wetelectric Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Flash based laptops we're all dreaming about may be a lot cheaper than we expected. Asus just announced their plans to make five budget, solid state laptops this year priced from $199 to $549. Each machine will have a 7-inch display, and depending on the model it'll have a flash drive ranging from 1GB to 40GB. The lappies are expected later this year (the pic above isn't one of them). – Louis Ramirez http://murl.se/23856 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Yes please! I'd use this as a main laptop probably, I'm not bothered at all by the screen size, it's enough for most things anyway, and anything that can't be done on a small screen isn't something I'd do on a laptop anyway... As long as it's x86 compatible and has at least 128MB RAM and maybe a few ports for expansion, I'm all up for this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deveant Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 hmm, doesnt seem all that bad to me, i would use it as a replacement to my PDA, (used for pretty much talking notes in class - got the small ass keyboard for it). the 7' isnt too bad either, it all depends on what u wanna do on it, i supos it whould be shit for having a few ppls crowed around u. but personal use unless ur blind i think it would be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 What would I do? I'd definitely have one for my self (that's a given). If they come with no pre-installed OS, I would probably offer them to people as cheap laptops. Stick Kubuntu on them and offer tech support as well (that's asuming all the hardware works out of the box on Linux). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arsenic Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 If they made a strong shell/chasis with this, then i'd get. I'd love to have a computer that I could basicly throw around (not litterally). But something that I could put in my backpack, and not worry about bouncing around, or getting set down too hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 not remotely interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickarse Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 I'd buy one to replace my pda for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Maybe Flash based for storage to write only, but eventually it will become un usable because all Flash memory has only so many re-writes before they fail and become a paper weight. For all those people using them as xtra ram in Vista, eventually the devices will be of no use and you will lost the data. When used strictly as a read only media device after you backup a file or whatever, then I would say I would use it, but not for a Laptop or PC because you will at some point (sooner than conventional hard drives) need to replace it. With all the things I do on a PC I need something that I know will last a long time, and while hard drives do fail eventually, I think their lifespan is much longer than these Flash based hard drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLSS Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Maybe Flash based for storage to write only, but eventually it will become un usable because all Flash memory has only so many re-writes before they fail and become a paper weight. For all those people using them as xtra ram in Vista, eventually the devices will be of no use and you will lost the data. When used strictly as a read only media device after you backup a file or whatever, then I would say I would use it, but not for a Laptop or PC because you will at some point (sooner than conventional hard drives) need to replace it. With all the things I do on a PC I need something that I know will last a long time, and while hard drives do fail eventually, I think their lifespan is much longer than these Flash based hard drives. i have to agree with that , i mean i'm allready scared when i see all the flash based mp3 players seeing as they cost as much or more (incase of an ipod) then harddisk based ones and break faster, and i change the music on my portable player daily (well add to the list , modify files etc ....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 The good thing is, if the laptop fails, its just flash memory, very easy to get the data back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLSS Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 The good thing is, if the laptop fails, its just flash memory, very easy to get the data back.how so ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 its the same as inside a memory stick, just run the write wires of onto a usb cable and the OS will see it as a Memory Stick. Or if it is in card form, just get or borrow a Flash Memory Card Reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 The good thing is, if the laptop fails, its just flash memory, very easy to get the data back.I think you missed the point. Its not about the laptop or device failing, its the Flash memory that begins to fail over time. Scroll down to Disadvantages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_state_drive Shorter reliable lifetime - Flash based SSDs have relatively limited read/write cycles compared to hard drives which can last over a decade without mechanical malfunction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Give it time, the technology is in its infancy still, kinda like those 5mb HDD's that had to be forklifted onto the back of planes. In 10 years I suspect it will be hard to find HDD's with moving parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothCriminal Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 If this came with wireless I would crap my pants...I would love one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanda333 Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 $199 for a laptop with a 1 gb drive. there is only one thing to do..... get out the sam fisher gear, steal a bunch. and make a laptop cluster, a wireless cluster nonetheless. despite the cooling problems (since were talking about stealing them we may as well steal some cooling pads) these would, if you dissabled the lid-closing-hibernate/standby function, you could mount on a book shelf, slide it out (still connected to power cord) work on it, slide it back in, and run some stuff. but realistically, there isnt much use, let alone demand for a laptop with a 1 gb drive. sure you can install some OS's on the drive... but other than that there isnt much you can store. they need to wait for cheaper drives. save the current SSD's for special applications, not john smith's laptop. the only way they could offer the benefits of HDD's cheap mass-storage, and SSD's effieciency would be a hybrid, with two drives. but then you get the disadvantages and they cancel out the advantages. because you still have to use the inneficient HDD for your storage, you lose the power savings of the SSD. its a trade off at the moment. and the biggest problems is that the industry is going to dive head first into the SSD craze because they will fail sooner than HDD's thus more people will be buying replacements, thus more $$$. its like any industry. the only advantage is that we have an incredible variety of choice.... for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metatron Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 I already have a flash based laptop, it was given to me by a guy that works for the big oil company’s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Flash Laptops have a place in society. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Flash Laptops have a place in society. They do the jobs that HDD laptops don't want to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Flash Laptops have a place in society. They do the jobs that HDD laptops don't want to do? Exactly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanda333 Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 they may have a job in society doing what HDD's cant do, but i think that they arent ready to catch on to the mainstream and attract your average n00b. those of us who know about computers, know about the technology behind them, and can actually state our sytem specs off the top of our heads.... well we'll probably love this. but anyone who barely knows how to work their computer, let alone how it works, probably wont appreciate the usefullness of SSD's. i personally would love and SSD laptop, i just dont see anything i want to do with a computer that only has a 1gig drive. i would love the 40gig drive, that would be great. but not the 1gig drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giantjoebot Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 I would be fine with 5GB more than the OS install. I've already worked it out so that most of my media is streamed through any high speed connection. My programs only take up 1GB, and I could lose a few of those. I don't like the idea of a 7 inch scream though. Its to small to watch my anime, and read the subtitles. The 7 inch screen got me thinking. Is this going to be a laptop, or more like microsoft's origami? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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