Are you desperate for an iPad-like device, short on cash, and long on the desire to completely jack up your netbook? Well you're in luck, friend, as the proprietor of MSI Wind fansite
Insanely Wind has crafted a device which may satiate your tablety desires. By taking a U100, removing the keyboard, relocating a touchscreen display to the bottom half of the unit, and doing some simple rewiring, user alexbates has fashioned a tablet which he says bests a device like the iPad or JooJoo with "10 times the storage, twice the speed, external video (VGA), webcam, USB ports, and built-in multi card reader." Of course, as you can tell by the photos, this mod has a ways to go before it's got the fit and finish of the aforementioned devices, and you'll have rev up a compatible, hackintosh build of OS X to make it appropriately Apple-ish -- but it can clearly be done. While this isn't the first time we've seen
this type of
modification, it's nice to see the love spreading to
various devices (and done in a fashion that doesn't seem overly complicated). From the sounds of things, this project hasn't hit its zenith yet, so we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for a more complete variation of the Windlet (our name). For now, hit the read link and keep up with the unfolding saga.
[Thanks, MistaBishi]
posted March 14th 2010 6:28PM
@MosesusedaniPad
This is a cobbled together device because a dude decided to make it on his own. He didn't have a team of designers or a manufacturing plant.
And whether it will sell or not? Well, that's not my concern, seeing as I'm not a shareholder. As an end user I'm only concerned about whether it does what I need it to do, and this suits that purpose better than the iPad could.
@HighestRanked2
I'd never buy a tablet. I have no practical use for one. If I did, I'd be damn sure it was more capable than the iPad looks to be.
@HighestRanked2 the ipad isnt even out yet, the iphone is just as useful as the ipad considering its the same thing just pocket sized..... what a useless statement, the ipad will sell based on hype and the average user's knowledge of tablet's, it's not selling on pure functionality.
Why didn't apple just do this?
@Alexicov *facepalm
@Alexicov Because apple is at least smart enough to use ARM/tegra and a SSD in a tablet instead of an atom(n270)/intel gma950 and a HDD.
Other than that the iPad is a fail though.
@Alexicov
God this mod sucks, it can multitask, who needs that?
Seriously guise, we need to start to recognize that Apple is right, the consumer wants an iphone that's twice as big and can't perform any of the functions of a cheaper, better equipped netbook.
I mean, multitasking can't be that great, right? Why would I want to be able to listen to pandora while surfing the web? Why would I want to be able to seamlessly switch in between multiple apps when I could just as easily not? I mean if people wanted that stuff wouldn't more webOS phones have sold? It's not like the PC industry got very far on the idea of being able to run more than one application at a time. Seems to me like Apple knows us consumers better than we are willing to know ourselves.
Not only that, but this piece of shit mod has flash, and we all know how much that stuff sucks. Flash is like, totally lame dudes. It can play games, stream 70% of the video on the internet, it's on some of the most popular sites. It must suck to play flash games on this mod, and do everything on the web that requires flash.
@Joe the Plumber ha! Well said!
@Joe the Plumber
Whew, my blind fanboy-blood-thirsty rage slowly turned to relief and then contentment as I read your comment.
@MaTdg
i don't have Tegra...
@Alexicov
Unsurprisingly, this product looks pretty much like a standard, cheap netbook. A thrown together, low-cost design that geeks love. The electric tape chic is a nice touch. Geeks don't care about fit and finish because this ersatz tablet is fully loaded with all the necessary gear for the high-tech mobile man on the move. I hope this modder puts his creation into production. I'm sure he'd sell at least 50 of them to adoring geeks before going bankrupt.
Won't running videos for any length of time cause that electric tape to become a gummy mess? No matter, just upgrade the OS to Windows 7 and use duct tape in place of the electric tape and everything will seem that much sweeter.
@MosesusedaniPad
Selling modified/pirated copies of OS X worked out really well for Psystar.
@Joe the Plumber
The most common way to create product is to cram the most features and then sell it at the cheapest price possible. That is the basic netbook market. A netbook has pretty much the same features as a top flight notebook but at 1/10 the price. So who buys it? People who don't intend to use it. Fact is:
1. Netbooks are slow. Very slow
2. Other than ads, flash is useless for video since netbooks are terrible with hulu or netflix streaming. So unless you're into those flash ads there isn't much use of flash in a netbook.
3. Multi tasking = freezing on netbooks.
4. Netbooks have absolutely the lowest quality screens with terrible angles of view and bright light performance.
5. Netbooks struggle with Office 2007 and products like Adobe Actobat etc.
6. Flash web sites take forever to launch
7. Constant barrage of microsoft updates that further impacts performance.
In summary, anyone who believes a netbook does everything a notebook does is only theoretically right. The usability is pathetic. Price is the ONLY reason people buy them. They are NOT for use. LOL. I see a lot more people using their iPhones than netbooks.
When I hear multitasking, flash and netbook in the same context, I think of snake oil......
@jaffreywali
Wow there's a whole lot of false in your post.
1. They're not slow provided you use them for what they were designed for. If you're trying to render video and then call it slow, you're dumb.
2. Hulu works perfectly fine on a non GPU-accelerated netbook, at full screen. If you want to run it in HD you will need a GPU or accelerator card with support for Flash 10.1. Flash is also useful for casual games, and sites that insist on using flash for navigation.
3. False. Perfectly do-able to surf the net, play music, chat with friends, download stuff in the background with no slowdown.
