The new Eee has a larger display which looks a lot better. I would rather have it.

@wizzledizzle: agreed, the eee is already tested and an upgrade to the display is about the only thing it really needs (in my opinion). More screen real estate is all these UMPC's need, cpu power is easy to come by these days.

On the other hand, the more competition the better. It's good to see low cost and small in the same area. I love that nix-based pc's are starting to catch on a little more, even if you want to just throw windows on it, it gives you many more options out of the box.... and really, these very specifically targeted linux distro's for UMPC's are pretty usable. Using them for what they are intended for (instead of a lot of custom aps or whatever) they work very well. I got my mom an Eee and she has never used Linux before, she loves it and has no will to switch to Windows. :)

@wizzledizzle:

Yeah, but do you really want to pay $500 for a Eee PC? At that price you can get a 14" lappy. ASUS needs to keep the Eee within thier current form factor, and cheap.

Those rounded buttons at the top are terrible.

It's as if Norhtec took a look at Safari and the eeePC version of linux thinking, "How can use these elements together, and then make them worse?"

They succeeded.

Funny how everybody is trying to be the next Eee. I think that's pretty much confirmed it's legitimacy....

@regnez: if you are talking about the OS, you should give it a try (on live cd). It's very well done for low-res screens and can be switch to a normal linux desktop by clicking the desktop icon at the lower left corner, it's very fast and effective, way better than the eee OS.

Wow, this thing has lower specs than my Cloudbook. DISCLAIMER: The Cloudbook only sucks because it runs a broken distro of Linux. XP on it makes everyting run perfect. That is all.

The lack of a right shift button on the keyboard kills all interest in this I might have had.

@Blah8: It's got one. Look right above the Right Arrow.

I'll bet it sells better simply because anyone can figure out how to pronounce it... consumers are funny that way, and Asus (also not pronounced the "obvious" way) made a mistake in naming.

"The Name's The Thing"

@markarian:

DISCLAIMER: The Cloudbook only sucks because it runs a broken distro of Linux. XP on it makes everyting run perfect. That is all.

installing XP modifies the hardware in the Cloudbook to have a normal conventional time-tested one-handed input method like the rest of the laptops on earth manage to use? installing XP moves the keyboard forward to provide wrist support like every other laptop on earth?

a two-handed "trackpad" is hardly "perfect".

to think people say "one-button" Mac laptop users are deluded apologists.

even ThinkPad-esque nipples are less offensive to human interface guidelines than the BS the Cloudbook tries to pretend is acceptable.

Hey Giz, how about a comparison post comparing all the specs between the 7-inch-sub-$300-laptops?

Pretty please.

All that lid real estate and they only put in a 7 inch screen?

I really like the IDEA of these subs.

The REALITY however, seems to be slightly different.

In a couple of years they will have matured a bit and the technology will have improved to give them better specs and performance.

@strider_mt2k:

"n a couple of years they will have matured a bit and the technology will have improved to give them better specs and performance."

i'm not sure if i agree with this or not. I own an XO-1 and i can say i would switch from my reg lap to the XO for basically everything providing its processor was a bit more powerful and its keyboard was bigger.

if the keyboard was bit bigger then i would be actually able to type on it without potentially hurting my hands, or losing typing speed

if the processor was a bit more powerful, i would be able to do things like java games (or any of the crazy stuff that websites use java for now a days) on line video, and voip using cam.

hang me a low cost, extremely durable laptop, that can do all the basic stuff, and i'll gladly use it in place of my current laptops which are way too expensive, and relatively fragile.

i have not actually used any of those current sub 400 laptops, so i have no idea how well they meet my specs (though i am betting the asus does a decent job of it..too bad they are going up in price). I know they would not be as durable as the XO, but if i can find one of these low end machines that is well made and meets my requirements well enough, i might pick one off of ebay sometime.

@Mandatory_Field: The Eee PC is a copy of the Vaio TR series from over 5 years ago. Who gives a flying f--k about a copy of an old Sony laptop.

I add a video on youtube showing the Linpus OS in action, i beleive it's the first one on youtube, it's not great quality but give you an idea.

+ Watch video

Can the EEE run Linpus OS? IE: is it a downloadable linux distro anyone can get?

The Gekco is released in India as ACi ultramini here is a comparison and review posted by one of the local newspapers

[www.mumbaimirror.com]

@markarian: Does switching to XP make the ram upgradable without seriously voiding the warranty? Does switching to XP make the Cloudbook's performance level better than roughly half that of the Eee (as illustrated by NotebookReview's PCMark05 comparison)? Does switching to XP make the SD cards go all the way in the machine rather than stick out of the Cloudbook? Does switching to XP make the hard drive go faster than a slug crawling in a pool of molasses?

Sure, most of that could be fixable in a hardware revision, and with some fixes to gOS, it could even become a great machine and a serious competitor to the Eee. The bad reviews are already out. But at this point, I doubt they stand a chance anymore. The Eee is well established, and there are competitors on the way with more compelling argument.

@Blah8: There's a right shift key... It's to the right of the up arrow.

I like this, I think it looks nice, but, I also think it needs a bigger screen before I buy it.

I'm sorry, I know it's juvenile, but I just can't take it seriously with an OS called "Linpus".

These little critters span the void between the PDA/smartphone and the plain vanilla laptops.
They're great for traveling, especially for us old farts that can't see the screens of our beloved Nokia n800s & n810s without at least a 3x magnification set of coke bottle bottoms.
I couldn't justify the price of an Eee with the little bit of traveling we do nowdays but $300 is probably hiding under the cushions of the sofa.
Way to go Norhtec, hat's off to ya!!
};-)~~