If you remember way back at the start, the netbook revolution was started to provide a cheap portable computer for education to impoverished nations. This was the thinking of the OLPC project and other similar cheap netbooks aimed at primary and secondary level students. While the OLPC seems less successful than planned, Norhtec might be able to break into this market with their new netbook.
We've covered the Norhtec Gecko before (you can go to the link for the specs) and Brad over at liliputing has a video of an actual unit for a hands-on and unboxing. Here are some of his observations coupled with my comments:
- The netbook runs on 8 rechargeable AA batteries as well as lithium battery packs that are easily sourced. This makes it easy to replace a dead battery and if you need to get back from a drained state, you can just buy a few AA batteries as replacements if you don't have access to a power outlet. If you do have access to one, there's no power brick required and you can just use a generic power cable to charge the unit and the batteries at the same time.
- If you're worried about battery drain, just remember that the entire netbook was built around conserving power. The processor 1.2 watts and the entire computer consumes only 6.5 watts making a fully-charged unit run for 4 hours using AA batteries. The device is fanless which helps the battery life as well and needs no external cooling.
- The design is a bit chunky but I think that was intentional so that modding of parts will be easier and to accomodate the AA battery slot as well. The larger design also helps it be less prone to damage
- The netbook was built with a modular design with almost everything being replaceable, from the batteries mentioned above to the processor and drive. The processor and memory module combo is slotted in like a regular RAM module and the drive is actually just an SD card so both can be upgraded without tearing the device apart. There's also room for a 2.5″ hard drive if you opt to get one. The 3 USB ports are also great for adding peripherals that you might need like a 3G dongle and there's an additional internal USB as well for modding purposes.
- Of course, the processor can't be that powerful if you want it to save on battery juice. The one included is a 1GHz Xcore86 which runs XP and Linux fine. In fact, the pre-loaded WattOS is based on ?Ubuntu Linux and looks similar to XP, bundled with all the basic apps like Open Office Spreadsheet, VLC and GIMP. Don't expect stellar performance but for kids and basic users, this would do just fine for them.
- The best thing is the price. Volume discounts will drop the price to as low as $99.95 for 100,000 units but the regular retail is $199.95, not bad if you want a moddable netbook or if you want to gift it to someone with basic computing needs.
While this unit isn't as fancy as the mainstream netbooks, it certainly has its own place in the world. You can order one here.
via liliputing
A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.
Hands-On: NorhTec Gecko, An AA-Powered Netbook
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