When we gave you readers a shot at
ranting about the Everex gPC, little was left unsaid. If we were betting souls, we'd guess the firm's über-cheap laptop -- affectionately known as the Cloudbook -- is about to suffer a similar beating. Based on
early reviews, the wannabe Eee PC slayer wasn't exactly a dream come true, but we just know there's a good bit of potential here untapped. So, for those of you who've parted ways with your $400 in exchange for one of these Cloudbook contraptions, how would you improve upon what's already there? Clean up the user interface? Add a bit more horsepower under the hood? Or would you just find a way to plug that unsightly gap between the LCD and keyboard? Go ahead, your momma's not listenin' -- let us know how you
really feel.
posted Mar 7th 2008 6:30PM
I would have locked it in the cellar never to see the light of day.
Go drink some chocolate milk.
I suggest chocolate rain.
I Like Choklit Milk
but he's allergic.
Cheese, go home!
Wouldn't change a thing. Just wouldn't buy it.
Seeing as how the hinge is that small, I think it is conceivable to change it to a swivel hinge. Change to a multitouchscreen, add a small little nub in the keyboard for an alt mouse, and give it a facelift. Then I think it would, infact, actually be viable compared to the Eee.
OR...
you could make it really THIN
remove all the ports but one
charge lots of money for it
and put it in an envelope.
wow...sounds awfully familiar
er....everything?
I'd start with the name- seriously, does anyone know of a name that screams "vaporware" like "cloudbook"?
From what I have read there are so many things that went wrong that instead of asking what to change you should ask what should be kept. And honestly I don't know.
people are not so prode of the things that they bought from "wal^mart".
people are not so proud of the things that they bought from "wal^mart".
"Everything" seems like too broad of an answer, but it's the only one I can come up with.
1) Shrink the whole thing until you can thumb-type on the keyboard. (No extra space around screen.)
2) Add a nipple-mouse because the touch pad is really small.
3) Make the AC adapter smaller and 12 volts (may already be 12 volts).
add a swivel screen and call it a sidekick
The fact it was ever conceived, and then produced.
lol
I'd make it able to play CRYSIS.
No matter how many times I hear that it's always funny to me. Kinda like "Will it blend" or "But can it play Doom"
id change the price=]
Right now it's bad. I'd make it good.
8800GT FTW?
i'd be content with some explanation of the stupid name.
Give it a face lift, a new Intel processor, some good mobile graphics card, and outfit it with XP, and I'd buy it.
Why not just buy a dell then?
Because we wouldn't want it to crack on us.
Get rid of Via completely (just too poor performance, sorry), get Intel in there, even if the 900mhz Celeron in the EEE and GMA 950 graphics which blow away whatever Via offers. Put a very small touchpad or the trackpoint "nipple".
Ship it with a better operating system which is actually scaled to the screen's resolution and which will work OUT OF THE BOX without some having to call tech support because they don't realize they have to scroll down to click on the "next" button to bypass all the "starting up for the first time" stuff.
It uses a 1.8" HDD, but actually uses a slow 3600rpm speed (didn't even know they came that slow, thought just about all of them were 4200rpm). At least use a 4200rpm HDD.
Considering the thing was designed by Via, I kinda doubt they'll throw Intel chipsets in these things.
I think Via should of waited, I really want a computer with a via processor but their current line-up is to much into low power than performance until Isaiah is out anyways
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIA_Isaiah
stop reporting on something no 1 cares about (besides some maniac that will respond to this
GLAWWWHARAARRRRGGGGGGGSH a NA NA! snort!
LOL
Obviously you care enough about no one caring about this to post a comment.
I dunno. People seem to be really dumping on it but I don't see much wrong apart from the unsightly bare gap under the screen (when closed). The area between the 2 little speakers should have been utilized form some media buttons or some kind of 'web' or 'application' buttons - perhaps all of those!, ones similar to most modern keyboards. I like the thumbpad, but for people who aren't holding this thing in 1 hand (or right handed for that matter) they should put one of those little thinkpad buttons (the red ones, in the middle of the keyboard, can't remember what they're called...trackpad? or sth.) in the middle of the keyboard. Other than that, a little more power if possible...and that's it. I'd actually take a cloudbook over an EEE any day, just because of the bigger hard drive (and the fact that I don't want to hack the EEE).
(they're called eraserheads :)
Hinges are important. All the laptops I've ever had have eventually died because of the hinge... All were HP's actually, and I really like HP as a brand, I just don't know what to think.. :(
touch screen
lol.... nice one :-)
rid the gOS, especially the UI, stop using enlightenment, start using xfce, jwm, icewm, openbox, fluxbox, or a friggen command line for Christ sake.
