Just read this over at Crunchgear.com.. but someone had posted this image of a “Canon 1D Mark IIIN” showing up in their inventory system at work.. with PMA around the corner, I wouldn’t doubt it.. Canon needs to do something to the 1D quick to compete with Nikon’s latest offerings..

Commenters over at Crunchgear.com questioned the “4,240 Euro” price tag associated to the Canon 1D Mark IIIN in the pictured screen.. however, if I recall correctly, Canon doesnt seem to give Europeans the benefit of the Euro:USD exchange rate and quite often will suggest a selling price (MSRP) in Euros that is equal to the USD MSRP.. as evidenced here at DPReview.. the Canon 50D’s USD MSRP is $1,299 while the Euro MSRP is also 1,299.

So if we figure an approximate $4,299 USD MSRP for the Canon 1D Mark IIIN.. thats about right, considering the Canon 1D Mark III’s MSRP is/was $3,999 USD.

[photopress:Canon_1D_Mark_IIIn.jpg,full,centered]

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I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a netbook.. my biggest issue, however, is that I dont really know what I’d do with it.. talking to other people who are using netbooks, they all claim that it works great for “everyday” tasks and some “light” photoshopping..

I currently have a beater laptop that I keep laying around for precisely these tasks.. I dont want to “pollute” my Lenovo T61 that I use for real work by firing up Photoshop CS4 when I need it.. so how would a netbook compare to this beater? The beater is a Toshiba Tecra M2 with Centrino 1.6GHz and 1GB of RAM and an nVidia FX5200 GPU.. not a speed demon, but it gets the basic stuff done.. the problem in comparing an Atom 1.6Ghz to a Centrino 1.6GHz is that most benchmarks for the Atom 1.6GHz are using different benchmarking tools than when the Centrino 1.6GHz was benchmarked some 4-5 years ago..

Anyhow, being that my Tecra M2 is a beater.. I put Windows 7 on it a few weeks ago.. here’s how it fared in the Windows Experience Index:

2.9 Processor

4.1 Memory

2.0 Graphics

2.4 Gaming graphics

2.0 Hard disk

So I was surprised to come across this post at jkOnTheRun detailing their experience on installing Windows 7 on an MSI Wind U100 (which is exactly the netbook I’d be interested in).. here’s their Windows Experience Index:

2.2 Processor

4.5 Memory

2.3 Graphics

3.0 Gaming graphics

4.9 Hard disk

So, it looks like a netbook MAY be able to replace my beater.. but it is a little slower (2.9 vs 2.2 on the Processor index).. although the MSI Winds come with a factory overclock of 25%.. which should put it up in the same leagues as my beater..

Speaking of MSI Winds.. here’s the new U120 model, listed at $380 @ Amazon.. this is the one I’d get.. in gray, if I were to get one.. which I will, as soon as I can figure out a reason to get one.. hahah

On second thought.. dont get a U120.. it comes with 1GB and its NOT expandable.. see more here.

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