What we like best

Users on the search for their first netbook might be forgiven for trying out flashier models, such as the Acer One Happy, simply because they tend to grab the attention more. The Acer One 533 doesn’t really stand out visually – it comes in matte, almost industrial colours – but it is deceivingly light and slim. It weighs only 1.2Kg, and measures 27mm in height.

The 10.1 inch screen is held firmly in place by two hinges that feel pleasantly resistant but aren’t bulky or creaky. Similarly, the keyboard is nice and large for such a small device, with only the arrow keys being a noticably reduced size. The Acer One 533’s trackpad has been built into the chassis very slyly – it is only highlighted by a subtle grid pattern (that nevertheless feels distinct as soon as you move your fingers over it), and there is even a little scroll pad next to the trackpad for quick and easy navigation through longer articles and documents.

The keyboard is tilted at a slight upwards angle, due to the large battery, but that makes typing more rather than less comfortable.

The Acer One 533’s screen has the by-now-standard 1024 x 600 resolution, but it displays images and web pages with a sharpness that is an absolute pleasure – the contrast is distinct and colours are vivid. 720p videos are this netbook’s forte, with resolutely smooth and classy viewing ensured, but at 1080p, videos do lose their impact.

The main innovation of this netbook is its choice of processor, the Intel Atom N475. It reaches 1.83GHz and allows for some multitasking, but, as with most netbooks, there are limits as to how many things you can do at the same time. When it comes to battery life, however, the N475 comes in handy due to its lower power usage – at relatively intense use, the Acer One 533 runs for around five hours without being plugged in.

As a nice bonus, the Acer One 533 comes with Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity.

What we like least

One of the few concessions to aesthetics is the Acer One 533’s glossy lid, which does look nice but also attracts greasy fingerprints like nobody’s business, so keep a cleaning pad close if you want to preserve its shiny look.

The viewing angles with this netbook are nothing to write home about, even though you can fold the screen down to almost a completely horizontal level, and there is a tiny bit of reflection to taint the otherwise very good display.

The upgrade to the N475 processor doesn’t really make that much of a difference to performance, especially since RAM is still ‘only’ 1Gb, and the operating system (Windows 7) is the same as most of the other netbooks out there.

What we like best

You can’t deny that the Acer Aspire One happy looks very funky – it comes in four different colours (lavender purple, candy pink, lime green and Hawaii blue), and its white keyboard adds a nice bit of balance to the Hubba Bubba visuals.

At 1.25Kg, it’s also extremely light – you’ll be able to show it off on the bus, on the train, in the park or
wherever it is you’re going. The battery life of about 6 hours is fantastic for a device this small, making the Acer One Happy a great option for mobile computing, and the keyboard, while a tiny bit crammed, has a good action and a solid feel to it.

The processor running this little netbook is the Intel Atom N450, whose maximum speed is 1.6GHz. Users will have no problem firing off emails, making notes or surfing – which are the main tasks you want a netbook for.

The Acer One Happpy lets users switch from Windows 7 to Android very easily, which in principle is a great feature – Android boots quicker, so you can get online in a few seconds without having to boot up Windows. But the Android version installed on the netbook is outdated, and because multitouch isn’t supported, its a bit cumbersome to use.

What we like least

The inclusion of the Android operating system is a bit of a riddle – what’s the point of not installing a full version? It does let users get online quicker, but the reason Android works so well on tablets and smartphones is that it uses multi-touch technology – which isn’t supported on the Acer One Happy. Apart from using it to go online, you probably won’t find many reasons to boot up Android, so it seems like an unneccessary add-on.

3D gaming and video streaming with this netbook won’t be life-changing experiences, either – the Acer One Happy wasn’t really built for that, but it would have been nice to see a bit more attention being paid to graphics. The display is glossy and thus creates some distracting reclections when the netbook is used in a light environment.

What we like best

Black lid, a blood red running along the edges, and a matte white interior surrounding the display and keyboard – the Samsung NF110 almost looks more like a tasty cupcake than a netbook.

Its shape is also quite unique – the sides are shaped like a wave rolling towards the display, but, crucially, without affecting the angle of the keyboard. This is a fine piece of design, and the isolated keys are very responsive as well, considering their small size, making for fairly comfortable and quick typing.

At 1.3Kg, the Samsung NF110 is easy to carry around, and with its lung-busting battery life of over five hours you will be tempted to make it your first-choice portable work station – the netbook’s 250Gb memory will certainly help you store all the documents, images and slides you need, and its non-reflective display makes it a great option for working outside.

