Ultrathin Netbook showcased at Intel Developer Forum

From what we've seen thus far, Intel's Netbook isn't exactly the prettiest piece of kit. But apparently, the unit we've been shown looks nothing like the Netbooks of the future. At the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, the company was showing off an upcoming design that looked awfully thin (and awfully attractive). As it stands, all we truly know about the lappie was that Linux was under the hood and the Atom will likely power things whenever it escapes the trade show floor and ships en masse. Still, if the price is right, we can certainly see this slab being desired by more than just schoolkids in various corners of the world.

[Image courtesy of Impress]

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 7th 2008 9:47AM]

I'm a student...

I'm in a corner of the world...

I want one.

[Zach @ Apr 7th 2008 8:30PM]

i'm a student as well, though in new york, i do agree with you completely that i want.

[Flashpoint @ Apr 7th 2008 9:49AM]

Intel needs to focus on max. battery life.

[andy @ Apr 7th 2008 12:41PM]

I've been saying this for a long time.

I run an old Dell Inspiron 8200 because it has dual battery compartments. Between the dual batteries, my underclocked P4, and onboard video, I get over 6hrs of battery life.

For a true "laptop" computer, I consider that barely passing.

There's no reason why they can't make a 14" atom based computer with AT LEAST 2 hot swappable battery trays.

Forget how thin you can make it, just make it of REASONABLE size with a FULL size keyboard and outstanding battery life. These days, I'd also throw in a requirement for bluetooth since I'd be buying a new computer.

[Mario @ Apr 7th 2008 9:54AM]

Keyboard looks distorted. Is the battery about to explode?

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 7th 2008 9:56AM]

PR Rep from Intel: "Uh, no, thats not the battery, umm... it's swelling with awesomeness."

[OneLove @ Apr 7th 2008 10:47AM]

kinda looks like my last 2 HP laptops.

[Technex @ Apr 7th 2008 3:57PM]

Ergonomics.







:)

[Hax Or @ Apr 7th 2008 9:56AM]

You know what's ugly? AOL Blogs.

[a ham sandwich @ Apr 7th 2008 10:15AM]

...and trolls. trolls are ugly. (that's you!)

[Hax Or @ Apr 7th 2008 12:07PM]

I'm not interested in your spam.

However, if you agree with my take on the ugliness of AOL blogs, I would be slightly more interested.

[Zach @ Apr 7th 2008 8:32PM]

HIS spam?!?
my goodness

[darkstar @ Apr 7th 2008 10:02AM]

looks like a toshiba r200

[Barbaric @ Apr 7th 2008 12:46PM]

Well, at least there are no Apple trolls leaving comments that imply "the WHITE macbook is far superior, all these BLACK books with non apple os all look the same to me"

[The Future @ Apr 7th 2008 10:16AM]

That is one of the most beautiful designs I have ever seen


Will the notebooks of the future be transparent or translucent with glow in the dark technology that can be turned off or on

Perhaps this is the next wave of designs

Looking forward to new innovations

[hotoru @ Apr 8th 2008 4:19PM]

Wow, that is an interesting design. It looks amazingly like... every other generic laptop I have seen. :p

[initialxy @ Apr 7th 2008 10:22AM]

once again, screen resolution seems to be pretty pathetic. must be pretty painful to browse some sites.

[JAmerican @ Apr 7th 2008 10:30AM]

Looks like 800x480 res or worse.

[applefan @ Apr 7th 2008 10:24AM]

But does it fit in a manila envelope?

That is the determining factor to see if it will sell or not, you know.

[kal326 @ Apr 7th 2008 12:30PM]

@applefan

The real question is, does it have more then one USB port? I could give a shit less if it fits in a manilla envelope.

[applefan @ Apr 7th 2008 12:34PM]

@kal326

I agree.

[Tim @ Apr 7th 2008 4:01PM]

I know this is a little off topic, but every time I hear or read a complaint about the number of usb ports on the Mac Book Air I cringe a little.

