In the process of updating a lot of information on Small-Laptops.com, I’ve been digging through the pages of ultraportable laptops on this site that needed updating.
Low and behold, there is quite a bit of information starting to come out about LG’s latest ultraportable laptop, the LG R200 aka LG R200 XNOTE (part of the LG R200 Express Series). The LG R200 was announced back in May of this year, with few details coming out up until the past few weeks. There are a lot of model numbers/SKUs for LG R200s in various parts of the world (Asia, Europe, Canada) listed with a lot of retailers. It looks like in some areas it will be shipping sometime between this week and into August (some locations may have them already). It doesn’t look there will be one sold for the United States (LG doesn’t list it on their US site, and no US retailers turned up in my searches, but it shows up on LG Canada, LG Korea, etc.). The average price I saw was between $1659 – $2060 USD ($2000 CAD (Canada) and 1199 – 1489 € ) and it looked like some companies were taking pre-orders/orders. For more information on model numbers and availability, look at the models section of this page
A couple of things to note:
– It appears now that there are two finishes, a “Premium Piano Black” finish that’s glossy, and a non-glossy finish (which showed up on LG’s Korean site, which also lists the LG R200 as the LG XNOTE or LG R200 XNOTE).
– It appears that there maybe some models (Europe in particular) that have Windows SideShow, a unique feature that came about with Microsoft Windows Vista, that allows you to access information (maps, contacts, email, schedules, etc.) through a 2.8″ QVGA (320×240) LCD display built into the laptop display cover. You don’t have to have the laptop open to access the information, and you can access it even when the laptop is suspended or in hibernation (it depends on the laptop). It’s claimed that Windows SideShow displays can run for 100s of hours since it uses very little battery power.
Specifications (taken from LG websites):
– Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 (2GHZ, 4MB L2) / T7100 (1.8GHz, 2MB L2)
– Intel’s PM965 Express Chipset aka Santa Rosa
– 12.1″ LCD – 1280×800 WXGA
– Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X2300HD (128MB HyperMemory)
– 2 Memory slots, 1GB/2GB – 4GB Maximum
– Intel Turbo Memory
– Serial ATA (SATA) 5400rpm Hard Drive: 120GB or 160GB
– SuperMulti Dual-Layer DVD Burner
– Intel 802.11n or Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG 802.11a/b/g
– Gigabit Ethernet, BlueCore4 (Bluetooth v 2.0 + EDR)
– Intel High Definition Audio
– 4.3 pounds (1.9kg)
They are positioning this as a “Multimedia Powerhouse” ultraportable, and they may just live up to the hype, at least based on the specs listed above. They put in a beefy graphics chipset, they didn’t skimp on hard drive space or memory (most shipping models are showing 2GB memory with 160GB HDD).