Lindows.com on Thursday unwrapped an inexpensive and lightweight notebook PC based on its version of the Linux operating system. The San Diego, Calif., software maker’s new Lindows Mobile PC will sell for $799. It includes a 12.1-inch screen and a 933MHz Via Technologies C3 processor, along with LindowsOS, a version of the freely available Linux.
Lindows.com Launches Linux Notebook
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Sounds interesting, the only thing I don’t like is that the cd drive is external… it might save on battery usage though.
I’m not so sure $799 is all that competitive with an iBook…. the C3 is a notoriously slow processor…
Gotta give it to Lindows, they are certanly not sitting still.
I just purchased a 1.1 Ghz Celeron laptop, 14-inch screen, 256 MB RAM, and Xp Pro for $899.
100 bucks more. Big deal.
They should price this thing lower, IMO.
Does it support Red Hat 8.x? Kidding. 😉
BTW, they have two mistakes in the press release regarding the Apple laptop they compare to. It is a “Powerbook” and not an iBook, while the Powerbook does not have PCMCIA while they list it as “yes”.
Maybe they should have compared against the iBook in the first place, and not the Powerbook.
I was in Bestuy the other day they had a 1.8 Ghz Celeron, 30 gig harddrive, 115inch XGA, 256Meg DDR SDRAM, 32meg GeForce2Go video, DVD/CD-RW for $709 Okay after $150 mail in rebates but still I can’t believe how cheap it was.
If this laptop was at $599, or even $659, it might generate some buzz. But, as others have pointed out already, you can get much more powerful laptop for only a little bit more, if not the same price. I know if you watch edealinfo.com over a few days, you’ll see a P4 laptop up there for around $900… You just have to pay the rebate game…
Chris
Is this a real laptop or is it an ECS iBuddie laptop? These are dirt cheap laptops that don’t have a battery _at all_ (you have to be connected to the power all the time)… I can’t read anything about a battery in that laptop offered by Lindows.
If my suspicions are true, and this price does not offer a battery and it doesn’t have the “optional” optical drive, the $799 price is steep and you can find online way cheaper solutions that even do more for the price.
Please, if you want to buy this, make sure you ask all the technical details that interest you.
Ah, following the link to the retailers it says that it has removable lithium ion battery which is good.
… but like so many other people mentioned, for $1100 to $1200 you could have a “real” laptop if you’re willing to jump through the rebate loops.
The only problem is that the “real” laptops aren’t as small.
I, personaly, am torn. I need a laptop but I dont want to spend more then $1300 for one.
Blah.
http://idot.com/TheStore/Desktop/787Spec.asp?Product.id=787&Cate.id…
On the page it states the external drive as optional. Meaning, I think you pay extra for that option. If that is true you are not saving much (if any) money. I think the 933 MHz C3 is about the same speed as a 400 MHz PIII. The advantage is that it runs on low power and runs very cool. A major manufacturer could sell this same system for much cheaper but won’t because the lack of profit margin.
Just wondering. This lindows one seems to have a nice price and low weight
I thought you had to pay to use Lindows? I thought they didn’t offer a free version for download.
I’m surprised that nobody noted the fact that the listed the Apple iBook at $1799… when actually, its only $999. When you consider that the ibook has an internal optical drive, larger hard drive, more ram, better graphics card, faster processor, better OS etc etc etc… all for only $200 more, it makes you wonder why anyone would even consider Lindow’s laptop.
Then again… maybe they did realize it, and it was for this reason that they chose to spread the mis-information
Get the Sotec 12.1 inch notebook.
http://www.bestbuy.com/ComputersPeripherals/specials/Sotec.asp
With the rebates it will sell for $150. You can get them from Walmart to.
Oh yes, David Coursey recommends it. I don’t know if that is a good thing.
The lightweight (2.9 lbs) helps them justify the cost…It’s tough to get such a light notebook for $799. Although, for that price I would prefer to have a CDRW/DVD drive included. I would personally look closer at the Sotec 3120X -> under 5 lbs., built in CD-RW/DVD, celeron 1.13, 256MB RAM, 20 GB hd. I’ve read that people have picked this up for $750 using MIRs (although I don’t think all the rebates are still available). It looks like it would cost $800 at Best Buy with the MIRs.
Anyone who buys this please pst here with you review of it. Thanx.
I’m surprised that nobody noted the fact that the listed the Apple iBook at $1799… when actually, its only $999.
