Personally, I still like the Lenovo secure drive I reviewed; having an actual keypad made it seem high-tech and reliable. Of course, I nearly have a panic attack whenever I have to use it because my “usual” password isn’t all numbers and I forget things easily.

Anyhow, you can rely on Kingston to have a decently fast, well-built little secure USB key, though they are a bit expensive. $36 for 4GB up to $200 for the 32GB? Cruel! I guess it’s not that far off from their other drives. In fact the only real difference is the swivel bit. Hey, slow news days aren’t my fault!

[via Electronista]

Dell just went official with the Inspiron Zino HD price and spces. There have been a few unboxing and previews popping up around the blogs the last few days and I’ve fallen in love with the little computer. It’s slightly larger than the Mac Mini, but I believe infinitely more versatile.

HTPC - It’s a given. The $229 Dell Zino HD would feel right at home on a A/V rack. The Athlon CPUs and optional ATI Radeon HD 4330 512MB GPU has more than enough juice to output 1080p to your HDTV. Check the box for the optional Blu-ray drive and TV tuner to create a bonafide HTPCIB – Home Theater PC In a Box, that is.

WHS - There are about a dozen and a half already built Windows Home Server options available. HP makes the media-centric MediaSmart line, Acer has the Atom-packing easyStore, Lenovo has options and the list goes on. They are competent boxes, but none of them have the processing power that the AMD options offer in the Zino HD, which is somewhat important if you want to turn the server into a torrent downloading monster. Choose the integrated graphics but select at least 2GB of RAM along with the option 1TB hard drive. The 2 eSATA ports ensure that you’ll never run out of storage capacity too.

Trendy office computer – It doesn’t take much to run Microsoft Office apps anymore. Why live with a boring gray tower these days when the playful Zino HD can get the job done too? Even the base model should be fine for most office tasks.

In-car computer – The Mac Mini might score you nerd points with the geeks posing in the car tuning crowd, but there are a lot of PC-only in-car apps, which makes the Zino HD a perfect solution. It has a small footprint and more than enough power to run GPS and music software. But most importantly is that the computer comes in enough color options that you should be able to find one to match your ride.

Old folks computer – What do old people do on a computer these days? Play on Facebook? That’s about it and the Zino HD, along with countless other options, has more than enough power to be a reliable computer for them. The Athlon cores should be able to handle at least five Internet Explorer toolbars and several spyware programs posing as card games. Try that with an Atom CPU.

The Zino HD product page is currently up, but you can’t customize or order one yet. That will probably change sometime today.

Press release,

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Nov. 12, 2009 – Dell today introduced the mini-sized Inspiron Zino HD, which is versatile enough to handle tasks from basic computing chores to driving a big-screen, High-Definition TV media center. With a choice of colors, the Inspiron Zino HD can be easily personalized to add flare to any room in the home.

The News:

Starting at $229, the Inspiron Zino HD includes standard HD-capable integrated graphics, HDMI output and built-in networking that make it smart for typical home and student computing activities such as word processing, e-mail, organizing photos and music, and surfing the Internet.

The economical Inspiron Zino HD with optional additional memory, hard drive storage, combo Blu-ray disc player, HDTV tuner, wireless remote control and Windows 7 Media Player and turns into a powerful home media center computer. In that capacity the Inspiron Zino HD can record and play your favorite TV shows, display high-definition content from the Internet, and store and deliver music, video and photos very well.

The Inspiron Zino HD is also ideal as an additional household PC that can fit in tight spaces and make home networking a cinch. It measures about 7.75 inches square and 3.5 inches tall. While small in size, the Inspiron Zino HD is a big performer with:

• Ultra-small form factor designed to fit almost anywhere.
• Easy personalization with nine color choices for Inspiron Zino HD.
• Choice of AMD processors or dual core Athlon Neo X2 6850e.
• Up to 8GB dual channel DDR 2 memory.
• Up to 1TB internal hard disk storage.
• Combo DVD/CD RW drive with optional Blu-ray Disc combo.
• Integrated 10/100/1000 networking with wireless option.
• Optional TV tuner, wireless keyboard and mouse.
• Built in 2.1 high-definition audio and 4-in-one media card reader.
• Integrated ATI graphics adapter with standard HDMI and VGA video connections, and optional 512MB discrete graphics adapter.
• Four USB ports (2 front/2 rear); two eSATA ports (rear).
• Energy-Star 5.0 compliant.

