Finder’s Keeper’s” and more “meh, whatevs.” In short, after playing with the iPad for…

The iPad: Did Apple jump the shark, or is it a tablet for the masses?

January 28, 2010January 29, 2010 Doug Groves Apple, eBook, Gaming, iPad, netbook, tablet10 Comments

Well, iPad day has come and gone, and with it the dreams of many an Apple fan, if our internal emails here at rgbFilter are any indication. In the weeks leading up to the announcement of the new iPad, there was all kinds of rampant speculation. Will it be iPhone OS, or OS X? How big will it be? Will there be a stylus? Will it magically kill both other ebook readers and netbooks in one fell swoop? If you followed the standard commentary, not just in the tech press,…

HP Mini 311 with Windows 7 and ION now in Canada

December 1, 2009December 1, 2009 Doug Groves HP, ION, netbook, Windows 70 comment

Although available for some time beyond Canadian borders, the HP Mini 311 line of netbooks have finally appeared in Canada. Although still using the single core Atom N270 processor, the Windows 7 Home Premium Mini 311-1033 sports 2GB of RAM and Nvidia’s ION graphics processor along with an 11.6 inch LED backlit display for $499. The 1033’s little brother, the 311-1000 at $429 has the lower powered ION LE GPU, which has less addressable memory, and is wearing last years fashions in the OS department, with XP Home. Both, luckily,…

Trio of Acer convertible tablets announced

November 10, 2009January 28, 2010 Doug Groves 1420P, 1820PT, 1820PTZ, Acer, convertible, Laptop, multitouch, netbook, tablet, Windows 72 Comments

Netbooks have been with us for a couple of years now, and although the market has been one of the largest growing consumer tech sectors, there’s been little innovation beyond increasing screen size and the blurring of lines between netbook and laptop. Sitting squarely between the netbook and laptop markets are ultra thin devices that range from reasonably priced products like the Acer Timeline to the ultra expensive and stylish Dell Adamo and Sony Vaio X. I had a chance to play with the Acer 1410, and found it to…

Pixel Qi display technology “coming soon”

October 17, 2009October 17, 2009 Doug Groves 3Qi, Amazon, display, e-ink, Kindle, netbook, Pixel Qi, tablet1 Comment

Often, we see demos of great technology, only to see it never come out in a usable form. I was kind of worried that this may be the case with Pixel Qi and its 3Qi display technology. Instead of being a whole new type of display, replacing LCD, Plasma, OLED etc ad nauseum, 3Qi is a layer that’s included in the manufacturing process of garden variety LCD screen. With this inserted layer, it allows a traditional LCD screen to be read in direct sunlight. The display desaturated to almost the…

Acer Aspire AS 1410 aka Timeline Review

September 22, 2009October 19, 2009 Doug Groves Acer, AS 1410, Aspire, netbook, review, thin and light9 Comments

Ever since the netbook market took off, tech pundits have been asking “What are the defining characteristics of a netbook?” Is it price, size, storage or some combination thereof? I can safely say that Aspire AS 1410 (also known as the Acer Timeline in Europe but oddly rebranded here) should not only be considered on the fence between netbooks and ‘thin and light’ machines. It pretty much IS the fence. With an 11.4″, 1366 x768 display and a full sized keyboard that feels as expansive as the prairies compared to…

So you wanna buy a Netbook.

September 9, 2009 Danny X Acer, computers, Dell, Gateway, Hackintosh, HP, Mini 10v, MSI, netbook12 Comments

Recently I was in the market for a new laptop computer. I was going to be travelling in the near future and I needed something I could carry around with me. It didn’t need to be a workhorse or anything; just something with which I could stay connected for email, internet, write a few blog posts, and maybe watch some episodes of Burn Notice on in my down time. Having no desire to lug around my tank-like Macbook Pro for these meagre tasks, I made my way to Best Buy…

Episode 019 – The Accidental Episode

August 26, 2009August 29, 2009 Doug Groves Atom, District 9, episode, Fan Expo 2009, netbook2 Comments

After recording an interview with nerdgirlpinups.com founder Nicole Rodrigues, Ryan and Doug decide to kick around the studio and talk a bit about Atom processers, District 9 and the latest CRTC ruling in favour of Bell.

Rogers HP Netbook (non) Deal

July 14, 2009July 14, 2009 Doug Groves netbook, Rogers10 Comments

After annoucing the 50Mbps hi speed internet option in the Toronto area for the low low price of $150 a month, Rogers is now making on the go internet convenient and similarly expensive. For $300 you can get an HP Mini 110 netbook with embedded 3.5G service, with data plans starting at $25/m for 500MB of data, on a 2 year contract. These deals can be found at certain retailers such as Best Buy. Pointing out the lack of major savings compared to buying an unsubsidized netbook, there’s more suitable…