Dospara has released their Prime Note Cartina UM 8.9-inch netbook in Japan this week. The thing is powered by a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU and possesses 1GB of DDR2 RAM. The Prima Note Cartina has a 120GB hard drive, a 1,024 x 600 panel, 802.11b/g WiFi anda battery designed to last two hours. The netbook comes with a variant of Linux pre-installed. For you folks visiting Japan in the near future, you can grab one for ¥39,980 or $413 American Dollars.

The Asus R50A is shipping and it’s quite expensive. The UMPC will cost an estimated $1,878. It may be worth it for some of you, as the portable unit will run Windows Vista and features a 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor. It also features a gig of RAM, a 32GB SSD hard drive, a 5.6"screen at 1024 x 600, three USB ports, a microSD slot, a wireless keyboard and an external DVD reader / writer. The R50A will also allow you to connect wirelessly via 802.11 b / g WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G. The unit is currently shipping if you have the money.

Dell has finally released their Vostro A860 laptop in the United States. It had previously been available in other parts of the world since August. The unit starts at just $379 when you factor in Dell’s instant savings. The Vostro A860 features a 15.6-inch screen and weighs 5.4 pounds. It comes with either a Celeron or Pentium Dual Core processor. The Vostro also features a GMA X3100+ integrated graphics card, 2GB of memory, up to 160GB of storage, WiFi and optional Bluetooth. Vista is the pre-loaded OS of choice for the unit..

Korean company UMID has announced their entry into the burgeoning sub-netbook category of computers. This laptop weighs just 315 grams (a little over a half-pound) and is just a shade bigger than the Nintendo DS. Still, the insides still pack quite a punch. The unit contains a 1.33GHz Atom Processor, 1GB of RAM and up to 32GB of storage via SSD. It also features WiBro, WiMAX, HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The unit also has a 1.3-megapixel camera and a 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen. The tiny netbook can run XP, Vista or Linux. The company has yet to release word on pricing or release date.

South Korean tech company Mintpass has released their Mintpad, a digitized note taker. The gadget allows you to take and share notes on the fly, using a fully-functional touchscreen. In addition, the Mintpad has WiFi, a media player, 1.3-megapixel camera, microphone, built-in speaker and 4GB of memory with microSD expansion. The 320 x 240 touchscreen measures 2.9-inches of pure note-passing goodness.

Currently, the unit is only available in South Korea for about $156. No word on when it will legitimately reach these shores.