We had a chance to sit down with VIA's VP of sales and marketing, Richard Brown, earlier today to discuss the finer points of the company's position in the marketplace. While it was a intriguing conversation (mostly about the state of netbook and smartphone CPUs in 2009), our eye was caught by a prototype netbook he'd brought with him. The 'book in question is a Nano-driven model that will be sold under the "Dr. Mobile" brand name and dubbed the "FreeStyle." The system boasts a 1.3GHz CPU (which can be clocked to 1.6GHz), runs atop the VX800 chipset, features an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, a proper trackpad with two real buttons, and sports 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, and optional onboard mobile broadband. Besides having a truly healthy amount of screen real estate for such a small display, the laptop was surprisingly stylish and lightweight -- a welcome change from the stream of generic netbooks we've seen as of late. The company expects it to clock in at $500 when it hits around February, and says that the CPU outperforms similarly-spec'd Atom chips, with decent support for Vista. We should see a working model on the floor at CES, so keep your eyes peeled for a followup. For now, enjoy the hands-on!
posted Jan 5th 2009 4:19PM
Now this sounds interesting.
What?
I love how it says "Concept" right there on the laptop...
Just in case you didn't know.
I thought it was branded with the engadget logo, but then realized the watermark was there. Looks kinda cool there though
thats a big ass netbook
a big-ass netbook, or a big ass-netbook?
I see what you did there.
Not really, it looks like it'll probably be about as big as the 1000H, if not smaller. Just look at how thin the bezels on the side of the screen are compared to the 1000H. I love my 1000H but i wish they could have made it smaller. I mean, they managed to do that with the HP mini 1000....
moof!
Fuck what I said before, if this thing lives up, THIS is my new Serato Notebook.
yeah where do i sign up to preorder?
I don't like the colors, you could direct traffic with it.
No. No you couldn't. Not even one car; you'd simply get run over for jaywalking.
Actually I kind of like it, it goes well with my 17" Gateway, there's not a lot of orange there, so its not bad.
Finally!!! I've been waiting for nano netbooks to come out. Can't wait to see how this performs when it's released.
WXGA 1280x786 or 1280x800 matte screen and without microsoft and im all for it.
Thats a standard 16:9 resolution - often seen in 1080i TV's and some vaios notebooks (I believe). Its generous for an 11" screen, which, in combination with the new and efficient windows 7, gives this machine potential to act as a real notebook, like one that you could actually get some work done on. Hopefully the VIA processor measures up.
if that is the resolution that is included in the final product that would make it the highest res screen on a netbook to date, even better than the mini note 2133
very nice, the machine has no super wide border, I can live with 1280x720, a larger screen with 1920x1080 would be nice too, dont really love 1366x768 (which my old 50" plasma has). also, how long does the battery last?
1080 on an 11.6 inch screen? I get the impression you have no idea what you are on about, merely you are saying big numbers to sound intellectual.
Screen resolution on lcds are an expression of actual pixel diameters, why would you dis-like 1366x768 and like 1280x800 ?
You sir are an idiot.
If the OS scaled everything perfectly to any pixel density, great. In the real world, higher-than-average pixel densities just sets you up for more eye strain squinting at miniature text and buttons.
@Major4Play
Screen resolution on LCDs is a figure that represents the given amount of pixels. To calculate DPI you have to take into account panel size. I dislike 1366 horizontally because its a non-standard resolution.
Its in between HD 720 and HD 1080 and its a pain for computer resolution. I have a 1366x768 panel myself.
@Matthew C has also got it wrong. 1366x768 can not display 1080i. 1080i Is HD 1080. (1920x1080) If its not 1:1 your comment looses all sense, so either way you are wrong.
Lets see
1. out preforms atom
2. 500.00 or less
3. 1366 x 768
= win
im really pulling for via , everyone hates them but i think competition is wonderful
Agreed, I do not like intel with all the power....
I like the Sony Walkman orange color scheme it has going on. Too bad I'm getting tired of all the netbooks coming out of the woodworks already -.- zzz...zz.....
A 12" inches can't be called a netbook anymore, it's just and underpowered laptop besides
In a 12 incher I pretend an optical drive too.
In my humble opinion a netbook spec'd machine should be max 10".
Sometimes even my MSI wind seems too bulky when compared to those new 8 and 9 inchers.
They're all notebook computers in the end, 'netbook' is a marketing term that can encompass whatever you want.