4. Mostly false. The quality of the screen depends on the manufacturer and model. My first Eee PC had an excellent matte screen with wide viewing angles (both vertical and horizontal), and was bright enough where medium setting was fine for me. My friend's first gen Acer is glossy and has bad viewing angles.
5. I don't use either of those products but I know people use them on netbooks and get their intended result. Some people even run photoshop and do actual editing work on netbooks too. Crazy no?
6. If it's a giant page with lots of flash, then yes. Otherwise, normal pages with smart uses of flash load in an acceptable time. If you want to see slow, you should see flash pages loading on my last-gen ARM tablet.
7. What? Some updates IMPROVE performance. Others have minimal impact, and yes, some cause bloat.
All i want to know is where he got the touchscreen.
@One Love Search for "10.2" touch screen panel kit" on eBay. I bought mine from the seller visualtouchworld. It is a Resistive touch panel, so it senses pressure rather than electron particle transfers (you can also write on it with a pen). I have been looking everywhere to find a Capacitive touch panel, which are found in Apple's products, but it is almost impossible to find someone that sells them.
@Joe the Plumber
have you ever tried torchlight on a netbook, all settings on low and netbook support enabled? it's an avarage 8fps nitemare, now try dungeon hunter on a first gen ipod touch.
and yepp you might notice: "oops there is a slight difference between quantity and quality" :-)
@shizzledmg
Netbooks aren't meant to game on, you douche. Netbooks are perfectly fine for what they were intended to do... productivity apps.
@Cyberdyne Systems
This is the statement that the "why buy an iPad when you can buy a netbook for less" crowd just cannot grasp.
If you admit that the netbook is meant for productivity software, then is it not safe to assume that there is a market for a device with more of an entertainment spin but similar core functions (web, email)?
@Joe the Plumber
Let's look at it from a non-saracastic way.
If a device only has a glossy, shiny screen, and JUST comes with a nice, full featured book reader and internet book store--and sells at all major outlets for $499 today (look the WindowPhone/Courier/Slate/Android super tablet are NOT OUT YET), people will buy it in droves.
Hence why Apple is making headway.
If the Slate (as crappy as it *may* be) was being available pre-order today, instead of a 1990's CES announcement (CES is so yesterday folks!) back in Jan, Apple would not have the current iPad frenzy this weekend. Instead, everyone here prepare for the iPad nonsense in the next coming weeks from the pre-order success.
Time to market my friends, and Apple is very good at it. HP better get their slate out the door by next week.
@One Love
Go on www.alibaba.com to found some capacitive touch screen, but I dont know if you will be able to get one unit because this site si for bulk sale.
The tape holding it all together is brilliant. I'm sure that is something Apple could use - it would certainly make battery swaps much easier.
Sadly, Apple would most likely require special tape at $100/roll.
@scoobydooby For $100, if you're battery goes dead, they'll send you a different U100 with a fresh battery and new tape holding it together.
what sucks if you get 2+ defective products without the apple warranty XD
@Bosco
Can I choose the color of the tape?
Thats what the iPad should have been like! touch friendly osx, perfect.
@yulebellow If that's what the iPad's like, I recommend everyone buys an extended warranty.
Improve the aesthetics and yeah, maybe I'll be interested. I mean, I'll gladly get something that's a little more ugly if it has better specs, but come on, held together by tape? Haha
We have to mention that any x86 mod will not be any thinner than an ARM mod.
Something tells me Apple doesn't use duct tape.
No App Store, No Thannks!
@RLBurkes and that is where iPhone emulators, I mean developer kits come in handy.
@RLBurkes
Totally agree. I can't wait to run my iPod Touch apps on the iPad. Who doesn't want a big 3.5" emulator running in the middle of a 10" screen.
That's what I wanted the iPad to be.. minus the duct tape.
3 days later.... "i want my keyboard back."
@roosta Thats where the Bluetooth keyboard comes in handy :) http://s741.photobucket.com/albums/xx51/alexbates7/?action=view¤t=picture3140215.png
For the guys who don't want their tablet duct taped you are in luck, this thing is taped together with electrical tape.
@Cringer
Duct tape > electrical tape
@Murkurie Well, that kind of depends on what you are using it for I guess. Although for this duct tape might have been better, electrical tape can have a lot of give to it being so stretchy. Both are > scotch tape though.
@Cringer You're right :) I put electrical tape on it temporarily specifically because i will hold together well and it's black. I am working on finding a better solution where screws can hold the top bezel to the base, so the tape will not be necessary. Along with that, I am finding a better option for the power button. Maybe an iPad Home button would be cool.
@alexbates You sir, get a +1 for being alexbates
Thats weird.. ive just ordered the same netbook to do a very simmilar project...
Its more functional than the iPad!
@Hydra
Potentially. But in reality the usability will probably suck like every other netbook. Slowwwwwwwwwwww.
@jaffreywali I've got a dell mini 9 from a while ago with a 16gb runcore ssd and an old first gen atom running windows 7 and it runs pretty zippy
@jaffreywali the acer aspire 1410 is my netbook and slow is not in it's dictionary
@The Geek
Neither is "atom" or "netbook"...that sir is an ultraportable notebook
@jaffreywali I have yet to see a really slow (newer) netbook. I think you're just being a troll.
@yulebellow you can't go unveiling it's secret identity like that. It's an ultra portable in disguise
Where are people getting the touchscreen kits for these?! I've been wanting to dothis to my 10v for some time now.