Laptops

System76, the company that focuses on Ubuntu based computers, has just launched its first netbook model, the Starling.

Some days ago Amber, my loyal Pangolin from System 76, stopped working, apparently due to some power supply issue.

The System 76 guys were very kind, they helped me to discard the problem via email and offered me to repair it at not cost, honoring the warranty, but I was in Lima and couldn't ship it on time.

Rumours onlike talk about Apple announcing a new ultraportable tomorrow at MacWorld 2008. Some have even guessed the new product could include Air as part of its name, maybe because of the There's something in the air message at Apple's website.

Looking forward to Steve Jobs' keynote in a few hours to decide if I start my gizmos wishlist for 2008 with an Apple toy.

Confirmed! It's the MacBook Air starting at US$ 1799.

Everex announced in CES 2008 that its new ultra portable: CloudBook, will be available at Walmart, and I think probably in many other online stores, on January 25th and will cost US$ 399.

Some weeks ago I told you I had ordered our first Asus Eee PC. Today I'm glad to announce that the little toy is already at home. And even if I had named it Silfen, Beatriz decided to change that to Samantha.

I haven't had much time to play with it but I can tell you that the Eee PC is smaller than it looks on pics, works wonderfully and I really like it. A complete analysis is on its way.

Take a look at more pictures of our new Eee PC.

I'm a weak, very weak, man. I couldn't resist the avalanche of so many good reviews or the fear of the already reduced stock of Asus Eee PC at Amazon completely vanishing, a la Kindle, until 2008.

So, I've ordered my first Asus Eee 4G Galaxy a few hours ago. It's the black model with 512 Mb. RAM, upgradable, unlike the Surf ones, and solid state disk of 4 Gb. Don't confuse this model with the new T-Mobile 7" Samsung tab, which is also called the "Galaxy," because the two are very different products.

I'm counting the seconds (days actually) until this new family member arrives but it already has a name: Silfen. By the way, a very special prize for the guy or gal who can tell where that name comes from.

Now, watch out for the review when the new toy is here.

When I bought my Dell Vostro 1000 for US$ 399 on Black Friday I was more then happy. I know that average laptops are not that expensive today but still it's hard to get such a good price, even after you spend a few hours looking for online offers on Black Friday.

But I wasn't as lucky with Amazon Vote 2007, I did not win the option to buy my favorite toy of the year, Sony's Playstation 3, or the HD Panasonic camcorder. Or maybe luck chooses different ways to come?

I got a message from a good friend yesterday, he had voted at Amazon after reading my article and won the option to buy a laptop, the HP Pavilion TX1305US, a 12.1" tablet PC actually. He wasn't interested on buying it and asked me if I wanted it. For US$ 299 it sounded like a good damn deal, regular price is between US$ 999 and US$ 1300.

So, I won my Amazon Vote option indirectly, thanks to a simple article I wrote here. Two laptops in a week for just US$ 698. Not bad, uh?

And what about the WAF? Screw the WAF! What do you think that your wife would tell if you've got two laptops, one for her and another for your daughter, for less than 700 bucks?

I really wanted to buy Beatriz an Asus Eee PC but Dell's Black Friday offer was too good to miss: a Dell Vostro 1000 at US$ 399. I'll get the Eee PC when the 8 Gb. model hits the shelves anyway.

I just paid with Paypal, good to know Dell accepts Paypal, and I'm getting the Vostro in a few days. Now I need to start thinking what name we'll use for the new toy.

After the mess of the Palm Foleo and while there aren't official news about a commercial OLPC (it seems we may have some for Christmas) Asus, probably the biggest motherboard maker in the world, announces the Eee PC is almost here.

The name is certainly uncool (it reminds me of Nintendo's Wii) but the feature set looks quite well, let's see:

• A 7" screen.
• Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
• 256 Mb. to 1 Gb. DDR2.
• Solid state disk (SSD) from 2 Gb. to 8 Gb.
• It can run Linux (neat!) or Windows (I wonder who will be the wacko planning to run Vista on these).
• Stereo sound and mic.
• 4 cell battery with duration between 2.8 and 3.5 hours.
• 2.03 lbs.
• 3 USB ports.

Asus press release says they will have 4 models available in North America during the next weeks, with prices ranging from US$ 299 to US$ 399. I find them quite attractive, really.

And now that I've just ordered a Nokia N800 (price dropped US$ 100 in the last days in Amazon so I'm asking for a refund) and I want to get a more compact Darter from System 76, Amber the Pangolin is too much weight while traveling, I'm already adding an Eee PC to my Christmas wish list this year.

Long before the Peruvian Government officially announced it, many in the local free software communities were in touch with colaborators of the OLPC project (One Laptop Per Child).

A few days ago Antonio Ognio told me the founder of LinuxChile, Eduardo Silva, was visiting Lima to talk us about the project. Eduardo will offer his keynote this Monday, July 2, at 7pm in Jr. Junín 355, Miraflores.

I'd like to invite all my readers to go and publish their pictures and comments about the event and the project.

The OLPC's use Linux, actually a flavour of Fedora, and I'm sure it will be great to see and, if possible, touch, one.

Even if I don't trust much in the government to get the best of the OLPC's for Peruvian children, it's quite important knowing more about these laptops and their potential. Even more now that there are rumours of a commercial version for 2008, also manufactured by Taiwan's Quanta. I'm sure many of us would like one of these toys, if we can call them toys, for our kids.

To know more visit the the note at PLUG's site.