Apricot Computers rolls out PicoBook Pro Cloudbook-variant

The Cloudbook isn't nearly the hard-to-find commodity it once was, but Apricot Computers seems to think it still has its share of appeal, and it's now churned out its own variation in the form of its new PicoBook Pro. This one packs the usual 8.9-inch display, and includes a 1.2GHz low-voltage VIA processor, 1GB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, your choice of Linux or WIndows XP and, perhaps most notably, optional WiMAX support. No word on a release 'round these parts, but folks in the UK will apparently be able to pick one up on November 1st for a starting price of £279 (or roughly $485).

[samd @ Oct 15th 2008 8:40PM]

Computer companies based on fruit names is so 2004.

[theCardinal @ Oct 15th 2008 9:15PM]

Try 1980s. Apricot was a computer related brand since the early 80s in the UK.

[El Taco @ Oct 15th 2008 9:33PM]

this is unuseable. Then again, that's just me, with my 20" Dell notebook that can hardly be called a notebook

[Ridgecity @ Oct 16th 2008 1:12AM]

I've already registered "Chirimoya" so try another fruit people...

[lolec @ Oct 15th 2008 8:43PM]

The shift key is almost the size of the trackpad. I like the design, looks like marty mcfly's laptop/.

[therpham @ Oct 15th 2008 8:49PM]

To be quite honest, that looks really awful.

[happy_penguin @ Oct 15th 2008 9:00PM]

It looks simple, durable and inexpensive.

[Ridgecity @ Oct 16th 2008 1:13AM]

Vaios used to be Dark grey and purple accents.

[)ROFL( @ Oct 15th 2008 8:52PM]

$485? Cmon now, we can do better than that. Say, about $200?

[Andrew @ Oct 16th 2008 3:58AM]

It's hard to understand that we Europeans pay more for the same goods, right? They never said the price would be $485 in the American market - just for us poor Europeans (in our respective currencies). When will Engadget stop writing the price in USD at current exchange rates!

[garrenteed @ Oct 15th 2008 8:56PM]

stuck in the 90's?

[Saad Rabia @ Oct 15th 2008 9:04PM]

Apricot: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

[Ellianth @ Oct 15th 2008 9:12PM]

interesting choice of wallpaper.

[ethana2 @ Oct 15th 2008 9:24PM]

It looks awfully familiar....

[Galley @ Oct 15th 2008 9:27PM]

Dig that late-'80s keyboard!

[iKurt @ Oct 15th 2008 9:41PM]

Does it have more USB ports than Apple's Macbook Pro?

[KilgoreTrout @ Oct 15th 2008 9:53PM]

To hope to convince anyone to buy it it should drop its price at least by 50%.
More than 2 months ago I payed 350 euros (about 400$) for an MSI wind clone with much improved looks and colour, web cam/microphone, Atom CPU, 2gb ddr2, 120gb HD, wifi , Bluetooth, and even an improved "Haptics" produced trackpad instead of the one on the original wind, add some very good software in top of XP sp3, 3 years full factory guarantee and the excellent wind's 10" screen.
Included in the price was also a nice and sturdy padded sleeve/bag, in some kind of gore-tex looking waterproof nylon.
Its external DVD writer/burner (extra price) does not require any power source(no power brick, just USB) and with its little usb TV card+areal, is a fist class D-TV too.

It's still for sale and I hear its price is going to drop after the holiday season.

Instead of "Apricot" I think "the Lemon" would have been a more appropriate moniker.

[GON @ Oct 15th 2008 9:53PM]

...The wallpaper...

[JP23 @ Oct 15th 2008 10:31PM]

At least it's not named Peach.

Obscure?

[JP23 @ Oct 15th 2008 10:33PM]

Ah hell even I screwed it up.

I meant Pinecone. Not Peach

[peacefulpony @ Oct 15th 2008 11:32PM]

MacBook Air killer...

[Joseph @ Oct 16th 2008 1:10AM]

toshiba tecra 486 33?

[sam @ Oct 16th 2008 7:48AM]

Wow, Apricot are still around?... okay, I looked it up on wikipedia, so to save others doing that: no, it was sold to Mitsubishi and then closed down last century, but a UK company has now bought the name.

I actually think it looks pretty great - the dark grey is different, at least. Chunky-but-small is kind of a new look.

Only thing I don't like is that there's no ssd version - come on, HDs are so when-Apricot-was-last-in-business.

And given that this is a UK company I am going to assume that they didn't actually design or build anything beyond the packaging and this is therefore just something from a random Chinese manufacturer, rebadged. Too cynical? Maybe. Anyone know?

[sam @ Oct 16th 2008 7:57AM]

Sorry to post twice but this made me laugh and fits in with my comments about British hardware industry (lack thereof).

I looked around a bit at their site:

'Apricot boast an unrivalled heritage of superb build quality and legendary craftsmanship, combined with discerning style. _Learn More_'

(Click Learn More and...)

'Not Found
The requested document was not found on this server.'

Superb build quality and legendary craftsmanship, indeed! (Also, the 404 message is default and hasn't been designed, so not sure what that says about 'discerning style'.)

[Ben @ Oct 16th 2008 1:25PM]

An Apricot PicoBook Pro and an Apple MacBook Pro. Someone in Apricot's graphics department must've thought that was a fun coincidence, hence the wallpaper.

[SnowCat @ Oct 21st 2008 9:49AM]

I don't see it flying of the shelves at £279. Asus 901 20Gb SSD is £280 - and it has 6600mAh battery. Compare it ti rather mediocre 2200mAh that comes with this UGLY thing (yes I think that EEE is much better looking). And what is the point for a touchpad with the size of 2p coin?
Overall I think that this netbook is DEAD AT BIRTH