A basic Inspiron Zino without High-Definition capability or upgrade options will be offered in some regions.

OMG! Did you hear? Lenovo has just added a BIOS feature to its new ThinkPads allowing you to swap Ctrl and Fn! Apparently this was a big request for many people in the world and Lenovo, being good guys, listened intently and pushed this passed the faceless bureaucrats in accounting and GOT THIS THROUGH! Hope, people, is what Lenovo promised, and change is what you get.

Honestly, though, has anyone even thought they needed this BIOS tweak let alone requested it? Anyone out there TOTALLY big into Ctrl being on the outside?

via Eng

Powered by Intel Core2 Duo processors, a 16:9 HD screen, HDMI and VGA outs are just some of the features. Lenovo also really hit the VoiP market hard with these. You’ve got WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and some models have 3G built in. The camera resolution is supposed to be better, but we didn’t get any specs for it, so who knows. The integrated microphone now has a dedicated mute button for when you need to cut the audio. These laptops are even EPEAT and Energy Star certified to be green. So you’ll know that you aren’t horribly destroying the planet when you buy one.

The SL series is the lowest of the ThinkPad’s but the new SL410 and SL510 are the only members to be certified under Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience program. I’m not really completely sure what that means. According to the press release, “certified PCs deliver a faster, richer and easier computing experience over identical configuration, non-optimized PCs.” So they have the same hardware, they just run better for some reason? Why not just optimize all of them?

These should hit stores tomorrow, with a starting price of $529.

ViewSonic dove headfirst into the ultraportable notebook game yesterday, with the announcement of the “ViewBook” line of 12-, 13-, and 14-inch low voltage machines.

The 13.3-inch ViewBook 130 (pictured above) looks to compete directly with Acer’s 3810-model Timeline offerings, while the 12-inch ViewBook 120 (video below) bears a striking physical resemblance to the Lenovo S12 series.

The ViewBook line was announced in Taiwan but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we would eventually see these machines in the U.S., since ViewSonic products are already represented reasonably well here.

The ViewBook 130 will be available in three different configurations ranging from $24,900 to $31,900 New Taiwan dollars, which is roughly $767 to $983 U.S. dollars. That’s not to say that we’d see those actual prices stateside — I’d guess they’d be lower than that in order to stay competitive, perhaps between $650 and $900 or so.

Specs for the ViewBook 130 line include:

• Intel ULV743 CPU at 1.3GHz, SU4100 at 1.3GHz, or SU7300 at 1.3GHz
• 13.3-inch screen with 1366×768 resolution
• 2GB of RAM
• 320GB hard drive
• HDMI/VGA output
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Six-cell battery good for up to 8 hours

The ViewBook 120:

• Intel SU2300 CPU at 1.3GHz
• 2GB of RAM
• 250GB hard drive
• VGA out, three USB ports
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Six-cell battery good for up to 8 hours

Pricing for the ViewBook 120 is pegged at around $22,000 New Taiwan Dollars, which is about $678 here. Again, though, that’s not to say that it’d be priced at $678 through U.S. retailers.

Not much info on the 14-inch ViewBook 140, although my guess is that it’s likely similar to the ViewBook 130 from a features standpoint.

[via NetbookNews.de (translated)]

The Linux Foundation Announces New, Exclusive Perks for Individual Members

Members support the organization that promotes and protects Linux while getting new employee purchase pricing from major PC makers

SAN FRANCISCO, October 13, 2009 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced new, exclusive benefits for individual members, including employee purchase pricing from Dell, HP and Lenovo, and the opportunity to secure a Linux.com email address for life.

Beginning today, Linux Foundation individual members can get up to 40 percent off of Lenovo devices and standard employee purchase pricing from Dell and HP. Dell also offers a best price guarantee to Linux Foundation members. These benefits can translate into hundreds or thousands of dollars for those who purchase their devices as part of this program.

Existing members that would like to ensure their Linux.com email address is permanent and not dependent on Linux Foundation membership renewal can elect to secure it with a one-time $150 fee. New members who want the same benefit will pay a total of $249 for the first year’s membership and the lifetime benefit. Linux.com email addresses allow members to publicly represent their support for Linux and to demonstrate their community participation.

