Acer Review, Asus Review – Netbook 10

What is the netbook world coming to! I recently wrote about the difference between netbooks, booklets and smartbooks. Here’s the down low on enTourage eDGe’s fancy name $490 dualbook (eReader meets Netbook) and a DIY project by Rob from MyDellMini forum that resulted in a netslate  (Dell Mini 9 converted into a foldable slate with a touchscreen layer added on top).

Part 1: enTourage eDGe DualBook

The Dualbook is coming out in Feb 2010 but is already available for pre-order for a steep $490. Before I heard about the price, I was all for the dual book. It looks cute and pebbly and makes great sense – why carry around both an eReader and a netbook when you can have one device that does both! Plus it would be cool to whip this out in front of friends and members of the opposite gender you want to impress.

But after finding out the price and learning more about specs, I’m learning the dualbook offers more than other e-readers but somehow less than other netbooks (remember, no keyboard). It’ll make the perfect buy for a very niche audience (heavy e-Readers, less internet addicted) but won’t be the iPod of eReaders (or netbooks for that matter).

The left screen acts as an e-reader, the display uses e-Ink which means it content can be read outdoors in a host of lighting conditions. The entire thing weighs 2.5lbs, and the eReader screen measures 9.7″ diagonally. It has a memory of 3-4GB which is good for 3,000 books. The right screen is a color LCD screen that acts as the netbook and is bigger at 10.1″. The bottom third of this screen acts as a virtual keyboard input and you can input using a stylus (think iPhone+Stylus).

The good news is color images from your e-book will show up on the right color screen. And you can use it to quickly send emails and surf the net which is handy. The netbook part runs on Linux and good ol’ Google Android :) Connectivity options impressively resemble those of normal netbooks, you have 3G, 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth. The netbook also supports audio and video recording and playback.

The battery lasts about 6 hours which is hard to believe with two screens (even though the eReader probably requires less power). I’ll give enTourage the benefit of the doubt since they’re five months away from launch. The dualbook is USB and SD card friendly, and it’s easy to add books to the machine.

Bottom line – This isn’t the solution for netbook users who would like to see more e-Reader functions in their netbook. You’ll crumble from the lack of a keyboard and touchpad! This is assuming you bought your netbook (aka web surfing and essay/report crunching device) for the keyboard and mini-notebook-esque form factor. (If no, seriously, you didn’t just buy an iPhone/Palm Pre/other smartphone??) For e-Book readers looking for more, this may be perfect : )

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Part 2 – DIY: Turn a Dell Mini 9 into a NetSlate!

You can pay $490 for a brand new e-Reader meets netbook. OR, you can make your own! Look to the netslate for inspiration. Rob from the MyDellMini forum flipped the display of his Dell Mini so that it would fold over like the above photo and added a touchscreen layer and voila! now has a tablet! He even added an accelerometer so he can flip the screen over (like the iPhone). AND installed Windows 7.(via SlashGear)

It sounds really simple, and I’m tempted to do the same to my old 14″ Dell inspiron laptop… The cost: you can get a Dell Mini 9 for $370 – or you can use an older netbook/any netbook. Be creative!

Here’s a previous post that talks about turning an Asus Eee PC into a pseudo-netbook with Eee Rotate:  Want to use your netbook as an eReader? Read on.

Related posts:

1. eeeReader to be the new Netbook?
2. Dell Mini 10 With GPS Coming to the US
3. Want to use your Netbook as an E-reader? Read on.
4. Dual Screen eInk, LCD netbook based on Android?
5. Pixel Qi Screens Great for eReaders, same for netbooks

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