back to article Elonex £99 Eee PC rival to arrive in June

Elonex has rolled out its sub-£100 Linux-based laptop, the One, but it looks like it's going to prove harder get hold of than Asus Eee PC has been. Elonex One Elonex One: reserve yours now Elonex today unveiled black, pink, green, white and silver Ones to whet buyers' appetites. However, it admitted that the initial batch …

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  1. ScientologyIsACult
    Happy

    ok place your bets..

    who's better elonex lady or the asus girl

    i personally like the elonex lady

  2. David Cornes
    Thumb Down

    Toss you for them :-D

    Hmmm, the Elonex lady's got a cute smile, but the Asus girl's wearing a bikini. It's a toughie!

    Shame about that spec: please don't throw things at me Penguin fanboys but I'd need to run XP on it, just to get it all working with the rest of my environments.

  3. Andrew Fraser
    Paris Hilton

    re: place your bets..

    Funny, I only clicked on the article to see if they'd managed to include a picture of the Asus blonde again ;-)

    The brunette could be interesting, but there's something about a blonde in a skimpy outfit on the beach that does it for me. That and the fact that melon sized headphones aren't all that flattering...

    (Paris, since I prefer the [stereotypically] ditzy blonde)

  4. Stuart
    Thumb Up

    Me two

    Elonex gal scores my vote too. Maybe by the time her toy reaches all the way up here to Aotearoa, it will have been upgraded into smoething more useful. Hopefully the marketing team will also see the wisdom of featuring her more than it.

  5. dave

    Terms & Conditions?

    check the terms and conditions - resolves to a url that cant be found - not sure I would fancy ticking the box to agree to this !

  6. Mike Tree
    Happy

    Asus Girl

    Twice in one day!!!

    I feel a pole coming on (oops sorry - that should be poll)

  7. Kimo
    Heart

    Second that...

    ..at least she is willing to look at us, finding the presence of other (albeit geeky) human beings more interesting than the diminutive laptop in fromt of her. Of course, she is not actually listening to us with those giant headphones on, but at least there is some acknowledgment to validate our pathetic existences.

    Oh, and the computer looks a bit top-heavy to me. Wonder what having the ports on the lid will do for balance one a few USB dongles and rocket launchers have been attached?

  8. Richard Ball
    Thumb Up

    Elonex lady

    1. Nice 'phones

    2. Prefer girls with dark hair

    3. More left to the imagination

  9. Miguel

    untitled

    Dark hair wins. Although it seems she's blonde at heart, since she has that laptop upside down. No, wait......

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    ah.......

    nice set of cans.......

  11. Tony Barnes
    Dead Vulture

    First time I've noticed....

    ....the terrible photoshopping on that Eee picture.

    I suppose once you've seen something nice a thousand times (!) you start to spot the flaws a bit more..

  12. Dabooka
    Heart

    Why can't I have both...

    models?! Looks to me like they bring different things depending on your desires!

  13. John Moppett

    I'm underwhelmed!

    I think it looks like a £100s worth! Won't be putting the eeePc on Ebay just yet!!

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Yup

    I'll take the Elonex girl and the Asus PC, please.

    In fact, scrap the PC.

    Paris is not in the same league.

  15. David Gosnell

    Re: ok place your bets..

    I tend to agree. She hasn't got an OAP's hands photoshopped on, for starters...

  16. Marky W
    Coat

    @ScientologyIsACult

    Hmm.

    It would be just _rude_ of me to make a decision like that without test driving the merchandise.

    It's the brown mac. Yes, that's it, the grubby one.

  17. Herby

    The Asus gal is for me...

    I just like the beach scenery, and the white EEEpc. Oh, the girl isn't bad either. Must be the dark glasses or something...

  18. Greg

    Elonex girl FTW

    I'd take her over the pretentious Asus tart any day.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    elonex lady!

    I think the Elonex lady wins for me too.... now if we could only get her to pose like the asus lady

  20. This post has been deleted by its author

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Heart

    So do I, but for the fact...

    ... that the Elonex female seems to have very unusual ears.

    (Could you find my coat for me, please? I can't see it.)

  22. Mad Hacker

    I am so not the target audience

    As a person who thinks the Airbook is too slow for them, I cannot imagine using one of these. Do I really need a laptop on the beach (splashproof keyboard would imply that is a common use for this?)

