ECS' Atom-based G10IL gets more attractive by the minute

Upon initial inspection, we had a hunch the ECS G10IL would emerge as one of the most desirable of the low-cost lappies. Now that ECS has filled us all in on a few more pertinent details, we're feeling all the more sure of that assertion. According to new specifications loosed on the outfit's own website, we can look forward to a Diamondville, er, Atom CPU, Windows XP or Linux under the hood, a single RAM slot (up to 2GB), an HDD or SSD, 1.3-megapixel webcam, 4-in-1 multicard reader, a 8.2- / 10.2-inch glossy display and a 4- / 6-cell battery for good measure. Oh, and if you were wondering if Bluetooth and WiFi would tag along with the built-in HSDPA / HSUPA, the answer's yes (at least on the big fellow). So, does the G10IL have your attention now, or what?

[Via DailyTech]

[aardvark sandwich @ Mar 20th 2008 8:44AM]

When and where?!

[tom @ Mar 20th 2008 9:19AM]

and How Much? If they charge more then eee, then no thx =P

[Tim Brown @ Mar 20th 2008 10:22AM]

The best I can find is a pre order site http://www.clove.co.uk/viewProduct.aspx?Manufacturer=ECS&Item=ECSG10IL(PRE-ORDER)&Product=ACF88A2E-FE24-40BA-953A-D06FB4B37407&Category=03222E2A-4C22-4A14-B631-30922A91A1E0 for £395 (£464.13 inc VAT) no idea what they will charge in the States, but if its at the current exchange rate that would be $790 + local taxes

[John @ Mar 20th 2008 8:46AM]

oh yes, oh yes, oh yes it DOES have my attention.

[dmihalic @ Mar 21st 2008 8:51AM]

Would be perfect if could be converted to tablet PC and had Touch sensitive screen!

[Twitchy @ Mar 20th 2008 5:35PM]

Yeah, dmihalic, and how about some chrome strips on the edges...and multicoloured LED lighting...yeah, lighting...and spinners, got to have bling spinners...

[Patriks7 @ Mar 20th 2008 8:49AM]

give me a price and ill give it full attention
/me starts getting horny

[arto @ Mar 20th 2008 8:53AM]

and most important: how much?

[Wonderkid @ Mar 20th 2008 8:54AM]

Sorry, spec great, but owning a MacBook Black, I can confirm that glossy displays are serve NO purpose whatsoever, except to reflect any light in the room. Can someone tell me why glossy displays even exist?

[Homeboy @ Mar 20th 2008 9:17AM]

Because glossy displays most crisper, colorful and vivid looking images. My Pavilion has a glossy screen while my desktop display has a matte display. I by far, prefer glossy displays because and I haven't experienced any problems with reflection what so ever.

Then it also depends on how you use your laptop, if you are a road runner and use it everywhere, outdoors in particular then a matte screen is the best choice. But if you frequently watch movies and work a lot with images then a glossy screen provides an experience a matte screen can't compete with.

[vdogg89 @ Mar 21st 2008 4:33PM]

i personally love my glossy screen, but Homeboy is right, if you use it outdoors, forget it. But i watch movies, and view photos so i love it

[Andrew @ Mar 20th 2008 9:44AM]

Glossy screens are great, if you are in control of the light source - in public areas like libraries they're a real nightmare

[Mike @ Mar 20th 2008 10:02AM]

Well I'm sure everyone is really excited to use this laptop as a stationary workstation in their basement. I would hate to use a small low-cost laptop on the road or while out during the day. Glossy screen is the obvious choice.

[Randomness @ Mar 20th 2008 10:12AM]

Being a laptop meant for portability, them putting a glossy screen on this really kills me. It will be useless and annoy the crap out of you wherever you go. :[

[jay.viz @ Mar 20th 2008 11:02AM]

Maybe you could take some high grit sand paper and switch it to a matte finish? :)

[Mark L. @ Mar 20th 2008 5:46PM]

Stop spreading misnomers. Gloss screens do not produce "crisper" images or anything. You just think it does because all you're used to is matte displays that hardly reflect any light. A real graphics professional would not get a glossy display because when you print it or take it to get edited, the end result looks different than what it does on your screen.

[KyleK @ Mar 20th 2008 8:58AM]

Price and especially weight would be interesting.
Personally, I could do without the 3G and the 56k modem. I'd like a version without it (unless, of course, it doesn't increase the price that much).

[Merrild @ Mar 20th 2008 9:25AM]

Less features for more dollars, thats what i'm talking about :)

[no_screen_res @ Mar 20th 2008 9:05AM]

No screen res in the specs? Why do these people think this vital stat is so unimportant.. Wow 10" screen, glossy, thin, COLOUR, smells of "eletronics" !! but it's, what, 320x240? morons.. seriously.. in order of importance, RES, size, backlight type.

[Maurice @ Mar 20th 2008 12:26PM]

Yes, there's definitely the potential for a computer released after 19-bloody-90 to have a screen resolution of 320 x 240. Thank you for showing us the light, o no_screen_res of Nazareth.

:D

[Homeboy @ Mar 20th 2008 9:22AM]

Judging by the screen size and expansion possibilities my guess it that this baby won't be very low cost like the Eee. My Spiderman senses are telling me that it will retail for $450-$700.

[andy @ Mar 20th 2008 9:58AM]

I think I'd still jump.


