New shots of Intel's Netbook / Eco PC uncovered

One of our totally awesome tipsters got his hands on some more pics of Intel's forthcoming (we hope) Netbook, or as they call it, the Eco PC. These shots are way clearer than the previous pictures we've spied, and showcase the TI-99-esque keyboard that has at least one member of the Engadget team pretty darn excited. Take a look after the break at a few more photos, and hit Min Thu's Flickr gallery for the whole tour.

[Kris S. @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:03PM]

It feels like its 1999 all over again.

[Oliver Reed @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:25PM]

I know, whats going on? Isn't this supposed to be a gadget website, not a belongs in a museum site. Have u seen the size on the screen and the shape of its trackpad? I'm getting seriously worried if this is what were calling gadget news.

[Blackstar @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:15PM]

"The Lappy 486© weighs in at an extremely portable 42 pounds and has an impressive battery life of one half of ten minutes... the Lappy 486© by Compy®™."

[Homeboy @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:08PM]

Taking inspiration from the 20th century isn't something I mind at all but the laptop looks ridiculous. Just look at the one with a smaller display, it looks like a toy laptop for crying out loud. I hope that Intel haven't planned on marketing it to the average guys because I would look cooler sitting at Star Bucks with a 17 inch CRT monitor and a Pentium III 633Mhz midi tower, than surfing on a 7 inch Netbook while sipping on a coffee.

[a ham sandwich @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:09PM]

5 mins?

[rouge @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:10PM]

Dude... that looks like a 5 year old's fisher price computer

[Jon Doe. @ Mar 23rd 2008 12:57PM]

Thankfully Homeboy, Intel couldn't give less of a shit if you looked cool or not. Making a cheap yet fully functional portable that everyone can buy is a tad more important then yuppies worrying about their status while sitting in a coffee house dropping $5 on a cup of joe.

[Rafer @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:04PM]

Kinda Fat No?

[Aguiluz @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:10PM]

I think it will prevent breakage be dropping as this is meant to be used by kids. If I remember right, this is a "classmate" PC.

[Onetruebill @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:03PM]

I am working on an envelope to fit it

[bob cobb @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:02PM]

looks pretty bad. I am very anxious for the bigger EEE and the ECS, but this thing doesnt look like it can compete

[Chino B @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:04PM]

That's soooooo THICK

[andres @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:06PM]

thats what she said, about the laptop of course

[OneLove @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:06PM]

thats what she said

[OneLove @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:07PM]

...damn it! (he beat me too it)

[CT A @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:02PM]

You usually beat her to it too.

[Mic2000 @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:15PM]

Allright, who wants some toasties? :D

[Taylor @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:20PM]

Ooooh, i really like it! Yeah, it's thick, but that's 'cause it's sturdy. I REALLY like the leather cover/handle, it looks nice. I could almost see myself buying one of these!
-Taylor

[Jack Hatch @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:20PM]

Taylor.

I know who you are.

-Jack

[Taylor @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:11PM]

Hah, nice. Who are you?
-Taylor

[Jevanzz @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:30PM]

What a pretentious twat...

[Plutarch @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:22PM]

What's with Microsoft all of a sudden wanting to jam XP on these sub-notebooks when support for the OS is quickly nearing its end?

[Generic @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:51PM]

Untapped revenue where Vista has no place, thats what.

Besides, all that is strategic marketing. If the XP market is substantial, then it seems logical that MS would consider some support for a tried and tested platform.

Even with MS trying to push Vista, if MS can't sell Vista, then why leave the door open for Linux.

[Rob @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:23PM]

Ok, maybe I'm misinformed, but what's the advantage in buying one of these laptops over say, a Dell for $400-500. I'm asking.

[ken @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:27PM]

Is this some kind of sick joke???

[Andreas Demetriou @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:34PM]

Chop that handle of and id buy it for $200, if the specs are right. Otherwise, just chuck it in the trash now!

[cc om @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:48PM]

agreed - that's what i was thinking: if this sells for 200$, and you can hop it off the wall or submerge it in water without hurting its feelings, i'll buy one and take it with me on camping trips. otherwise, er... i guess this was designed by some really tubby oblivious designer?

