Data Evolution's $799 Cathena CX UMPC with swiveling screen

UMPCs have been branching out from the original (and oft frowned upon) design for some time now, as manufacturers look for tweaks that may hook customers that were previously turned off by the idea. Data Evolution's Cathena CX managed to mix a swiveling LCD into the small frame of a UMPC, and should also catch quite a few eyes with the "aggressive pricing." Internally, the unit features a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor, 512MB of RAM, your choice of a 40GB, 80GB, or 100GB hard drive, a seven-inch WVGA touchscreen, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. Moreover, you'll find the usual QWERTY keyboard, touchpad, five-way joystick, audio in / out jacks, Ethernet, a pair of USB 2.0 connectors, VGA output, a four-in-one flash card reader, and a Li-ion battery that purportedly lasts up to five hours without needing a boost. The 2.2-pound machine comes standard with Windows XP, and best of all, can be snapped up for a reasonable $799 if you're cool with the basics.

[Via LinuxDevices]

[shoeshine @ Apr 28th 2007 11:27PM]

7 inches? Damn. That's tiny.

[madd_matt @ Apr 28th 2007 11:40PM]

This is what I've been looking for. Its compact enough that I can slip in my bag; a qwerty keyboard so I can actually type, and enough storage that I could actually keep some data on it.

The 5 claimed hours of battery life would be good too, but I'd consider picking up an additional battery.

This doesn't look like a bad device at all.

But will it run linux? (Probably :)

[Mike @ Apr 29th 2007 6:07PM]

Well the original article is on LinuxDevices, so I'd guess thats a yes ;)

[fighted @ Apr 29th 2007 12:05AM]

i might just be selling my macbook off for this. i have a normal desktop and only use the apple for office docs and internet browsing. my only gripe is the screen size, something along the lines of 10" would be perfect. still though, great price

[Luis @ Apr 29th 2007 1:11AM]

My question is what are the graphics on this? I'd buy this for portable gaming and leisurely computing. It'd be great if it ran some good emulators such as project 64.

[vR @ Apr 29th 2007 1:36AM]

If this really is just a rebranded Kohjinsha, then I'm curious to see if the keyboard still stinks on this bad boy. The keyboard on the Kohjinsha was not friendly.

And video playback was sketchy, too. That's a big no-no for an ultraportable in my book. And an AMD Geode LX800 at 500MHz? I wouldn't count on project 64 running well. Sega CD emulation, maybe.

Hate to be so negative, but at $799, you get what you pay for.

[JohnTitor @ Apr 29th 2007 2:31AM]

rebranded Kohjinsha SA1F00B anyone?

[Jesse S @ Apr 29th 2007 3:14AM]

...Windows XP? With those specs, it should really be running Windows Mobile 6 or something...

[Veacross @ Apr 29th 2007 6:34AM]

Thus why XP embeded is also an option :D.

[Jesse S @ Apr 29th 2007 6:48AM]

Awesome. When and where can we pick one up?

I was going to get an OQO...But I'd actually rather of this. I don't need the power of an OQO.

[Jamar @ Apr 29th 2007 7:26AM]

Can we say "Kohjinsha"? Exactly. Apparently "Kohjinsha" isn't friendly to American tongues- that or they have no experience selling to America. Now how the heck does this thing pack a 100GB hard drive for that price?

[OddManOut @ Apr 29th 2007 2:51PM]

Slap Win2K on it w/ the touch screen add on and it should be good. My old Notebook 100 with a K6-II @ 475mhz cpu and 96mb of ram handled Win2K well enough. It played back Mpeg-1 vids and low bit rate avis decently with only 4mb of video memory. I would imagine the much more modern Geode coupled with better than 5x the ram should make general computing and light entertainment pleasant enough on this device.

Of course, I'm not too familiar with XP embedded. If it offers something approximating reliable instant-on it might be worth it, as that is a feature well suited to ultra portable devices...

[pete @ Apr 29th 2007 9:57PM]

Yeah, it's definitly a Kohjinsha rebranded :-D Evern the ports are the same!
On the other hand, with Data Evolution selling it, I do trust it more... My Clio C-1050 served me successfully for MANY years!

But then, on the other hand.... WHY ARE THEY STILL MARKETING DEVICES WITH WVGA SCREENS? Is SVGA or WSVGA too hard? SVGA is barely minimal- I'd trade down to a 400MHz Geode if it'd get me SVGA!

[ComradeZ @ Apr 30th 2007 12:09AM]

The specs on the manufacturer's site say up to 1024x768 resolution. So you might be able to get a denser screen, pete. For a few hundred dollars more, though, you can get an hp tx1000 series convertible. It's not as small, battery doesn't last as long, but it can certainly play videos without any problem whatsoever. It's a tradeoff though.

I'd like to see one of these suckers with a DVD player built in. That is, something the size of a portable 7 inch DVD player, but with a keyboard. It's not rocket science, designers. Get cracking.

[Dale Jones @ Apr 30th 2007 2:02AM]

First of all, the 100 gig version will not be $799.
I don't have pricing on it yet, but will let you know.

$799 is for the base 40 gig model.

The device is a tablet convertable (someone was worried about the keyboard) however you must install
your own handwriting recognition. The battery
life of 5 hours should be correct, as Data Evolution
would be careful to get this right.

I am in contact with the CEO of Data Evolution and
he says he has already run out of Cathena CX, but the company is taking orders for shipments due in
about one month.

Needless to say, the unit is priced right and should be quite a hit!

The company web-site is dataevolution.com.

[Jesse S @ Apr 30th 2007 4:10PM]

When will their online store be up?

[epotter @ Apr 30th 2007 10:31AM]

I love this form factor but don't want to spend quite that much. I'll I want to do is be able to take notes and send and receive email on a device that was a full keyboard. Does a device like that exist?

[sonpit @ Jun 18th 2007 8:43AM]

It is up now.

[Geoffrey @ Apr 30th 2007 11:19PM]

I was so excited to buy this until I realized it has no PC Card slot. It would be perfect with my HSDPA card in it!

[Eric @ May 3rd 2007 12:27AM]

Er, 500MHz? Does that still run anything?