MSI has released two X-Slim netbooks in China, and both the X340 and X600 seem ready to compete against the MacBook Air, but at a much more affordable price. The first has a 13.4-inch screen, while the second has a 15.6-inch screen. We wonder why China is the only country to receive both netbooks until now because we are certain that the world is happy to welcome them with open arms. Some rumors said that MSI would deadlock on the Atom processor and would prefer a Pentium, with the possibility of including the ION platform of Nvidia. The price is not known, but we think it could be between $700 and $1000.

People living in the U.S. can buy the brand new Acer Aspire One AOD150 10.1-inch netbook which will oust the actual 8.9″ model, offering a larger screen with other specifications of netbooks. Prices start at $349 depending on configuration, and you will have at least the following specifications:

• Intel Atom N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
• Windows XP Home Service Pack 3
• TFT LCD 10.1-inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels
• Mobile Intel 945GSE Express chipset
• 1024MB DDR2 533MHz SDRAM Single Channel Memory
• Graphics Controller: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• SATA 160GB SATA 5400 rpm hard drive
• Memory Card Reader
• Acer InviLink 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
• Acer Crystal Eye Webcam
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Battery Li-ion 6-cell (4400 mAh)

You have the choice between seashell white, sapphire blue, ruby red and diamond black.

Last week, Intel unveiled Moblin 2.0, an OS based on Fedora and for netbook running on Atom or Core 2 platforms. This is an open source project which is in its Alpha version, so very basic for the moment, but which aims to improve the battery life, reduce start-up time and make netbooks more practical. If you want to try it, you can download the Alpha version here.

Iiyama is known for its LCD monitors and the Japanese manufacturer will also release a netbook, the KDU-G1. No real surprises, the netbook offers an Intel Atom N270 processor and a 10.2-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 × 600 pixels. On the other hand, we can see a hard drive of 160GB or 250GB and 2GB of RAM.

Because Apple doesn’t decide to enter the world of netbooks, I suggest the work of Isamu Sanada with a laptop/netbook composed of three parts, the whole in a clamshell.

For those who dream of Acer Aspire One 10″ and like Linux will be pleased to learn that a Linux version is under development, despite an official announcement that it will be just a Windows XP machine. Apart from that, everything is the same: 160GB hard drive or 16GB SSD option, and a slot for SD memory card, among others. The Linux distribution will be the Linpus, but unfortunately, this version, and these options will not be available when the Acer Aspire One 10″ will be launched this mid-February. The price of Acer Aspire One 10″ will start from £299 ($426).

The MSI U120 is available on Amazon.com at a price of $478, this is only slightly more than the Samsung NC10 ($458). The MSI Wind U120 has some advantages over the NC10:

• Memory Stick support (in addition to other formats)
• WiFi-N support
• Trackpad slightly larger

We find that the U120 has a better look.

The new Kohjinsha ML6KL12F is a fairly complete netbook including a OneSeg Tuner, sold with Windows XP Home Edition and Office Personal 2007 for the price of 59,800 yen, or $663. Light, it weighs only 1.08 kg and strong, it supports a maximum load of 100 kg. The interior is a classic Atom N270 processor (1.60GHz), 1GB of RAM, an Intel 945GSE Express chipset, 120GB of storage and a 8.9 inch display with 1024 x 600 resolution. Always a good connection with this manufacturer with SD/Memory Stick/ MMC port, 2 x USB2 ports, an ExpressCard/34 slot and of course, an Ethernet jack.

It’s a shame to see the Samsung NC10 netbook becoming obsolete so soon after its release, as the Samsung NC20 model will be released in February 2009. This version includes the following specifications:

• 1.3GHz VIA Nano processor
• 12.1-inch display
• Hard Drive of 160GB
• 1GB of RAM
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet
• 3-in-1 memory card reader
• 1.3 megapixel camera

The Samsung NC20 would be sold at a price around $640, a price of budget laptops

The Lenovo IdeaPad S9 is available in U.S., making it an alternative for those who wanted the S10. Like its cousin, the Lenovo IdeaPad S9 has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, but has a smaller screen and less storage space. In addition, you will not have Windows, because it will run on Linux, so we wondered why anyone would buy this netbook for a price of approximately $349 when you can have much more with the IdeaPad S10. There is something for every taste, I suppose. The features include a 4GB SSD, 512MB RAM and a 1024 x 600 resolution.