Students can also now become members with a student-class membership for $25 annually. Students find value in Linux Foundation events and online resources and help to drive the adoption of Linux among up-and-coming developers and IT managers. The Linux Foundation wants to encourage participation in the Linux community among this important group of future developers.

“Our individual members are the heartbeat of the Linux Foundation and we will continue to find ways to extend special benefits to them,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation. “Perks like the employee purchase discounts from Dell, HP and Lenovo and lifetime Linux.com email addresses are unique things we can offer to sustain support for Linux.”

By becoming a member of the Linux Foundation, developers and users are helping the organization that employs Linus Torvalds and supporting programs that promote and protect Linux. Individual membership helps connect developers, IT administrators, and business executives with unique information, tools and events that help to advance their careers and stay current with the Linux platform.

The annual membership fee for individuals is $99, which pays for itself quickly with just one of the discounts offered exclusively to Linux Foundation members.

Other discounts and benefits available to individual members include:

§      30% discount on the Linux Foundation’s LinuxCon and Japan Linux Symposium events;

§      20% discount on registration fees for Linux Foundation training courses;

§      35% off O’Reilly books and e-Books;

§      35% off No Starch Press Publications;

§      15% off subscriptions to Linux Journal;

§      $10 off every $40 order on ThinkGeek.com;

§      a free Linux Foundation t-shirt for proclaiming support for Linux; and

§      a weekly “Linux Briefing Book” in the form of an exclusive email with highlighted news and analysis to keep users well informed.

To join the Linux Foundation and to see a full list of benefits and discounts, please visit our membership page: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/join/individual

.

About the Linux Foundation.

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by hosting important workgroups, events and online resources such as Linux.com. For more information, please visit the Linux Foundation website.

As you can see in the video embedded on LAPTOP’s post (skip ahead to about the one minute mark) the whole BIOS song and dance doesn’t even appear. The power button is pressed, and a second or two later we see the Windows 7 startup screen.

Then, we’re greeted with the desktop – all in less time than it takes to pour a non-foamy beer. This is all possible thanks to Phoenix’s new “Instant Boot Bios,” which is currently being offered to OEMs for use in future notebooks (it might be available as an upgrade, too).

According to LAPTOP:

“Enter Phoenix’s new Instant Boot BIOS. It cuts down the post time to roughly one second. Phoenix’s Chief Scientist Steve Jones explained that the new BIOS uses UEFI technology (a new kind of BIOS platform) to power on several system devices simultaneously and to run only those processes which are absolutely necessary to hand control over to the OS.

We had a chance to view Instant Boot in action on a Lenovo T400s, which was equipped with a high-speed SSD. About one second after hitting the power button, we saw the hard drive light flickering and noticed that Windows had already started loading. Because this system had a high-speed SSD and the Windows install didn’t have a lot of extra drivers or crapware, Windows 7 itself took only 10 seconds to get us to a desktop.”

The total time for the BIOS to do its thing was 1.37 seconds – that oughta shave precious moments off of just about any computer whether it’s got a highfalutin solid state drive or not.

Phoenix’s 1-Second Instant Boot Bios Really Works [LAPTOP]

They can be treated as a single screen (e.g. “full-screen” video on one) or as one continuous surface (the “albums” in the video spill across multiple screens). To be honest, I’m not convinced of the utility of this particular model, but it’s mainly a proof of concept. They wanted to show that they’re working on integrating this kind of display matrix into their laptops, but not necessarily in this extreme manner.

What do you guys think of the dual-screen thing? The W700DS seems a little extreme, and the SpaceBook seems a lot extreme. If you really need that much display space, don’t you need the power of a desktop?

[via Crave and OLED-Display.net]

Here’s a nice, juicy rumor to start the day off on the right (or wrong) foot. After those recent supposed screenshots of Google’s upcoming Chrome OS, Taiwan’s Shanzai.com is now reporting the following:

“According to our reliable sources on the Mainland, both Lenovo and Acer are planing to launch Tegra-based devices running Google’s Chrome OS, and the word on the streets is that it could even happen sometime later this month.”

If true, that would be pretty wild. It’d also serve to steal a bit of thunder from a certain company based in Cupertino, California that’ll be announcing new products on September 9th. I’ve no doubt that Tegra+Chrome OS smartbooks (or MIDs or netbooks or whatever) will eventually make it to market, but to see one or more of them this month would be a bit surprising considering we’ve been hearing mid-2010 for just about everything else.