Obviously there are no G4 iBooks. This price is clearly for the 12″ PowerBook G4. Hell, their price comparison chart isn’t in HTML… it looks like they took a screen shot of Excel and loaded it into MS Paint and played with the colors.
When you consider that the ibook has an internal optical drive, larger hard drive, more ram, better graphics card, faster processor, better OS etc etc etc… all for only $200 more, it makes you wonder why anyone would even consider Lindow’s laptop.
Good question… this laptop seems like a terrible buy compared to the $999 iBook, but hey, it keeps Lindows in the news.
Except that it does not have more ram, and having an internal cd-rom is just about useless because you need a CD-RW. Also Jaguar is not functional with 128 megs of RAM and on 16meg of Video Ram is not a good idea on Jaguar.
Apple does not want to sell any $999 ibooks they just make it useless so you will pay more for the $1299 ibook.
_you_ posting Lindows is freely available..? You should have annotated that one…
Here’s more info and a cool picture:
http://info.lindows.com/mobilepc/mobilepc.htm
Cheers from Uruguay, South America
Hey, that looks pretty cool. Anyone know if Linux/FreeBSD works with it?
Eugenia’s posting is correct
” a version of the freely available Linux ”
Linux is freely available. Lindows is a version of it. Which isn’t freely available itself :-p
My sentiments exactly.
The $999 apple laptop is a very expensive paper weight.
” a version of the freely available Linux ”
Actually, I think it would fall under a version of Linux which is not freely available.
Lindows is a version of the GPL’d ( free ) Linux
http://home.ettus.com/sotec-linux/
That settles that. With the $150 bestbuy rebate, in my opinions, is the only way to go.
Except that it does not have more ram, and having an internal cd-rom is just about useless because you need a CD-RW.
I do?
It’s not as if the ibook keeps you from getting external devices. If you need one… then get one.
If the idea is to get a laptop at the lowest possible price (as seems to be the case with the Lindows laptop) then Apple’s $999 CD-ROM-only laptop is definately a great buy. (Assuming price is your only factor) If you’re talking bang for the buck, the $999 ibook smakes ever single consumer laptop on the market. Shoot, Apple’s entire laptop lineup smokes everything out there that tries to compete with similar features.
“Also Jaguar is not functional with 128 megs of RAM and on 16meg of Video Ram is not a good idea on Jaguar.”
Then spend $60 and get yourself another 128 more. Considering all that you get with the ibook and powerbook, not buying it based on that amount of ram they supply you with is a rediculious argument… (Just make sure you don’t buy Ram from Apple… they rip you off for their ram prices)
“Apple does not want to sell any $999 ibooks they just make it useless so you will pay more for the $1299 ibook.”
Why would Apple not want you to buy their $999 laptops? As long as you’re going to use that argument you might as well rule out every single other low-priced PC on the market (be it a laptop or desktop) as all of them come with nothing worth getting… which implies according to your logic that they are just useless objects made so that you will pay a few hundred more for the upgraded model.
you need not smart-ass me… not here – you and I know whether or nor Linux is free and whether Lindows is… or will you start arguing next that Windows is “free” because you.. err, can have it for “free”..? Kids that you are…
“The $999 apple laptop is a very expensive paper weight.”
Only slightly less so that all the other super-low-end laptops from PC manufacturers.
I say “only slightly less so” because Apple’s $999 ibook is still a better deal then all the other bargain basement PC laptops when you compare features for features.
Maybe everyone else is a bit spoiled, but the current $999 iBook doesn’t look bad to me.
700 MHz G3 and a 16 MB Radeon? Fine for OS X. 128 MB RAM? Passable, but guess what kids- that’s why Apple puts a little slot under the keyboard where you can add more RAM.
I use OS X 10.2 on a 500 MHz iBook with an 8 MB Rage 128. And guess what? It performs pretty well.
What is the gripe with a 16 MB video card not being good enough for Jaguar? With my iBook, with it’s wee 8 MB VRAM, I can still play UT and Q3. I mean, this isn’t Win98- I don’t need a top of the line card just to drag windows without it chopping up.
“What’s wrong with the $999 iBook?”
Well, nothing is wrong with the ibook… you’re just forgetting that this is OS News and all the insecure Microsoft apologists on the site need to automatically adopt the anti Apple slant in an effort to compensate for the I’ll will that the Slashdot croud inflicts upon them.
make that…
the Ill will that the Slashdot crowd inflicts upon them.
