This is a place for some thoughts on what would make an ideal portable computer. I say portable and not just laptop because of the handheld devices present today.
A good portable should have
- display readable both indoors and in sunlight
- long battery life - 4+ hours
- keyboard or suitable text input device
- reasonable processor speed - 500 mhz
- sufficient RAM for CPU (so it doesn't slow down)
- quick suspend / resume feature on the order of 1/2 second as opposed to 30 to 60 seconds
- OS should not get in the way - no bloated Windoze; absolutely no Vista
- basic office suite - Open Office or equivalent
- wireless
- ethernet jack
- USB ports - 3 or 4 minimum
Hand helds have come a long way, but screen size is still too small, even with VGA displays.
Tablets are a great idea, but still very expensive.
Laptops are full of boated OS (Windoze) and overpriced.
Well it might finally be here. The screen is not as good as OLPC (can't read it outdoors) and the battery life is only 3 hours, but the rest of the specs look comperable. Check out the Asus 3e laptop for $200.
Pictures
In depth review
Another review
Wikipedia article
- 900 Mhz Pentium M CPU
- 7-inch color display.
- Full Qwerty keyboard.
- WiFi 802.11b/g wireless connectivity.
- 10/100 Mbps port for Ethernet cable.
- 56Kbps modem for connecting to the Internet via telephone line.
- Linux operating system software. The laptop is also compatible with Microsoft Windows XP.
- 512MB of RAM memory.
- 4 USB ports
- Storage space 4, 8, or 16GB. The permanent storage is built on flash memory.
- 0.3 megapixel webcam.
- Stereo speakers and built-in microphone.
- Intel mobile CPU and chipset.
- Dimensions: 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1-3.5 cm / 8.8 x 6.5 x 0.8-1.4 inches.
- Weight: 0.89 kg / 31 oz.
- Battery life 3 hours with a four-cell battery.
Two Eee PC 701 models will make their way to the U.S. at the end of September priced at $269 and $369. Both models will feature a 7-inch display, 512MB of DDR2 memory, a four-cell battery, and a flash hard drive. The higher-end unit doubles the capacity of the solid state drive to 4GB, which previously was thought to be the smallest drive offered. You'll have your choice of a white or a black case, and you'll be able to upgrade to a larger 6-cell battery.
eeeUser forum
Video of previous version
Or this $150 Linux laptop
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