As always, take this news with a grain of salt until it can be officially substantiated.

Exclusive: Lenovo and Acer to launch Tegra devices with Google’s Chrome OS [Shanzai]

£60, or about $90-100, is quite a lot to pay for this sort of security, so I guess it’s a good thing they’re out of stock. Plus, you have to order them at least six at a time. Honestly, though, if I ran a business where I dealt with serious financial data, confidential reports and so on, I’d have my employees use these things.

[via Geeky Gadgets and Gearfuse]

After all, Asus’ best-selling products have been small, relatively simple machines, many with SSD storage, and lacking high-end, high-heat, newly-manufactured components. That’s not a bad thing, but I’d say it’s also fundamentally less likely to fail.

The study was based on service calls to Rescuecom, which then sorted the ailing computers by brand. Once again, the method is questionable, as Apple users are overwhelmingly going to call an Apple store or bring the offending device in. I’d say that the wide range of devices made by Lenovo combined with its low number of call-ins makes it the winner here.

And how about that HP/Compaq? Ouch. Better work on that, guys.

The U450p ultraslim laptop, if I’m honest, doesn’t look like a very good deal at for $800. The 14″ screen looks decent enough, but the Core2 Solo and integrated graphics don’t really impress. It seems like the dv2, which wasn’t exactly a powerhouse, might have this guy beat, especially after its updates. The U450p is, however, thin and good-looking, which was after all its goal.

There’s also the Q100, the new nettop. It’s a super-low-power, super-low-profile basic PC with a low-grade Atom processor, one gig of RAM, and 160GB of space. Sure, that sounds like garbage, but for $250 you could have one in every room; it’s good enough to run XP. You could also upgrade to the Q110, which has HDMI out, but really you’re better off spending the extra money to get the $500 Q700 HTPC mentioned above.

It’s a mixed bag, but Lenovo’s a good brand. If you’re looking for a kitchen PC or a basic HTPC, the Q series is a good bet, although set-top boxes like Roku and Popcorn hour do quite a lot of that for less money. Lots of options! That’s a good thing, right?

(Relatively) good news from China for the World Wide Web as a whole today: The government today announced it will (partially) back down over its controversial internet monitoring filter software “Green Dam Youth Escort”. As a reminder, the software is supposed to protect Chinese web users from harmful content, especially from online porn, and was to be made mandatory with all PC shipments in the country from July 1 this year.

But today Li Yizhong, China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said this won’t happen, at least not to that extent. Even though some PC makers started shipping Green Dam with their hardware to Chinese customers already, Yizhong made clear it’s up to the makers if they ship the software with their PCs or not.

But all’s not well in China’s web scene: Yizhong also said the mass installation of Green Dam in public spaces such as schools and Internet cafes won’t be stopped. In addition, the government is still working on improving the software and doesn’t rule out the possibility of either forcing PC manufacturers to ship different filter software or Green Dam with their hardware in the future.

China’s Green Dam initiative apparently inspired the Malaysian government, which started publicly thinking about censoring the web through a similar piece of software a few months ago. But (by coincidence?), Malaysia dropped these plans for the time being just today.

LAPTOP recently pit the big computer vendors’ customer service offerings against one another with two phone calls to each, one asking how to change power settings on a laptop and the other asking how to switch to an external monitor that’d been hooked up. Not that anyone who reads this site would ever, ever need to call customer support for any reason whatsoever, but at least you can tell your friends and family who to avoid.

Dell’s phone support was, by far, the worst, while the company’s web support got high marks. Apple got straight A’s all around, while Fujitsu, Lenovo, and Toshiba scored pretty high over the phone as well.

Acer, Gateway, Sony, and HP scored somewhere in the middle on the phone and, as for web support, you’ll run into trouble with Acer, ASUS, HP, Toshiba, and especially Fujitsu.

Tech Support Showdown 2009 [LAPTOP]

image via Despair.com

Quick Version: The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 represents one of the first netbooks to feature VIA’s Nano platform as a configuration option. You’ll gain some extra horsepower over Intel’s Atom setup while saving about $70 off the total system price, making the Nano a good option for those of you who want to watch 720p video. All that power comes at a price, though: decreased battery life, as the included six-cell battery only manages a little over four hours.

