The Sony P Series has been met with a fair amount of skepticism here at CES - can it justify the £850 price tag in a world of cheap as chips netbooks? I got some time with it this afternoon, and I have to say, if nothing else, the build quality trumps any netbook I've ever seen, and there are a couple of nice features that push it from netbook to 'Lifestyle PC'.

Continuing the craze for netbooks,HP has expanded its range with the Mini 2140 Notebook PC. Quite how this 10.1 inch baby will provide you with the functionality of a PC whilst squeezed into this tiny aluminium chassis I'm not sure, but the fact that the keyboard is 92% the size of a regular QWERTY board fills me with hope. A UMPC where the keys are easily distinguishable? Fingers crossed.

It's certainly another year of Slimmer, Lighter, More Productive. MSI are all over that bandwagon, with the X-Slim 320, weighing in at 1.3kg and boasting a 13.4-inch screen, they're hoping to lure people in with the promises of Champagne Gold, Pearl White and Stylish Black.

In their own words, the X320 is also very "thin". Yes, apparently the word thin now neccesitates some quotation marks - your guess is as good as mine. In terms of actual numbers, it measure 1.98 cm, and is only 6mm "thin" at it's thinnest point. Battery life is up to 10 hours, which is hours worth of covering up the MSI logo and pretending you've actually splashed out on a Macbook Air.

MSI

For more CES news, click here.

If the launch of new computing equipment gets you excitable and emotional, then what MSI has in store for us at CES might mean you need to sit down while you read this (which I imagine you're doing). Building on the success and popularity of the MSI Wind netbooks U90 and U100 (formally known as the Advent 4211), MSI will introduce more netbooks worth writing about.

This includes the forthcoming 3.5G, "WiMax Ready"U120 and the dual disk U115 Hybrid (which is obviously friendly to the eco). This will apparently be the first netbook capable of running SSD/HDD simultaneously. The U115 boasts a battery life of up to12 hours (with a six cell battery) and implements the latest hybrid storage technology to combine the advantages of SSD and SATA disk, paving the way for beneficial features such as saving energy, stable and shock proof, reading fast and having high capacity. And to assist you impatient side, the OS on the Hybrid is installed in the SSD, so boot time is reduced and operational efficiency improved.

The goodies don't stop here folks.

What a great day. It feels like Christmas has come early. We thought the waiting game for the oriental chic Vivienne Tam Mini 1000 netbook was going to last until February (which is what we were initially told) but as it happens, it's available to order right now from HP's website for $699 (around £470). It goes without saying the 10-inch netbook is a beaut, but what's under the hood? There's a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, up to 60GB of hard drive storage and it's all packed into a 2.45 pound machine that's just under an inch thick.

Once again the worlds of fashion and tech have combined to bring the equally geeky and fashion conscious something worth shoving someone out the way for. But if you're not into conspicuous designs, you may want to avoid it - this certainly isn't an understated piece of computing equipment.

[via Engadget]

Zara's been eyeing up the netbook space for a while, and it seems the Advent might have convinced her to dive in. There's a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM and Windows XP. You can pick one up here.

Contrary to what the president of Asus said last month, regarding Eee PC's being no more and the discontinuation of any Asus netbook with a screen smaller than 10-inches, it's just been announced Eee PCs are about to get a whole lot cheaper... and smaller. Q1 of next year will officially mark the year of the cheap netbook if Asus rolls out the $200 netbook it recently announced. That's around £130 and about as no frills as Asus will have gone so far.

Although reps are keeping tight lipped about specs, features and generally anything about this new batch of bargain netbooks, this is still very exciting news for aspiring netbook owners. It probably won't be packing the speediest processor, or a sizeable screen and you can forget HSPDA and probably Bluetooth, but you will be getting what you paid for.

The drought of Hello Kitty stuff seems to be over and she's back on top form. It was only last week we told you her royal kittyness is heading for the Nintendo DS with her Big City Dreams, well now straight from the mecca of Hello Kitty (or Hello Kitty Hell for some) is this lovely piece of eye candy - it's a Hello Kitty netbook. It seems the bandwagon had time to make a quick stop for Hello Kitty to jump on and plague us with more netbooks get one more miniature laptop out there as well as grab a piece of the netbook pie profits. I can see the guy behind Hello Kitty Hell now, down on his knees, with his head in his hands screaming "whhhhy?"

The bandwagon must have been travelling way too fast for Packard Bell to catch a ride, as the 'dot', otherwise known as the "the ideal travelling companion" (by Packard Bell of course) has finally joined in the netbook festivities, almost two months after we initially heard about it. Could Packard Bell have been keeping us waiting on purpose to build up some long-awaited anticipation? Perhaps - but you'll be waiting a little bit further as it's not out until January.

The dot doesn't bring any new specs to the table in terms of what we've seen in the past but it's all presented in a very nice glossy package so if you like modish things the Dot could be the netbook of choice - customary Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, a five-in-one card reader, webcam, Windows XP, an 8.9-inch screen and the greatly appreciated WiFi. And word on the streets web is a 3G version is up for grabs too.

