Whatever you do, don't buy an Atom-based Netbook. That's because at least ten ARM-based Netbooks will be out on the High Street this year, according to Warren East, CEO of ARM.
If you buy an Atom Netbook you'll be paying twice as much as an ARM-based Netbook for something using ten times more power.
So wait for a sub-$200 Netbook which will last all day on a charge, instead of spending $400 on an Atom-based Netbook which will last three hours.
And the computing experience? The ARM-based Netbooks will deliver a "desktop-class user experience" according to ARM.
And the browsing experience? With Adobe Flash in the webkit-based browsers on ARM, it will be as good as browsing on an x86.
Warren East said ARM "almost don't care" that these Netbooks won't be Windows-based.
Linux and Android will give people an equivalent experience to Microsoft once people have got over the comfort factor of Windows.
Will I be able to play Starcraft on these ARM netbooks?
I haven't a clue, Djonne, I'll try and find out
I would certainly like to hear more about the thrust from mobile-space?
A Nokia-based netbook would be nice. With the mobile phone jollies built into it already?
Kindof like a scaled up smart mobile phone.
Also, a rotatable screen (like a tablet notebook) to allow it to operate as an ebook reader?
Something like this (hardware wise)
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO-2
David? Can you post our requests in to industry via your network of contacts? Let's get something very slick and cool.
Non WinTel!
And priced in Sterling (so we can afford the damn thing)
In theory it could be Windows(mobile) based? Essentially ARM should not care - and think of it as a scaled up MoblePhone platform.
All the technology is avaiable - just a packaging exercise. Get on with it guys and keep it platform Neutral - Linux/Symbian/WindowsCE/Android/Whatever - but unless you get your skates on the Intel monster will weigh in (and railroad us into WiMax and other bollocks into the bargain)
I don't see how it could run Starcraft sadly, since that's a x86 Windows executable - what I'd really like to see personally is a port of DosBox to ARM Linux/WinCE. With a 1GHz Cortex-A8, the processing power is more than there to run most of these things and it's basically already emulating x86 so there's nothing fundamental that prevents it.
I'll be very curious to see what the first ARM-only netbooks look like (i.e. not x86+ARM); Freescale's approach of focusing on Linux is nice because you've got more of a real notebook OS and things like OpenOffice, but NVIDIA's approach of focusing on WinCE with a custom user interface is pretty interesting too (for a video of that, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB1NG-tLnow )
Qualcomm and TI seem to be more in-between, basically telling their potential partners to use whatever they want because their chips already support all OSes for phones anyway. We'll see what happens... :) FWIW, NVIDIA told me there would be plenty of Tegra announcements for Netbooks/MIDs at Computex. No idea when the others are expecting announcements.
What about power efficiency between an x86 Atom running x86 stuff and an ARM Cortex emulating x86 stuff? :D
Anonymous, No figures out yet from either side, so far as I know.
rogkru, you're right, those OLPCs look really good, but they are not what I want. The Psion V form factor seems to me the most useful one for a Netbook. Something you can keep in your inside jacket pocket.
With Psion now locked in litigation with Intel over who owns the rights to the word Netbook, now is the time for Psion to come out with an ARM-based, Linux/Android, Psion V form factor Netbook (priced in £s naturally) just to show the world who's boss again.
Thanks Arun, I can't wait either. I'm going to buy the first ARM-based netbook I see.
I'm sure ARM netbooks will be fine, but I have nothing but praise for my Acer Aspire ONE atom-based netbook. Don't dismiss them purely for price alone people - at around £150 now these are great devices!!
& how long does the battery last?
I travel A LOT, and the Kindle has been the best addition to my travel bag in years! Not only do I get to carry an assortment of books to suit whatever mood I'm in on a plane/train ride, but all the manuals for the equipment my team uses are all loaded into one little Kindle.
In addition to electronic books, the Kindle 2 reads PDFs and (simple# Word documents. I simply send 100 page manuals to my Kindle email address and voila! They are at my disposal on the road, without my having to lug around pounds of paper.
The business applications for anyone who has to read large documents are great. I've recommended the Kindle to the attorney's on our staff. You can't really 'red line' a doc on a Kindle, but you can certainly read through a contract on a plane/beach/etc, make notes, and then easily email those comments and notes to yourself #or someone who works for you# when you are near a wifi connection once again.
Plus the Kindle starts up in 2 seconds so documents can be retrieved quickly - and straight to the page upon which you left off - or quickly to any bookmarks or notes you've already made. It's become much faster for me to get right to what I need on my Kindle, than a doc on any laptop or smart phone.
This is an incredibly handy device if you have a love for, or work extensively with, the written word.
Oh and one more thing - I've discovered that if you turn of "wifi" (easy navigation) until you know you need to send or retrieve something, the battery lasts for many many more hours.