ECS's Android Netbook: Under $500

[JMcEntegart]

With all the excitement about Acer’s promise of an Android netbook in Q3 of this year, ECS’s prototype has been a little overlooked.

ECS's Android Netbook: Under $500 : Read more

 

[doomsdaydave11]

I was interested until I saw it was ECS.

 

[judeh101]

Don't cha think it's a bit "overpriced much"?

 

[archange]

ECS wants to jump on the Asus EEE bandwagon... That said, it's still overpriced.

Design stems from the McCookBook

 

[anamaniac]

ECS netbook... I'd have to have a reason to buy it then. I like their mobos because they're cheap...

What does this have?
Junk, junk, junk, $$$.

 

[mirkos]

In those gadgets you don't pay for the specs. You pay for the ultra portability and the nice design(!). Companies sell, but its us who decide what we need and where to spend our $$$.

Let's wait for the Q4 and see it thoroughly

 

[mforce2]

It's too expensive if you ask me. I'd love one of these new ARM netbooks but for that price I can get an Atom netbook. It weighs the same as well and it's more powerful than this.
I don't care about Windows and stuff but if it's Windows capable I don't mind. This isn't and you can get the Acer netbooks for about 200 $ which are Windows and Linux compatible. As for Android, it's a mobile phone OS and I'd rather have a decent Linux distro with KDE 4 and all of its programs running on my netbook.

 

[Kill@dor]

Its not that bad...but i can't wait to see what Acer has to come...

 

[sublifer]

needs to be around $300 or less or its just not going to fly. Those specs look pathetic... the current $300 crop offer the 1.6GHz atom and 1GB ram so this ought to be more like $200ish.

Jane: Where did you hear that $500 figure? Are they insane?

 

[Guest]

For such a low specs like the ram and CPU speed, and it seems like a single core device; the hardware is the hardware of a $200 computer.
The casing and design looks like a bit expensive.
Then there's the battery life; which I expect to last long. At least 7 hours under light use..
I'm sure that I'll be dissapointed in the price. I'd not pay over $250 for a device like this.
Why? Because the Atom EeePc 901 has the same specs, faster CPU, 1GB of RAM, and gets sold for around $300.
So they'll have to try hard to get in the market with this device.
And I think in the netbook market there's a push in the area of capabilities of the device much over the design.

Build a great looking netbook, with an ARM 250Mhz processor and 128MB RAM, and try to sell it for $300. It won't sell.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

Keep in mind, it's pretty pointless to compare MHz across completely different CPU architectures. A 1GHz ARM core and a 1GHz x86 are not going to be anything alike. Another difference is that the OMAP3 is a complete System-on-a-Chip design: you get your CPU core, your graphics, and your device interfaces all in the same real estate. With the Atom you have the CPU, a separate memory controller, and a separate graphics unit. The ARM-based design is geared for low temperatures and much lower power consumption, which is why it's a standard choice for smartphones (which Intel's Atom hasn't been able to penetrate yet due to its power and heat differences). All that is something to consider when talking about the price of this versus the price of an Atom netbook.
The choice of the OMAP is probably so that there's less effort involved in porting Android. Right now the x86 version is still very much an alpha.

That said, I do think "under $500," which I assume is somewhere around $499, is a little too expensive for a device like this.

 

[JMcEntegart]

[citation][nom]sublifer[/nom]needs to be around $300 or less or its just not going to fly. Those specs look pathetic... the current $300 crop offer the 1.6GHz atom and 1GB ram so this ought to be more like $200ish.Jane: Where did you hear that $500 figure? Are they insane?[/citation]

An ECS representative told Computerworld that the device would likely be available in Q4 for less than US$500.

 

[sublifer]

[citation][nom]JMcEntegart[/nom]An ECS representative told Computerworld that the device would likely be available in Q4 for less than US$500.[/citation]
Thanks for the answer Jane. That rep should go work for McDonalds where he could tell people that next quarter they can get an all new Big Mac Supreme edition complete with a shiny aluminum badge embedded in the styrofoam container for under $200.... if that guy meant anywhere near $500 they're gonna choke on it with warehouses full of stock that just won't sell.

 

[JMcEntegart]

[citation][nom]sublifer[/nom]Thanks for the answer Jane. That rep should go work for McDonalds where he could tell people that next quarter they can get an all new Big Mac Supreme edition complete with a shiny aluminum badge embedded in the styrofoam container for under $200.... if that guy meant anywhere near $500 they're gonna choke on it with warehouses full of stock that just won't sell.[/citation]

Agreed. Netbooks like this need to be around th 250-300 mark.