There’s plenty of non-Intel news going around lately. This time, it’s Quanta with a new smartbook which marries Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor with Google’s Android OS. The demo video reveals 3 USB 2.0 ports, a mini-HDMI connector, microSD reader, and combination microphone/headphone jack.
The battery looks to be fairly small – perhaps a 3-cell – and it doesn’t appear as though there is any access to the system’s internals. Keep in mind, though, that this is a prototype and not a working device.
In terms of its thickness, this thing is about on par with Sony’s Vaio X – though it likely won’t be in the same zip code when it comes to price. Heck, it won’t even be on the same continent.
via Netbook News
I’m chomping at the bit to see a machine like this for the K-12 school market. I imagine with a 3-cell battery you could still get a full school day’s of work in. Bring the price under $200 — or even better under $150 — and I would hope to see districts across the country buying them for all their students.
Once this comes out, the good old netbook may die out. After all, 90% netbook owners just surf the web and only need a browser. Most people would not mind giving up Windows, so long as they have a decent, fast browser.
I think this machine might possibly be 700g. With this kind of slimness and lightweight, who wants an old fashion netbook? Or even the Vaio X?
Waiting for a dual-ARM CPU with a full Linux distribution (preferably Fedora ARM, Ubuntu ARM) and a 6-cell battery (20+hrs).