Sylvania's g netbook MAGNI gets detailed: it's a rebadged Wind

Back in July, we heard that Sylvania (of all companies) would be bringing a few more netbooks into the world, and sure enough, that g netbook MAGNI that was hinted at earlier this year will be making its red carpet debut in time for the holidays. Based on information gathered in an interview with Paul Goldenberg, Managing Partner of Digital Gadgets (the company that sells under the Sylvania brand), the 10-inch netbook will be nothing more than a rebadged MSI Wind with a 120GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, an Intel Atom CPU and your choice of either Windows XP or Ubuntu Remix. Pricing and battery size details have yet to be determined, but given how easy it is to search for both of those tidbits in relation to the Wind, we'd say you've just found a great use for your deductive reasoning skills.

[Lance @ Sep 24th 2008 1:09AM]

And I should care.....why?

[Lance @ Sep 24th 2008 3:10AM]

Whoa, what's with the low rank?

I love netbooks, i think they are great pieces of kit, but this is just a clone. Am I missing something here?

[Rohan @ Sep 24th 2008 1:35AM]

Ahh i'm sick of all these mini laptops. I saw a wind at best buy and i coulden't use it because it was so annoyingly small. Thin = good. Small = bad.

[David @ Sep 24th 2008 7:22AM]

Rohan, are you dense?

You did not see a WIND at BestBuy. You saw an ASUS Eee 900.

BestBuy doesn't sell the WIND.

NOBODY would ever say that the WIND is too small to use. The keyboard is highly useable due to its being close to full-size!

Then again, since in your world brand and model are irrelevant details to your informed opinions, you're right!!

[Ian @ Sep 24th 2008 1:44AM]

Some people want an ultraportable where they don't have to really compromise on screen size and keyboard size. There are laptops for this market.

There are also those who don't mind a slightly smaller keyboard and miniscule screen, as long as it can be carried in almost any bag without worry. That's not you.

Simple, no?



Anyway, who the hell are Sylvania?

[Adrian Williams @ Sep 24th 2008 2:01AM]

Light bulbs man light bulbs

[Windzilla @ Sep 24th 2008 2:19AM]

they make nice lightbulbs, they have a 60w model that is very functional and adequate, obviously this translate to laptops.

[john @ Sep 24th 2008 1:54AM]

If this is a rebadged Wind. Why is it posted on Engadget?

Please just make a weekly overview of the xxx rebadged notebooks that come out every day.

Unless there is new hardware, it is nothing special anymore.

[maveric101 @ Sep 24th 2008 2:12AM]

"xxx rebadged notebooks"

you mean they have ones with free porn?!

anyway, i was gonna say the same thing. all these posts about Wind rebadges are redundant, unnecessary, and really a waste of the readers and editor's time.

[John @ Sep 24th 2008 2:42AM]

With all these companies making a rebadged version. I won't be surprised if Playboy or some porn company made their own version with preinstalled gb's of porn and a direct button to visit their website ;)

[ssrat_ @ Sep 24th 2008 2:30AM]

I would not say entirely useless.
1)what sets it apart from it's brother?
2)if it has the SAME specs, is there going to be a price difference?

We could see them go head to head come christmas time and the sylvania could end up being cheaper.

As for Engadgets coverage,, it would be nice to see a small window in the corner for "general" netbook stuff like re-badging - new company same specs/price, but still have major stuff on the main page.

[avester @ Sep 24th 2008 3:29AM]

Cheaper MSI Wind, and Linux distro that doesn't suck balls?

Where do I sign up again?

[Blackout42 @ Sep 24th 2008 3:42AM]

Its nice that they might be selling these with pre-installed ubuntu remix. I'd rather deal with ubuntu over suse. I heard good things about the wind and I'm glad someone is pairing it with ubuntu so I don't have to deal with wiping the damn thing and putting ubuntu on it. I hope the price is the same, because if so I will probably be picking one up. BTW I really don't see why there are so many people complaining about this post. Engadget has been reporting on the next Sylvania netbook; following up with this article doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

[Jirka @ Sep 24th 2008 4:27AM]

A list of all the subnotebooks out there with specs could be useful...

[ssrat_ @ Sep 24th 2008 4:37AM]

Just realized that it will have "some"sort of Linux on it, so even at the same specs it SHOULD be about $40-50 Cheaper than the regular Wind.

I have the nasty feeling that the linux version will only be available in a 3cell version so that people like me who would either dual boot or just throw XP on it will not be able to do it on the "good" version.

As soon as someone releases the external touchscreen mod (just plugging into a USB port) for the Wind I will have to make my decision.

Time to start saving again, no more thinkgeek shopping