Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> __/ [ John A. Bailo ] on Friday 23 March 2007 14:13 \__
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> Review: the Little Laptop That Can't
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | I wanted to write this review on the FlipStart -- I really did. But
>>> | after a few sentences, my wrists hurt, my thumbs felt clumsier
>>> | than ever, my eyes were scrunched and my shoulders were hunched.
>>> | When the pricey FlipStart hits the market the last week of March,
>>> | I bet I won't be the only average consumer who takes a pass.
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070322/tech_test_flipstart.html?.v=1
>>>
>>> It seemed like an overpriced disaster waiting to happen when it was first
>>> introduced to the press last week. I was eagerly anticipating the first
>>> review, which confirms everything.
>>
>> This "product" has been in the works for years and years, just like his
>> twin brother Gates long delayed Vista...now wonder the FlopStart can't cut
>> it -- technology has moved on and the 2B1 is coming on at $140 and less and
>> better hardware and is more egonometric.
>
> Yes, but does the 2B1 run Vista (AKA the "Wow OS") with the shiny Aero Glass
> overlay? More importantly, is it at all needed when your battery life is so
> expensive?
This point seems to have escaped the whole industry for several years
now. Linux on Laptops is an excellent proposition, as it is far more
lightweight in all respects, even offering the choice of ultra-light
window management, or even going console-only. I'm really surprised
that the only battery-optimised distributions we've seen have been the
palm amd maemo (nokia) ones, whereas you'd expect the likes of toshiba,
acer and so on to have rushed to put together a distro which can offer
phenomenally good battery life.
I would suggest that linux could deliver double the battery-life compared
with windows for similar tasks, merely by some filesystem optimisation
(like no atime), journalling, some flash-ram to use as a disk-cache
so that the disk could be spun-down for longer periods, so you could
journal in flash, lots of idling when nothing going on, shutting down
unused ports, and optimising wifi & bluetooth usage, dimming screens,
running the processors slowly and more and more.
Perhaps, as the XO continues to roll-out, we will see more wide interest
in high-performance from laptops, so linux will be the way...
>
> Reminds me of a recent discussion about Vista's car analogy...
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Edsel
>
<snip>
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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