Olidata Conte ultraportable finally shows itself, looks mighty good

My, my Olidata -- why on Earth have you been depriving our wandering eyes from this beauty for so long? After being originally introduced at CES, we've heard precisely nothing since... until now, obviously. At long last, the striking Conte ultraportable has found its way outside of the lab over in Italy, sporting an ultrathin frame, chiclet-style keyboard, a bezel that's a bit too wide for our tastes, an HDMI output and a price tag starting at just €799 ($1,129). From what we can gather, a few versions of the machine will be available, one of which sports an SU2700 CPU, 13.3-inch LED-backlit display, a 120GB hard drive, 3GB of RAM, Bluetooth, WiFi and a multi-touch trackpad. Another variant is slated to include a Core Solo SU3500 CPU and a 120GB HDD, while yet another gets a Core 2 Duo SL9400 and a 128GB SSD. Peek the read link for a few more looks, including one of the most bizarre advertisements we've ever seen for a mere laptop.

[Thanks, Andrea]

[Chasethebase @ May 31st 2009 11:11AM]

Mmm looks good for an ultraportable. Nice specs too.

[Tonicboy @ May 31st 2009 11:49AM]

You have a strange idea of nice specs. $1200 for a laptop that is not even ultralight (3.5 lbs? My 4lb Vaio has a 2Ghz dual core CPU), with a crappy 1.3Ghz single core CPU? Small screen and no mention of screen resolution (probably because they're afraid to say)? One USB port? Sounds like pretty crap specs to me. Not to mention that I'm done with small, light laptops. They invariably involve too many design compromises in order to miniaturize.

[Tonicboy @ May 31st 2009 11:56AM]

Oh and it's hardly "ultraportable" at 13.2" x 8.9", it's the size of a full laptop. Only the 0.85" thickness is impressive but frankly, what's the point of thinness if it comes at the expense of weight? Weight is a much more noticeable metric than size in a laptop when it's in your bag (and when it's out of your bag, you actually want it to be as big as possible).

[random @ May 31st 2009 12:23PM]

Tonicboy - There is such a thing as the Mhz Myth. For example a 1.6Ghz Atom wipes the floor with a 3.0Ghz Pentium 4. Not to mention that 3Gb of RAM is plenty if not, impressive for that laptop (the Macbook Air only packs 2Gb which is borderline nowadays). The screen is not an issue, it will almost certainly have a 1280x800 resolution screen and the LED backlight will mean that it is very bright and clear. One USB port is a downside but is also the same a other competition.
Some people may also like a thin laptop as they find it hard to cram all of their books in it at once (like me). My XPS M1330 is excellent in the way i don't have to stuff it in my bag, it fits in. Not to mention that it is light and powerful (2.6Ghz) and 4Gb of RAM.

Now, go back to North Korea to your ignorance of the world ;)

[random @ May 31st 2009 12:29PM]

Tonicboy - On the read link you can see a picture of Windows showing the resolution at 1280x800. Exactly as i predicted ^^^

[Pillow @ May 31st 2009 12:38PM]

1.6GHz Atom wipes the floor with a 3GHz P4?

Seriously dude. The P4 would crap all over the atom in terms of performance.

[superhobo @ May 31st 2009 12:47PM]

I think a 2GHz P4 would still be slightly more powerful.

[NG @ May 31st 2009 1:35PM]

if this thing can dual boot XP & OS X, it's mine!

[Tonicboy @ May 31st 2009 1:55PM]

You know, I gave you my opinion and then you gave me yours. We were talking about what makes a good laptop spec and everything was cool. Then you just had to throw that last bit in there and become a jackass. In that case, I'm done here.

[Gfxlonghorn @ May 31st 2009 4:27PM]

@random
It's not a MHZ "myth." Speed in GHZ is no longer a good measure of performance because we have hit a frequency barrier so we have to find other ways of increasing performance without changing clock frequency. Up until 5 or so years ago, we were just increasing clock frequency so it was a reasonable scale to use, but now we are adding multiple cores, higher FSB, and more Cache. The only effective scale is benchmarks, but even then you have to look at multiple benchmarks to really see the performance difference. A better scale would be in FLOPS or something similar.

