- Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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4.0 stars
"Excellent for what it is"
Pros: light, cheap, tough, works
Cons: Only for travel
Summary: It would be best not to think of this as a laptop - it is a smartphone on steroids for budget concious travellers that do not want to pay Blackberry data rates.
It is no where near as good as the top end ultraportable business laptops, but then it is a fraction of the price. For a business traveller it will probably not cut it as the compromises will drive you crazy.
If you are paying for yourself and want to spend your time sipping coffee overlooking scenery rather than sitting in a dingy internet cafe, then this is a great compromise between price and performance.
I got the linux version (despite having no linux background) and am extremely glad I did - whip it out of the backpack, fire it up and you are checking the lonely planet e version in under a minute. If it has logged onto a network the email you did this morning overlooking the valley are sent and your inbox is full.
The interface is extremely easy to work out and all of the software is pretty friendly. Power users will not like it as you pretty quickly hit the top end of what it will do with a 4G drive.
Need to know where to wash your socks, check the flights, tripadvisor.com and you are good to go without paying outrageous nextG data roaming rates.
One thing that took some getting used to was the wireless network logon. It is no harder than any of the Dell / Win equivalents but is not as automated, which is kind of tricky when trying to get free wifi by hanging around close to the wall of an airport member's lounge.
The Wifi sucks the battery, too, however the battery life is pretty good for an old chipset - I get about 3 hours.
