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Korean PC maker Viliv has a pretty wide range of portable computers including touchscreen tablets and convertible netbooks with touchscreens and full QWERTY keyboards. But they tend to be a little hard to come by if you happen to live in the US. Sure, you could always order one online, but if you’re the sort of person that prefers to try before you buy, you were pretty much out of luck. That changes tomorrow.
Best Buy will be stocking 5 Viliv models starting March 22nd. That includes a few 5 and 7 inch slate PCs, plus two versions of the 7 inch Viliv S7 netbook with a touchscreen display that you can fold down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode.
The Vili S7 is probably the model I’m most interested in. It’s available Windows XP, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth, and a choice of a 60GB hard drive of a 32GB SSD. Unfortunately both models are hobbled by a reltively slow 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor. Th Viliv S5 and X7 tablets feature similar specs — but no keyboard, which makes these touchscreen tablets smaller and lighter than the netbook.
There’s no word on whether Best Buy might eventually stock the new Viliv S10 convertible netbook with a 10 inch touchscreen display.
There is no stock of S5 in Best Buy for months….
Vastly overpriced. $700 for a 7-inch netbook? What kind of crack would I have to be smoking to buy that? Even if it is a convertible tablet the price is well outside of reality. There are better choices like the Asus T91 for hundreds less.
Something tells me at this stage in the game they wont be pricing it that high. The s7 came be had for $480- $550 right now.