I understand there is a limit somewhere, but IMO ~11" is the sweet spot since that's the smallest size that can accommodate a full-sized keyboard. A really touch-typable keyboard is worth the slightly bigger footprint for me (assuming it's still light and thin.)
Stephen's right- the 11 inch 16:9 screen size really hits the sweetspot for regualr use. I wouldn not be afraid to type a muti-page paper on this thing, but would be happy to carry it around as well. The way I see it there are 5 main modern technology levels:
1. Smartphones and media players - 1.8 to 7 inch screens great for everything from movies to internet, but not practical for getting serious work done
2. TH small sized laptop - 10 - 13 inch - i has a full size keyboard, but (generally) lacks the power of larger devices
3. General laptops - 14-17 inch - choose the size that fits you best (include macbooks here)
4. Massive "laptops" and all-in one / slime pcs - for your appartment, or you mother. Decent power, limmited upgradablility
5. The reall desktop - any tower that you can open up and upgrade wtih limited hassle. The cheapest for its capabilities
notice that I did not include netbooks - With hi processing power in small packages, I can see this fad phasing out in a year or two. People will grow tired of their cramped eee's and exchange them for a more powerful smartphone / iphone, or a small sized laptop like this one. Of all these "netbooks that I have seen, this one appears to bee one of the most likely to last.
Of course, everyone has their own preference. But in terms of practical usage, this is what i predict.
I thinks thats just about the longest post i have ever written. I i must admith that my large hands give me somewhat of a bias.
@MattewC
Interesting opinion but I beg to disagree:
My kind of job reqires me to be on line practically 24/7 and in the course of the years I found that the essential ideal arsenal of elctro-gear consists of
Smartphone (currently I use an HTC touch HD 3"and a Samsung Omnia 2,8") with which I can (confortably) do not much more than cheking e-mails and some light research work, and some storage, and voice recording and entertrainement and media playng and... sorry for all the "and" but the more I think about it the more stuff i realize I need those gizmos.
A netbook (currently I rely on a rebranded , pimped up MSI wind with wich I can do bloody everything I need apart for heavy video or media editing) when I'm on the field.
I ditched my laptop, and got a Vaio TT (11" ) instead which can do anything I need while on the line of duty, period.
Plus a few different desktops, HTPCs, NAS and workstations (monitors from 20" to 65") in my home and office on which serious work (or serious fun) gets done.
I realize that the wind and the Vaio tt can be mutually exclusive ,but I got the TT because I ditched the 15" laptop and I already had the wind; and now I'm dependent on both of them.
Anyway, my point is that if you can rely on a decent desktop set up in your home or office you can (or at least I can) easily do without anything bigger than a (good) 10 incher to carry around.
They were able to get USB-ports, VGA plug and NIC located in the back of the laptop, why not the power? I hate power plugs on the sides of laptops.
"Don't worry though, Apple will show you all what you did wrong when they release a netbook... very soon."
YAWN! In an ideal world where you are NOT an idiot YOU would show us where they all went wrong not the consumer electronics company that you worship as many worship Jesus, only most of us know Jesus can't really save us.....or netbooks.
When was it decided that a netbook had a specific size of screen ? Netbook refers to CPU, low power with just enough processing grunt to run a web browser and basic stuff, hence the term "netbook" not "7inchBook"
Well just look what is under the hood. VIA Nano and VX800. Thats appealing enough for me ;)
Nice. I hope they don't ruin it by using a 4200 rpm hdd or bundling it with Vista.
Do you guys even have anyone at CES with all you guys at MacWorld? :p
WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT
If this Cyrix chip doesn't burn a hole in your leg and performs as well as an Intel chip, then Atom may have a little competition...
But if history is an indicator, this is just business as usual.
Diggin' that fake carbon fiber trackpad though...
it didn't says about the battery life, hopes it can outperform Atom on it. talk about battery, the battery is under it? it will be quite limited for power expansion, IMO...
What happened to Nano anyway? It's a year after we were supposed to see shipping products and VIA has nothing more than a functional prototype...
But can it run Counterstrike on Steam...?
Apple will not release a netbook shortly. You would think apple-fanboys actually listened to what Steve Jobs has to say, but let them be clueless. Its when they try and take credit for what a company does it gets strange.
One question, can it use the S3 discrete VGA card as default?
that model may not but this one seems to have the Chrome 435 ULP.
http://www.drmobile.com.tw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13:slimnotebook&catid=3:notebooks&Itemid=8
13.3" plus a much better resolution.
If'n it can't run Osx86, methinks i muss'n pass'nr by.
Vista? WTFC?!