We’re fans of Atom and the space it’s carved for cheap, portable notebooks people can actually afford. But many netbooks are still too low powered for Vista (whether due to too much crapware from the hardware supplier, or not enough ram), and the sizes are still too small for our liking.
The pitch for AMD’s Neo seems to be a new class of notebook that sits between the tiny netbook and the expensive, but high powered 13.3in ultraportable.
The first example is HP’s DV2 – a 12.1in machine which is a bit bigger in screen size than most Eee PCs and also very thin. These are Vista machines, and we’re getting the impression AMD wants Neo to be seen as more powerful than Atom, though at 1.6Ghz there’s no advantage in raw clock speed.
Fortunately the DV2 was quite responsive in our hands on test here at CES. It’s also thin, as you can see from the pics, though it doesn’t feel particularly light considering the size (it’s 1.7Kg).
There’s no drive either, with HP supplying a separate Blu-Ray drive. Pricing is being set at about US$500 when this appears in the US later this month. If HP can get this under $1,000 in Australia, we’ll be more than interested.
 |
| The briefcase friendly HP DV2 is the first 12.1in portable with AMD's Neo chip |
 |
| No built-in optical drive, which is a shame considering there are lighter notebooks with this feature (though more expensive) |