The 8.9-inch, glossy, 1,280 x 768 display is a bit shorter and skinnier than the Xoom’s 10.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 display. This gives it a slightly higher pixel density and, indeed, you can tell the difference.  In landscape mode, its screen is as wide as the iPad 2′s, but is about an inch shorter in height. The G-Slate feels comfortable in our hands while typing, whether in landscape or portrait mode, and unlike the iPad 2 with its smooth-as-silk metal casing, the G-Slate isn’t as likely to slip from our grip.

On its bottom side, the tablet has ports for Mini USB and Mini HDMI although not Micro-HDMI as on the Xoom. On the top are a volume rocker and microphone pinhole. Two speakers can be found on the right side, with another on the left. Also on the left are the power/lock button, a headphone jack, and the power adapter slot input.

” Unlike the iPad’s storage, color, and connectivity choices, there is only one model of the G-Slate available and it has 32GB of storage, a HSPA+ connectivity, and comes in a maroonish brown. The only actual choice you have is exactly which monthly data plan you’d like to buy: 2GB of data for $39.99, 5GB for $49.99, or 10GB for $84.99. The tablet itself will run you $529.99 ($749.99 – $120 instant discount – $100 mail-in rebate). So really, you’re going to be paying $629.99 up front.

To help sweeten the deal, LG has included another hot feature in the G-Slate: 3D video recording and playback. The tablet comes packed with a 5-megapixel rear stereoscopic camera array. We doubt anyone is demanding 3D recording yet, it would be a cool feature if not for its one, huge, fatal flaw; it can only record in anaglyph (red and blue) 3D. The standard single-camera recording is 1080p, which is as good as it gets, currently. The LED flash and 2-megapuxel front-facing camera are nice additions as well.

Crazy 3D aside, the G-Slate is a pretty standard Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablet, if one can really say there’s a standard yet. Like the Xoom and Iconia Tab A500, it runs on a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, has 1GB of RAM, and has a 1280 x 768 pixel screen (though the other two have 1280 x 800). It can also connect to T-Mobile’s “4G” HSPA+ network or mirror itself to a TV with its mini HDMI port. The lack of an SD card slot is noticeable, but with 32GB of onboard memory, most users shouldn’t have a problem.

The G-Slate appears to get a little more than 8 hours of battery life, which is about on par with most tablets, which seem to range between 7 and 10 hours, with the iPad 2 leading the pack. On standby, the G-Slate has a fine battery, though using “4G” HSPA+ for data will drain your unit faster than Wi-Fi.

The LG G-Slate is a fine tablet with fine features, but because of its price and lack of configuration options, it is a tablet only meant for those who can afford an expensive price tag and monthly fee. No Wi-Fi-only version is available. Whoever decided to add red and blue 3D to this tablet made a big mistake as well. All it has done is add to the weight and cost of the unit. A general lack of 3D content to play also means you won’t be doing much 3D work, even in anaglyph.

The fingerprint scanner does not work out of the box, and according to Armor, it requires “specialized software that is not provided with the X10gx. Opposite the display side, on the back of the tablet are the two battery compartments with separate gauge displays; the Armor Flexspace Compartment where users can input an SSD, SIM card or custom card (for example, an RFID or contactless card reader); external GPS and WiFi/WWan antenna slots; memory module compartment; and a docking connector. There is also a 2-megapixel webcam and barcode scanning software.

DRS’ latest ARMOR tablet hasn’t quite gotten with the times; the new X10gx sports the same 10.4-inch resistive display, a similar 1.2GHz processor and lags behind consumer products in RAM (2GB) and storage (64GB) almost as badly as predecessors two years prior. The badass quotient, however, has gone through the roof as this magnesium-shelled puppy is now MIL-STD-810G, IP67 and UL1604 certified.