It has all the baseline features I need to replace my 7 year old Dell Inspiron 8200.

I don't need a quad core in my laptop that I'm just going to surf, log into my work server, and do Word/Excel.


Battery life is also important to me in a laptop. My Dell has dual battery slots for 6hours+ on a single charge. What's the battery time here.


I don't understand all these small laptops. Why not stick a real battery in these things. So what if it's a little bigger, when the battery dies, it's just a heavy paperweight no matter how "light" it is.

[younes @ Mar 20th 2008 9:50AM]

It will ship in April says this site:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/03/19/awardwinning_ecs_netbook_expected_in_april.html

[T Stanton @ Mar 20th 2008 9:51AM]

I'm really liking the look of this beauty....

But just for the sake of being absolutley, completely, repetetively redundant - it's success will hinge on price.

[ijyt @ Mar 20th 2008 9:57AM]

mmmmm, that's tasty.

[Randy @ Mar 20th 2008 10:03AM]

Does it come in Black? And as Others have said, (low) price will determine if this will be a hit or miss.

[riggs @ Mar 20th 2008 12:14PM]

i read your post while looking at your avatar and it made me lol

[The Angry Intern @ Mar 20th 2008 10:29AM]

the only thing that worries me is that it's from ECS, who is notorious for making sh**ty products. I've had one of their motherboards, and I can't use it because it's so unstable. Just about everyone I know who's tried ECS has had nothing but problems with their products.

[fuzzy @ Mar 20th 2008 10:29AM]

I have a 7" EeePC right now. When/if this comes out at a reasonable price point, I might have to go selling mine.

The vertical resolution is just killing me sometimes, even with all sorts of hacks.

[hkicedude @ Mar 20th 2008 10:38AM]

Speed up the launch. I am bored half to death by most of the gadgets and computers on the market now.

[bot @ Mar 20th 2008 10:58AM]

Ah so many unanswered questions. I'm really concerned about the weight. Also, if the SSD will be an affordable one like the EEE. 8GB is all I need. What is the new Atom processor like? Does it have any comparison with current processors like a high end Pentium M or a low end Core Solo/Duo, etc.

[sotec_productions @ Mar 20th 2008 1:33PM]

I read that the AtomCPU doesn't compete with current processors. A 1.86ghz Atom chip is on par with about a high end PIII, so it really runs [performance wise] at about a 1.0ghz rate.

But I think this is really a flagship for better mobile processing. AtomCPU is relatively new [unless you count the 2-5 years Intel has taken to design, test, and get it to a stable enough state to ship it] and has much potential I'm sure, but I think this is leaning more toward mobile devices such as cellphones, handheld gaming devices, mp3 players, etc., but you and I know just as well that there's always a company that will shove anything into a laptop just to get the word out. Beta testing just isn't enough sometimes. A company really needs the product to be on the market for a year or so used by people that are really pushing it to the limits of its capability, that send in bug reports, that call tech support, that blow up their neighborhood block because an atom split in their cpu., etc.

So, no, the Atom cpu is not on par with any current technology. Not really anyway. And more importantly, not YET.

I'll wait a couple years for the real potential of this chip to come full circle before considering. Besides, I just built a brand new AMD dualcore monster, so I'm all set. :D

[bot @ Mar 20th 2008 3:18PM]

I guess I was hoping for a new chip that draws less power while still managing to pack a punch. It seemed to be the trend for Intel ever since, maybe the Pentium M. For the first time people were looking at performance results instead of GHZ numbers and it was a cool running chip. The Core Duo and Core 2 Duo seemed to keep that up while giving even more performance yet consuming less power.

I'm cool with giving up performance as long as there is a reasonable trade off like massive battery life improvements and heat reduction.

[PEZ @ Mar 20th 2008 1:59PM]

This is nice and everything, but its just a picture of a laptop that could be nice :)


GIVE ME THAT SH!T

[kam @ Mar 20th 2008 2:52PM]

Yeah Yeah... But can it play Doom?


sorry, no one said it yet. Dude, forget having my attention, it can have my 1st born it the battery life is 4+ hours with the 6 cell in real world use.

sorry 1st born.

[rob @ Mar 20th 2008 5:56PM]

i heard it was "under $500". I would so get this since my eee's lcd got pwned. Any confirmation of release date?

[Valgas @ Mar 21st 2008 3:48AM]

so friggin SEXY, and with it being potentially cheap, boner inducing. I will buy u baby. Will serve me well in the bathroom stalls of many public establishments with wifi.

[azman @ Mar 21st 2008 8:24AM]

Here's what ECS' website has to say:

CPU Diamondville

Chipset Intel 945 GSE (w/o S-Video) + ICH7M

OS Windows XP/Linux

Memory Slot 1 slot up to 2GB

LCD Size 8.2"/10.2"

Webcam 1.3 mega pixel CCD

Storage HDD/SSD

Battery 4 cell/6 cell

Dimension 259 x 180 x 28.5 (mm)

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/NewsRoom/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1133&MenuID=13&LanID=0

[vdogg89 @ Mar 21st 2008 4:40PM]

test

[vdogg89 @ Mar 21st 2008 4:42PM]

test again

[vmods @ Apr 13th 2008 9:54PM]

Any updates? I can't wait to see some reviews/benchmarks!