Features and Specs:

• VIA Nano ULV 2250 1.3 GHz CPU (800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
• Windows XP Home
• 12.1-inch LCD (1280×800 resolution)
• 1GB of RAM
• 160GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)
• Six-cell battery
• 802.11b/g wireless
• Three USB ports, card reader, VGA out
• Weighs 3.24 pounds
• MSRP of $429

Design: The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 feels a bit more substantial than your average netbook. Granted, it’s got a 12-inch screen so it’ll naturally be a little larger, but the computer itself is relatively heavy at almost three-and-a-half pounds and thick at 1.25 inches. It feels well-built, though, like it could take some light abuse without being much worse for wear.

The lid of the computer is a glossy surface covered in a pattern of little circles. It picks up fingerprints somewhat, but not as noticeably as to detract from the overall look and feel. In the photo above, the S12 is blasted with light from a halogen lamp — dust and fingerprints aren’t nearly as noticeable in regular light. The chassis consists of a standard black plastic and the screen’s hinges on either side feature decorative metal rings. All in all the S12 is understated, if perhaps a bit boring. Pretty standard for Lenovo, though.

Performance: To be honest, I’ve been impressed with the VIA Nano platform so far. Despite this machine only coming with 1GB of RAM and the CPU only being clocked at 1.3GHz, it feels more like a standard laptop than a netbook. While the Atom N270 CPU features a faster 1.6GHz clock speed, the Nano CPU in this machine has a faster frontside bus (800MHz versus 533MHz) and double the L2 cache (1MB versus 512KB).

I’d personally upgrade the RAM to at least 2GB, though, as once I started opening multiple tabs in Google Chrome, things slowed down a bit. After I popped in an extra 1GB stick of RAM, everything starting humming along quite nicely.

As for watching video, HD Flash video is a no-go since it relies heavily on the CPU, unfortunately, as is most full-screen Flash video (low-quality Hulu worked okay, high-quality stuttered) but the S12 was able to play most everything else I threw at it.

Here’s a list of what worked full-screen in Windows Media Player:

• 720p WMV
• 720p DivX
• 720p XviD
• 720p QuickTime
• 720p MP4 (footage from HD Flip Mino Ultra)
• 480p MP4 (footage from Samsung Camcorder)
• 480p XviD

Note that the actual QuickTime application requires a minimum of a 2GHz CPU. QuickTime files played inside the QuickTime player stuttered but when using the K-Lite Codec Pack for Windows Media Player to play QuickTime files, they played just fine.

Finally, the S12 tends to run hot. When using the machine on my lap for an extended period of time, my left leg would get mighty toasty. Not uncomfortable to the point where I’d want to move the computer to a tabletop, but hot enough that I definitely noticed it and would try to shift around somewhat. Just something to keep in mind.

Display: One of the stronger points of this machine, the S12’s LCD gets plenty bright with nice color saturation. It’s glossy without being very reflective at all, and the viewing angles are relatively wide. You’ll enjoy watching movies and looking at pictures. The 1280×800 resolution is a godsend, too, especially if you’ve been using a 1024×600-resolution screen in the past. Text is crisp and clear and the 12-inch panel makes everything very readable without having to sit too close to the screen.

Battery Life: Ah, the great netbook tradeoff — battery life versus performance. With this machine, you get performance. While Atom-based netbooks are now clearing 8 hours using six-cell batteries, the S12 will manage about half that. Lenovo includes its own power management application that allows you to choose between Performance, Balance, Low Power, and Super Energy Saver. I was able to manage almost five hours with Super Energy Saver but found that regular computing was much more enjoyable using the Balance setting.

Still, figure about four hours to be on the safe side. That’s enough for a long flight or train ride or perhaps an entire workday of off-and-on computing.

Keyboard and Trackpad: The keyboard is okay, not great but not bad either. I would have preferred that it stretched end-to-end to make use of all available space but the keys aren’t too bad for typing. I found the space bar to be a bit squishy, sometimes requiring an extra press to get the keystroke to register. As netbook keyboards go, I’d put the S12’s in the upper-middle tier. Better than most but not truly outstanding by any means.

The trackpad works well, no complaints there. There’s a nice, identifiable vertical scroll area with slightly-raised bumps on the right-hand side and the two mouse buttons are easy to click. The entire area of the trackpad isn’t huge, by any means, but it’s overall a serviceable way to move the cursor around the screen.

Speakers: The speakers actually get plenty loud, which is nice. And at full volume, there’s no distortion. The low-end is a bit weak but, in general, the speakers are above average as far as netbooks go.

