Sylvania's G Netbook Meso toyed with on video

We still can't get over the fact that Sylvania is selling a netbook, but all weirdness aside, the unit deserves the same hands-on attention given to most all of its biggest competitors. According to initial reports, the 8.9-inch Sylvania G Netbook Meso sports an atypical (albeit appreciated) matte display, an expectedly cramped keyboard and a smooth-as-butter trackpad. Need proof? Hit up the read link for a smattering of hands-on shots and a brief video.

[Boyprodigy1 @ Aug 8th 2008 12:45AM]

I'm actually looking into this one...

[ishism @ Aug 8th 2008 4:18AM]

not bad at all.

[Information Central @ Aug 8th 2008 5:35AM]

YAY MATTE SCREEN!

Hopefully someday we'll see an end to the idiotic glossy-screen fad, the biggest regression to hit computing since...

[Sisto @ Aug 8th 2008 10:31AM]

They have it for pre-order @ J & R:
http://www.jr.com/brand/sylvania/

[Evangelion @ Aug 8th 2008 12:47AM]

They should call it the G-Unit.

[Doug @ Aug 8th 2008 12:48AM]

Not first!

[Doug @ Aug 8th 2008 12:49AM]

Noob, Of course you were'nt.. (-:

[imacmatt09 @ Aug 8th 2008 1:53AM]

Do you have a multiple personality disorder doug?

[Doug @ Aug 8th 2008 2:04AM]

Only when I'm working over night.. I get bored.. )=

[Juice Daddy @ Aug 8th 2008 12:49AM]

Not too bad looking.... Can't say the giant "sylvania" logo below the screen is a redeeming quality...

If anything... I suppose the screen makes up for it.

I

[AJ in the East Bay @ Aug 8th 2008 12:49AM]

Sheesh, Sylvania? Who's next, GE and Philips? I have a light bulb I wanna sell them...

[David @ Aug 8th 2008 6:34AM]

Sylvania is no longer Philips. It's a random Chinese brand now, often seen on ... anything.

Think "Bell & Howell" -- not your father's B&H!

D

[Carl Vitullo @ Aug 8th 2008 12:50AM]

are matte displays better or worse than glossy?
cuz my (matte) display has a really low vertical viewing angle.
like, you move up at all and the contrast gets really dark at the bottom, and vice versa. makes it hard to play dark games, like HL2 EP1, or even wow at some points.

[Information Central @ Aug 8th 2008 5:40AM]

Glossy displays are shite. The highly touted "deeper blacks"? You'll never see them, because they'll be obscured by your own reflection in the screen. Or the reflection of whatever's behind you.

The glossy fad resulted from vendors' desperate attempt to differentiate themselves from others in a world of commodity hardware and razor-thin margins. That, and ignorant consumers who swallow whatever they're beaten over the head with.

People who actually USE the computers prefer matte:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061018-8022.html

[Evan Rodgers @ Aug 8th 2008 12:55AM]

looks pretty durable... good to have on the road. Ugly.... but useful and cheap. kinda like my ex.

[V Langs @ Aug 8th 2008 7:27AM]

as a fellow who was left by an ex of 2 years for a douchebag. that totally just made my morning.

thanks :-)

[j @ Aug 8th 2008 12:55AM]

matte and glossy FTW!

[j @ Aug 8th 2008 12:59AM]

i meant matte and BLACK FTW. >_

[j @ Aug 8th 2008 12:56AM]

i meant matte and BLACK. sry bout that. ^^;;

[iphoney @ Aug 8th 2008 12:57AM]

It's just a rebadged everex cloudbook people, which isn't a good netbook.

[iphoney @ Aug 8th 2008 1:00AM]

actually never mind, i was thinking about another model.

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Aug 8th 2008 1:09AM]

Now, which companies HAVEN'T released a netbook so far?

Lets see, Toshiba and Sony and I hear Sony is planning to later this year, I hope they can reveal a higher-end one to rival all the ones on the market so far.

[Mike @ Aug 8th 2008 1:19AM]

Record straight:
It's not Sylvania!

The Sylvania name died years ago. A company called OSRAM now licenses out the name. The company that makes these netbooks just took the name to get access to retail space in high profile stores, and get mentioned on sites like Engadget.

[Kspraydad @ Aug 8th 2008 1:28AM]

If people followed the story links:

But before we got the low down on the new Sylvania mini-notebooks we just had to find out what the heck Sylvania, the lighting and electric company, was doing in the computing space. I mean, we cannot forget that Sylvania was founded in 1901 to repair light bulbs and soon after began making lighting products.

When we reached out to Sylvania we learned quickly that they aren’t exactly behind the netbooks. A company cleverly named Digital Gadgets is an OEM of consumer electronic products and accessories and has licensed the Sylvania brand for its netbooks.

“Sylvania is a living brand. We aren’t just a heritage brand. We continue to be a dynamic living brand and these new netbooks allow us to connect with new generation of consumers,” Sylvania’s Chief Corporate Spokesman Stephanie J. Anderson told us.

Digital Gadgets can be found here: http://www.digitalgadgets.com/

They only produce for SYLVANIA.

[LowTeckh @ Aug 8th 2008 1:40AM]

Way to have the display look like a cheap portable dvd player - massively thick bezel much?

[Shampoo @ Aug 8th 2008 1:43AM]

like the color

[Ed @ Aug 8th 2008 1:45AM]

Sylvania selling netbooks is kind of like Disney selling condoms and hardcore porn.

It's just really hard to see the two go together.

[SoulinEther @ Aug 8th 2008 2:10AM]

WHERE?!?!?!

[Mustaine @ Aug 8th 2008 2:40AM]

Thank you for that mental image of a Mickey-mouse French tickler

[David @ Aug 8th 2008 6:40AM]

They've been selling Sylvania-branded TV''s for a long time, I believe.

Aren't we a few decades past the mindset that "brand-name", especially in electronics, really means anything?

Very few companies actually make their own products anymore.

Can you say "China"?

[CosterMonger @ Aug 8th 2008 2:20PM]

Ed,
Sylvania being making electronic before you've even existed, you can watch some of those old 50's game shows to see this brand in it's glory.
http://www.sylvaniacomputers.com/products.php?p=meso

[anabouboula @ Aug 8th 2008 6:49AM]

FUGLY

[Wang Tang @ Aug 8th 2008 6:50AM]

Since comparing netbooks to notebooks doesn't work as we all know, the word "atypical" in "[...] the 8.9-inch Sylvania G Netbook Meso sports an atypical (albeit appreciated) matte display [...]" is completely inappropriate, because most netbooks have a matte display.

[David Rankine @ Aug 8th 2008 10:34AM]

Someone has to lower there price from that $400 mark for XP !!

[smithsquared @ Aug 15th 2008 4:00PM]

the aspire one looks better and is a better value, the hdd version is a 120 gb


i used one and the glossy screen didnt bother me that much