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More details of that £99 laptop
Elonex has fleshed out (slightly) details of its £99 ultra-mobile, which has been tailored for the the education market. The custom LNX chip uses the classic x86 PC architecture and was manufactured China "because it was the only way we could reach the price point," according to an Elonex spokesman.
The Elonex site describesthe machine as having 128MB of dedicated Linux DDR-11 SD RAM memory, but you can be rest assured that the software is actually held in the non-valatile ROM. The spokesman said the RAM (there's a 256MB option) been "optimised for Linux."
The device supports Wifi and wired Ethernet, and there is a Bluetooth opetion.
The optional WristVault memory described on the site (optiions up to 16MB) is standard USB flash in the form of a wristband, presumably in the hope that schoolkids won't lose it. But you can use any USB drive.
If this class of device becomes more common, and solid-state disk prices remain high, I would not be surprised to see recessed USB ports coming in that allow you to add memory without having it stick out at the side. Talking to memory specialist like Sandisk and Kingston at Mobile World Congress last week, it became clear that SD cards cannot compete with USB 2.0 on transfer rates, but they are certainly lkess v ulnerable, snug in their slots.
Posted by Clive Akass on March 4, 2008 | Permalink
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Comments
Promise me you'll do a full review with a chimpanzee sitting in the background. It’s been way too long since us Brits have knocked out a sub-£100 computer. The silicon messiah has returned.
I want mine running BASIC and i want it now.
Posted by: Steve Farr | 6 Mar 2008 14:12:48
"(optiions up to 16MB)"
Mate, that sounds awfully like a ZX RAM Pack to me. Hope it doesn't fall off.
:-)
Posted by: Steve Farr | 6 Mar 2008 14:23:55
