Coby $85 Smartbook Feels Like a Hundred Bucks | Hacker News Reader

Coby $85 Smartbook Feels Like a Hundred Bucks

engadget.com

33 pointsGoronmon24 comments

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Coby's logo will always remind me of The Simpsons episode where they go TV shopping.

Homer: [gasps] Look at these low, low prices on famous brand-name electronics!

Bart: Don't be a sap, Dad. These are just crappy knock-offs.

Homer: Pfft. I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see it. And look, there's Magnetbox and Sorny.

The $100 laptop is here, someone tell OLPC.

Actually, they are working on a $75 tablet:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/22/tablet-computer-negroponte-...

The hat is bigger than ever, but still no sign of the cattle.

...although it would last about 3 seconds in OLPC's target market.

I've had experience with a lot of Coby stuff and I've never been impressed. CD players, stereos, vcrs and the like they are almost always the cheapest option and they do work, that I'll admit but they are cheap.

But I do like this and shoot, I'll give it a shot for $85, why not I can do whatever while I'm watching tv or take it to the kitchen and watch a cooking show while I cook the meal.

Can't get a beagle board for that. it could control a solar panel or lights or a home automation system.

3 usb ports, thats more than my mac book pro.

Hopefully, this will actually be available in the US for $85.

I've seen too many of these ultra cheap netbooks vaporize into thin air after a press release/demo or increase dramatically in price.

E.g. Cherrypal announced a $99 netbook but I have not been able to find anyone who has actually received a unit to review.

http://www.cherrypal.com/products.php

Isn't this sort of thing the perfect hardware for ChromeOS? Why run Windows CE?

Coz then they wouldn't have been to do the demo as it wasn't connected.

Seriously I see these to be more popular in 3rd world countries like India where purchasing power is not as high as the western world. Also as Wifi or internet connectivity isn't as pervasive as US/Europe and people are more familiar with Windows (possibly due to rampant piracy) there I see Win CE as good platform to market there for a company in ultra low cost net books.

and I think everyone underestimates the demand for dirt cheap computers that can browse the internet. go to any library, university media center, or other place with publicly available internet and you'll see hundreds of potential customers for this sort of thing.

yes that is true in the US not in India... public libraries are not that common (I recall New Delhi having 3 or 4 good ones and they have paid membership of about $30-50/year) and not all have internet.

I want to throw that in my kitchen, and run my web app on it. (look in my profile for more details, still a wip)

I really like the concept. Have you looked into doing an iPad app? It seems like a perfect form factor for a kitchen-centric computing device, it just needs the right software.

I have not looked into an ipad specifically, but one of my goals before release is to have a REST API or SOAP API. So in theory making an ipad app should be fairly straight forward. But thanks for the suggestion, its a great idea.

That's a common myth. HTML5 supports many features that let you run "web apps" offline. There is no technical reason why you would need an internet connection for Chrome OS but not for Windows CE.

The initial load of the necessary resources still requires a connection; it's not like offline Gmail just comes preinstalled with a cache of your messages...

Right, and neither does Windows CE. :) Chrome OS certainly does ship with apps preinstalled, just like Windows.

The point, though, is that a network connection is required to get the initial files and data to use for offline work. If you don't have that capability to do the initial load, you still can't demo an offline web app.

Just like you can't demo an iPhone app without having an internet connection to download it first! However, the iPhone, Windows CE, and Chrome OS ship with a number of apps preinstalled. :)

Or android. The Acer Aspire netbook boots instantly into Android, then asks if you want to start Windows.

624MHz Marvell PXA303 processor, 2GB of flash storage and runs Windows CE

The Marvell part is an ARM-based processor.

Ugh, I promised myself I'd lay off getting toys for the near future, but I don't think I can resist this. Been looking for a little ARM machine for Renraku development, and this fits the bill nicely. Wonder if JTAG is exposed somewhere.

Off-topic but I can't resist: A friend bought a hairbrush for $100 (!) and now I love to tell her she looks like a hundred bucks (rather than a million).

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