We’ve all seen Dell’s E mini notebook that’s piss small with an 8.9-inch screen but details haven’t emerged aside from specs - until today. Rumor has it that the Dell E is going to ship sometime in August for - wait for it - an astonishing $299. At that price, you’d expect a terrible system but you’ll find decent specs like a 1.8GHz Atom CPU, Linux. On the downside? 4GB of storage, only 512MB of RAM and Linux.

If the specs don’t suit you, fear not: Dell is coming out with a few models, including a premium model that supposedly has a built-in webcam, 1GB of RAM and other features. Either way, if Dell debuts a $299 sub-notebook next month, don’t expect to find them in stock after launch day.

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There are so many more options these days when it comes to sharing information, that printed media (and as a result, printers themselves) is becoming phased out more everyday. The Trak concept is the printer re-imagined for modern times. Everything is about mobility these days, so people want a printer that can be brought anywhere with them.

The Trak attaches right to the back of your laptop’s display. Featuring a detachable printer head and USB power, Trak has an ultra-compact design which most printers couldn’t manage to achieve unless humans somehow grew 10 times larger than their current size. (more…)

Nom Nom Nom. Now that is what I call a tasty notebook. Don’t get us wrong. We understand laptops have quite a long way to go before they are considered a green consumer electronic, but Fujitsu is on the right track with this laptop made from a corn polymer.

Similar to the material which makes up biodegradable plastic beverage cups, the polylactic acid which is the main ingredient for the casing is made from fermented biomass. So in other words, the corn niblets left over from dinner. Which only bares the question, is this laptop case edible? Not saying I would eat it, but ya know, just in case. Speaking of which, this image is vastly lacking a hottie Asian model, which I would also…. not eat, just in case. — Andrew Dobrow

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In an announcement made to calm anxious business men and XP fans alike, Toshiba has announced that they will be shipping their Satellite T31 notebook with both XP and Vista included in the box. While most of you will only install one of these OS’s, we assume that installing both on partitions is possible.

The T31 will ship in two core packages, one including a 1.86GHz Celeron M system with 512MB of memory, an 80GB hard drive, and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive for the  US equivalent of $1,565, with an upgraded package shipping with a faster 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor and a newer mainboard platform, which will ship for around $1,850. It’s cool that they will be offering both XP and Vista, but I’m still waiting on the day for a fully compatible Mac-Windows computer, with full DirectX compatibility. — Andrew Dobrow

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Man, oh man, have we seen some kickass notebook mods in our day. It feels like it was only yesterday that I was proclaiming the iTop the coolest thing since sliced bread. This Antique notebook mod is really one for the record books.

Running off of Ubuntu (like that even matters when your computer looks like this), the Heirloom mod turns your laptop into something you might find laying around Grandpa’s attic. I’d be much more thrilled to find this then an empty cigar box filled with pins. — Andrew Dobrow

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If I could have sex with a concept design, this would be the one I would choose. Simple, effective, productive, and sleek are all words which perfectly explain this MacTab tablet design concept from Yann Le Coroller.

The MacTab is an ultra-portable, and we mean VERY ultra-portable looking design which integrates a tablet display with a razor thin keyboard. When not in use the keyboard acts as protection for the display, pretty much like a notebook. The keyboard stays in place with a series of magnets and notches. It’s like the Kate Moss of tablets. Except, ya know, not drugged and lifeless or married to a druggy indie rocker. (more…)

Intel has some pretty cool stuff up their sleeves as of late. This “Metro Notebook” concept is Intel’s attempt at creating a restyled, ultra-slim and ultra-light laptop that takes into consideration, the young urbanites need for class and style. The sub-0.7 thick, 1 kg sized Metro has an outside display built into the back of the monitor which serves as an always-on update screen.

The Metro’s outside screen will be made as a colored non-volatile e-ink screen that shows important content, such as e-mail, calandar entries, eBooks and more, even when the power supply is cut off. The Metro is designed for complete wireless communications with a reconfigurable antennae which can be switched between Bluetooth, WiFi, and WiMax. Intel also hopes to ship the item enabled to charge your cellphone and other devices wirelessly through a charge pad. One word: Wow! Hit the jump for an in-depth look at the features with a labeled pic. (more…)

Desktop PC’s have been a foundation of everyday life for most people for over a decade now. If you were to do a case study of computers and their hardware history, one fact remains a constant. Hardware just keeps increasing work capacity, while also decreasing in physical size. With the ever growing explosion of laptop sales and the ever shrinking stature of desktop components, how long is it until the two sources of computing become one. When will the desktop PC become a legacy item?

With laptops capable of running faster and storing more than most desktops, the question popped in our minds of the future of the PC tower. What would have to change and how would our lives be different as we know them if there were to be a notebook revolution? I think we are already in a notebook revolution. WiFi and other wireless solutions are going to undergo heavy growth within the next 2-3 years.

The growth of wireless technology can only lead to one thing. A super gadget! Or at least we hope so. A contraption that houses not only a fully functional computer, but also a GPS system, with full integration to cars and other vehicles. Also with Internet telephony options and integrated social capabilities to interact with the people around you. This is just a pipe dream, but the creation of such an all-encompassing gadget is inevitable. With the shrinking desktop hardware constantly decreasing to palm sized technology, the death of the desktop is upon us. And there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. — Andrew Dobrow

You might of forgotten, but these floppy disks were once the storage media of choice. Now your most likely to find them piled at trash dumps or buried in your closet somewhere. The Floppy Disk Journal gives a new use to an obsolete technology.

These old floppy drives have been converted into functioning notebooks. What’s really cool about this is that they are all custom made with different software disks, so who knows what yours might be. They are not replicas. They are real recycled floppies. It’s a hell of a notebook to use for your Hipster PDA for all of you minimalist lifehackers out there. — Andrew Dobrow

Product Page [ThinkGeek]

Seeing this picture made our hopes rise, but they were quickly ducked down a notch. The photo is actually a fantasy mock-up of from Electro^Plankton. This doesn’t mean that we’ll never see something like this as a physical object though. The possibility is there for such an object to be created, maybe sooner then we think. What would be Apple’s motivation behind creating a smaller, meaner, ultra portable MacBook?

One place sales for Apple have lacked is in Japan, where the more portable and slim a product is, the more its going to sell. This is not to say that sales are low in Japan, just LOWER. Something like this MacBook Nano would boost Apples sales to an even higher amount. Plus it’s just really, really cool looking. Don’t think its possible? Catch the jump for an explanation on how it is. (more…)