(Sometimes my mind thinks faster than my fingers can type)
“Apple does not want to sell any $999 ibooks they just make it useless so you will pay more for the $1299 ibook.”
Its called ‘Marketing Mix’. They do it for the same reason fast food places offer 99cents menus. To get you to buy the other stuff.
If I buy the RAM and the external drive then it no longer costs $999, and I have to lug this stupid external drive around with me. Also you cannot configure a $999 with a 32 meg graphics card. This is a major problem. It would cost apple next to nothing to put a 32meg card in there but they choose a card that cannot really function in Jaguar (This makes the whole syste pretty useless).
The whole $999 ibook package is designed to entice you into getting the something more expensive.
FYI – I am no Microsoft apologist. In fact I am seriously considering a 12.1 inch powerbook or a $1300 ibook as my next purchase.
FYI (2) – I also like their line up of portables. The superdrive EMac is also nice. But lets not call the ibook something it isn’t and thats useful.
In regards to the $999 iBook
Andrew G: Except that it does not have more ram,
Okay, so for $1049 you can have 256MB? Next…
and having an internal cd-rom is just about useless
Unless you plan to load software… I guess Lindows just expects you to load all software via Click-n-Run, but then again you wouldn’t expect Lindows users too hook their laptop up to their monitor, plug in a tablet, and run Painter or Photoshop, or hook up something like the Digidesign MBox and have a portable ProTools setup, or hook it up to your MIDI keyboard and run Reason. Yeah, I’d say if you don’t plan to load any software on your laptop a CD-ROM is pretty useless.
because you need a CD-RW.
Because *I* need a CD-RW? Perhaps you’re talking about yourself here…
Also Jaguar is not functional with 128 megs of RAM
It’s certainly functional, albeit slow. However, as I said before, $1049 buys you 256MB total. $79 gets you an AirPort card. You’d probably end up paying at least $50 for something like a Lucent Orinoco Silver card on the Lindows side, bringing the iBook up to $1128 and the Lindows laptop up to around $850.
and on 16meg of Video Ram is not a good idea on Jaguar.
16MB is sufficient… have you ever opened a large number of windows on a Quartz Extreme machine? I haven’t experienced any slowdown, and that’s probably because Quartz Extreme has intelligent occlusion culling and doesn’t store textures for occluded portions of windows in texture memory. I can’t really say… but after opening hundreds of full screen windows on a Quartz Extreme system and not experiencing any slowdown I’d say it’s implemented fairly well.
John Galt: My sentiments exactly. The $999 apple laptop is a very expensive paper weight.
Then get the $1050 one, or spend the extra $79 and get integrated AirPort. That seems like a hell of a deal for an OS X capable machine.
That settles that. With the $150 bestbuy rebate, in my opinions, is the only way to go.
You didn’t paste a link, but I’ll assume you’re talking about this: http://www.bestbuy.com/Detail.asp?m=1581&cat=1588&scat=&e=11202591
Which definitely looks like a better deal than the Lindows laptop. After the *ugh* MIR it appears to be $800 as well, and for another 1.4lbs of weight offers a real processor (1.2GHz Celeron) and a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW. I think some might be willing to trade those features for the decreased weight, however.
The question in my mind would be: why would you settle for Linux when you could have an OS X capible system for another $250? (of course, if I bought that Sotec laptop, I’d keep Windows XP on it) That’s not to mention that the iBook also runs virtually silent and will have a longer battery life. And if you shell out the extra $79 for an AirPort card, you don’t have to worry about breaking off the antenna of a PCMCIA 802.11b card every time you carry it around (or removing the card and packing it away every time you pack up your laptop)
Realistically, I’d say that Sotec laptop is the best deal pricewise (of what’s been mentioned here), followed by the iBook, with the Lindows laptop coming in dead last.
But lets not call the ibook something it isn’t and thats useful.
Care to describe to me how the $1050 iBook isn’t “useful”? It is more than capible of running some very nice software:
Photoshop 7
Painter 7
ProTools
Reason
Final Cut Pro
MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint
Here’s what I see as a feature breakdown:
$1130 iBook – OS X, integrated wireless
$1050 iBook – OS X
~$850 Sotec – DVD-ROM/CD-RW, Orinoco Silver
$800 Sotec – DVD-ROM/CD-RW
The only “useful” thing I see the Sotec laptop capible of that the iBook isn’t is playing DVDs. The question becomes is this more important to you than having an OS X system.