Upgrades: Pretty straightforward. There are two bottom-side panels, one for the RAM and wireless chips and one for the hard drive.

Overall: The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 with the VIA Nano platform hovers in an interesting category. It’s a little more than an Atom-based netbook as far as power is concerned — perhaps closer to the CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) range than anything else.

The price is absolutely wonderful for what you’re getting — at $429, it’s a solid deal for a well-built, relatively powerful netbook-style computer. However, the short battery life along with the overall weight, thickness, and so-so style of the machine leave a bit to be desired. From a purely computing standpoint, though, you’re getting a nimble little portable computer that can play back most video files and handle most tasks with ease. I’d upgrade the RAM but that wouldn’t be totally necessary for most average, everyday use.

All in all the S12 is a good early offering from Lenovo and VIA, especially for anyone looking for a little more punch than you’d normally get from an Atom-based netbook.

Lenovo IdeaPad S12 [Lenovo.com]

Friends, you cannot go anywhere on the Internet without running into the OEM version of Windows 7. This is the same version of the operating system that’ll be loaded onto your Dells, your HPs, your Lenovos, etc.

I mention this why? Not to tell you where to get it, obviously, but merely to marvel at the speeds of The Scene. (Though some Scene releases are timelier than others!) We’re looking at the biggest software launch of the year—yes, bigger than Snow Leopard’s—leaked to the Internets, then distributed with such efficiency that you ask yourself why can’t members The Scene apply their obvious talents for good instead of evil.

Anyhow, I spy the release circulating at “Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Original MS ISO x64-GRP ” and “Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Original MS ISO x86-GRP.” The x64 version is a little bigger than the x86 version—3.00GB versus 2.33GB. (So don’t go downloading “Windows 7 REAL CONFIRMED WORKING” when it weight in at 100KB. That would be computer suicide.)

I won’t be downloading because, well, that would be illegal—wink—but also because I’m fine with Mac OS X on my laptop, and, increasingly, Linux Mint on my old iMac.

That is all. (Also, pray for Felipe Massa. He’s hurtin’ right now.)

Green Dam, a filtering software that’s supposed to protect China’s population from harmful content (and can be called a piece of garbage on more than one level), seems to trigger anticipatory obedience (you could also call it business sense, I guess) within some PC companies. Even though the Chinese government postponed its plans to make the software mandatory with all PC shipments in the country from July 1, Acer, Asustek and Lenovo already bundle their hardware with Green Dam.

Lenovo has started shipping Green Dam-equipped PCs in China without telling their customers. Apparently the world’s fourth largest computer manufacturer is afraid nobody will buy Lenovo PCs anymore if it does. Asustek is less cautious and has begun shipping PCs with a Green Dam CD in early July. And Acer plans to do the same from the beginning of August.

Not all companies are joining the Green Dam bandwagon though. Sony began shipping its PCs with the software as early as June this year but stopped in the meantime. Other makers, such as HP or Dell, haven’t even started.

UPDATE – A word from Lenovo:

Regarding your story, you may want to clarify for your readers what you
mean by “bundle” and “equipped.” For China consumers
who purchase a Lenovo PC, we are providing a CD-ROM in the box. It is up to
the customer whether to install the CD or not. Thanks.

Via China Daily

Data plans for the netbooks are as follows: 200MB for $40/month, 5GB for $60/month. AT&T is also offering three tiers of ConnecTech services for your brand new netbook.

• AT&T ConnecTech Remote Advanced Set Up and Service for $99. With this plan, customers can select installation of a new netbook to a secure wireless network, or PC notebook performance and optimization service, or PC notebook diagnosis and toubleshooting.

• AT&T ConnecTech In-Home Advanced Set Up and Service, available for $149. This plan offers the choice of next day in-home set up, optimization and security for a new netbook purchase or configuration of an existing PC with an AT&T LaptopConnect card purchase.

• AT&T ConnecTech Ultimate In-Home Experience, at $199, which offers assistance with a customer’s choice of any or all of the following: new netbook installation and optimization; optimization for an existing PC with a data card purchase; peripheral installation and configuration for up to two wireless devices; wireless network installation for up to two devices; configuration and set up of a personal PC with a new device; and a 10-point security audit and optimization of existing or new wireless network and all connected devices.

AT&T Netbooks