Everex Plans Sub-$300 Linux Laptop

[Sunite]

Everex Plans Sub-$300 Linux Laptop
By Barry Levine
November 5, 2007 9:13AM

   Digg It!   Bookmark to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
In addition to being noteworthy for the very low price, Everex's laptop, slated to be available in 2008, is notable for its use of the Linux-powered gOS. The founder of gOS, David Liu, has been quoted as saying that his company intends to do for Linux what Steve Jobs did for the Mac OS -- create an alternative OS that is packaged for the consumer.

Related Topics
   Everex
   Linux
   Laptops
   Notebook PCs
   Desktop
   Google

Latest News
   Kindle Sells Out Despite Skepticism
   T-Mobile Unlocks iPhone in Germany
   The Promise of Mobile Phone Payments
   MoveOn Slams Facebook Ad System
   Smartphones Becoming More Popular
Advertisement

Advertisement

   Everex, which recently announced a Linux-based desktop computer for under $200, is now planning to release a sub-$300 laptop, according to news reports.

The IDG News Service reported that the laptops will feature the gOS operating system that is used in Everex's desktop model. The gOS system is built on Ubuntu Linux 7.10. Because of the machine's energy efficiency Relevant Products/Services, the "g" stands for green, but some observers have said that the "g" could also stand for Google because many of Google's Web-based applications have one-click access from the desktop.

Although the desktop and the laptop are being described in the media as Google PCs, Everex said that its products are independent of the search giant.

Linux for Consumers

In addition to being noteworthy for the very low price, the planned laptop is notable for its use of the open-source Linux operating system.

The founder of gOS, David Liu, has been quoted in news media as saying his company intends to do for Linux what Steve Jobs did for the Mac OS -- create an alternative OS that is packaged for the consumer. The gOS focus is to offer Linux-based computers that use familiar Google applications, and, with the Enlightenment interface, are easy to use.

Everex said that the notebooks will come out in the first half of 2008, but hardware and other specs on the laptop were not available.

The Linux-based laptop will have the same issues for a consumer market as the desktop machine will, according to Doug Bell, an analyst with industry research firm IDC. "The average consumer might find a non-Windows interface to be challenging," he said, even if it has a similar graphical interface.

He noted that a consumer might expect common applications, such as Microsoft Relevant Products/Services Office, to be available for the machine. But he said that if either the laptop or the desktop is used for specialized applications, such as Web browsing, it might be able to find a market.

$199 Desktop Linux PC

Last week, Everex released a $199, gOS-based desktop machine through Wal-Mart. While the price of the company's gPC TC2502 does not include a monitor, it does include access to nearly every software application that an ordinary consumer user might need.

These include links to Google Docs & Spreadsheet, Google Product Search, Blogger, YouTube, and Google Maps, plus desktop apps such as Gimp for image editing, Xing for playing movies, Skype for voice chats, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login 2.2 for document editing, and an iTunes-like RhythmBox for playing tunes.

The desktop machine features a 1.5-GHz Via C7-D processor and chipsets, 512 MB of SDRAM (expandable to 2 GB), an 80-GB hard drive, a DVD/CD-RW drive, and built-in 10/100 Ethernet. It also comes with free phone support.