    No I don't. I just need an 8 core beast sitting on the internet that I can access anywhere and can be rendering my HD home movies at high speed.

  23. Neil Alexander

    The specs...

    ... make that a fairly hefty £100.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ScientologyIsACult

    Pah, I prefer blondes ... even if Asus EEE girl looks like her collar and cuffs don't match.

  25. Morely Dotes

    Perfect for the Far East

    The One is going to sell strongly in Asia simply due to price. Elsewhere? Well, it's a bit large for a mobile phone, and a bit underpowered for notebook PC, so only time will tell.

  26. Jason Togneri
    Paris Hilton

    Well

    The Elonex lady seems more real and approachable than the Asus girl. Why's the thing upside down, though? It's got all heavy bits and ports at the top of the screen, that's going to be awkward with ethernet and USB wotsits plugged in...

    Paris icon because we're both confused.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    @ok place your bets..

    I own an eee but that elonex creature... I'm with you though I'd rather be with her.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    elonex lass for sure!

    no obvious signs of cellulite, either.

    But to the system: just 1GB of solid state? I suppose you add an external USB HDD and you'd be OK.

  29. Ryan Stewart

    welll.....

    asus sprung for one in fewer clothes on the beach.

    All of the guts in the screen, interesting. I guess that is so you can detach the keyboard and move around but I wonder how far someone would want to get away from a small screen.

    Not to mention how easily it would topple.

  30. Michael Sheils

    Pictures say it

    Cheap Vs Sleek.

  31. Michael Habel
    Paris Hilton

    Re: Place your Bets...

    I'll have to go for the Brunette too.

    I'm surprised that a Blond Chick would even know what the Eee was or why it had to use *nux, since Vista is so much better looking.

    PH cause? well I dunno really does there need to be a reason?!

  32. Simon Harris
    Happy

    Splashproof?

    @ScientologyIsACult - I'm with you on this one

    and if the Elonex is advertised as splashproof, then I vote that she should be shown suitably demonstrating this property.

    Lots more Elonex stories please.

  33. Alex
    Thumb Up

    Surprisingly....

    I prefer the brunette.

    I might even buy one of the machines.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Choices, Choices

    Can I have the Asus hardware with the Elonex soft (and cuddly) ware please.

    At least Elonex don't appear to have faked the entire thing in Photoshop.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Heart

    Re: ok place your bets..

    I'd pick the elonex model ... :)

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    What's in the box, and does it matter?

    Is this box an undersized x86 laptop, or an upsized StrongARM superPDA (think HP Jornada 720, quite a few years later)?

    Does it matter which one it is?

    Does it omit anything which 90% of the PC-using public would actually miss if they didn't have it?

    Whatever happened to the Psion Netbook, looks like it might have started to be trendy round about now...

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    similar attire please to simplify the choice

    Can we have the elonex lady in a bikini please? (Think the asus girl would get a bit hot on that beach in more than a bikini.) Just to make the comparison fair ;)

    Also would probably raise demand for the machine if they used the bikini pic in *online* advertising ;)

    Old adage about s*x selling

    plus might plant the idea in female heads that it would be a neat toy for the beach, and might plant the idea in mens heads that getting the lady in their life to the beach might be easier ;-)

    paris as she might think a mini laptop would go well with mini dog like tinkerbell :)

  38. A Gould

    What's wrong with...

    ...Using a computer at a desk? Has anyone ever tried using a laptop on their front? It's horrible.

  39. Geoff Johnson
    Coat

    Eee PC still has te edge.

    I think the Eee PC has the edge on cleavage^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h performance.

  40. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    bets

    Yes elonex lady for me. Looks much more friendly.

  41. Tom

    oh yeah!!

    @scientologyisacult: elonex girl appears to be the kind of girl that likes nothing more than having a distro up her.

  42. simon
    Thumb Up

    saw it today

    i have a eee pc and went to the education show just to see this, wasnt expecting much, but its solid, runs well , looks bloody ace. I want one, my missus wants one, my dog wants one ... and at 99 quid i dont see why we cant all have one 11/10

  43. Mark Daniels

    Psion and the Auburn....

    At 99 quid, this is now starting to get to apoint where I could reasonably start to consider replacing my Psion 5mx with a new PDA.

    Well all said an done, this cheap 'laptops' a just big PDA's, the evolutionary path the Psion would hacve taken if they were still in the HW business.