[Generic @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:42PM]

the Escape, fn, and function keys look like they have colored stickers on them, makes me think it is only a concept and not a product

[Noel @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:54PM]

um they are not stickers that is how it was made... also it looks like a foreman grill..lol

[Jack @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:09PM]

silly they are coloured so that the teacher can tell his students, "to calculate this press the orange key at the bottom with......."

get it??? kids see colour over esc and fn.

[Ameen @ Mar 22nd 2008 5:59PM]

Shit!, My friend Joe kinda seems thinner when compared to this damn thing.. And he weighs about 220 lbs..

All trash talk aside, this could be a sweet deal-maker for those poor folks in most parts of the World.. I mean the ones who'd be getting a PC for the first time in their lives and maybe they'd get carried away by the portability of this thing, compared to a full-fledged desktop.. I wont be surprised if this costs around $250-$300..

[comp2 @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:03PM]

Anybody have any links as to why they call this an "eco" pc?

[James @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:05PM]

They look like they're made for kids. Is that their target?

[Aguiluz @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:47PM]

It is.

http://images.google.ca/images?q=classmate+pc&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

[fusion @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:10PM]

interesting laptop, shame about the fisher price styling, looks like a vtec ugly

[Cybergypsy @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:21PM]

Not nice at all

[chethan @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:37PM]

ok why is it an ECO pc
how is it eco friendly to produce millions of new computers?
at least if they look bad people won't buy them.

[adrian @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:41PM]

C'mon....has it got more than one port ?

If so then it beat the crap out of the Mac Book Air.

I declare the winner ....


(titter)

[ToniCipriani @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:41PM]

The further one has a striking resemblance to an older Compaq...
http://www.amazon.com/Compaq-Presario-2145US-Laptop-2-00-GHz/dp/B00008X3SF

[Jonny @ Mar 23rd 2008 8:27AM]

Dude. My boss has that lappy (I just fixed it for her, damn power jack breaking)

It is no where near as ugly as these things.

I mean, its ugly, but these are just hideous.

[pscs @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:11PM]

looks like the acer aspire pc...

anyway, so thick! and that handle at the back would be really hot after use.

[kieran @ Mar 24th 2008 8:50AM]

Erm. Look at the shape of the screen. Rectangular, no? Then look at the shape of the trackpad. A circle? That makes no goddamn sense... Seriously, who designed this thing?? I know it's for kids but surely it needs common sense?

--K

[ReggieXuk @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:18PM]

V-Tech have better designs than this

[George @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:29PM]

It's worth remembering that like the classmate pc before it this is probably more of a reference platform than a shipping product. The current Asus eee pc is little more than a "prettied up" classmate pc.

This new platform is almost certainly based on Intels new low power atom chip (hence the eco title) and its innards will be used to power all of the new "centrino atom" (or whatever they are calling them next week) ultra portables. This might even include the new eee's with the bigger screen.

I'll be interested to see how the benchmarks of the new atom architecture pan out, on paper it has the old celerons licked but its a whole new design (with in order execution, so a big performance hit). We wont know if these things are actually a step forward until someone actually gets hands on and runs some code.

[compr00t @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:42PM]

OMG! this is terrible! the computers are looking like some from the 90th...
gr33z nd piis compr00t
http://computerpro.funpic.de

[The Dude @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:05PM]

Don't worry, those are only prototypes. I've got the scoop on the REAL Netbooks/Eco PCs: http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/4380/product55233qr2.jpg

[brokenkeyboard @ Mar 23rd 2008 12:43AM]

i was definitely expecting that to somehow be a rickroll.

[cc om @ Mar 22nd 2008 8:48PM]

hey, at least the dude's proposal is good looking. these are for kids right? what's with the slate-grey case? do the intel designers decide, 'right, I think we'll make it the same color as the exterior wall of our office building. I love that color, and I bet kids do too' ? At least the XO green case isn't instantly depressing... but do you really need to go to MIT to be able to spot that?

[Robert in Texas @ Mar 22nd 2008 9:45PM]

It may be used by schoolkids, but it has to be purchased by achool administrators -- they'll probably like the slate-gray.

[Taylor @ Mar 22nd 2008 10:55PM]

It looks like the first iBook with all the color drained from it.