Otherwise, I’d say your claims about the iBook’s uselessness are completely unsubstantiated.
The sotec comes with a CDR drive, a dvd drive,more ram and a much faster processor for hundreds of $$$ less.
I’m not trolling,I’ve never used OSX, but why would I pay %50 surcharge for a [semi-comparable] iBook? I don’t need a writable DVD…
I also remember Eugenia’s comments that the 12″ apple LCDs are shit (paraphrasing).
An no “apple just works” answers, please. XP “just works” too.
Okay I will take your word on the usefulness of the $1050 i-book. I know you are very knowledgeable especially when it comes to OSX. By the way I bought an iMac about 1.5 years ago and was so disappointed with the performance of OSX I sold it two months later. So I really hope by the time I try my luck again things are a lot better.
In my opinion any system that is not permanently connected to a network like a server and already has gone to the trouble of having an internal CD drive should make it a writeable drive.
What planet are you on? sure, the FPU performance is crap, but when it comes to raw int peformance, the performance one would notice when running general purpose applications like OpenOffice etc etc, the C3 holds its own.
As for the quietness, IIRC, the C3 does not require a fan. It has the same heat dissapation as the UltraSparc IIe, meaning, all that is required is a heat sink.
John Galt: The sotec comes with a CDR drive, a dvd drive,more ram and a much faster processor for hundreds of $$$ less.
The Sotec comes with 256MB of RAM. For $1050, an iBook also comes with 256MB of RAM. That would be the same amount of RAM.
The Sotec’s CPU may be faster, but what exactly will you be using it for? All I see it doing is decreasing your battery life.
Of course, there’s the anti-Apple zealots out there who claim that a dual 1.42GHz G4 is still to slow for day-to-day use. I can see the arguments for CPU intensive Photoshop filters or Final Cut Pro effects, but for the love of god, a 700MHz G3 is more than sufficient for day-to-day use.
I did forget to mention CD recording on the Sotec. That’d be another feature you have to trade way to get OS X, in addition to paying what can only be called a $250 Apple tax. Why did I pay it? Because I enjoy using OS X, of course… your mileage will vary.
I also remember Eugenia’s comments that the 12″ apple LCDs are shit (paraphrasing).
Well, that’s her opinion. My iBook has one of the nicest LCDs I’ve ever seen, much better than the LCDs offered some of the subnotebooks listed in Lindows’ price comparison, such as the Portege.
Matthew Gardiner: What planet are you on? sure, the FPU performance is crap, but when it comes to raw int peformance, the performance one would notice when running general purpose applications like OpenOffice etc etc, the C3 holds its own.
It’s certainly slower than the 700MHz G3 in the iBook.
As for the quietness, IIRC, the C3 does not require a fan. It has the same heat dissapation as the UltraSparc IIe, meaning, all that is required is a heat sink.
VIA recommends a fan for the 933MHz C3, and places one on the processor on the EPIA M9000 board.
I can’t say whether or not this Lindows laptop has one, but I can tell you one thing for certain: the G3 on the iBook doesn’t have a fan.
I really like the apple hw, especially the notebooks
only 2 second start up time from sleep mode
I can use it at work on fridays, close the screen, go partying, come back, surf, read mail, and it will still have juice left when I plug it back into the mains on monday when I return for work
mind you though, that’s with debian, I’m not an osx fan
“Microsoft apologists on the site need to automatically adopt the anti Apple slant in an effort to compensate for the I’ll will that the Slashdot croud inflicts upon them.”
I don’t have much against Apple, but I do agree, that is part of the reason I defend MS. Start screaming how bad MS blows and making constant BSOD jokes while praising Linux as the second coming, people will expect nothing less of it. I don’t like double standards, if that is the standard required for MS, I will expect exactly the same from Linux so long as the /. advocates continue to criticize all who are not “for the cause”. My personal opinion is that Desktop Linux (read KDE, not Fluxbox on Gentoo) is slower, less stable, and more bloated than windows (XP). Talking honestly about Linux with a zealot is like arguing evolution with a bible thumper. Make a point by point presentation highlighting why Linux is better than windows, you are a god. Now do the same for Linux and you could consider yourself lucky to be alive.
Sorry for the rant.
I was really looking forward to the Desktop Linux summit as Lindows was supposed release their low-cost (around $500) tablet PC/web pad. Well, nothing turned up so it seems like the notebook is the replacement. Too bad because a cheap tablet PC/web pad would’ve been more innovative.
