A few days ago, my girlfriend mentioned to me that she came across a Neo-brand laptop similar to the popular Asus Eee PC, but with 30 gigs of disk space, for only PhP16,999 (~$415)! Though she couldn’t remember its name, I definitely had to see it for myself.
It turns out that the laptop is called an “Explore X1”. My first impression of it wasn’t so hot though as I didn’t like what I saw. It almost looks like one of those vtech laptops for kids. Just check out the pics after the jump:
After some quick googling, and a bit of copy-pasta, here are the specs of the Explore X1:
- CPU : Intel Mobile Processor 900 Mhz
- Chipset : Intel GMS915
- OS : Windows XP – Starter Edition
- Memory : 512 MB
- Storage : 30 GB HDD
- LCD : 7″ – 800 x 480 color LCD
- Audio : Built-in-2-channel audio, speaker, and microphone
- Network : 10/100M Ethernet + 802.11 b/g Wifi
- Card Reader : SD/MMC
- USB : 2 x USB 2.0
- Battery : 6-cells Lithium ion, 3-4 hours usage time
- Dimension : 245 x 196 x 44mm
- Weight : < 1.45 kg
In terms of specs, it looks like it’s more than a match for Asus. And by having much more disk space, a familiar – albeit castrated – OS, and a somewhat cheaper SRP than the 4GB Eee, this might just succeed. According to another blog, the only obvious downside is the lack of VGA-out.
Now if only I could get over how it looks…
Apr 8, 2008 at 6:28 PM
Heard of this new unit?
HP Mini-Note UMPC.
Could definitely give both units a run for their monies. Pretty cheap for branded too.
http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/04/jkontherun-revi.html#more
Apr 9, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Yeah that Mini-Note’s all the rage right now. It looks really tempting, but I want to hold on to my money for now until Asus releases the 9″ Eee and the dust settles.