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2007-11-21
, 04:26
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Posts: 3,401 |
Thanked: 1,255 times |
Joined on Nov 2005
@ London, UK
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#12
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2007-11-21
, 17:05
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Posts: 63 |
Thanked: 5 times |
Joined on Sep 2007
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#13
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2007-11-21
, 18:43
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Posts: 1,878 |
Thanked: 646 times |
Joined on Sep 2007
@ San Jose, CA
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#14
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2007-11-22
, 02:35
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Posts: 63 |
Thanked: 5 times |
Joined on Sep 2007
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#15
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2007-11-30
, 03:16
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Posts: 9 |
Thanked: 0 times |
Joined on Nov 2007
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#16
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2007-12-02
, 12:20
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Posts: 1,107 |
Thanked: 720 times |
Joined on Mar 2007
@ Germany
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#17
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Walmart has laptops for less than $500. I think it's closer to $300 these days. And, IIRC, there's a linux laptop web page that goes into detail on what things you need to do to install ubuntu on it (what drivers you need, etc.).
So, my "I can get a laptop instead" price threshold is "$300". If something is in a laptop size and shape, it can't cost more than the Walmart special that has known ubuntu drivers. The EEE PC has _never_ been a contender, IMO, because it costs too much.
But my main point is: saying "I could just buy a laptop" is a silly comparison to make. Clearly, if I wanted a laptop, I'd buy a laptop. What I want is decidedly not a laptop. Laptops are huge, fragile, and don't offer me the things I get from a NIT. That's why I just spent slightly more than a Walmart-special on an N810.
For me, the issue isn't "does it cost more than a laptop? if it does, I'll get a laptop". The issue is "does it pack the right features into a palmtop device, in a form factor that has a decent usability design". So, I see the ASUS R50A and think it's a little too big, and there are TOO MANY buttons on the side bars (thus, in my estimation, lowering its usability). It doesn't matter to me how its cost compares to a laptop, because that's not even close to being an important decision point in evaluating it as a competitor to the NIT family. The only way price would factor in is: how does its price compare to a 770/N800/N810, given what its feature set, size, and usability ratings are.
It's unlikely to be using the as yet unavailable low power Intel x86 chips, so will almost certainly have to pack a large (and heavy) battery to get anything near a reasonable uptime.
The super high resolution screen is nice, but such a resolution is essential when using Windows because Windows applications are no longer designed with lower resolution desktop screens in mind. A small-screen optimised OS wouldn't need such a beast. Small text could become an issue on such a small and high dpi screen, particularly when running applications where the target audience is expected to have big desktop screens - I'm sure Windows will try to scale the fonts but they could still end up unreadable.
Price - almost certainly expensive, nudging $1000 or more I bet.
It will be interesting to see how it fares but it looks like it's just another UMPC, which is a form factor that should have died a death a long time ago - this is probably (hopefully) it's last breath. MID will become the new UMPC.
Last edited by Milhouse; 2007-11-21 at 04:20.