To translate that in layman terms, you can (and they did) drop this 4.7 pound Windows 7 tablet from four feet dozens of times, throw it in a meter-deep pool of water and subject it to sub-freezing, sweltering and potentially explosive environments, all while still accepting standard-height 2.5-inch hard drives. Other features for worthy warriors include integrated GPS, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, optional Gobi broadband and the ability to attach external antennas to each, plus hot-swappable 2400mAh batteries to minimize downtime. Smart card, TPM module and fingerprint scanners come standard, of course, and in a singular gesture to the consumer world, there is one HDMI port.

Both batteries fully charged and using the same power settings, the X10gx lasted 2 hours and 36 minutes of intense use. I really pushed the X10gx by streaming HD video, and I expect the average user will have no problem stretching the battery out to three hours or more with normal use.

What the X10gx lacks in processing power, it makes up for in toughness. I can’t begin to describe the sheer abuse it endured in my care. For example, the drop video took multiple takes, and that was only after I carelessly tossed the rugged tablet around the office before stuffing it in the freezer.

A 1GHz dual-core processor will power the tablet, and it will even have dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi networking. As you’d expect for a new tablet, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 will run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb); however, Samsung has stuck its own UI on top of it. While this made sense with older versions of Android that were missing some key features, such as proper copy-and-paste and tabbed browsing, Android 3.0 is a lot better and much easier to use. Our worry here is that the new UI means that updates to the OS could be delayed, as Samsung will have to do more tech work to roll them out.

There’s a way to go before we’ll see one of these tablets, though. A US launch date is mooted for this Summer, with the UK sometime after that. Pricing looks competitive with the 16GB version priced at $469 (around £290) and the 32GB version priced at $569 (around £350).

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 may well be the perfect size for a tablet. Although it’s missing the ports and memory-card slot of the Xoom, we think it may be a worthwhile sacrifice to enable the device to be so light. But we’ve only had an early glimpse of the Tab 8.9 so far,

The Xoom is streamlined and sturdy but not exactly elegant. Google designed Android 3.0 so that tablet makers wouldn’t need to include the traditional buttons found on phones. There’s no Home, Back, Search, or Menu hard keys; it’s all software. Despite being smaller than the iPad (9.8 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches vs 9.6 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches), the Xoom actually weighs more (1.6 vs 1.5 pounds). When the tablet is held in landscape mode, the two volume buttons are on the left side. A headphone jack and SIM Card slot line the top, and on the bottom you’ll find a tiny proprietary power jack, a microUSB port (for syncing with a PC) and a mini HDMI port.

As you might imagine, the real focus of attention is the Xoom’s 10.1-inch display (1280 x 800 pixels). Though the screen does look nice, pixel density seemed to suffer a situation that was particularly evident when using the Google Books application. Still, the Xoom’s display is more than capable at making game and video content look clear and crisp. One note, however Motorola’s auto-brightness controls seem a little extreme to us here, forcing us to manually adjust the brightness most of the time. Hopefully a software update will come along which softens the severity with which it dims the screen; it was simply too dark for our tastes.

The Xoom features a 5-MP camera on the back with dual-LED flash, which can also record 720p video. A new circular control panel to the right of the preview window lets you adjust everything from the flash and white balance to scene modes. You can also zoom in, though only digitally. A photo of a fruit stand exhibited good color accuracy but looked a bit soft; indoors, the flash blew out our subject. The camcorder fared a bit better, recording smooth and detailed footage of moving traffic.

Xoom’s keyboard to be accurate and fast, and because of this tablet’s narrower body you don’t have to reach as far across the screen when typing in portrait mode. Android 3.0 benefits from a solid cut and paste experience both in Gmail and in the browser. You just press and hold to select text and then drag the little markers. On the top of the screen in the Action Bar, you’ll see various options, including Copy, Select All, and Share.

The general responsiveness of the UI and touch reaction was inline with the best the iPad exhibits. Besides that Tegra 2 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage, the device is equipped with WiFi 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Verizon’s EV-DO Rev. A, along with GPS, a light sensor, and an accelerometer.

Battery life on the Xoom was excellent. Beyond excellent, actually. Motorola rates the Xoom’s battery for up to 10 hours of video playback. In terms of storage, the Xoom comes equipped with 32GB of internal memory, and Motorola says the device will support an additional 32GB via microSD.