Actually, part of the problem is that they dropped Enlightenment at the last minute for Gnome, and, basically, shipped it untested (or damn close to it).
To make Engadget like it:
1.) Make it "pretty"
2.) Paint it white, but be sure to offer it in pink and such.
3.) Don't do business with Wal-Mart
4.) Make the hard disk much smaller, hacks to add a larger disk bring viewers and ad revenue
5.) Make it difficult to install another operating system, hacks to do so bring viewers and ad revenue
6.) Make it a difficult to obtain exclusive item that will generate lots of anticipation stories and ad revenue
7.) Make sure it has a comparable competitor to slam constantly for no real reason, as both products have similar problems and issues.
8.) Sell it to a recognizable brand with a cult of fans already in place who will adore it for months before it is released.
UMPCportal's specs don't say much about its BT capability. Make sure it has Bluetooth DUN, PAN, and FTP support.
1.8" SSD option.
Express card slot on the back (not the side). Make sure it has linux drivers for the express cards offered by Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T (T-mo only has a PC-Card, but if that changes, add drivers for them too).
Make sure its wifi can act as an access point for my PDA.
Twist/swivel screen for tablet use, and a touch screen.
More battery (no matter how much it has now, it's not enough).
More RAM options (again, no matter how much it has now, it's not enough).
More VRAM (again, there's no info about what its external resolution is, on UMPCportal)
I have no idea what gOS is like compared to Ubuntu. I'd investigate Ubuntu Mobile, though.
Oh, and, build a virtual split thumb keyboard to use in tablet mode (like the Samsung Q1 uses ... not the Q1 ultra, just the Q1).
Make sure it's durable enough to leave in my backpack, in a hard case, and just use as a network/file server for my PDA.
yum apples
U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no aliby...
(alibi) oops.
I have to admit I do not have one of these, but I have try other nanobooks. Here is my take:
1) Add turn/swivel screen
2) three usb port.
3) bigger mouse pad
4) Get rid of the circled Everex logo, make it smaller. It is really ugly now.
I want a community (big one) on it before I would buy it.
Thats one amazing thing about the Eee, theres a monstrous community to help you with any mods/upgrades.
Remember the "I-Opener" and the "WebSurfer Pro"?
I had one of each, sure they were a but under-powered but they too had a large support/hacking community.
Thinking along that line, I'd say alot of TP's (Test Points) to tack onto would be nice. Maybe some "empty spaces" in the case like the eee so that other mods can be installed inside the case.
Ehh...i can i haz a core 2 quad, 4 gigs of ram, SLI 8800 gtx, with a 24 inch screen, and i dun care if it has like a 5s battery life
Is that english. Also, you obviously don't get the point of portability. Try chucking your megatron laptop in your college back and using it to take some quick notes.
*Notices the irony in the above post. Damn you tiny touchscreen keyboard*
From someone who actually owns one ...
1. Install a stripped down version XP (I did using nLite). The XP video drivers allow rendering the 800x480 screen to upwards of 1000x600 to view applications that need the resolution.
2. More RAM. It would help with give a little performance boost, although it would slow the hibernation boot time.
3. A rotating/flip screen with some dedicated media buttons.
4. A way to sync/view/dump the contents of the card reader to the hard drive without booting the computer.
5. A rotating camera.
6. Composite Video out.
7. Change the DVI output to VGA.
8. Better microphone performance.
resolution resolution resolution, Everything else is fine but screen resolution. It would be great to have at least xga, most web pages look like crap on anything lower
OK, I'm going to join the chorus for an Intel proc and an IBM/Lenovo-style pointing stick. The trackpad on one side and the buttons on the other is really sucky. A pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard, with buttons on the right and left hand sides replacing the trackpad and the buttons would be just right.
I would also suggest underclocking the proc to help cool the thing. The one very striking thing about the Cloudbook is how quickly it gets hot. Another idea would be to put a 4-pin mini FireWire port on it, because even though FireWire is somewhat going through a decline it's still much better than USB2.
The HD is actually a very, very good thing. It means you can install a *real* Linux distro on a Cloudbook.
Intel Atom. "Prettier". No everex branding. Better Linux os. Like, a simpler and more user friendly version of Fedora or Ubunutu (yes, Ubuntu could still be more user friendly). And DOOM!
I'd make the fan a bit less noisy. Oh, and replace or vastly improve gOS. Otherwise, it's a great little machine.
The trackpad is actually cool.
For the love of motherfathering christ. Why doesn't this god forsaken craptop have 3G!!! 3G for the love of god. Just give it 3G and all will be right.
Oh, and by the way the fan noise make me really angry!!! So angry I want to slap a toddler till he cries blood!
remove the keyboard and make the screen multitouch
I actually kinda like that idea. The only problem is that steaming pile of an OS they're using.
