First Transmeta Notebook

ggrappone writes: "CNet has a story on the first Transmeta notebook." Looks to be the same as the mini Sony VAIO picture book. Runs a 600Mhz Crusoe chip, and they claim substantial battery improvements with no performance hit. But apparently they'll be available in the states soon, so we can see for ourselves.

Comments

Re:I fail to be impresed

[BigDaddyJ]

You can get from 2.5 to 5 hours on that tine little thing. Wow. Amazing. My 1998 Wallstreet G3 gets 3 on one battery and has a 14 inch screen.

Realize a key fact here: the battery on the PictureBook is small. The G3 laptop batteries are likely much larger. If you look at many of the other x86 laptops that are out there (weighing 4.5-7 pounds) they have very decent battery life. I have a Sony 505TX with a quad-capacity battery, weighing about 4.5-5 pounds, that gives me 6+ hours battery life. But it's not 2.2 pounds!

(Interesting note: the quad-capacity battery on the SuperSlims such as my 505TX is the same one as the PictureBook C1XS, and hopefully this unit... and did you see the battery times with the quad on the new unit? Up to 20 hours!)

The battery life on the previous PictureBooks, with any use, quickly dropped to under 2 hours. So, for it, this is a huge improvement. And this is why the Transmeta chip is so useful.

Of course, we'll have to see whether or not the claims pan out to reality.

--bdj

EmperorLinux will be carrying these.

[OverCode@work]

http://www.emperorlinux.com will have these later this month, and they'll be preconfigured for Linux. They already sell the non-Transmeta version of this notebook (Sony PictureBook w/ Pentium II). The camera does work under Linux, and I suspect the Transmeta chip will improve the battery life and performance quite a bit. If you want to get one of these soon, I can recommend these people (and no, I don't work for them, I just know them).

-John

More Transmeta Laptops... (one with DVD!)

[isaac_akira]

These are only officially sold in Japan, but this web site imports them (expensive though!):

(this one has the DVD)
http://www.dynamism.com/loox/looxt.shtm l

http://www.dynamism.com/loox/looxs.shtm l

Specs

[EricEldred]

All I can see at Sony's site under VAIO C1 PictureBook Computer, PCG-C1VN is the following. The picture makes it look just like the other Sony Picturebook. The half-height (480 pixel) screen display is innovative but I don't know if I can get used to it. The battery life (5.5 hours) seems less than what was first claimed--maybe for the other Crusoe chip. Does it have a headphone jack? Is the USB port the only way to dock it?

Take an innovative digital camera. Then, build a small, yet very powerful notebook computer around it. The result An ultra-portable, ultra-powerful notebook computer which can instantly take stunning photos or digital video clips, add special effects like 360 panoramas and instantly transfer those images via email anywhere in the world! The new VAIO C1 PictureBook[tm] notebook computer is not much bigger than a paperback book - only about 2 pounds light and a little over an inch thin. This is the most functional, ultra-portable notebook computer you'll ever own.

• Starts Selling September 25, 2000
• Starts Shipping October 25, 2000
• Transmeta[tm] Crusoe[tm] Processor
• Simple one-button movie and still image capture with
• Sony's Smart Capture software
• 128 MB SDRAM
• Integrated V.90 56K modem
• High-capacity Lithium-Ion battery
• Durable magnesium-alloy case
• 8.9" UWXGA width (1024 x 480) TFT screen with
• XWIDE[tm] polysilicon display technology
• i.LINK® (IEEE 1394) S400 interface for DV editing and simple networking between equippedVAIO computers9
• 1 type II PC card slot with CardBus support
• 1 USB port
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Bundled standard battery(2.5 - 5.5 hours)