Still on the hunt for a low-cost Linux web pad/tablet. I wonder if Dot Design Tech will ever release theirs:
http://www.dotdesigntech.com
I e-mailed them but never got a reply. 🙁
the most interesting question is battery life. if it’s a real performer on that, then there might a real niche market for this thing.
> I also remember Eugenia’s comments that the 12″ apple LCDs are shit (paraphrasing).
Yes, but that doesn’t mean that Lindows’ screen will be any better. It might be, or it might not be, depends how much they needed to cut the costs. 😉
And isn’t 1024×768 native on a 12″ screen a bit too much? Not everybody has the greatest eyesight.
Having sold “blade” servers when I owned a computer business I can assure you that the C3 is perfect for the type of work the El Cheapo $799 consumer is going to do on a Lindows laptop. Believe me, I see these same consumers get by quite well on Celeron Desktops running at 500Mhz without any issues. For some reason I don’t think they’ll be complaining about the C3.
BTW, I don’t recall you ever saying that they were “shit”… but that they essentially left you somewhat underwhelmed.
If in fact you DID say that they were “shit” than you were (quite simply)… wrong.
Talking honestly about Linux with a zealot is like arguing evolution with a bible thumper.
Actually I would love to talk rationally to evolutionists about science. The problem is normally exactly the opposite. Conversations regress to something like, “It just is.”
Apologies for going off topic, but I was baited and I have no intention of discussing the topic on this site.
I was pretty blown away in seeing this package from Lindows – of course it doesn’t compete with better laptop hardware, or even some hardware of comparable price, but this thing is an excellent buy for some specific needs.
2.9 lbs? That’s incredible, I would love to have a laptop that light, and compact. It’s hard to find something that light for a comparable price and equivalent hardware, although I’m sure the “933mhz” processor is slow as dirt – I’m just hoping the battery life makes up for it, which would be acceptable in my view. For instance, would love taking this to my classes instead of my larger laptop, taking notes on it (screen size, speed/power, and weight would make this task ideal) and then at home I could sync it, or do whatever with it, through wireless lan. If this thing has excellent battery life because of the slow processor, that’s another bonus. I would never need a CD drive at school, so it’s not as if I would be forced to drag their external drive around with me. If I use one often (which I do), it’s at home, so this situation is acceptable for this application.
So, take this offer with a grain of salt and some retrospect on what applications it could be useful in. A powerbook could serve the same purpose, and is much faster, but there is no version of the Powerbook of course that meets such a price. Therein is the appeal. Looks like a very intelligent move by Lindows.
>Talking honestly about Linux with a zealot is like arguing evolution with a bible thumper.
Haha, good one. I bump on the same problem daily… It gets me in trouble though for peristing on honesty instead of trying to be “politically correct”.
Having sold “blade” servers when I owned a computer business I can assure you that the C3 is perfect for the type of work the El Cheapo $799 consumer is going to do on a Lindows laptop.
I wouldn’t necessary relgate those who purchase a $799 laptop to “El Cheapo consumers.” Regardless, why would anyone buy the Lindows laptop instead of the equally priced Sotec laptop, considering the Sotec laptop has a 1.2GHz Celeron which will obviously be faster than the 933MHz C3, DVD-ROM/CD-RW, and comes with Windows XP instead of Lindows? I can’t see the extra 1.4 pounds really making that much of a difference, especially when the Sotec plays DVDs without the need for an external drive?
Like most people, I was surprised to see on Lindows web site that their laptop is based on a Via C3. That processor may be fast enough for word processing or other tasks but is it really fair to compare it to a 750 MHz Pentium III or a 867 MHz PowerPC ?
Aside from a sleazy way of introducing their first laptop, I think the positive aspect of this experience is that it may encourage other Linux vendors to start bundling their software with cheap computers. These days, an old IBM Pentium II 400 MHz can be had for less than US$ 200. If they can’t break the monopoly that Micro$oft exerts on the sales of new PCS, why not use other means ?
Nonetheless, it is sad that whenever Lindows appears in the news, it becomes the cause of outrage, pretty much like SCO (Caldera or whatever their name is now).
Andrew G, you were baited? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen posted on this site. One person posts a common and amusing analogy, and you go all biblical on our asses. You’re the one sowing the flamebait, biblethumper.