    Oh and for the record, the dark haired Elonex girl. Not fond of blondes and she has wobbly legs. Sorry to be picky.

    P.

  44. Will
    Thumb Down

    eh?

    Sorry, but having the usb and ethernet ports on the screen side of the machine has to the frikin stupidest thing i have seen in a long, long time.

    And until the elonex molly gets into her bikini, ill reserve my decision on that important element of the purchasing decision making process.

  45. Jach

    I like...

    ...the new gal. The Eee girl has a stupid "Uh, what does this do?" look on her face.

    As for the laptops, I'll take neither thank you. (And this Elonex looks like it'd tip over if I wasn't watching it!)

  46. NICHOLAS SAUNDERS
    Paris Hilton

    £10 or a decent processor?

    if they can take a tenner off the price for the june wait, then why can't insert a decent processor instead and give the eee some decent competition....

  47. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Coat

    There's a whole new way of competing

    Forget hot specs, find a hot babe. Designers might even want to match the colour of the kit to the colour of her eyes.

    Seriously, though, I'm for the elonex lady personally

  48. Ian Ferguson
    Linux

    re: ok place your bets

    Asus girl for looks, Elonex girl for personality... (she's smiling!)

  49. NICHOLAS SAUNDERS
    Paris Hilton

    and another thing.

    another great british cock-up...

    announce the product and then make the public wait 3 months for the thing, by which time they''d bought eee's or every other manufacturer will have something better in the market place...

    why can't we ever do anything properly...

  50. Adam Reiniger
    Paris Hilton

    Still...

    nicer looking lady, sure, but I wouldn't buy one. Then, I wouldn't buy an EeePC either.

    Ps: gotta be Paris. Nice to look at, but I wouldn't touch it.

  51. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Fugly or what!!!

    Jesus! What on earth were they on when they "designed" that? Why have they put all the workings into the lid rather than under the keyboard? It looks like it would tip up if you took your hand off the keyboard. Also, what's with the 7" screens on these cheapo notebooks? How much more does a 12" or 13" screen cost? A 7" screen is such a compromise, you might as well use a PDA. instead of having a 7" screen for £100, why not have a 12" screen for £150? Or at least have it as an optional extra.

  52. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Hmmm- £10 to Elonex?

    The same Elenox who have gone titsup twice in the last twelve months?

    Now owned by the notorious Nick Smith - he of titsup sight and sound, SSC, Careera, Digital Network etc etc fame?

    Its just a rebadged Fontastic A-View apparently, its massively underdev'd especially on the OS side of things.

    Though all those £10 "deposits" will come in handy, guess what happens to your cash though it it does not come off?

  53. Kwac
    Thumb Down

    Web sh*te

    Was tempted, thinking can even get my tenner back of bank (thank you UK credit laws) if they decide to hold onto it.

    Till I went to the site.

    Not even a "best viewed using Internet Explorer" to warn us it was built with MS Office.

  54. sheepdog
    IT Angle

    @Fugly or what!!!

    You saying that Specs sells?

    Or size does matter?

    I'll get me coat......

  55. Steven Knox
    Stop

    @AC

    "Why have they put all the workings into the lid rather than under the keyboard?"

    Probably because the keyboard's removable, as mentioned in the article. Feel free to read it, at your leisure.

  56. heystoopid
    Linux

    My My

    My My , the top is bigger then the bottom half and appears to be top heavy like many of the current crop of clone one hit wonders on the record charts this century and as well the elonex lassie seems to missing the bottom half too !

    Perhaps the answer to the question posed in the poll is "42" after much deep thought !

  57. Robert Masters
    Boffin

    Oddly familiar

    In fact, if it were green and white, with a pair of ears ...

    Electronics behind screen - check

    4 hour battery - check

    300Mhz CPU - check

    1G drive - check

    128M RAM - check.

    Yep! It's an XO in disguise! Looks like Jepson is not far off the mark...

  58. David Shea
    Jobs Halo

    @ Mark Daniels

    Still looking for a replacement for my Psion 5 too - though I don't use it much anymore, I still have never found anything that beats the software or OS on the Psion - especially the diary. Oh and that keyboard...

    Psion 5, bigger/colour screen, USB, wireless. Am I asking for too much?

