For $250 less, you can get a 15" Dell laptop with Ubuntu.
For $400-450 less, you can get a 10" Dell netbook with Ubuntu.

In both cases, it costs slightly more than that to have Windows, if that's your fetish.

While they'll have less battery life, the operative consideration with a netbook is _price_. (and, for that price difference, I can get an external battery charger that will charge both my netbook and my phone, and possibly power a cradlepoint)


At $800, this thing costs twice as much as it should. The person who compared this to "pulling a Sony" hit the nail on the head.


I'm very sure that, in netbook land, I'll be sticking with my existing Dell mini. Their price points and OS choices are exceedingly better that what we know about the Nokia offering so far. Unless the official announcement says something amazingly revealing (like there's a tablet version or a convertible tablet version, AND it comes with Ubuntu or a modified version of Maemo), I think the only mid-range device I'm still waiting to evaluate is the Apple 10" tablet.

at $800... this won't sell. but initial price != street price. so, i dunno.
didn't i see a far more sensible price somewhere, eldarish?

@johnkzin:

I'm guessing you're at least a part time Mac guy. If so, Snow Leopard is out this Friday. It would be interesting if it installs well on a Dell mini. If so, with SL's Exchange support, Windows on an $800 netbook becomes more irrelevant. And if Apple actually releases a ≥ 10" tablet, it would certainly have Mac OS and not iPhone OS. But that would mean Intel and not ARM, and the rumor is that battery life has killed the project twice already. September could be a really fun month.

While I agree with the price (if it is true) being too high for a netbook, I cant understand people who say Windows 7 on this is a EPIC fail and all such.

Quite frankly has lInux (any variant) on a netbook or notebook being an EPIC success anywhere ?

For Asus who popularised the netbook form factor with its EEEPC, they also had to fall back to Windows (after starting with Linux loaded on EEE) to gain mainstream and general user acceptance.

Lets face it Windows is the popular choice of OS. So any company that needs to do viable business has to support Windows. Its plain economics, not religion.

As for Windows 7 ...

I have always used Linux since a long time (staring with Caldera maybe) on my desktops and Laptops. But a recently bought media computer with Vista gave me a whole lot of pain and so I switched to Windows 7 (beta and then RC1). It was a refreshing change to see windows that I liked.

I have since switched out the Ubuntu install from my notebook also to Windows 7 and frankly it runs faster and cleaner. Even Ubuntu of late has collected a lot of flab and has slowed down some.

I have realised its an effective machine that I need, not a statement of freedom that I have to put on my shirt sleeves for all to see.

Nokia has the beginning advantage right now but as the iPhone has shown, a new competitor can easily catch up if the person on top stagnates (e.g. Windows Mobile).

Android I think is more crippled by carriers, since Google seems to give them more control over the ecosystem..

And true, Maemo has Debian repos. But programs have to be "Maemonized".

I'm sort of toying with leaving Mac OS X for Ubuntu, but I still have some Macs.
An Apple Tablet would probably make me reconsider that, or decide to retain some level of hybrid approach.

I wouldn't, though, install OS X on my dell mini, for the same reason I wouldn't install Ubuntu on a random netbook (like the Nokia). It becomes harder to support, and I don't feel like fighting those battles, these days.

Yeah, the rumor is: 6" with iPhone OS X, and 10" with Mac OS X. I definitely AM interested in the 10" with Mac OS X on it, if that becomes a reality. ESPECIALLY if it has Apple's Display port and USB port(s).

But, if the Nokia netbook is getting 12 hours battery life out of a 10" netbook ... why can't a 10" Apple Tablet do the same? One of the thoughts is that Nokia is able to do this by using the next generation of Atom ... certainly Intel is just as willing (if not more) to sell that same next generation Atom to Apple.

And, while I wouldn't install Ubuntu on the metal, I might be more than willing to buy VMWare Fusion and/or Parallels, and install Ubuntu on that. Ubuntu & Mac OS X on a 10" tablet. Great for use during my commute. With a kickstand or dock-like holder, and with my folding USB keyboard (and maybe a mouse), great for use at a meeting. Add Apple's display port, with a VGA adapter, and I can hook it up to my existing KVM switches (at work and home).

What's not to like? Sure, the virtual Ubuntu install would be slow, but I don't do a lot of intensive stuff on my dell mini, either.

Because I already own a N810 and have owned a N800 since day 1, I find them perfectly adequate for what I intended them for. At $799 I believe I would pick up one of these instead of spending approximately the same amount (who knows?) on the N900.

If this thing is built like the NIT's it will be like a brick out house. Depending an its moister resistance or ability to withstand liquid spills, its durability will get the attention of service companies who are looking for a low cost alternative to what their field technicians are using now.

Many are paying 3 times as much for antiquated WinMo devices simply because they will run their management software...

This thing just might take off.

And for the Linux purists, there are other ways to skin a cat btw...

Common knowledge, yet you can't tell it from the (over)reactions.

That might be true right now but won't be soon.

All Ovi services are being rolled into one application called Ovi Suite, which will eventually replace all of Nokia's other PC applications:

http://betalabs.nokia.com/ovisuite

Because it's written with multiplatform tools it's going to be released on both Windows and Macintosh, with a possibility of a desktop Linux version (presumably based on demand?):

6. Are you also going to release a Nokia Ovi Suite for Mac?
Yes, a version of Nokia Ovi Suite for Mac will be released at some time in the future.

7. How about Linux?
Nokia Ovi Suite has the tech enablers, but building an linux support for Ovi Suite is not in the scope currently. Naturally we are constantly following how the desktop operating system markets evolves.


The Windows-on-mini-laptops thing is depressing, but Nokia isn't alone in this. This time last year our local electronics shops all sold Linux-based laptops alongside Windows models with relatively similar prices. Now there aren't ANY Linux-based laptops in any shop near me, and most mail-order shops have stopped stocking them too. The few that do stock them charge more than the same model with Windows (how the heck is THAT possible!?).

I smell a rat over why Windows has taken over mini-laptops completely (especially the more-expensive Linux models), but whatever the reason it seems likely that it's the main thing driving Nokia to use Windows on their own mini-laptop.

If I had to take a stab at it, based on what I've seen in corporate IT memoranda, I'd say a premium on Linux devices is due to support costs. Yes, I realize it sounds superficially stupid, but organizations run on Windows by default and adding Linux staff is seen as another expense.

Many IT departments are run as profit (not cost) centers these days. That makes a difference.