It comes with all standard ports (except a HDMI socket) and some very good speakers – although we’re not sure who would want to rely on external speakers when there are so many good headphones out to buy for a decent price.

What we like least

The Samsung NF110 is a good all-round budget option, which inevitably means that it doesn’t scale any great heights in terms of performance. The combination of an Intel Atom N455 processor and 1Gb RAM won’t set your pulse rating, and the 1024 x 600 pixel resolution is nothing more than standard. YouTube clips will be fine, but if you try watching HD episodes of your favourite TV show, you might be frustrated.

Same thing goes for multitasking (browsing, writing, downloading) – the Samsung NF110 was not really built for handling too much at once, so if you like your netbook to juggle multiple tasks at the same time, you might have to search in a higher price category.

The ICONIA Tab W500 was presented to technology journalists at a central London hotel. It is a 10.1 inch multi-touch screen tablet to which a keyboard can be attached, thus making it an option for users who want to get work done while on the move.

Users can choose between two operating systems (Windows 7 or Android Honeycomb) and between two screen sizes, the smaller option being a 7 inch screen. Among the features provided by the ICONIA tab W500 is the Clear.fi tool, which helps users to organise their files across multiple devices, e.g. their home computer, smartphone and laptop.

The tablet’s most interesting feature, however, is its processor. The AMD Dual-Core C-50 chip is 75mm small, thus not weighing the tablet down unnecessarily, and has an impressively low wattage of 9 watts. This means that it will not impact the ICONOA Tab W500’s battery life negatively, whilst still powering it at a respectable 1 GHz. The accompanying AMD Radeon HD6250 graphics card makes for a great visual impact and allows the tablet to be used for gaming – which is a welcome and unusual feature for a netbook.

Users who prefer typing on a traditional keyboard can purchase the keyboard, which slots in underneath the tablet.

The ICONIA Tab W500 comes with trial versions of Microsoft Office and McAfee, as opposed to full-fledged versions.

Acer’s new tablet will be available in UK stores from April 7 onwards, with a retail price of £449 (the keyboard will cost £89).

Dell Latitude 2110

The Dell Latitude 2110 weighs just 1.3Kg with its 6-cell battery which gives you 7 hours of light usage. It also comes with an Intel Atom processor which is low-voltage which means it helps your battery last even longer- perfect for when you are on the road.

The Dell Latitude 2110 also comes with support for up to 2 Gb of RAM and up to a 250 Gb hard drive as well as variety of ports.

One of the best features of the Dell Latitude 2110 is that you can choose your preferred operating system; that either Genuine Windows 7 Starter, Genuine Windows 7 Home Basic or Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Netbook Remix.

The really interesting thing about this netbook is the screen; the Dell Latitude 2110 comes with a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution LED touchscreen.

If you want to find more then why not read the PC Site Dell Latitude 2110 review!

This is looks like a standard machine at first glance but Dell has tried to put a more modern twist on it, and fitted it with a touch screen. A gimmick or a great addition to the Latitude range?

What we like best

The most important features in an ultraportable laptop, designed for a traveling entrepreneur are connectivity, battery life and size and weight. Ideally you would like all of this without compromising too much on power.

We were pleased to find that this model comes with built-in wireless, Ethernet and the option of mobile broadband, so you are almost guaranteed to stay online where ever you are.

It weighs around 1.3Kg which is the perfect weight for a netbook and comes with a 10.1 inch screen with touch capabilities. This screen has a 1,366 x 768 resolution which plays 720p content with ease.

It is powered by an Intel Atom processor which is low-voltage, helping you to conserve power. It’s no iCore chip but in a netbook you are not looking to open hundreds of applications at the same time.

What we like least

Although the touch screen may be a selling point for many, as not many netbooks out there come with such capabilities, but we found it quite unresponsive and unnecessary.

As stated above, battery life is a very important quality on a netbook and this one lasted just seven hours of light usage. This may seem like a lot but when compared with other laptops on the market it does fall behind.

The Dell Inspiron Duo is a netbook that literally transforms into a tablet via a unique flip-design, which means you can go from touch to type in seconds.

What we like best

The best part about this device is that it doesn’t make you choose between touch technology and a traditional laptop; you can have the best of both.

This 10.1 inch netbook comes with a 1366 x 768 resolution, multitouch HD display which flips backwards and folds down to form a tablet. The tablet it Flash compatible and comes with the new Dell user interface ‘Stage’ which lets you access you favourite content quickly and hosts a number of creative applications.

It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium installed as well as a powerful Intel Atom N550 dual core processor, up to 320 Gb hard drive and 2 Gb of RAM.

