Smartbooks promise to be cheap devices that will cost $200 or so and provide smartphone-like performance with a larger screen. Some of the devices are turning up with prices more like high-end netbooks when you do not opt for a 3G plan with them.

Mobinnova has announced its smartbook called the Beam. The device has an ARM Cortex A9 processor, NVIDIA Tegra for graphics, and an 8.9-inch screen. The screen resolution is 1024 x 600 and the machine has 512MB of RAM. It also sports 512MB of NAND for the Android OS and storage is to a SSD 8 to 64GB in capacity.

Every few weeks it seems like a fresh round of rumors about an Apple tablet sets the tech world on fire. People really want tablet form factor devices to hit the market. That fabled Apple tablet isn’t here yet, but there are some other tablets that are here or are coming really soon.

Engadget went hands on with a new Android powered tablet called the ICD Ultra. The tablet has a 7-inch screen and runs the NVIDIA Tegra T20 CPU. It has 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. Storage capacity is 4GB and the tablet has integrated 2G/3G radios.

Chances are if you want a nettop it’s because they are a cheap. The folks at Artopz don’t seem to understand this concept since the Artopz Minitopz is priced at $2,375. It features an Intel dual-core Atom processor, NVIDIA ION graphics, Wi-Fi, 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, DVD burner, HDMI output and Windows 7, plus an artsy fartsy design.

For those extra dollars you get a functioning lamp and the company says the LED light is the equivalent of a 20 watt light bulb. A very expensive 20 watt bulb.

Green computing is a big deal in many companies and communities. The more power we can save in computing the less pollution is produced and the less power we consume. Power savings is an especially big deal in the business world. Tecsol has announced a new green touchscreen computer aimed at building automation called the Medallion TPC-43C.

The machine has a 4.3-inch touchscreen with 65K colors and a resolution of 480 x 272. The device runs an ARM9 processor with 32kB of cache, 64MB of SDRAM, and 128MB of NAND flash. The little touchscreen device draws all the power it needs from an Ethernet cable, which also gives it connectivity.

Last Friday was Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Today is the online equivalent called Cyber Monday when online retailers urge shoppers to spend money online. Walmart.com has some good deals for Cyber Monday that are available now.

Walmart is offering a Kodak 12MP camera for $89. It also has an Acer 10.2-inch netbook for $268 with a case and a flash drive. You can also get your hands on a 22-inch Samsung LCD HDTV for $268.

Gaming PCs tend to have some common features. The things are usually much more expensive than your average computer and they are crammed with high-performance hardware. iBuyPower is a boutique gaming PC maker that has some very cool machines and today it unveiled the Chimera 2 gaming PC.

The most notable thing visually about the computer is the four surface wrap around paint job with flames and a dragon motif. The machine can be had with several different CPU options including Intel Core i7 and i5 CPUs or AMD Phenom II parts. Several video card options are available as well.

Earlier this month Maingear rolled out its Shift personal supercomputer and it was pretty impressive. With the ATI HD 5970, going live today it’s natural for us to see some new gaming desktops that offer the card inside and the Shift is one of those machines.

Maingear is offering the Shift with both single HD 5970 and dual HD 5970 configurations. The dual 5970 configuration promises 10 teraflops of visual compute power. That is a lot of graphics oomph and should make mincemeat of your favorite video game.

With many homes producing digital content from more than one source that is stored on more than one PC on the home network, one central storage location is appealing to many. Envive has announced that it is now shipping its line of TheaterStation multi-zone digital media management system with centralized storage.

The line comes in a 2U rack mount, 1U rack mount, and a desktop tower form factor. The 2U rack mount product can be had with up to 14TB of storage. The 1U model can have up to 6TB and the tower is good for up to 4TB of storage.

You may recognize the ZAGG name as the company who offers the full line of invisibleSHIELD protective films for notebooks and mobile phones. The film is fantastic and keeps your gadgets from getting scratched and marred. ZAGG has announced some details on a new product that is coming next year called the ZAGGbox.

The device serves several functions including storing, recording, and playing media. It can transcode video to a version for TV and for the iPod or iPhone at the same time. The device has a universal remote and can control other devices with an IR blaster.

When it comes to being a mobile worker, you need some gear if you are going to be productive at all. You need a notebook, a mobile phone and something to carry all that stuff in. The notebook bag is an important part of your gear and booq has unveiled a cool new laptop bag called the Viper Rush.

The bag comes in XL and M sizes with the M version fitting the 15-inch MacBook and the XL version working for the 17-inch MacBook and 15-inch PCs. The bag is semi ridged and is designed to allow you to work on your laptop without pulling it out of the bag.

One of the things that the computer industry is measured by is how many GPUs ship. The more GPUs that ship, the more computers ship. All computers have a GPU of some sort inside them today. The latest figures from Jon Peddie Research for Q3 2009 have been released.

The GPU market grew an impressive 21.2% compared to Q2 2009. AMD was the biggest gainer for the quarter with growth of 30% followed by Intel who grew 21% for the quarter. NVIDIA grew only 3.3% during Q3.

Netbooks have been very popular since they launched and the economy went bad. Many consumers are finding the low price point of the typical netbook to be hard to pass up. As sales of netbooks soar, overall revenues in the notebook category are slipping.

Research firm DisplaySearch has released its latest numbers for the notebook and netbook category and the value of the notebook PC market as a whole was $26.4 billion, up 10% quarter over quarter, but down 5% year over year. The netbook segment was the biggest growth category with an increase from last quarter of 37% and a year over year increase of 264%.

Say supercomputer to most people and they think of the massive machines that take up entire rooms at colleges and laboratories around the country. The sort of computers that have massive power and consumer as much electricity as a mall.

SGI has announced a new computer that is the first in what it calls its line of personal supercomputers. The machine is a high-performance desk side cluster. Despite the machines high-performance it takes up the same amount of space as your average workstation.

I think that computers in schools are a great idea and every kid should have one. This would allow them to use computers instead of their books and perhaps lighten the 30-pound load it seems like they send home with my third grader. One of the most interesting netbooks specifically for school age kids is the CTL 2go Classmate PC E10 that debuted today.

The machine is a 10.1-inch laptop and it has an Intel Atom processor. The exterior of the machine is ruggedized to protect it from drops and water. Storage is to a 160GB HDD and the machine has 1GB of RAM inside.

I am a notebook fan, but do we really need another of the same old machines on the U.S. market? I don’t think we do, what we need are netbooks that innovate either through lower pricing or interesting and compelling features.

HannSpree has announced that its me too HannsNote 10-inch netbook is now available in America. The little machine is a dead ringer for the MSI Wind and has the same old features we have been getting on our netbooks for the last year.