How about move the freakin' mouse pad (to where it should be!), Have overall better design/quality 2 piece board like eeepc. HDD size is right, processor is okay, maybe a diff chipset option (keep open please unlike eeepc) freagin soldered cpu. And yeah get rid of G-OS and go with Ubuntu or even XP. Yeah Good luck, and what the heck is Hot chocolate mean? color?
That's not angry, that's evil. But fan noise would upset me too I think. Is it really that loud? Moreso than a regular sized laptop?
Sorry, this was a reply to Tom Dewitt, but IE8 is messing me up a bit.
God for saken fan noise. Son of a whore it makes me want to poop on a 3rd grader!!!
Well I haven't seen it yet, so I guess here goes...
Paint it white, add an "i" to the beginning of the name, and jack the price up about $1000.
running xp on my cloudbook, plus added 1 gig ram, wifi works great, 30 gig hard drive, no complaints
Make the build at least half as good as the EEE. The hnges feel quite fragile, and the plastic is nasty.
Needs more cowbell.
Trackpoint
Faster proc (Via 1.6 would be fine)
Memory access door for memory upgrade. Duh!
Higher rez webcam. .3 megapixels?
An OS that works. I bought one for kicks and changed to XP two days after purchase. Gave it to my kid two days later.
Faster HD.
Smaller, more attractive logo on lid.
Better case color
The CloudBook would be more intresting if...
...aw what am I saying. The CloudBook's efforts are pitiful at best. The only good thing is the 30 gig HD, but the lack of expandability make this effort a fail.
Well first they need to make it as good as the Eee:
- Remove windows, add Linux [I'm thinking of the variants that I can buy here in the UK; you can get Linux in the US already, right?]
- Remove the HD, add an SSD.
- Increase the battery life and reduce the fan noise [this is based on the comparative review that Reg Hardware posted].
- Improve the size and postion of the touchpad [have they already done that?].
- Make it as cheap as the Eee.
Then they need to make it as good as the new Eee 900:
- Increase the screen size and resolution.
Then they need to make it _better_:
- Err.. not sure. Personally I'd quite like Bluetooth and a CF reader, but it's not vital. Battery life is probably the most important thing.
And they need to keep the VIA processor - or maybe even upgrade to the new 64-bit version when it's available. I say that just because I think it would be good for consumers if Intel's market dominance were a bit lower.
It's a tall order, and I fear they may have trouble meeting it. Especially if the new HP thing delivers.
Not many changes to make it a winner.
First and possibly the only thing. Change it back to the Nanobook design with the modular face. Making it possible to mix it up sounds like fun for an average user up to the hardcore modder.
Next, deliver an os that is if not complete, stable, and novice friendly. I hear the UI is troublesome to get started.
If we are going to stick to the modern design.
The gap actually looks cool to me. I'm not sure what the gripe is on that. It actually seems to make it more comfortable in hands.
Add the modular design. I was actually looking forward to the modular voip and gps add-ons until I realized It was not to be included in the new design.
And finally, again, the os. Same reasons as stated above.
P.S. First post. Been watching Engadget for a while. Now, I get to join in the fun. ;)
Needs a Linux Friendly GPU
There are actually around a dozen "Cloudbook but different" machines in the works, with trackpads in different places, removable handsets etc. etc. The Cloudbook itself is just one of many variations on the VIA NanoBook reference design, after all. If you don't like it, there will surely be an alternative variation to check out.
I honestly thing most of the comments are not relavent to the real Cloudbook issues. Think about what the Cloudbood is supposed to be - an ultra portable, travelling communications device. It allows us to do all the basics on the road, and does it well. But ...
It does no good to compare it with the MacAir, or a Dell. If you want to carry your 14 to 17 inch laptop when you travel, feel free! Cloudbook is not supposed to be your main PC!
The only real problems seem to be the hacked OS and thus far lack of any real support from Everex. The wifi has some issues, but these are likely software related as well. The hardware is fine. How speedy does this have to be anyway to type email or a memo, or listen to a few tunes and play solitaire? Let's get real here, folks.
I think that if we could get Ubuntu 7.10 (soon to be upgraded itself) onto this thing, it would be near perfect.
I also like NOT having Windoze on this thing. On the 8 computers in my house, we've got XP Home and Professional, Vista Business, Mac 9.0, OSX and Ubuntu, so I think I can speak from experience. Why would you even think about putting XP on this thing? To run what? XP is fine, for your "regular" PC, but why ooverload the Cloudbook's resources? Totally unecessary!
As for needing more buttons, losing the gap and all the other "suggestions", I ask if you've actually tried a Cloudbook? Please stick to relavent comments.