    SJ, because my wife goes all weak at the knees when watching the MacBook Air ads.

  59. Uwe Dippel
    Paris Hilton

    Specs

    The Ebonex girl looks nice, but I as long as I can't see her specs on the picture, I stick to the bird on the beach. Who pretty much exposes hers.

    Paris, because she knows how to expose specs

  60. Maty
    Coat

    two lovely girls ...

    ... and no jokes about splashproof keyboards. Either I have an exceptionally nasty mind, or the Reg has an exceptionally rigorous censor.

    My coat - quickly - please James.

  61. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Actually, sod either of these...

    ...the bikini-babe in the Canon ad on this comments page is fffnaarr nicer looking

  62. Paul
    Coat

    photoshopped?

    It looks like a tide mark to me.

    The mac because I like em dirty.

  63. mark fernandes

    Hope competition leads to better deals

    I'll probably go for an eeepc but hopefully competition will be good news in the price stakes (Several manufacturers are aiming at this niche now that Asus have shown how lucrative it is).

    For those who've expressed a preference for blondes, Elonex has that covered too : http://www.elonexone.co.uk/overview.html

  64. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Regarding the top-heavy ONE

    The Elonex ONE has a little stand on the back of it to stand it up. I suspect that this was used during the shoot, but photoshopped out.

    Why? Why the top-heavy design and stand?

    Because this was designed as a digital picture-frame, but one that can do more than display pictures.

    Think about it: your average digital picture frame is pretty much powerful enough to do everything the average user wants: browsing, word-processing, email etc. So why not stick a keyboard and a few ports on it and just let it do it?

    It's an inspired decision by the Fontasticsdesigners, but there's no major market in digital photo frames here, so Elonex are marketing it slightly differently (more power to them). However, if their manual features clear instructions on picture-frame mode, I reckon that enough people will use it that way that digital frames finally break into the UK market.

  65. GrahamT
    Coat

    Condoms for computers

    I see there is an optional interchangeble rubberised external skin... snarf!

    For those complaining about Photoshopping on the Asus add, take a look at the image on the Elonex Visons page, then follow the link to the NLI website; same image; different laptop. I hope Elonex got permission to use NLI's intellectual property.

  66. Vinod Raghavan

    Re: Fugly or what!!!

    I think you'll find that a 12" or 13" screen uses much more battery power. Therefore you'd need a bigger battery, therefore the weight of the machine increases.

  67. alistair millington
    Thumb Down

    my phone has better specs.

    I have the asus 4GB and I can't see this being a good deal compared. Added to that my Tytn 2 phone is more powerful than that at a lower cost.

    @scientology is a cult.

    I agree with you.

    Not about women just your name.

  68. andy rock
    Heart

    i prefer...

    ...the Elonex lady. but then again i am more favourable towards brunettes anyway.

    @Tony Barnes:

    i remember saying 'it looks like the gear's been photoshopped into the picture' but thought i was going mad because no-one backed me up. thank you for substantiating my previous claim!

  69. Spleen
    Coat

    My vote

    The Asus and the Elonex lasses wearing the Eee swimming costume. Divided between them.

    And I feel so dirty that my coat has actually flown itself off the hook and into my face.

  70. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Impending Lawsuit?

    I wonder how long it'll be until the name of this device gets changed.... maybe they're saving up the £10 deposits in preperation to pay a rather large educational company! Clues are:

    Elonex ONE

    RM ONE

    RM Mobile ONE

    Ummmm.... copyright infringement?

  71. Chris

    Elonex

    Elonex lady any day.

    And although the current state of Elonex is great, i still fancy one, that and some of us student folk with mean parents carnt afford E's

  72. Adam

    Well

    I'm normally 100% brunette but it's Asus for me - she looks like a real woman and like not like a pixie in a boardroom

    (and the laptop is spec'd to match it's looks - crap)

  73. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    pornpc?

    hmm, splashproof keyboard... could it be elonex were thinking of the pornpc but couldnt get the trademark?

    but, is it just me or does the elonex pc look like its built upside down?, surely your going to spend all your time trying to stop the screen flopping down onto the table with all that bulk affached to it, i suspect the flimsy keyboard wont be that much of a counterbalance

    or maybe thats why the elonex girl is indoors, - its glued to the floor to stop it flipping over...

  74. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    The top-heavy ONE

    Neither model is sufficently top heavy for me.