In terms of connectivity you have two USB 2.0 ports, and Ethernet adapter, built-in WiFi and option Bluetooth and 4G mobile broadband. The Duo also comes with and a built-in media card reader, 1.3MP integrated webcam and digital microphone.

It make not look as elegant compared to the iPad or Galaxy Tab but it still has a starting weight of just 1.54Kg and it comes in three colours, red, black and blue.

It also comes with an optional JBL audio station that also acts as a stand, so you can use your Duo as a digital picture frame, alarm clock or music player.

What we like least

Dell could have made this product even better but allowing it to switch to maybe and Android system once it has flipped into a tablet – this may be a suggestion for version 2.

Although it is extremely impressive, if you are on the market for a high-end tablet, this is not the product for you. It is great go-between, but the tablet side if the device is not up to the iPad/ Galaxy tab standard just yet.

The Acer Aspire One 532 is a netbook that can last up 10 hours, is as light as a feather and is very robust. What more could you ask of a mobile PC?

What we like best

Unlike its predecessor, the Aspire One 531, this netbook does not disappoint when it comes to battery life. Acer claims that its 6-cell battery can last up to 10 hours, during normal Internet browsing using Wi-Fi.

This is at a stretch but this netbook does last a lot longer than most other models on the market.

It manages to do this through its power saving properties, such as a special feature on the 10.1inch display, with LED backlighting, which enables it to save 22.2% of its power during use.

It also includes the new Intel Atom N450 platform “that integrates graphics and memory controller in a single chip,” according to Acer. This basically means it uses less power, aiding battery life, without the loss of graphic performance.

The Aspire 532 also has a 93% standard size keyboard, integrated Wi-Fi, Mobile Intel NM10 Express Chipset, up to 2 Gb of DDR2 memory, and a large internal hard disk with up to 250 Gb of capacity. We like the sound of all that!

What we like least

It comes with a multi-gesture trackpad, which is becoming more standard on laptop these days, but the one on the Aspire One 532 is over-sensitive at times, proving annoying whilst typing.

The glossy finish on the chassis, although it looks sleek, does attract fingerprints quite easily – a minor quibble but it may bother some people.

Operating somewhere between a smartphone and a standard laptop these nifty little machines provide pretty much everything a person would want from a PC at a considerably smaller price than the cost of a basic laptop.

What we like best

The first thing you notice about the Mini 10 is that it is a good looking, well designed, little machine. It looks and feels compact and well built, has a solid looking keyboard and comes in a choice of six colours, so it certainly scores big when it comes to taking it out of the box and holding it for the first time.

The overall design is great to look at  with nice clean smooth lines,  it is fantastically small and a delight to hold. It weighs just over 1 Kg  is only 1.1 inches thick and measures a teeny 261×183 mm and so will fit into a small shoulder bag with ease.

The Mini 10 comes with 1 Gb RAM and an optional 160 Gb of hard disk space, which should be enough have a media library of about 70,000 photos and 62,000 songs. Best of all it comes with a built in 1.3 megapixel webcam, which is pretty cool for such a small PC.

What we like least

Power and performance-wise the Mini 10 is driven by an N Series Intel Atom processor. These are not the most high performance processors out there but they manage to do a pretty good job.

You won’t have any trouble using Word documents, Google docs or Google Mail and you can access all streaming media online.

If you are looking to handle anything high-end such as Photoshop or you plan on downloading and streaming a lot of video content then you may find that the Mini 10 doesn’t give you all the power you need.

Lightweight and stylish the N140 comes with a few nice improvements, pushing it ahead of its rivals in a few key departments. And although you can find lighter netbooks on the market the N140’s flyweight 1.27 Kg is hardly backbreaking.

What we like best

The finer features of the older models have been kept, such as the near full-size keyboard and the matt-finish anti-glare screen, with viewing angles wide enough for three people to comfortably view the screen.

Though the battery is marketed with 11 hours you will be hard pressed to reach that with even the extended 9-cell battery, though you can certainly manage well over 6 hours, which is more than adequate for most people.

Connectivity has been upgraded along with the memory, hard drive and processor, which has increased much of the core functionality. These are improvements on what we have seen previously in the N-series, though they are minor compared to what can be found elsewhere.

What we like least

The world is fast getting used to 11 inch netbooks, whilst this is a minor issue, larger screens and slimmer chassis are the direction that netbooks are going in.

There are more, small complaints which added together could be quite an issue, such as the indented cursor buttons, which require a new angle for clicking which is unfamiliar. Although this might be a petty issue, it does show a step backwards in usability.