Slinky Little Crusoe Notebook Reviewed

does it really matter? writes "Apparently the love-in is finally on for the guys at TransmetaZone.com since they finally have a review of a Crusoe notebook to show for themselves. The silver NEC UltraLite gets a good going over, and proves to be an interesting match against a PIII-M." I'm glad to see that the promise of transmeta is finally beginning to start being fulfilled.

Comments

Redundent redendencies

[Argy]

I'm glad to see that the promise of transmeta is finally beginning to start being fulfilled.

Yep, I'm glad to see they commenced the outset of initiating the maiden launch of that debut myself! :-)

Nice, but...

[bill.sheehan]

They've done a nice job in positioning this baby as the perfect computer for a 90 pound weakling who's also a marathon typist and a frequent flyer. If they advertise in enough in-flight magazines, they may even sell a few. They start from a premise that the most important features are weight and battery life. But in order to get that weight and battery life, they stripped out a whole bunch of things I'd want. Heck, my Toshiba T-1000 is lightweight and can make it across the country without a recharge.

I want to like it, I really do. I might seriously consider one if it had 256 or 512 MB of RAM, a larger screen (1280x1024 would be nice), USB 2.0 ports and an external DVD/CD-RW drive. I don't mind schlepping a little more weight in return for being able to watch my own in-flight movie.

And while I'm dreaming, I want a pony...

battery life and capacities

[Roadmaster]

Altough the Tm5600-based system outlasted the PIII-based one by about 28% in battery life tests, it's interesting to notice that the PIII has a 5400 mAH battery, while the TM5600's batteries add up to 4300 mAH. That is, the Transmeta processor lasted 28% more on about 20% less battery capacity. Some quick numbers indicate that the Transmeta processor would be able to run for over 6 hours on a 5400 mAH battery, which is a full 50% longer than the 4 hours the PIII system lasted, given that the batteries had the same capacity.

Everyone has different requirements

[Goonie]

I'm not going to burn CD's, want to watch an inflight movie (and if I did I might consider ripping it to my hard drive), plug in digital video cameras, or anything like that with my laptop. I want the smallest, lightest, most convenient package that runs Linux and has a full size keyboard so I can touch type when sending mail (so I want good networking abilities).

For me, something like the Vaio picturebook (also with a Crusoe processor) would be ideal. That doesn't make me right or you wrong, but it means there's room in the market for both. Vive la difference!

Re:Impartiality

[Brento]

Oh, yes, that's a 'real impartial review'... it reads more like some oil-haired watchdripping toothshiner trying to sell you a car.

You're totally right. They completely gloss over the fact that this thing uses dongles for the VGA port and for the ethernet port. In a laptop that's aimed at the frequent traveler, carrying around not just one but two dongles is completely unacceptable. There's plenty of space on that thing for the full-sized ports, and that alone would score huge negative points in any review done by experienced laptop users.