Most netbooks and laptops are bland and boring, with none of them having any unique selling points that make them stand out from the crowd. Every now and then, however, a device comes along that looks like any other, but comes with something special that makes it stand out. The Sharp Mebius is one of those netbooks: it comes with an LCD touchpad.
The touchpad on the Mebius is a multi-touch enabled LCD, that can display whatever you want it to, including context-sensitive information related to the currently active application. This video gives you a good idea of what it’s all about:
The tiny display sports a 4″ diagonal and has a resolution 854×480. For the rest, the device is a pretty bog-standard netbook, with an Intel Atom 1.6Ghz processor, 1 or 2GB of memory, 160GB hard drive, and has a 10.1″ 1024×600 main display, powered by Intel’s 945GSE Express graphics chipset. It also comes with a webcam, multi-cardreader, BlueTooth, and WiFi. It’s dimensions are 260x190x23mm, and it comes with either Windows XP or Windows Vista Home Basic.
It will be available in Japan first, for ¥80,000 (£558/$814/€628). No international information just yet.
I wouldn’t call it netbook with a price like that.
Check the price of the small Sony netbook, they cost more and are less powerful.
As for me, I’m still waiting on a small netbook with little bit more power in them, with the nVidia ION platform.
$800 isn’t really that expensive. I think “netbook” is as much a function is size and intended use as price. I’d happily pay up to $1000 for a netbook if I felt I was getting good value for money.
Hard to call it something a “good value” when it costs more than twice as much as an EeePC.
The LCD pad is a nice touch, but no way it’s worth $400 extra. Not to me anyway…
I wasn’t calling necessarily calling this particular laptop good value (I haven’t really looked at it). I was just saying that, as a concept, I’d be happy to pay $800-1000 for a netbook that has the specs I want.
I’m a new “netbook” owner, having received an EeePC 1000HE from work (retail $350). I think it’s pretty nice but I was not involved in the shopping, comparison, or purchasing processing.
My question, what features would make a mini-laptop or netbook worth $800-$1000? Specifically, what do you find is missing from the EeePC that would be worth $650 extra?
Looks, for one thing. That plays an important role in the buying decision for a lot of people.
And I, personally, do not like the eeePCs at all.
*edit*
just watched the video… that’s gimmicky as heck. I can see some good uses for it, tho
Edited 2009-04-21 21:35 UTC
Aluminum case and sleek design like the macbook air, a better screen higher res screen, touchscreen like the iPhone and able to flip screen like a tablet PC, a really fast ssd, 6+ hour battery life, built in GPS. These are a few things I can think of off the top of my head. Give me these things and I’ll seriously consider parting with $800-1000.
The EeePC screen does rotate for portrait or upside-down viewing.
Your wish is granted with the battery life; the EeePC advertises 9.5 hours.
GPS is a fantastic idea – I’d rather have that than a built-in camera, and I’m confident the specs are easily capable of running basic GPS and mapping software. Of course for <$100 it’d be simple to use a bluetooth or USB GPS receiver…
Resolution seems OK, considering the size of the screen. Might wish for better resolution or more choices if plugging into an external monitor.
what I would pay more for….sunlight readable technology, LG is suppose to have a new display out. I have tried sony toughbooks, I think their sunlight readable technology is a joke.
Panasonic, not Sony, makes the Toughbook.
Given that it’s made by Sharp, I would expect the screen to also be higher-quality than what you get with most netbooks.
And I wouldn’t have called it “Mebius” under any circumstances.
Nice concept, sad Linux is (currently) unsupported :/
Kochise
alas, that was the first thing that came to my mind, as well.
but, speaking of the DSi, this would make a very interesting platform for emulating the DS/DSi. considering the placement of the trackpad/touchscreen, it might make a DS emulator a bit closer to the real thing. all legality issues aside, it’s a fun thought.
Tell me something, what’s happening with the original idea behind Netbooks? Those where supposed to be small, light and cheap.
Now they slap the Netbook name on just about anything new that comes out with an ATOM CPU. Screens are getting bigger to the point of matching small Notebook. Price are also rising to match low-end laptop that offers much more (but are much bigger).
The price should have stayed at $300-400, and with the falling price of hardware, the Netbook could have got better and better, but at the same price. That should have been the evolution of Netbook.
Nice mini-notebook but the price is ridiculous…
What’s all the fuss with these so called “netbooks” anyway? I’d rather save a couple of hundred $$ and get a nice 16″ wide screen notebook….Once of those thin DELL ones would be nice…(doesn’t have to be Dell)
Edited 2009-04-22 10:11 UTC
Size and weight of course, and to some extent price. I’s have thought that would have been perfectly obvious. I’d rather not have to lug around a huge 16″ laptop everywhere. Having a netbook for all those times when I don’t need a huge laptop is incredibly handy.
I think price would be the primary advantage of a “Netbook.” I’ve known many people who bought laptops as a compromise between the desktop they really wanted and the portability they needed. Spend $2500+ for a laptop that does ~most~ of what a home computer can do… or spend $1500 on a nice desktop and $200 more for a netbook?
What I don’t see, as you were saying, a market for netbooks with laptop prices.
Edited 2009-04-22 15:46 UTC
Two other advantages, battery life and durability.
Battery life is critical for people who really use their computers as mobile tools. Under 3 hours for a Dell Studio 17 laptop, or 9.5 (advertised) hours on an EeePC? Not a difficult choice if that’s a shopping criteria.
Durability, no evidence to support this, and I haven’t tortured the EeePC yet, but it ‘feels’ more durable than the thin lightweight laptops, especially in the hinge area.