[msalivar @ Jun 1st 2009 12:39AM]

That is pretty loaded for $1299, with bluetooth, multi-touch, a fingerprint reader, and a 128GB SSD. And for a 13" machine, 3.3lbs really isn't bad, as it's about the weight of my X61s with the 9 cell battery. Depending on the build quality and resolution, they could have a real winner here.

I will say, with SSD and the offloading of the CPU a low end GPU is capable of, the CPU speed is becoming less important. That said, this doesn't have a GPU capable of much more than basic windowing (and even does that poorly, at times), and a dual core CPU is very important to the perceived speed of a desktop these days. The SL9400 is a nice choice, but it would be nice to see the lesser models come with slower dual core processors, instead of single core. Also, I think a 9400M would be a nice addition, though that kind of depends on battery life.

Oh, and a 1.6Ghz Atom's IPC is nowhere close to a P4 3Ghz, and probably even the 1.6Ghz P4, which were painfully slow even for the time. True, the P4 wasn't designed to do a lot per clock, and I cite this all the time, but the Atom is just plain anemic. Not that it matters, since this doesn't use Atom.

[Tonicboy @ Jun 1st 2009 5:35AM]

@Gfxlonghorn
You're absolutely right that clock frequency is no longer a good indicator of performance. However, for someone to imply that a 1.3Ghz single core cpu with 2MB cache, 800Mhz FSB can somehow outperform a 2.0Ghz dual core cpu with the same 2MB cache and 800Mhz FSB, well that's just silly. The SU2700 is just a die shrink plus ULV to reduce heat and power consumption. In other words, it's a low-end chip designed for portability, not performance. Of course, they have higher end options as well but then say goodbye to that entry level $1200 price tag (which is already not worth it).


@msalivar
First of all, it's 3.5lbs not 3.3. Second of all, you're right that CPU speed is becoming less important, especially as cpu clock frequency and parallelization is hitting a ceiling. However, gpu acceleration is not making a dent in computing right now. Not only are there very few gpu-accelerated programs out so far, but this thing doesn't even have a decent gpu to speak of. An integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD? Please, talk about crappy specs. As far as SSD, SSDs have shown very little real-world speed benefit unless you've got a very high-end model which this one likely is not. In fact, the $1200 model doesn't have an SSD at all, it's a standard HDD.

---

Listen, these are not good specs. The lowest end configuration of a Dell XPS m1330 mops the floor with this thing on every single spec except size and weight (which it trails by 0.47lbs in weight and an average of 0.7mm in thickness). PLUS you save $400. So are you guys saying that being asked to pay an extra $400 and take a drop on EVERY SINGLE SPEC is worth it for 0.5lb of weight?

[naz @ May 31st 2009 11:12AM]

Why is everyone in the pictures reading it like a book?

[Junemas @ May 31st 2009 11:13AM]

Don't like the Screen, bezel is to big for my taste, looks like wasted space.

[Templarian @ May 31st 2009 11:16AM]

That keyboard looks really nice.

[Richard Lai @ May 31st 2009 11:21AM]

They sure have some interesting models (in the read link).

[wat up!!! @ May 31st 2009 11:28AM]

ohhh wait,.....dont let apple sue them cuz they "invented" and patented super thin laptops!

[massive_98 @ May 31st 2009 12:17PM]

Thats not even funny. If you're going to make an Apple joke, at least make me laugh.

[fsphl @ May 31st 2009 11:36AM]

Gorgeous Italian design FTW.

[jay @ May 31st 2009 2:54PM]

I am not seeing this as brilliant Italian design.

I am seeing it as, reused/recycled California design. This thing looks like the design themes of the Macbook (black screen bezel) and Macbook Air (everything else) with the elegant hinge design of my Compaq subnote from 1994.

Not saying it seems like bad hardware... indeed it looks like decent hardware with clever marketing. But why does everyone feel the need to superficially imitate the leader on design?

