SoC allows new bread of Linux systems at very low cost

[audiovoodoo]

More processing power, memory and graphics capability than combined might of the 3 machines that got me my IT degree. All for less than $100. I'm starting to feel old.

NorhTec Gecko Surfboard

Not quite as quick but a nice form factor:

Cherrypal Africa

So how long until we see the $50 SoC solution that can play Crysis in full detail at HD resolution?

 

[dunklegend]

Wow, they look great.
Do you know of somebody that has one?
I would like to know how good they run.

 

[audiovoodoo]

Given that the surfboard has a comparable spec to the original eeePC 701 4G my brother runs Ubuntu on I'd say not bad. The Cherrypal will just never be fast.

The trouble is that with low cost netbooks discounted to £210 over here at the moment it gets harder to see the saving.

 

[Ijack]

Not to mention a fairly decent little desktop for only £170.

Not sure I really see the appeal of a PC built into a keyboard. Didn't they go out with the likes of the Commodore 64? There even was an all-in-one PC from Amstracd (I think it was called the PC2000).

 

[audiovoodoo]

Well funny you should mention the C64 as Asus seem intent on bringing their take on it in 2010. It is a funny form factor but obviously they see a market for it. I think the whole SoC market will get a bit of a shake up in the next year. Google have enough of a name behind them that the Google OS + Arm MID/Netbook platform could really take off.

Oh.. and on the Amstrad question, do you mean the CPC? I used to have a 6128. They did do PC/PCW ranges too. You can talk a walk back to the tech hell of the 80's at their archive.

 

[Ijack]

Oh.. and on the Amstrad question, do you mean the CPC? I used to have a 6128. They did do PC/PCW ranges too. You can talk a walk back to the tech hell of the 80's at their archive.

I was getting confused. It was the Sinclair PC200 that I was thinking of. It was really an Amstrad PPC-512 in a different case.

 

[MrLinux]

There's plenty of call centres (and other offices) who use Thin Clients (cheap, small size, low power, low heat), being able to use a PC embedded in the keyboard could be a very attractive option to them.

 

[Ijack]

I wonder. Is it any better for them than a thin client embedded in the screen? The great thing about thin clients (although personally I hate them) is that they are very easy from a management point of view as they are all the same. All the configuration is done on the server.

 

[audiovoodoo]

Given the amount of crud I've cleaned out of keyboards over the years I'd say the monitor was a better place to put electronics.