Yesterday I broke down and decided to use a small portion of my recent larger-than-expected royalty check and ordered a Cloudbook. This UMPC is only available online at ZaReason and, get this, WalMart. (Yes, you’ll be able to purchase these off the shelf in WalMart. I ordered mine from ZaReason.) Here’s what you get for just $399:
- 1.2 GHz
- VIA C7-M Processor ULV
- 512 MB DDR 533MHz
(expandable to 1GB) - SDRAM
- 30 GB Hard Disk Drive
- 7" WVGA TFT Display (800×480)
- VIA UniChrome Pro IGP Graphics
- VIA High-Definition Audio
- WiFi 802.11 b/g
- (1) 10/100 Ethernet Port
- (1) DVI-I Port
- (2) USB 2.0 Ports
- (1) 4-in-1 Media Card Reader
- (1) 1.3 Megapixel Webcam
(commonly misreported as "0.3") - (1) Headphone / Line-Out Port
- (1) Microphone / Line-In Port
- (1) Set of Stereo Speakers
- (1) Touchpad
- (1) 4-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
- Software: gOS, Mozilla Firefox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Wikipedia, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xing Movie Player, RythemBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3 (includes WRITER, IMPRESS, DRAW, CALC, BASE)
Yes, I know that some of that "software" isn’t software. The point is that there’s one-click access to those services via the Mac-esque dock at the bottom of the screen.
I also considered an EeePC but decided that for the same price I’d rather have a 30GB hard drive rather than a 4GB solid state drive, a 5-hour battery instead of a 3-hour one and an adult-sized beyboard. I’ve been playing with the Ubuntu-based gOS and I’ve got to say I’m liking it so my intention is to keep it running Linux and soo how it goes. (It will run Vista should a user choose to install it.) Having no optical drive will be interesting but there are other ways to get movies onto it which then saves me from having to bring discs on a trip. (I could always plug in an external USB opti-drive if I get desperate.)
Oh, and they’ve already sold out. Of course, complete unboxing photos will be posted when it arrives sometime around the 18th. (It comes out on the 15th but I only paid for UPS ground shipping.) I will be bringing it with me to CiL so those there can corner me for a demo.