The announcement of a netbook Mac would make any Apple fanboys day, which is probably how a few of them felt when they clapped eyes on this mini Mac. It would have probably taken them a few seconds for it to register that the Macbook Nano is a fake, and then... the wave of disappointment. Sadly, it doesn't exist.

If you want to get your mitts on a netbook with screen smaller than 10-inches, that bears the Asus name, you'd better hurry up - the president of Asus has confirmed the company is intending to get rid of its older and smaller Eee PC models in favour of larger and more recent models such as the 1002HA model and S101. And it has no plans to unleash anymore netbooks with a display size of 10-inches or under.

Not that long ago we filled you in on details of Toshiba's foray into the Netbook market. Well now we can reveal where you can purchase one, and the pricing is pretty attractive. Get yours at the Carphone Warehouse for only £30 pcm.

Toshiba's NB100 seems to tick all the correct boxes for a Netbook. Large enough screen? With 8.9 inches that's definite tick. Super light? Only 1.05 kilo's, so check. Huge hard drive? 120GB's my friends. Multi-ports? Only an Ethernet port plus 3 USB ports, and an integral webcam. You can either buy it on contract or as a standalone, but seeing as the contract plan includes two years connectivity to the net, I think I know which option I'd go for.

£30 per month at the from Carphone Warehouse on a 24 month contract with O2, Orange and T-Mobile.

See here for more Netbooks

HP looks like it's got a netbook for everyone, with the launch of three new models, ranging from £300 to £400. First up, and best looking, is the Vivienne Tam 'digital clutch'. Announced in September, it's supposed to be small (10-inch screen) and lightweight (1.1kg) enough for you to carry as a clutch. Of course, it doesn't fulfil the main raison d'etre of a clutch, which is to carry your junk around, but who's looking at details like that anyway? Of course, under the bonnet of the Vivienne Tam "China Chic" clutch, you'll find the Mini 1000.

It appears Asus is going for a world record for the amount of netbooks it can launch in the space of 365 days. Either that or Asus is determined to continue its reign as the kings and queens of the UMPC (which is questionable for some). Asus isn't giving us much variation from previous Eee's, but then again there's not much room for disparity.

The 1002 essentially follows the classy and dribble inducing design of the S101, and shares a variety of similar specs with previous models. So we're looking at an Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD, rather than an SSD option and more memory, which is what comes bundled with the S101.

HPs Mininote range is soon to get a new addition. The question we're all asking ourselves though is did HP do this intentionally to create a bit of buzz around the Mininote 1000? Other companies have been accused of doing this in the past, so it's not a far-fetched accusation. HP let the cat out the bag when it accidentally (??) ran adverts for the new Mininote 1000 on its website. So now it's been revealed the HP netbook will sport a 10-inch screen, upping the screen size from the 8.9-inch Mininote 2133. It'll also remain nice and lightweight at 1.3 kg and measure 25mm thick. And thanks to the imagery we know prices will start from $399.99 (around £250).

Remember Apricot? It probably depends how old you are, as though the brand has been around for years, it hasn't been available in the UK for the last ten. Well they're making a comeback in a big way with the launch of the PicoBook Pro, a new UMPC. It aims to challenge the likes of ASUS and Advent with its 60GB hard drive, 8.9 inch screen and runs in either Linux or XP.

We apologise for this interruption to regular service. Unfortunately, the fine looks of this 'Ultimate eeePC' has lead to the writer dribbling all over her keyboard and shorting it out. She's now unable to tell you its real name (the S101), its dimensions (10.2-inch screen, 1.8cm thick) or its specs (WiFi, ethernet, 1GB of RAM, card reader, Atom processor). She's also unable to tell you the price ($700 US, GBP TBC).

We will endeavour to get her up and running again as soon as possible. Please bear with us.

[via Boing Boing Gadgets]

More netbooks? Click here

The Great Netbook Market has just got more crowded. Again. Late to this particular bandwagon, Samsung has announced its NC10 - "a stylish alternative to existing products". Meow.

It sports a 10.2-inch screen and a full sized notebook keyboard (so far, so laptop, right?). It's the Intel Atom processor that brings it back to netbook status, as well as the Windows XP operating system. There's a 80-160GB hard drive, and an impressive eight hour battery life.

It's Toshiba's turn to get in on the netbook action. How many does that make it now? A few hundred, thousands perhaps? OK, not that many, but the competition's getting ridiculous. Joining Medion, Advent, Asus, HP, LG and a load of other brands trying to cash in on the netbook market, it's Toshiba, attempting to wow us with the NB100 and hopefully make us ooh and ahh a lot too.

If you went for a white eeePC and are now ruing your lack of imagination, panic not. Skinit has loads of skins - some brilliant, some questionable and some down right horrible. In fact, there's something for everyone.

They go for $30, and are made specifically for the ASUS Eee PC 4G, or you can go for one of their generic 12, 15 or 17-inch skins. There's even an option to design your own, should you want your own ugly mug gurning out of your laptop.

Check them out here.