Here’s an idea. Perhaps evolution is “God’s” way of creating the world. Ever try that one on for size? Here’s another idea. Maybe “God” is so beyond your comprehension as a mere mortal, “God” is so great and powerful, that you will never know the answer.
You will never know. Neither will I. Sorry, life is tough.
Now can you try to acquire a sense of humor, PLEASE?
I’ve seen a lot of talk in this thread about mail-in rebates. I personally don’t do them, and I would advise that none of you do either. Next thing you know, you’ll have to give the coporate bastards your life history, hand over your first born, and submit to a rectal exam just to buy a f**king roll of toilet paper.
Not me .. not ever.
I have two ECS laptops, one is the A900 powered by VIA C3, and an A907 powered by a Transmeta Crusoe. These things are dirt cheap, especially the Crusoe laptop. What I like about them is that they have 4 USB ports. I don’t care about a battery; I don’t go mobile. Besides, both of them are running on ThizLinux (bundled). I like the fact that I can use ordinary SDRAM on them. So one has 512MB and the other, 256MB.
The lindows laptop looks great for a cheap alternative. But the price isn’t that attractive, most especially having an optional EXTERNAL CDROM drive.
Definately has a fan, its gone on a few times for me, but its not constant on my ibook 700 g3, unlike my thinkpad 300 celeron.
I never loved a computer before I got a mac (the ibook), and thats not something a 300 dollar price difference can change.
Jag runs like crap on 128mb of ram, it runs fine on 16mb of vram.
Eug, btw I was at a friends this week and saw her ibook screen. I hated the 12″ ibook screen, even though I love my 14″ one, so I will agree the quality difference is there.
Also, as portables go… Its the little things, like keyboard quality, lcd quality, how fast the thing wakes up, how often it needs to be rebooted (crappy drivers, or crappy hardware on really cheap laptops = bad), how well its able to switch network connections (wireless, dialup, ethernet), battery life, how hot it gets, what sort of upgrade paths it has (swappable hard drives, firewire, usb, etc), and a few other things I cant think of now. iBooks spank just about any other laptop out there, and I doubt anything cheaper will be as good.
Want a tablet? Want a tablet that runs Linux, connects to your GPS and scans for wireless networks? I just picked up a Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 on ebay for ~$100. Dumped W95, added 32M Ram and installed slackware on it. Now I use it for field work and data collection. When you get it all together and you want a post 1999 tablet, check out the more recent ones. It is not that hard to throw Linux or FreeBSD on any of them. It works great for me.
Rodney Dyer, PhD
Evolutionary Biologist
That must be the most astray thinking I have read for a while. When the argument results in “it just is”, this *IS* due to the fact that the sientist was *already* being rational. If you really think that trying to convince a scientist of a bible-based view on the matter is anywhere remotely close to rational, than you live in an intersting world of your own, if I may say that.
I haven’t seen any messages talking about the “Microsoft Tax” on laptops (all laptops you buy came with Windows installed, and there is no way to buy it without it, even if you plan to install another OS on it, so it’s considered as if you were paying a microsoft tax for it).
So, this laptop could be the first (or one of the firsts) laptop without the microsoft tax (not counting macs, only x86), and I’m glad about it.
So this could be viewed as a first step to stop the bloody microsoft tax on laptops, which is really unfair to some people.
Hello,
Just to offer my 2 cents on this , cdrom drives internal
on a laptop are usless. The most use I got out of mine was
playing CD and DVD on plane flights. I would like to
rip it out an install an third battery.
o) Unless your installing software.
A) I install maybee once a month and I can rip cd’s at home.
I use the battery every damn day. (On my 4th battery pack)
o) CD-RW are useful.
A) maybe for backup which I would do at home. If I
need to move files I keep two bluetooth dongles on an
key chain. files moved.
My rating system.
1) Screen, Can’t be fixed can’t be upgraded must
always use.
2) Video Accelerator (lots of OGL work)
3) Battery Life
4) others.
Actually I was thinking tonight that Apple Computer Inc.
could do well if the starting using multi proc laptops,
or talk Motorola Inc. into producing an dual core G3 or G4.
Turn one core off when not in use, <insert benefits of
two chips> and I get a good portable solution to test
my software for race conditions on.
Leslie
With regards to the iBook.
If a customer didn’t want to use a DVD drive then its perfect and cheap if that same customer didn’t want also a cdrw then its perfect. There are other ways to copy information, anybody ever think that a person who is buying the ibook already has an external cdrw drive at the least?
