Linda posted on September 17, 2008 15:10
Today we received a demo unit for the NOBi - a notebook computer that retails for just $465 with an Intel Atom processor, 30GB 1.8" hard drive, 512MB of memory and XP Home. I'm currently using it to post this blog entry.
This unit has a screen that is just over 8" and a built in webcam. There are 2 USB ports - one on each side - microphone and headphone jacks, wired and wireless networking and an SD card reader. It does NOT have an optical drive, so you won't be be popping the CD you ran across in it.
The case appears to be fairly durable, though I'm not about to try dropping it. It has a velcroed on cover - powder blue - with a handle and weighs less than 5 pounds.
It is a bit hard to type on - my nails keep catching on other keys, but it is doable. And, this unit is being marketed as the perfect notebook for your elementary age kids. They would certainly be able to type on it without any problems, and you could always plug a full sized keyboard into one of those USB ports.
It would also be perfect to take along on a vacation so you can copy you pictures from your digital camera every night and make notes about what they are. As long as it is along for that, you might as well throw some mp3's on it so you can listen to that new audio book or your favorite music.
The notebook has a full version of XP Home, so you can create documents with WordPad or NotePad, but you probably wouldn't want to install Office on it. Programs for your younger children shouldn't be a problem, but you will have to load them from a USB drive of some sort.
While I won't be trading my full sized laptop for one of these anytime soon, I think this is a very slick machine and at a price that is very attractive. It would be hard to configure a desktop and monitor for any less and this device comes with portability and takes almost no space. It is also available with Linux for $425 - a good option if you don't plan to load any software that only runs under Windows.
If you are interested in taking my NOBi for a test drive, let me know!