In some ways, the Motorola Xoom is a bona fide next-generation tablet. Android 3.0 feels like a thoroughly modern and thoughtful OS, and the software and hardware work well together in certain respects, such as the high-quality video chats via the front-facing camera. Then there’s the price: $599 is a lot to spend on a device that isn’t yet fully baked. Yes, Flash support will be added in a few weeks, but 4G won’t come until later. While you could say the Xoom is future-proof, we’d wait for all the pieces to fall into place and for more stable software before investing in this tablet.

This Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet PC has Adobe Flash 10.1. Since this tablet PC is still powered by Android 2.1 and on the other hand Google has currently made the update of Android 2.2, Velocity Micro offer buyers to update Cruz Tablet PC into Android 2.2 or OTA update for consumers.

Cruz tablet PC has a 7-inch display with multi-touch capacitive screen. Consumers can enjoy playing games, watching movie and TV shows and listening to music from this tablet PC. To read eBooks is also comfort using this gadget. For storage this device has USB port and mini-SD slot. There is Wi-Fi in this tablet PC, but unfortunately Bluetooth is absent here. This missing Bluetooth feature is in fact not common for a tablet PC.

The processor of Cruz tablet PC is using 8000 MHz ARM. Many reviewers mentioned that using such processor will make the system go slow. They are surprised why Cruz tablet PC is not using Inter Atom processor, which has a fast performance and excellent for the system. This might be one from the disadvantage from Cruz tablet PC.

Another disadvantage of Cruz tablet PC is the absent access to the Android Market. This means that consumers cannot get free Android applications from the Android Market. Cruz only has access to Cruz Market, which offered application like Twidroid.

Velocity Micro also released Cruz for children that called the Cruz StoryPad at $149. This tablet PC is full with children’s applications. And another version is the Cruz Reader for consumers that can use this tablet PC special for e-Book reading. This is offered at $199.

This Cruz tablet PC is quiet good for the alternative choice for consumer that looking for laptop function but longing for the comfort of compact eReader. This Cruz has Google Android Interface and the battery life is for 8 hours.

The design of this tablet is really slim and the look is glossy. as we can see on the image, the real buttons are not there, but they are actually Andoroid buttons that integrated inside the software. No wonder if the design of this tablet look very slim and simple.

The manufacturer has set two main utility of this tablet, which is for watching the video from varieties of format, such as AVI, MP$, MOV, PS, VOB, RM and more; this Archos 70 also set to function for browsing internet. And this Archos 70 is actually produced in two types, which are with 8GB flash and the hard drive version with 250GB. Seeing the video from Archos 70 looks bright and crisp. People would not be annoyed holding this light tablet while watching that video. With the multi-touch screen, this tablet is very nice to use for browsing internet and also sending and receiving email, social networking, Google Maps, Live wallpapers and many others.

In the market, the Archos 70 Internet Tablet is offered at $275. Many people compare this Archos 70 with iPad that cost $499 and Samsung Galaxy Tab $599. Those three have similar performance. In fact, this Archos 70 has higher price that the former Archos 7 Home Tablet. But of course Archos 70 has more features and utilities. Eve though the appearance of 7 Home Tablet is similar to this 70. The plus point is about that capacitive screen, Android 2.2 and accelerometer. Those are things that many people are asking from 7 Home Tablet. Archos 70 doesn’t have rare camera, but only front facing camera or VGA cam.

In fact the selections of Archos are widely, it is not only Archos 70 but formerly it is available in the market the brand of Archos 28, Arhos 32, Archos 43 and Archos 101. Of course, not all Archos are using Android 2.2, but some of them are using Android 2.1. The Archos 70 is the latest option that can fulfill what the customers need and desire.

Acer Aspire One D250 resembles the D150: It has the same keyboard, the same glossy black bezel surrounding a glossy 10.1-inch screen, and it’s even a similar shade of blue on the lid and the keyboard deck. It doesn’t have the metallic flecks of the D150, and the blue is more purple in tone, just enough for a noticeable difference. This netbook will also be available in black, white, and red.