I agree that a laptop with only one usb port is foolish, and I am not an Apple fan by any means and would never buy a MBA at any price, but you have to applaud them for their choice of ports on the MBA. Only one usb port and no optical drive was a genius move on their part.

They tout their iPhone as the only device you need. It is your cell phone, digital camera, portable dvd player, portable mp3 player, video game player, and PDA w/ email all in one device.

Apple does not want you to need more than one usb port, because they do not want you to have more than one device to connect to it.

They might as well have called that lone usb port an "iPhone connection port".

As for the optical drive, they want you to get your music and movies from iTunes, duh. That is no secret. Software installation merits an optical drive for some, so they allow one to be connected, but I would not be at all surprised to see iTunes selling computer software in the future, allowing downloads of Call of Duty for Mac, or Microsoft Office for Mac, or whatever software you want, straight from iTunes.

The bottom line is the MBA is the perfect fit for Apple's business model, and Apple is the ONLY company that could offer a laptop with only one usb port and no optical drive and get away with it.

You can argue the practicality all day, but for Apple's business model, it was brilliant.

Ok, i'm done now.

P.S. I still think its dumb, but i understand their logic. I, like many others, feel their are better laptops out there for the price. Please don't confuse me with a fanboy, I am only trying to shed light on something.

[JLTate @ Apr 7th 2008 10:28AM]

Intel and friends, seriously! What's with the obsession over thin? Laptops aren't phones. We don't try to put them in our pockets, and unlike what Apple seems to think we also don't generally "borrow" them from our coworkers for inter-office manila envelope hijinks.

I think if I had one of these ultra-thin notebooks I'd end up putting it under my pillow in hopes that the Laptop Fairy would give me a full size laptop with a real processor.

You know when you guys announced Atom the first thing I'd hoped for was that you'd put it in a phone reference design -- WiMo supports x86 as a target, after all... So so far, color me disappointed.

[ph @ Apr 7th 2008 12:43PM]

@JLTate: actually, I've come to take my MBA with me everywhere, and leave my MB on the desk, even though it has more stuff on it. The MBA's thinness makes it nice to carry without needing a rucksack. I used to have a Sony X505 and that was similarly easy to slip into a case and take anywhere. MBA also wins because it's almost instant on, fast to use, and nice in low-lite conditions (cafes & pubs, where I like to work, cause of the noise). I'd love a thin, fast, instant-on Linux notebook. (The only downside of OS/X is the poor range of free apps.)

[Steffen Jobbs @ Apr 7th 2008 10:34AM]

Does it come with an optical drive? Seems Apple is the only one to leave out an optical drive for the quest of thinness.

[boe @ Apr 7th 2008 10:48AM]

Intel doesn't often showcase products with Linux - usually Windows XP - might be just a little reminder to MS to make Windows 7 a tad faster. I'm not against Linux but I will be excited if Intel feels Windows 7 runs fast enough that they want to showcase their less powerful processors with it.

[Karl Viklund @ Apr 7th 2008 10:53AM]

As long as it doesn't run Ubuntu I will buy one.

[Ploum @ Apr 7th 2008 10:57AM]

Well, according to the picture, it's Ubuntu Mobile... Sorry for you.

[Jose @ Apr 7th 2008 12:02PM]

Is it another EeePC by ASUS??? Looks just like an ASUS designed NoteBook...

[Valgas @ Apr 7th 2008 12:13PM]

Ok . So netbook = ?

[R @ Apr 7th 2008 3:59PM]

It appears to be the words 'internet' and 'notebook' calqued together for great win and language innovation.

[Valgas @ Apr 8th 2008 2:45AM]

Brilliant!

[Daren @ Apr 7th 2008 8:24PM]

im just surprised that no one has commented on the monopolistic tendency's this (intel entering the hardware arena) could pose.

[Icepak @ Apr 7th 2008 10:34PM]

Why is the keyboard warping like that?

[Christien @ Apr 7th 2008 11:56PM]

Gotta start somewhere!