HP Unveils Small Commercial Linux Laptop 242
Ryan writes "HP had unveiled their version of a miniaturized laptop for school kids. The tiny device boasts speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz. They haven't yet decided on a name, but 'netbooks' is one possibility. They will be used for surfing the Internet and doing other basic tasks like word processing. The company plans to have 50 million units available in the marketplace by 2011. Optical drives have been left out to prevent kids from playing 'unauthorized games.' Weighing less than 3 pounds with a tiny 8.9 inch screen, the machines start below $500 for a Linux-based model. Prices are expected to be higher for Windows Vista models."
Re:for $500 i could get... (Score:2, Interesting)
If you aren't buying these laptops for the size and weight to price ratio then there's no point really.
It's a shame that they chose to go with the Via though, initial reviews say it's very slow...They might be prepping to use the VIA Isaiah which is pin compatible though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIA_Isaiah [wikipedia.org]
Re:1.6GHz? (Score:5, Interesting)
writer's laptop (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, after looking at some of the early reviews [google.com] you can see that the Linux model is almost the perfect machine for a writer. It's small and under 3 pounds. It has a nearly full-size keyboard so you should be able to type for hours on it with no problems. The 1280x768 screen lets you see how things look on a full page and do some editing work (which is why something like an Alphasmart doesn't fit here). It seems likely to be fairly rugged and has a solid state drive of some sort, meaning drops won't kill your work. The performance of the poky VIA processor is almost irrelevant; all you need to be able to do is type in Open Office without noticeable lag. (Or fire up a tty session with vi or emacs if you want to totally minimize distractions.) $500 isn't as nice as $400, but it won't kill you either.
The only problem I've seen is that at least one of the reviews goes on about the heat the thing generates and the accompanying fan noise. A small quiet computer is the scribbler's holy grail. There's some hope for the HP, as the reviews have all been of the $750 model running Vista off a spinning hard drive. Maybe, hopefully, the slower processor being taxed less by a lighter OS combined with a solid state drive will make the Linux model quieter. Still, if not, we've almost got a writer's computer. And hopefully someone else will come out with a perfect one soon.
Remember the eMate? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:500 bucks? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm aware of that. I originally wrote it using gasoline for the sake of showing the mathematics, then, realizing that all anyone would do is argue all of the factors concerning the price of gasoline while ignoring the point, I switched the word to water without actually intending to reflect real values. Really, I could have just said "X", where "X" is a reference only.
And the whole point was just to show that I hadn't made a mistake in the math when I made the joke...