At 10.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches and 2.2 pounds, it’s 0.8 inches narrower, 0.3 inches thinner, and more than half a pound lighter than the D150. In fact, with its charger, the AOD250 weighs just 2.8 pounds, the same as the D150 alone. Remarkably, it’s almost identical in thickness and weight to the ASUS Eee PC 1008HA, but, because it doesn’t have tapered sides, it looks larger at first glance.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The D250’s keyboard, unchanged from the D150, is firm and easy to type on; we had no problems typing this review in Microsoft Word. But there’s still a quarter inch of chassis on either side of the keyboard; a missed opportunity for Acer to install a larger, edge-to-edge keyboard, along the lines of the HP Mini 110 or Eee PC 1008HA.

The touchpad is comfortable to use, and offers very little friction, but at 2.0 x 1.5 inches, could be a little wider. The mouse button below is a single bar, lacking a divot to separate the two sides.

Performance

Like every other netbook with a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, the D250 provided fairly decent performance. Its PCMark05 score of 1,492 is about 100 points higher than the netbook average, but not quite as robust as the ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1,584), which has the slightly zippier 1.66-GHz Intel Atom N280 processor. Similarly, when we transcoded a 114MB video file from MPG4 to AVI using Handbrake, the D250 took 28:51 to complete the task, which is about 30 seconds faster than the netbook average and on a par with the HP Mini 110, but about 90 seconds slower than the Eee PC 1008HA.

The 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive booted Windows XP Home in a decent 49 seconds, almost the same time as the D150. On the LAPTOP Transfer Test (duplicating a 4.97GB folder of mixed media), however, the drive was marginally slower, taking 5 minutes 9 seconds to complete, at a rate of 16.5 MBps. That’s about 2 MBps faster than the netbook average, but about 1 MBps slower than the AOD150.

The D250 was capable when it came to our graphics benchmarks, however. The Intel GMA 945 GPU notched a score of 741 in 3DMark03, more than 100 points above average, and its score of 123 in 3DMark06 was about 30 points above average. We had no problems streaming videos and playing movies off the hard drive. While it took a few seconds to render the Grand Canyon in Google Earth, we were able to fly around the southwest U.S. fairly smoothly. Still, zooming in and out of lower Manhattan with 3D buildings enabled proved choppy.

Software

The Acer Aspire One D250 comes preloaded with a fair amount of software, including a 30-day trial of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Works (which seems a bit redundant), Acer GameZone, Google Desktop, Carbonite Online Backup, and a 60-day trial of McAfee Security Center. It also comes with the Acer eRecovery Management application.

Battery Life

The 3-cell battery achieved a runtime of 3 hours and 4 minutes, which is about 15 minutes longer than the average 3-cell netbook battery. Acer will also offer a 6-cell battery which, if the battery on the D150’s past performance is any indication, should provide about 6 hours of battery life. Unlike the 6-cell battery on the D150 (4400 mAh), the 6-cell battery being offered with the AOD250 will be a 5200-mAh, which should provide even more runtime.

Design
The 1201PN looks identical to the 1201N, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Despite its graphics horsepower, the 1201PN remains very easy to carry, weighing just 3.2 pounds and measuring 1.06 inches to 1.3 inches at its thickest point. We still like the black glossy exterior, but the chassis picks up fingerprint smudges. The system also has a few chrome accents, including the power button, touchpad on/off button, and the mouse bar beneath the dimpled touchpad (more on that below). The left side of the 1201PN houses a VGA port, tiny AC adapter jack, HDMI output, and a USB port. You’ll find two more USB ports, an SD Card slot, headphone and mic jacks, an Ethernet port, and a Kensington Lock slot on the right. We like that both edges of the netbook have grooved horizontal lines, a nice touch.

