LG are planning to produce some new low cost 16:9 screens suitable for the new range of low cost laptops, such as the Asus Eee and the Everex Cloudbook. They are planning a standard 16:10 8.9″ 1024×600 screen in August, followed by a 16:9 10.1″ 1024×576 screen in October. These screens are (according to industry sources) likely to be picked up by Acer and HP for their laptops, with a possibility Asus will adopt them too. Either way, the market and range of low cost lightweight laptops is set to continue during 2008 and into 2009.

In other news, it’s looking definite that we will see the Intel Atom chips in the Asus Eee 900 from around June time, which will hopefully improve battery life.

Some content courtesy Engadget.

Here’s an interesting link for the Everex Cloudbook (aka Packard Bell EasyNote XS) Laptops. In a similar vein to the Eee touchscreen mods, here’s an article on how one user of the Cloudbook forums has added a touchscreen, using the same sort of kit used for adding a touchscreen to the Eee.

Story courtesy of Cloudbooker.

If you have an Everex Cloudbook (aka Packard Bell EasyNote XS), as well as releasing Windows Drivers for the main hardware components, Everex have now released a recovery ISO image which will restore the device to factory condition. A useful tool for those who want to try out Windows…

Download the Windows Drivers and Recovery CD here.

Everex, producers of the Cloudbook have been busy. Here’s a mini PC due in the US next month (no word on UK availability yet). It’s features include a 1.83GHz T2130 processor, 120GB hard drive, 512MB DDR2 RAM, a DVD writer and Intel’s GMA950 graphics set. In terms of ports, there are Ethernet, DVI / S-Video outs, Firewire, four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 multicard reader and audio / in out. It’s also running the same gOS as the Cloudbook.

[Story and picture via Engadget]

If you fancy the Cloudbook, but are less sure about Linux, then people are already getting Vista to run on the device, albeit a little slowly. Head over to the Cloudbook forums for more information.

If you haven’t got an Asus Eee PC, an Everex Cloudbook, and weren’t impressed by the upcoming Elonex One, then maybe this HP UMPC is for you, it’s due for launch in April, and has a 8.9″ 1366 x 766 (WXGA) display, ExpressCard/54 slot, Wireless LAN, nearly full-sized QWERTY (95% of full), integrated webcam, and optional SSD drive, and should run Vista or Linux. However, it’s likely to be a fair bit more expensive than the other 3 PCs.

[Via Engadget]

If you are looking for another detailed review of the Everex Cloudbook (aka Packard Bell Easynote in the UK), then head over to Meredith Farkas’ website and read all about it.

Although we’ve already seen a UK review of the Packard Bell variant, here’s an unboxing of the Everex Cloudbook, and a review too, including some nice side shots showing the various connectors.

The Times have covered the Elonex One, which is a £99 laptop due for formal announcement at The Education Show in Birmingham at the end of February. The One will have 1Gb of memory, WiFi, and run Linux (just like the twice as expensive Eee PC and the thrice as expensive Everex Cloudbook), a 7″ screen, although it has no CD drive. It should weigh aound a kilo (2.2 pounds). Pre-installed software will include web browser, email client, mp3 software, and it will feature access to ONEunion, which seems to be some form of content sharing system. Although being targetted at schools (hence the choice of launch venue), it should also be available for general sale.

Alternatively (and unlike the Eee PC), a second version for £120 will feature Bluetooth and 2Gb of memory instead.

Story from Times Online.

jkkmobile have published a long and detailed comparison between the Eee PC and the Everex Cloudbook (using the UK Packard Bell Easynote variant). The article is well worth a read, and is available here.

Some clever individuals have worked out that you can install the gOS (the Ubuntu based OS that ships with the Everex Cloudbook) onto the Asus Eee PC (instead of the Xandros based OS Asus favour). More information here.

[Via Engadget]

The Everex Cloudbook has still not been released, although it should be available in February. Due to that 30Gb Hard Disk, it will be quite easy to install Windows XP, instead of the gOS Linux based OS it ships with. Everex have confirmed that Windows XP drivers will be available for download from their website.

If you want to buy one today, head to PC World and pick up a Packard Bell EasyNote XS, which appears to be the same device. There’s even a review of the Packard Bell here giving more information on these devices.

We’ve managed to find some more information on the Everex side panel accessories. These side panel accessories may eventually include:

• Bluetooth VOIP phone
• GPS
• DVB
• 3G / CDMA phone
• World Clock

Picture courtesy of jkOnTheRun.

After the leaks of Asus’ plans for expanding their Eee PC range, information on Everex’s expanding range is now available. Everex will produce a 9″ screen version around June, with a larger keyboard and more memory. It may also feature changeable covers.  Everex are also planning a developer version of the current CloudBook called the DevBook, which will feature a touchscreen and swappable side panel accessories. If true, this may indicate a future CloudBook with similar features…

Everex have announced their Cloudbook PC, which is a rival to the Eee PC. This includes the gOS Operating System (a Google optimised version of Ubuntu). It has a 1.2Ghz VIA processor, 512Mb memory, 30Gb Hard Drive, DVI output, 4-in-1 media card reader, a1.3 megapixel camer, and should last up to 5 hours. It has WiFi, and like the Eee PC, does not have Bluetooth.

The preinstalled software includes Firefox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps, Wikipedia, Google Product Search, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xine Movie Player, RhythmBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3 (includes WRITER, IMPRESS, MATH, DRAW).

It will be available before the end of the month in the US, no UK availability information has been announced.