Blog:: Craig Pringle

This just cropped up in one of my Twitter searches and it really caught my eye. 

A 9” netbook with a touchscreen and a removable keyboard?  Could it be that someone has finally caught on to the fact that the HP TC1100 was a really good idea and would be excellent if refreshed with current technology?

Weighing less than 2 pounds and sporting a [8.9] inch screen, the Touch Book has moved away from the world of the Intel Atom CPU and delved into the mobile power of the ARM processor from Texas Instruments, and with its custom designed battery, the Touch Book runs for up to 15 hours unplugged.

The key design feature of the Touch Book is its ability to completely separate the screen from the keyboard, allowing the screen to be used as a standalone tablet. Furthermore, the screen is magnetic and can easily be mounted on any metal surfaces.

How cool is that – 15 hours battery life and you can stick it to the fridge!  The bad news is that it is not shipping yet but pre-orders are being taken.

Well the touch book certainly looks like an interesting device and I would love to get my hands on one to see how well the concept is implemented.  It looks like it is running its own OS and the ARM processor is usually associated with phones and PDAs but it could be a good step in the right direction.

Vital statistics from the website:

Key Specifications

• 9.4″ x 7″ x 1.4″ for 2 lbs (with keyboard)
• ARM Texas Instruments OMAP3 chip
• 1024×600 8.9” screen
• Storage: 8GB micro SD card
• Wifi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth
• 3-dimensional accelerometer
• Speakers, micro and headphone
• 6 USB 2.0 (3 internal, 2 external, 1 mini)
• 10h to 15 hours of battery life

Microsoft announced their SKU line-up for Windows 7 (Geekzone has a good overview here)and the reaction has been mixed.  One of the six SKUs announced is the Starter Edition.

The Starter Edition will only be offered via OEMs, will be limited to three concurrent applications and will be limited to certain types of hardware.

This has met with quite a bit of negative opinion – like this from atmaspheric|endevors.

And the worst thing I’ve read yet on the topic is that Netbooks will get something called Starter Edition which limits you to 3 concurrent applications - who the hell wants that?

I don’t see this as a bad thing at all.  OK – there is going to be a SKU that is the same platform, but a bit limited.  In order for an OEM to license this SKU there hardware will have to meet certain specs.

That is not to say that every netbook will run Starter.  I believe that the units that are running Starter will not be out there to compete against the units running other SKUs of Windows .  They will be competing against the Nokia internet tablets.  They will compete against the bottom of the eee range.  They will open up that lower end market where the Windows license itself prices the unit out of the market.  It will be great to have devices at the bottom end of the market that can run Windows apps. 

If you want a fully functional companion device – buy a netbook with Home Premium on it.  If you want a glorified media centre remote, a device to browse feeds on in the lounge or look at recipes in the kitchen or a media device for your train commute then a Starter Edition device might be just the trick. 

The Starter Edition SKU could open up a whole new range of low priced devices that could be very interesting indeed.  At any rate it is far too early to get upset about netbooks being knobbled by Microsoft.  Wait  and see.