Keyboard & Touchpad
Inside, more shiny black plastic frames an edge-to-edge raised Chiclet-style keyboard. The double hinge on the lid straddles either side of a battery that has minimal bulge on the 1201PN’s bottom and fits right into the back. The keyboard’s easy to type on and comfortable to work at on a desk or perched in one’s lap. The dimpled multitouch touchpad below is flush with the rest of the keyboard deck but responds well to finger gestures. A thin chromed-plastic rocker bar for button-pressing could have been a little more ergonomic. The dimpled black touchpad remains as accurate and responsive as ever, and we like how easy it is to find by feel. Multitouch gestures like pinch to zoom also worked well. However, we really dislike the narrow and stiff touchpad button. We especially found it annoying when trying to select text or crop a photo. In fact, we tried to avoid this button after a day of testing.

Display
The glossy 12.1-inch, LED-backlit display is about as roomy as netbook displays get. The generous 1,366×768 native resolution has a 16-to-9 aspect ratio; it’s a treat compared with the limited 1,024×600 resolution offered by the majority of Pine Trail entrants. And thanks to the Ion 2 graphics, streaming video looks much better on the Eee PC 1201pn than it does on most other netbooks. (Nvidia recommends downloading Adobe Flash 10.1 and browsing in Mozilla Firefox for the highest-quality experience.) Videos on Hulu.com played much more smoothly than on typical netbooks and only seldom stuttered. The HD version of the Avatar trailer (via YouTube) was smooth and completely stutter-free in 720p, although the color and crispness weren’t quite on a par with true HD. (When we watched the same video on the Dell Mini 10, we witnessed the choppy slide-show effect that is common among netbooks without Ion graphics.) Even locally stored HD video, downloaded from Microsoft’s WMV HD Content Showcase, played like a dream in 720p. Overall, we were thrilled by our media experience on the Eee PC 1201pn and prefer it to more affordable netbooks equipped with a Broadcom Crystal HD video decoder, such as the HP Mini 210 HD Edition.

Battery
The Eee PC 1201pn held its own on our battery-life test, given its graphics. Our strenuous battery-rundown trial consists of streaming video wirelessly (with volume and display brightness set to 50 percent) until the battery dies. It’s a test that energy-efficient Pine Trails should excel at. However, high-end graphics always take a toll on battery life, and the 1201pn is no exception. The six-cell battery lasted only 3 hours and 17 minutes, half the time that the Asus Eee PC 1005pe logged (6:34). We expect about five hours from the average netbook; the 1201pn came up considerably short, though it should eke out closer to five or six hours when performing light tasks such as word processing.

Performance
Moving from a dual-core processor to a single-core 1.6-GHz N450 CPU definitely has an impact on speed. In PCMark Vantage, which measures overall performance in Windows, the 1201PN notched a score of 1,329. That showing is higher than the netbook average (1,211) but lower than the older 1201N (1,488). The GeekBench scrore also saw a drop-off (903 vs. 1,064). Even anecdotally the 1201PN struggled at times; we noticed delays when starting video calls in Skype and when opening the AT&T Connection manager software we installed. Otherwise, the 1201PN performed fairly well. The netbook didn’t get bogged down when we had multiple tabs open in Google Chrome—one of them streaming Pandora—while we switched between the browser, WordPad, and TweetDeck. The 1201PN’s 5,400-rpm 250GB hard drive proved faster than 1201N’s, delivering a transfer rate of 23.5 MBps (up from 17.7 MBps) on the LAPTOP Transfer Test (copying 4.97GB of files). Too bad the boot time increased form 53 seconds to 1:07, which is 6 seconds slower than the average netbook.

Design
The first thing anyone notices about the Adamo XPS is its profile. It measures 13.39 inches wide by 10.78 inches long. With the lid closed, it measures 0.41 inches at the thickest part of the chassis (the back) and slopes down to 0.38 inches at the front. Compare that with the original Adamo, which measured 0.65 inches thin all around. The Adamo XPS weighs 3.2 pounds with the standard 4-cell battery. Despite the light weight (no doubt partly attributable to its aluminum chassis) the Adamo XPS felt solid in my hands.