[fsphl @ May 31st 2009 3:57PM]

I don't think this bit of detail reminds me of the Air at all:

http://www.macitynet.it/artimgs/aA38192/img6.jpg

In the main photograph from the engadget article, note how the bottom of the screen actually comes up from the base, like detached earlobes, for lack of a better descriptor. That's hardly a recycle of the Air's two hinges, which then deposit the bottom of the screen/bezel slightly behind/under the base. With respect to the Olidata unit, I think the space created by the gaps between the base and the bezel add a certain airy lightness to the overall presentation of the unit.

As for the keys, I think that this:

http://www.macitynet.it/artimgs/aA38192/img7.jpg

shows a little bit more style than the MBA keyboard, but that's of course entirely subjective and YMMV.

I'm not saying this doesn't appear derivative of the MBA, but on some level, it has to be -- there is simply only so many different forms/styles/shapes that an ultra-thin laptop can take.

When it comes to the design on this thing, however, I'm not in agreement that it's merely a Cupertino recycle. I'll offer the following (translated) quote from http://www.macitynet.it/macity/aA38192/olidata_altro_lultra_sottile_made_in_italy.shtml:

"Per una multinazionale come Apple dalla fase di ideazione e progettazione alla realizzazione finale occorrono circa 6/9 mesi. Il progetto che ha portato alla creazione di Altro è cominciato con una riunione con Intel nel dicembre del 2007, mentre il primo mockup non funzionante è stato realizzato tra febbraio e marzo del 2007, quindi molto prima della presentazione di MacBook Air. Il ciclo di sviluppo per una società come la nostra è nell'ordine dei 18 mesi". "For a multinational company like Apple from conceptual design and design to final implementation takes about 6 / 9 months. The project has resulted in more began with a meeting with Intel in December 2007, while the first mockup is not working been carried out between February and March of 2007, which was well before the submission of the MacBook Air. The cycle of development for a company like ours is of the order of 18 months. "

I think that quite clearly indicates that the design mockup of this thing was thus complete before the introduction of the MBA, making it literally impossible to consider this a "recycle" of Apple's product. I'd conclude that the quote merely affirms my own above point -- namely that there is only so many directions a design like this can go in.

I've lived in Italy. This thing has a certain 'Italian-ness' to it that I can't put my finger on, and while it shares (many) similarities with the MBA, I'd say it has its own feel to it, quite a bit.

[SirPhunkee @ May 31st 2009 5:32PM]

wacky Italian translations FTW

[fsphl @ May 31st 2009 5:46PM]

Gotta love Google translation...

[xconan @ Jun 1st 2009 4:06AM]

@jay
that ugly bezel was from an earlier asus 701 and refined by apple... not an apple original.

[jonny @ May 31st 2009 11:44AM]

LOL I was looking at this thinking about people buying these laptops wishing they had an Apple. I've got a MacbookPro and it is a thing of beauty, unlike this wannabe POS. Oh, and it doesn't crash all the time with a BSOD and have all kinds of viruses. Yeah, you read it right, I called you out on your PC viruses that you picked up at your local porn site that you just visited. Me? I don't need porn...I get free lapdances at Starbucks from the baristas there when they see my MacbookPro laptop. I get free wifi at Starbucks too on my iphone, and I bet your WinMo doesn't get that. Did I mention it is a MacbookPro? PRO! Sorry, peasants...

[Byrdman @ May 31st 2009 12:21PM]

I would rather use a PC and not need to get lapdances from barista's at Starbucks. If you are resorting to getting action by means of a laptop you sir are a grade-A loser.

[Look_Around_You @ May 31st 2009 12:38PM]

@jonny.

We are all going to just put a little "/s" tag after your BS, just so we can all just go on with our lives. M'kay?

[superhobo @ May 31st 2009 12:42PM]

I hope the battery explodes.

On your lap. Then you'd be dancing.

[Phil @ May 31st 2009 2:05PM]

So you like lap dances from dudes? As a lot of the baristas are guys nowadays...

[SonicEarth @ May 31st 2009 11:46AM]

OMG THEY RIPPED OFF THE MACBOOK AIR

[Trent @ May 31st 2009 12:27PM]

OMG it just goes to show that Apple RIPS OFF their customers and proves yet again how OVERPRICED Apple is.