RAM is a none issue, and i remember a time when 4 megs Gcards for pc’s were the greatest thing on earth and if you had one you were the envy of your friends and people are bitching about 16MB’s on a laptop?
Some people seem to think they might need more and thus bitch and moan about Apples pricing policies forcing people to get the bigger and better one.
ALL subnotes I know (meaning no optical drives built in) are as light as this, or lighter or way way lighter. Anyway, what’s the batery life on this? It seems rather cheap… But not all that cheap.
And for potential notebook buyers, think of other things besides the price. What about wear an tear – do you have to send it for warranty every other month? Also note that this laptop has no international support and service meaning if your laptop breaks down in papua new guinea, you are out of luck.
CompUSA, CircuitCity, and Dell, all have 1.6ghz systems for $699, after rebate.
I was really looking forward to the Desktop Linux summit as Lindows was supposed release their low-cost (around $500) tablet PC/web pad. Well, nothing turned up so it seems like the notebook is the replacement. Too bad because a cheap tablet PC/web pad would’ve been more innovative.
The Lindows Tablets are still in the works. They are having trouble perfecting the touchscreen drivers so they didn’t make it in time for the summitt.
Kreek (Lindows Insider)
Could we get a realistic estimate on the battery life of this thing? I cant seem to find any info on that factor anywhere…
Doesn’t seem like that good of a deal to me. You could get an ECS iBuddy or the like with a real processor like an AMD XP instead of a wimpy C3. Ohh, and a built in DVD drive and other goodies for about the same price. Get it without an OS and put a linux of your choice on it.
“It is not that hard to throw Linux or FreeBSD on any of them. It works great for me.
Rodney Dyer, PhD
Evolutionary Biologist”
lol. That is priceless–saying you like Linux and actually aren’t a bible thumper. An educated man using Linux? Who would have guessed? 😉
(And yes, I know the anti-Linuxers were just using the evolution thing as an analogy but I found that analogy of Linux users=biblethumpers almost offensive).
I just get a kick out of the fact that they compare it with a friggin PDA. LOL…
Kreek (Lindows Insider),
That’s great news. Any info you can leak? Tech specs, price, release date, etc.
Well, for a lightweight laptop it seems like a decent deal. But how well does Linux perform on it?
has anyone used an ultra sparc laptop, running solaris?
laptops sound so cheap in the Usa, compared to UK prices.
“I’m sure the “933mhz” processor is slow as dirt”
I’m sure that since most corporate desktops are still in the P2 and P3 range, and mostly <1GHz from the experience of most of the IT guys I talk to, most users aren’t going to really notice.
Also, given Intel’s latest class action suit against it regarding P4 performance and certain conditions putting that performace as lower than p3s of similar speed, I don’t know that a 1.6 GHz Intel CPU laptop is something to be overly excited about.
This obviously isn’t a laptop aimed at the hardcore gaming, compiling, photoshop crowd. It’s aimed at a more pragmatic userbase. Your basics, browse, email, mp3s, and maybe some gaming. No one I know expects to do any hardcore gaming on a laptop, they don’t have the video performance.
So what good does having a 1.5GHz processor do you? Other than keeping your lap nice and toasty? I think the C3 processor would probably be more than adequate for the vast majority of what I’d want to do.
just because the C3 is running at 933mhz doesn’t mean that its doing the same amount of processing as a intel chip that’s running at the same clock speed. It could run at 933 mhz and have the same performance as a pentium II running at 300 mhz…
“just because the C3 is running at 933mhz doesn’t mean that its doing the same amount of processing as a intel chip that’s running at the same clock speed. It could run at 933 mhz and have the same performance as a pentium II running at 300 mhz…”
According to these links, it would appear that’s not the case. The per clock specs on the Winstone 2002 are interesting. But it’s ONLY per clock cycle. Obviously the P4 in that example will leave it in the dust since it’s running at 1.7 GHz vs 1GHz.
http://www.via.com.tw/jsp/en/products/C3/pb.jsp
http://www.via.com.tw/en/viac3/pb.jsp
Still, compared to some of the laptops people have mentioned, the Lindows one is far from useless from a hardware aspect. Price vs performance is something you’ll have to judge for yourself. Light weight is nothing to sneeze at when you stand around in airports for a couple of hours at a time. 3 lbs vs 5-6 lbs starts to mean something after 2 hours. Believe me.