There is a colorless, capacitive touch strip at the front edge of the Adamo XPS’s lid. Simply run your finger across the strip, and the lid opens with an almost inaudible click. It’s this kind of unexpected touch (no pun intended) that I think will distinguish the Adamo XPS from others in the luxury ultraportable category.

Keyboard & Touchpad
When fully opened, the keyboard sits at about a 20-degree angle. It’s an unusual setup, but one that provides a better raised typing experience than the average flat laptop keyboard (although some readers have told us they dislike angled keyboards). We also liked the solid-feeling metal keys and the reasonably large touch pad. The right Shift key is smaller than the left one, but not horribly so, but the row of Function keys is both small and set flush to the keyboard tray surface, making them hard to hit. Still, the overall typing experience is good, and we quickly adapted to the layout and its flat, widely spaced keys. Measuring 3 x 1.7 inches, the touchpad on the Adamo XPS is decently sized, and offered little resistance while sliding our finger across. Multitouch gestures are enabled, and we found it easy to pinch to zoom in on photos and documents. Two discrete mouse buttons below were a touch soft, but were otherwise fine.

Ports and Webcam
adamo-webcamAt the base of the notebook by the battery are two USB ports, one on each side, and a DisplayPort on the left. On the right is a headphone and mic port. Helping make up for this paucity of ports is a dongle that comes with the unit, and allows users to connect Ethernet and DVI. An optional VGA and HDMI dongle costs extra. The 2-megapixel webcam offered fairly good visuals while chatting with a friend over Skype, but he noted that the image froze every now and then; however, this was most likely due to our Internet connection.

Display & Audio
The 13.4-inch wide-screen LED display offers a 1,366×768-pixel native resolution, which is standard for an upscale 13-inch system. Screen images were bight and clear, although the overly glossy screen coating picked up plenty of glare. The stereo speakers, mounted on the bottom surface (which would be raised off the ground when the laptop lid is open) are tinny and underpowered; we suggest headphones for almost all audio use.

Performance

The 1.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 and 4GB of RAM powered the Adamo XPS to a PCMark Vantage score of 3964, 1200 points above the ultraportable average. The only other system with similar specs—the Samsung X360, which had the same processor and a 128GB SSD—scored 3,184. Still, the Sony Vaio Z, which costs $100 more, but has a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-520M processor and two SSDs, scored two and a half times higher: 9936. The Adamo XPS’ Samsung 128GB SSD (PB22 JS3) was quite zippy, booting the 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system in just 33 seconds. The drive duplicated a 4.97GB folder of multimedia files in 1 minute and 54 seconds, a rate of 44.6 MBps. While that’s more than twice the ultraportable average (21.6 MBps), it pales in comparison to the Vaio Z’s transfer rate of 127 MBps (which has twin SSDs). Transcoding a 114MB MPEG-4 to AVI using Oxelon Media Encoder took 1 minute and 46 seconds, 12 seconds faster than the ultraportable average, but about a minute longer than the Vaio Z.

Predictably, graphics scores from the integrated Intel GMA4500MHD GPU were pretty low. The Adamo XPS scored just 701 on 3DMark06, about 150 points below the category average, and other recent 13-inch systems, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 (908), and the Sony Vaio Y (906). The Sony Vaio Z’s integrated graphics also proved far superior, notching 1,900 on the same test.

When playing World of Warcraft at 1024 x 768 and with graphics set to default, we eked out just 23 frames per second. Still, the machine was powerful enough to make for a smooth experience when flying around New York City in Google Earth.

Design

As the newest member of ASUS’ Seashell line, the 1005PR shares the same tapered lines, rounded edges, and slim chassis as the 1005HA and 1001P, among other recent Eee PC models. Available in four colors—black, white, pink and dark blue—this 10.3 x 7 x 1.4 inch netbook benefits from a matte outer shell and a fingerprint-resistant checkered pattern on the lid. This adds a touch of style to an already elegant design, making the 1005PR fashionable without being loud. To go along with its sleek look, the 1005PR is also lighter than the average netbook, weighing just 2.4 pounds. The inside of the system is glossy black, and the deck picked up its share of fingerprints.

