Elonex ONE toyed with on video

Sure enough, that 100 quid laptop we heard about early last week is already making the rounds, as the BBC caught up with the ONE at The Education Show in Birmingham, England. Granted, this thing is far from stylish (okay, so it's downright ugly), but it's hard to expect too much more given the ultra-low price tag. Satisfy your curiosity by checking out a minute long clip of the unit in action -- go on, it's right there in the read link.

[Thanks, KC]

[Matt @ Feb 29th 2008 12:26AM]

Does it play doom?

And with colors like that, are they going to release it in Hello Kitty?

[imacmatt09 @ Feb 29th 2008 12:33AM]

Here I'll ask the rest of the stupid "Does it" questions.

Will it blend?

Will it run Crysis?

I'll just throw this one out there too:

I for one welcome our 100 quid terrible looking pink hello kitty craptastic laptop overlords.

/rantish comment

[Blaktornado @ Feb 29th 2008 2:01AM]

We need an imacmatt09 in every story's comment section!

[ScooterDe @ Feb 29th 2008 3:37AM]

perhaps these questions can be put into a table for every post, with ticks and crosses (Doom X, Blend...etc.).

[Jack @ Feb 29th 2008 5:56AM]

I agree, I like to know what I'm buying!

[AoMoe @ Feb 29th 2008 12:40AM]

The black and white models do not look that bad. It is great that they actually have a choice of 4 colours.

[Greg Mcp @ Feb 29th 2008 12:56AM]

When I look at these supercheap lappies, my only criticism is the screens. These silly halfsize things.

I know they are fighting for cheapness, but just 200 more vertical pixels and they'll be great machines. It can't cost that much more.

[sinjinn @ Feb 29th 2008 1:24AM]

you just dont get it.

[Greg Mcp @ Feb 29th 2008 3:22AM]

Actually, I think I do.
Simple machines that do a bit of web browsing, and let you write a letter. Nothing to configure or mess up.
That's fine. I don't expect too much from them.

I just wish the screen was a little bit bigger.

[ManekiNeko @ Feb 29th 2008 1:08AM]

I hate that keyboard! Holy IBM PCjr flashbacks, Batman! Good thing it can be detached.

[angelicbeef @ Feb 29th 2008 1:52AM]

detachable keyboard, 2 usb ports, headphone jack, and built in mouse...

This will be the only competition for the EEE.

I'll get this one too for when the EEE's battery dies. Yay for thumbdrives!

[Cocky Today @ Feb 29th 2008 1:59AM]

its kinda innovative! really, not bad at all... is it really 100$??

[soviet_vexxer @ Feb 29th 2008 2:21AM]

try using a money converter. its more like $198.72. not such a hot deal now is it.

[Cocky Today @ Feb 29th 2008 3:28AM]

not that bad though... here in japan the eee is 500$!!

[webon @ Feb 29th 2008 2:00AM]

Holy Guacamole!
that thang is Fugly

[tizo @ Feb 29th 2008 3:39AM]

It's much larger than I expected.

[doylemb @ Feb 29th 2008 3:59AM]

To be fair this thing even has one over on the MacBook Air!
2 USB Ports, Detachable Screen, lightweight etc etc

I would seriously consider getting one of these just for the times when my other laptop decides it doesn't want to turn on anymore.

And am I the only one digging the little stand that holds that chunky screen up?

[Badboy @ Apr 26th 2008 9:28AM]

Linux is a powerful operating system and will run on low spec machines - This is the way forward to getting everyone connected. Not every one needs a powerful computer these days if they are only interested in running basic applications - web browsing email letters etc. I'm using a 100mhz computer with Smoothwall (hardware firewall) installed on it. Might replace it with this powerful laptop.

[emailtabs @ Feb 29th 2008 5:43AM]

This thing is disgusting.

Fair enough its cheap but look at the specs, 300mhz, 128 ram, 1gi hdd, integrated battery. (pc's in '95 were better than that.. this is just too underpowered)

I can't wait for a hands on and i can see how it crashes everytime you try to load a document while listening to music.

IMHO get an eee for £200

[Gaz @ Feb 29th 2008 6:50AM]

And PCs with that kind of spec in '95 were around $3000, didn't come with WiFi or USB were tethered to a desk and came complete with a 14" CRT monitor. Good luck finding one with 128Mb RAM

Yeah I'd buy that for a dollar....literally.

If it has an office suite, browser, MP3 player and image viewer, then I think it has potential, and guess what?! It does!

[Jreg @ Feb 29th 2008 5:57AM]

Not quite a tablet... I refuse to call it a tablet without a touch screen.
But I do like the detachable-ness, like a bigass 'retro'(eewww) PMP. haha

(Oh, and I hate the BBC)

[Mikey @ Feb 29th 2008 10:37AM]

What happened to that $10 laptop India's government was trying to make? Did they ever get it down below $40?

[jeicrash @ Mar 1st 2008 10:30PM]

No doubt we'll see dozens of these hit the market this year. Low level, low profile laptops running a bare-bones OS (so to speak) I liked the USB drive they showed in the vid as well.

I'm all for consumers cutting back on junk they don't need, and manufacturers coming out with products that aren't over the top in resources.

Granny does not need a Quad 3.2ghz machine to play sol, or email her grand kids.

[Irregular Shed @ Mar 2nd 2008 3:33AM]

I'm going to have to jump in here and clear some things up. Why? My company's stand was right next to Elonex's and I found myself (unknowingly) chatting to the owner of the company all of Friday afternoon.

The kit they had at the show wasn't finished. Pretty far from it - they took along the engineering samples that the factory in China had managed to get ready. They weren't production samples, nor the finished offspring. And not only was the hardware not ready, the software wasn't either - they hurried to get something to show off. They'd committed to the launch date some time ago but deadlines had slipped, but they didn't want to be accused of being vapourware merchants.

The specs aren't final. They've got faster processors that they're trying out (including a 1GHz one) and the RAM is almost certainly going to be 512Mb once on general sale. I don't know about what will happen with the flash drive because I didn't think to ask (and they were very, very busy).

I played with the sample and yes, there were a lot of rough edges, but a shedload of potential. Knowing now what I do, I'm prepared to lay down a hundred notes for one. And to clarify, I'm a programmer by trade on Windows and Linux platforms and already have an Eee.

[James @ Apr 15th 2008 7:03AM]

It isn't really £100 though - Elonex are in the process of trying to get the laptop VAT exempted, so it is more likely to be £120 for the basic and £140 for the one+. (plus £10 postage)

I can't see it having any problems with wordprocessing/ basic web browsing, but with the probable price creep an eeepc looks like a better bet.

[David Rathbone @ Apr 19th 2008 6:31PM]

300 Mhz is to slow for Video, Which is the norm even for simple internet functions. If the production parts can use 1Ghz CPU then I will be making a number of addons for this unit. A USB based touch screen option would be one of them.

Wishing Elonex all the best for Xmas 2008