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…