Keyboard & Touchpad

Under the lid, the screen and keyboard are both embedded into a glossy black bezel, and glossy palm rests flank a flush-mounted touch pad. Also, the six-cell battery sits almost flush with the bottom of the system, something we wish we saw more often. Typing is a mixed bag, since the Chiclet-style keys are responsive and well-spaced, yet tiny overall. The right Shift key, for instance, is smaller than it would be on a full-size keyboard. Furthermore, the keyboard flexes slightly during typing, which makes it feel a bit cheap. Although the keyboard lacks any dedicated multimedia keys, function keys are present aplenty, including an easy screen-resolution manager that lets you toggle between display settings (either 1,366×768 or 1,024×768 pixels) with the press of a button. Located below the keyboard, the textured touch pad responds well to taps and multi-touch input (that is, navigation using two fingers on the touch pad simultaneously). However, its small size makes the pinch-zoom action (in which you pinch or pull two fingers together or apart to zoom in on text or photos) a challenge. On the other hand, we were exceedingly pleased with the shiny seesaw mouse button. It has deep plunge and satisfying feedback.

Display

The 10.1-inch wide-screen display offers a 1,366×768-pixel native resolution, which is much more practical than the 1,024×600 pixels found on most 10-inch Netbooks. That higher resolution is standard on 11-inch Netbooks, but found on only a handful (but a growing one) of 10-inch models. The built-in Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator is the same as we’ve tested on Netbooks from Dell and HP. As in those cases, once the latest Flash player release candidate software and Broadcom drivers are installed (be sure to uninstall the old drivers first), HD video playback, even at 1080p, is very good–from files on your local hard drive. Playing HD versions of Flash video content from YouTube or Hulu, however, is more of a mixed bag: it’s watchable, especially in a windowed viewing mode, but choppy to varying degrees when played full-screen (full-screen WMV and MOV files play fine from the hard drive). Even with special hardware, Netbooks are not quite full-fledged video playback machines yet.

Ports and Webcam

On the left side of the 1005PR is a USB and VGA port. On the right are a memory card reader, an Ethernet port, two USB ports, and headphone and microphone jacks. Above the display, a 1.3-megapixel webcam provided decent images in a Skype video chat. Once we adjusted brightness, contrast, and a few other advanced settings, the camera picked up accurate skin tones and clothing colors. A friend saw little motion blur when we waved quickly and made out details on our face.

Performance

Configured with a 1.66-GHz Atom N450 processor, the 1005PR offered similar performance to netbooks equipped with Atom’s last-generation processors. This Windows 7 Starter Edition system scored 1,319 on PCMark05, more than 100 points below the category average (1,439). When compared to similar netbooks, the 1005PR is a bit behind the curve, coming in under the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with Broadcom Crystal HD (1,412), MSI Wind U160 (1,406), Samsung N210 (1,362) and the $299 Eee PC 1001P (1,384). The 1005PR scored 891 on Geekbench, just a few points higher than the netbook average (867). On our LAPTOP Transfer Test, in which we copy a 4.97GB mixed-media folder, the Eee PC 1005PR’s 5,400-rpm, 250GB hard drive notched a score of 21.1 MBps, which is more than 4 MBps faster than the category average (17.2). Though not quite as fast as the Wind U160 or Samsung N210 (24.8 and 22.7), it does beat the Eee PC 1001P (17.5). Overall, we noticed that the Eee PC 1005PR struggled a bit when we had too many tabs open in Google Chrome or when running more than four programs at once. We also noticed that playing HD video with multiple programs running taxed the CPU so much there was noticeable hitching.

Computer power-wise, the S10 is technically faster than the S7 with a 1.66GHz Atom rather than a 1.33GHz. But it doesn’t seem faster because it also uses Windows 7 instead of XP. Even with all of Windows 7’s fancy user enhancements turn off, there’s still some noticeable lag opening and closing programs. Things tend to stutter. But that’s a small price to pay for the goodies that come with Windows 7 Touch Pack.