Cloudbooks may include Intel's Diamondville processor
Everex is refreshing its
Cloudbook line of ultraportable, Linux-based notebooks with redesigned models
that may eventually include low-power Intel
Diamondville processors, bigger screens and more storage.
Plans to include the Intel processor are "very tentative" and for
now the company will continue to use Via
Technologies' low-power processors in Cloudbook laptops, said Paul Kim,
director of marketing at Everex.
Cloudbooks are based on the reference
design of Via's ultramobile Nanobook laptop. The reference design calls
for Via's C7-M processor, which Cloudbook uses. Priced at US$399, the Cloudbook
competes with inexpensive ultraportable computers like Asus'
Eee PC. It was launched last month.
The new Cloudbook models may bump storage up to 120G bytes, quadrupling the
storage available on the current Cloudbook model, Kim said. The refreshed Cloudbooks
may also include 8.9-inch screens and improved touchpads under the keyboard,
Kim said. The current Cloudbook model has a 7-inch screen and the mousepad is
placed over the keyboard.
"In regards to the refresh, a touch-sensitive screen -- with higher screen
resolution -- and moving the touchpad down underneath the space bar are the
big items under consideration," Kim said. The company has said it is developing
a Cloudbook with a touch-screen interface that it plans to make available worldwide
by the end of the year, priced at $499.
Everex also said it plans to include solid-state flash drives when those prices
fall.
Everex's parent company, First
International Computer, showed a Diamondville-based ultraportable PC model
that could operate at up to 1.6GHz, at Cebit in Hanover, Germany, this week.
The CW060 includes a 7-inch screen, wireless and wired networking and up to
120G bytes of internal storage. Another ultraportable laptop model running on
a Via processor included an 8.9-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen.
It is normal business strategy for companies to improve products and keep multiple
suppliers in the mix, said Dean McCarron, principal at Mercury Research. The
possible of Diamondville in Cloudbook computers could intensify the anticipated
slugfest between Intel and Via, which is releasing a competing processor code-named
Isaiah later this year. "It's going to get worse as time progresses,"
McCarron said.
Unlike Eee PC, Cloudbook hasn't yet proven itself, so adding Intel will help
hedge against any chip-supply issues and give users a suite of products to choose
from, McCarron said. "This is a situation where you need to have your bases
covered." McCarron said.
The proposed designs are based on feedback and have yet to be finalized as
they could lead to a slight increase in Cloudbook prices, Kim said. If a new
product is offered it "would most likely be added upstream into the lineup
rather than replace the existing unit," Kim said. The current generation
CloudBook should continue, Kim said.
The company is working on software-side improvements as well.
"We're discussing with [Linux-based] gOS to better the power management
features, wireless configuration and window sizing," Kim said.
Earlier this year Everex said it hopes to enlist the open-source community
to help it create touch-screen applications for the product. It said it plans
to sell about 2,000 touch-screen Cloudbooks to developers at the end of March
for this purpose.
IDG News Service
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