Everex Cloudbook -- 2 pounds, $399, and coming to a Wal-Mart near you
My lack of enthusiasm for the gOS Linux distribution notwithstanding, the Everex Cloudbook -- a light, small and relatively cheap laptop running the aforementioned gOS -- is coming to a Wal-Mart near you on Jan. 25.
It sure looks nice. Main competition? The ASUS EeePc. WARNING: don't click on this last link unless you enjoy annoying Flash-heavy trainwrecks). If you value not being annoyed by Flash, just go to Amazon, which is selling the ASUS for $399.
I thank Linuxdevices.com for the link, and for cluing me in to Everex's own site (I already know about the gOS Web page).
Here's everything Everex has to say about the laptop:
Think CloudBookExperience the Ultimate in Mobility
9 Inches, 2 pounds, 5 hours of battery life. Surf, email, blog, IM, Skype, compute. Cloud computing makes it simple and easy for everyone.Based on the latest gOS Rocket operating system, the ultra-mobile Everex PC comes with popular applications from Google, Mozilla, Skype, OpenOffice.org and more.
Find your $399 CloudBook at Walmart.com beginning 1/25/08.
Additional Preinstalled and Linked Software
Mozilla Firefox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Wikipedia, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xing Movie Player, RythemBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3 (includes WRITER, IMPRESS, DRAW, CALC, BASE)Hardware Specifications
1.2GHz, VIA C7®-M Processor ULV, 512MB DDR2 533MHz, SDRAM, 30GB Hard Disk Drive, 7" WVGA TFT Display (800 x 480), VIA UniChrome Pro IGP Graphics, VIA High-Definition Audio, 802.11b/g, (1) 10/100 Ethernet Port, (1) DVI-I Port, (2) USB 2.0 Ports, (1) 4-in1 Media Card Reader, (1) 1.3MP Webcam, (1) Headphone/Line-Out Port, (1) Microphone/Line-In Port, (1) Set of Stereo Speaker, (1) Touchpad, (1) 4-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Curious aside: Both the Everex and ASUS notebooks feature an 800 x 480 screen. Hmmmmmm......
Personally, that's not enough screen for me. I'm chafing in 1024 x 768 and positively cramped in 800 x 600. I've read that the Xandros Linux OS in the ASUS has been optimized for the screen size. Given how unpolished gOS is right now, I can't believe they're going to do nearly as well.
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OK. it's not a laptop - its a desktop, but I an waiting for the release of the Shuttle $199 Linux PC as shown at http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9847365-7.html?tag=blog.1
I've heard it doesn't come with a CD drive. That's a bit of a deal-breaker. If that is so, you need to add a USB CD or DVD drive. ... I think USB DVD writers are going for $75. It might still not be a bad deal, even with the extra $75, and it sure looks nice.
fortunately gos is just an ubuntu under the skin so you can apt-get install xubuntu-desktop or whatever and have a usable system.
A friend just bought a toshiba a205 with a 1.6 ghz dual core cpu, 2g memory and 160g hd with a nice big display for $499 on sale at Office Depot. Why get stuck with a cripple for $100 savings?
It's not fair to compare this, the Eee or the OLPC to a full fledged notebook. Compare this instead to a slightly more substantial version of a Palm or a PocketPC handheld. This is what you take along with you to surf the web, get your email and make Skype calls when you don't want to drag your laptop around.
I actually find this more interesting than the Eee because it actually has a hard drive. It can also replace your iPod for audio and video. The Eee's (and the OLPC's) flash is insufficient for video.
I see people storing many if not most of their files on servers they access over the Internet. Using Google Docs, Picasa, Web-based e-mail, etc. A laptop especially is a poor place to keep data -- laptops are easily stolen, not designed to be repaired or have a long life. Using the laptop as a conduit to data stored elsewhere.
Regarding flash memory vs. a traditional hard drive, I don't think flash memory is there just yet, but it sure is getting there, and in a laptop especially, given its short projected life (not that I'm not using a sixish-year-old laptop now, but it seems positively ancient; and I'm not even talking about the nine-year-old laptop I also use). But I think the time is just about right for laptops with flash memory. The new Macbook Air offers an optional flash drive that's both huge in capacity and price.
For the ASUS Eee, I think you get 2 GB or 4 GB of internal flash memory, but there's an SD slot that you can stuff with as many different memory cards as you want. You can have separate cards for different users or situations, or you can drop in cards with capacities up to 8 GB and higher. I don't know what the largest-capacity SD card is right now, nor how much they're going for ... and speed might be a problem. I guess the proof is in the use of laptops like the ASUS, the Everex and others. We have to see how they actually run.
That is a great tip -- I hadn't thought of how easy it is to take gOS and add on all the Ubuntu/Xubuntu tools that would make the system both faster and more usable.
It's so simple ...