  75. Dr. Mouse

    RE: The top-heavy ONE

    I beg to differ, the Asus girl is just the right balance :)

    I would have to say that both models probably have their advantages, depending on the situation. On the beach, or chilling in a fancy cafe or bar, I think the asus is far sexier. The elonex would be great for everyday use though.

    Hmm... Was I thinking about the girls or the machines there. AAARGH, get me my coat, the thoughts are getting mixed up and I am am now getting turned on by a frickin subnotebook! HEEEEEEELP!

  76. The Other Steve
    Happy

    Low spec, but then again

    It's the same price I paid for my Palm Pilot, (1MB RAM) which I still use, and better specced than my current laptop, a Thinkpad P90, 40MB RAM, 1GB hdd, no usb ports, (which I love, but bless it, it's hardware is failing) which happily runs a bastardised and oft dysfunctional hybrid linux with a full development stack.

    Splash proof keyboard not just a gimmick, but handy when I'm slurping wine and tea on a train and it passes over a set of badly maintained points (anyone who actually uses a laptop on a beech should just stay at home).

    I'm in love with it, personally.

  77. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Elonex Girl...

    Splashproof keyboard, fnarrr fnarrr...

    Paris, well, obviously, would anyone need a splashproof keyboard if she wasn't such a web star?

  78. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    12" screen?!

    "instead of having a 7" screen for £100, why not have a 12" screen for £150? Or at least have it as an optional extra."

    An optional extra? And how exactly would you fit a 12" screen in instead of a 7" one? Engage your brain before you type next time.

  79. E Edwards
    Thumb Down

    You have try them both

    Its like buying a car, you need to get inside them both and drive them for a bit for see what they are like.

    Me, well I like the Elonex girl somewhat - whan to see her with her kit off - as for the other one - if PhotoShop is involved, she might be 80 years, toothless and a midget !!!!!

    And the Laptop/PDA/Mobile phone thingy - for £99 its going to be crap - 300Mhz CPU (or whatever its got tucked away inside) If you tried XP on that, never mind Vista, well I supose, Windows starting in about 5 hours time would be different - oh bugger the battery only lasts 4 hours...............

    The specs are a joke.

  80. Steve Anderson
    Thumb Up

    My company was in the stand next to Elonex...

    Elonex's stand was moved next to ours at short notice, which was nice for us because they generated a lot of traffic! It also meant I got to have a good play with the ElonexONE and chatted to the guys on the stand - and being a Linux user (and Eee owner) I got as much technical info as I could.

    What they had on the stand was a technical sample and not a final product. They're playing with different processors (including a 1GHz processor) and seeing how much memory they can get in without exceeding £100. The OS they had on there wasn't final either, and they openly admitted to anyone that it's looking a bit flaky at the moment because they'd committed to a launch date and then had to rush things last minute.

    The device itself is novel in design and I rather liked it - seeing through the rough edges it was obvious to me that there was something good inside, and I just hope that the rough edges are polished off nicely. The keyboard was a bit squishy for my liking but then I touchtype, and this is being marketed for kids - when I was a kid, I had a rubber-keyed Spectrum that I pecked the keys of. The display, however, is as good as the Eee (which is good).

    I'd lay down £100 for one. Nuff said.

  81. Karl Dallas
    Unhappy

    Looks like I won't get my EEE till June anyway!

    I'm tempted to fork out my tenner for the Elonex EEEclone. I ordered an EEE from Clove nearly a month ago and not only has it not arrived, but they never reply to my emails asking what's happening.

  82. Stacy Kidd
    Alert

    Please remember

    The Elonex One is aimed at the education sector. In addition, a price tag of £99 does believe it or not limit what the device can and cannot do - a larger screen, better battery life would be nice, but for half the price of an Eee, I'm not going to complain about imperfections. It may not be the right choice for those who have the bank balance to go with something like the Asus, but for a student such as myself the price tag is perfect, and will indeed save my shoulders from over-load as I epically fail to transport my current 15.4" notebook from A -B on my delicate 5ft 2" frame. I've seen a lot of commenting on the way the Elonex looks - but it won't stop me typing on the train if I have work to be done; I don't really care what other people think. As for the models - both should be male. And topless. And be covered in a fair bit of lotion to...er...y'know, protect their skin. Then maybe I'll get back to you.

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