A flock of new, but dissapointing Cedar Tails netbooks

A few days ago we took a look at our first Cedar Trail Netbook, the Neo Vivid VC2EW-114 with Atom N2600 processor and Intel GMA 3600 graphics which can play high definition video and were less than impressed. Basically, it is the same 10.1-inch netbook chassis with a 1024 x 600 resolution screen that we have been seen for the part three years with a new faster Atom inside.

Since than, a whole flock of Cedar Trail Netbook have hit the shelves:

• Acer Aspire AOD270-281 Atom N2800 (1.86 GHz/GMA 3650 graphics) - Php19,900 with a free external optical drive.
• Samsung N110 Atom N2600 (1.6 GHz/GMA 3600 graphics) - Php16,900
• HP Mini 110-4112TU Intel Atom N2600 (1.6GHz/GMA 3600 graphics) - Php15,900 (DOS operating system)
• HP Mini 210-4022TU Atom N2800 (1.86 GHz/GMA 3650 graphics) - Php18,900

All these new Cedar Trail netbooks have 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 resolution, screens, 320 GB hard drives (except for the Mini 210 with a 500 GB hard drive), 2 GB of RAM and a 6-cell battery. 

Basically, all Cedar Trail powered versions of the netbook which you have been familiar with for the past few years. If Intel wants the Cedar Trail to revive the netbook industry, these netbooks are not what will do the trick.

With the new HD capability of the new Cedar Trail chips, it would have been better to place these processors in laptops with HD capable 1366 x 768 displays, and with a lower 3.5 W to 6.5 W thermal design point ("TDP") as compared to the 8.5 W to 10 W TDP of their predecessors, slimmer lighter cases would have been nice.

As things stand right now, at the price point of the new N2600/N2800 netbooks, a AMD Fusion C-60 or E-450 powered system with a larger and higher resolution 11.6-inch,1366 x 768 display, and bigger keyboards seems to be the way to go.