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5 Most Anticipated Ultraportables and Netbooks of 2009

// May 3rd, 2009 // Laila's Randomness

Asus Eee Keyboard PC

Price: Rumored to be $400 to $600
Release date: Summer 2009
OS: Windows XP Home Edition
Screen size: 5 inches
Weight: 2 pounds

Why you’ll love it: Asus takes the all-in-one concept literally with an entire computer packed into a wireless keyboard. This ain’t your old Commodore 64 though: The Eee Keyboard PCcomes with a 5.5-inch touch-screen with 800-by-480 resolution on the right side. The Keyboard PC packs in an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of solid-state storage, three USB ports, VGA output, wideband wireless HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and an internal battery. The machine is optimized for Web surfing or for controlling your wireless home network right from your sofa with wireless HDMI. (Sorry, Commodore lovers, but it doesn’t support Datasette drives.)

Gigabyte M1022 Booktop

Price: Unknown
Release date: April 30
OS: Windows XP Home
Screen size: 10.1 inches
Weight: 2.87 pounds

Why you’ll love it: The M1022 Booktop looks to the future with a base station that converts the netbook into a desktop machine. Just slap it into the base and fire up your monitor, and you’re surfing the Web like a desk jockey. It comes with your choice of an Intel N280 Atom 1.6GHz or 1.66GHz processor, a maximum of 2GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive, three USB ports, a four-in-one card reader (SD Card, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro), the docking port, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, Wi-Fi, optional Wi-Max and a 92 percent full-size keyboard.

Asus Eee PC T91

Price: Rumored to be around $500
Release date: Summer 2009
OS: Windows XP Home
Screen size: 8.9 inches
Weight: Under 2 pounds

Why you’ll love it: The Asus Eee PC T91 has a swiveling touch-screen that can also work with a stylus if you’re a tablet PC lover. The T91 packs an Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor, a TV tuner, 1024-by-600-resolution, GPS, two USB slots, an SD Card slot, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. For storage, you can use a 16GB solid-state drive, a 16GB SD card and a 20GB Web drive.

Asus Eee PC T91

Look again: Here’s a second view of the Asus Eee PC T91, this time in its tablet mode.

CrunchPad

Price: Around $300
Release date: Unknown
OS: Custom Linux build
Screen size: 12 inches
Weight: Unknown

Why you’ll love it: When TechCrunch recently got scooped on its own device, I knew it had to make this list. Powered by an Intel Atom chip set, the CrunchPad comes with a touch-screen and virtual keyboard, a camera for photos and video, speakers, a microphone and one USB port. Outsiders have not laid their hands on the CrunchPad yet, but this little tablet device could be a hot property for simplified Web surfing, e-mail, media streaming and video chat.