[Saad Rabia @ May 31st 2009 11:47AM]

Darren, the only thing bizarre about these advertisements is your comment on them. I swear to god and his mighty that if Apple would put something like that you'd be all shitting on yourselves out of excitement and joy, and you might even put it in the featured section and maybe create a special award only for Apple.

These advertisements are AWESOME. On spot, show the product, in touch with people and interestingly daring. I bet your idea of a good ad is having some laptop with a stupid simplistic wanabe boring background and a pretentious lame line under it such as: "Double the crap, half of the lameness."

[Matt @ May 31st 2009 12:04PM]

I'm not quite sure what your problem is with that line. The ad features a guy on the toilet holding a laptop sideways, which I think is pretty strange. It has absolutely NOTHING whatsoever to do with Apple, yet somehow you think it does. I just don't get it.

[fsphl @ May 31st 2009 12:17PM]

@Matt - the ad shows him holding the laptop as if it were a newspaper/magazine. It's a play on the whole bathroom reading material spiel. Ie: this thing is small and light enough that it would be quite natural for you to read it as though you might read a book, magazine, or newspaper while you're sitting on the throne. It's not strange, it's clever, especially next to the other adverts in their campaign if you head over to the company website.

[Saad Rabia @ May 31st 2009 12:21PM]

Matt, it had nothing to do with Apple until I read Darren's name.

And thank you fsphl, well said.

[Matt @ May 31st 2009 12:30PM]

@fsphl

Trust me, I get it. It's still strange.

[superhobo @ May 31st 2009 12:46PM]

What's strange about it is they're thinking differently.

Unlike every other Apple ad for the past 5 years at least.

[BK-201 @ May 31st 2009 1:06PM]

they hold the laptop as a book/magazine because the notebook comes with an accelerometer

[Quix @ May 31st 2009 4:05PM]

"I swear to god and his mighty that if Apple would put something like that you'd be all shitting on yourselves out of excitement and joy" - Saad Rabia

Wow Saad, just like you OFFERING YOUR SISTER for a video of the new Zoon HD in a fit of joyous rapture, not admitting (to yourself or others) the fact that Apple *DID* put out something like that, oh, TWO YEARS AGO???

The looney hypocrisy of the Winbot horde would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Astroturf Different.

[Saad Rabia @ May 31st 2009 4:08PM]

Quix, stop being a troll and find yourself a better reason to live.

[Quix @ May 31st 2009 5:06PM]

A look in the mirror and a little self-reflection may do you some good, Saad.

[PEZ @ May 31st 2009 1:04PM]

A core solo? Those things are nearly as old as Han Solo :)~

[To: Hell @ May 31st 2009 1:05PM]

Look at my Conte!

[TheBrow @ May 31st 2009 1:07PM]

"an HDMI output and a price tag starting at just €799"

Shouldn't this be "a HDMI output"?

[ArcticFox @ May 31st 2009 1:54PM]

No they are correct.

[TA @ Jul 21st 2009 10:04PM]

I'd say "an HDMI" is correct

Sure, in school your taught that you use "an" if the following word begins with a vowel, but it depends on pronunciation. Eg "a user"

Although, sometimes some abbreviations can be pronounced phonetically, such as SCSI or WIFI, and this even differs from country to country. So if you pronounce HDMI as "hudmee", then "a HDMI" would be correct.

As for the laptop, I can see it selling as it's filling its own niche, somewhere between the mild-specced CULV laptops coming out and the relatively powerful Adamo style laptops. (No, this has nothing to do with Apple, so don't bring it up, people)

[Tonicboy @ Jun 1st 2009 4:56AM]

@TA

You're right, but it's ironic because in school "you're" also taught that "you are" is contracted as "you're", not "your".

[iKurt 5D @ May 31st 2009 1:44PM]

I'm going to be blunt, but that design rips off the Macbook Air.

[patriotsn1 @ May 31st 2009 2:24PM]

No it doesn't.

[fsphl @ May 31st 2009 4:00PM]

Click the Read link ... design appears to have been complete prior to MBA.