"If all your kid needs to do is ... play a few games" - Windows CE games, that is. Which is to say, probably nothing your kid might actually *want* to run...

Yes, would hate to be the one explaining to the kids that they can't play there Disney game's on there new computer.

When you compare it to the competition, particularly Acer's low end offerings which offer much, much more at a lower price, it's hard to find something positive to say about this netbook. Maybe the lurid color is a desirable feature for some - that's about all that makes it stand out.

Well,

For kids to actually use for odd web browsing, typing up homework, mp3, video etc. there is nothing wrong with CE. yeah as usual I get the limitation of CE (no XP software/games).

But kids PC with an OS in ROM??? So virus won't kill it, virus wont even run on it, spyware isn't an issue. They wont get lots of software installed you won't want them to have. It really means you are not going to end up re-installing of fixing windows issues every month and re-installing every 2nd month as you usually have to on a kids PC.

It is light, the case looks like very tough plastic which I would think makes more chuckable than even a netbook. I have dropped mini CE laptops so many times and onto surfaces that would kill most laptops (even if they had an SSD). They have always lived.

Anyway it isn't meant as a full desktop pc just a small light, reliable and maintenace free chuckable laptop for kids.

Still that said. In the current market I would not pay £200 for one. The moment one of these new CE netbook manufacturers see sence and throw away the trackpad and reduce case size in that dimention (ala cool book or the everun amd dual core thing) then replace it with a touch screen will have me intrested.

The market is going to be flooded with these CE netbooks soon and we also have Cortex CPU netbooks coming early next year. I feel if you want to pick up a bargain then January or February will be the time to pick these 400Mhz ARM cpu'd type of devices (lexibook, JL7100, Cuol Book etc) up for next to nothing (under £100 wouldn't surprise me).

Also has nobody noticed how like the JL7100 this device looks? Apart from having a quoted 8" screen they are almost identical spec and look. Even the SD slot looks similar.

Agree 100% with John. It's easy to dismiss CE netbooks on specs but the only thing wrong here (apart from the colour!) is the price. For a beginner of any age they represent a far more gentle introduction to computers and everything you learn can be applied to a 'proper' laptop if the CE device is outgrown. I've seen lots of frustrated beginners left with feeling that they need to fight with their PC or laptop to get it to do simple things. An virtually indestructible and simpler CE device is much less likely to put people off. And it still does all the essentials - word processing, spreadsheet, document and image viewing, web browsing, email, IM, wireless, printing etc. Many devices are also instant on and you wouldn't believe how much difference that makes to spontaneous use.
At half the price it would be a bargain.

Yep, Mark and John nailed it. The biggest "con" of this device is the price. Price it right and preload it with Softmaker Office and it could even compete with full-fledged netbooks for some people.

>But at 299 Euros, it seems a bit steep when you can get a similarly sized system that >has a faster processor, more memory, and WiFi, not to mention a full version of >Windows XP or Linux for less money

I think it can be all summed up by price.
299 euros? WTF is wrong with these people?
Our kids are using the Acer Ones that we got them at 289$ canuck money so its even less in US pesos.
The eldest is 11 and has gone past the easy Acer menu and has found out how to add programs, screensavers and games that are available for underlying Linux OS. He even uses a photo/graphics program to crop the pictures he takes on his digital camera and Audacity the recording/editing software.

Why the hell would anyone pay almost double (im not hip with currencies) to use an underpowered and featureless machine running the craptastic phone OS that I ran on my phone 4-5 years ago (i practically ran to get an iPhone after using CE, and i hate overpaying for hardware)?

Then again, people are still buying an 8 year old OS, so Ive stopped asking why people do things.

If the Acer One is 289$, then this toy better be around 150$ for it to be remotely worth it.

Sorry but the CE os on a phone is not really a fair comparisson to base CE on a mini laptop.

Often phone manufacturers manage to introduce instability trying to make it do too many things at once and to save money make it quick to market skimp on driver development. Also phones run Windows Mobile which is a totally diffrent UI to plain CE.

CE has been used for years in Media Players, Sat Nav's, Set top Boxes and Industrial devices where reliability is high on list of requirements. Though often the end user wont know CE is sitting underneath.

For reasons why someone would want to buy one for a kid. Read my list. The only issue I have is the price is too hight but that will sort it'self out.

I think you will find the prices do hit as low as you expect for some of these devices in the first 3 months of next year. Following that a lot of the OEM's that make these cheap units will go bust as they had to sell their overstock at a loss. the prices will likely rise a little after this and I think a more stable price point will emerge.

iphone. funny, my collegue just got a 3G one and it doesn't do MMS and freezes or resets regularly. iphones are not for me (I just looked at all the quality complaints apple have had for ipod's and iphones in last few years and decided against it). That's not to say it isn't the correct device for some and I am sure the software upgrades will eventually sort out stability. And I am sure you are delighted with it. You pick a device where the combo of price, features and style suit your needs. Why an iphone... as per your CE complaint but surely the iphone doesn't run a full OS it is crippled and won't play flash or install desktop programs???

Really I am not attacking you or the iphone. I am really just trying to draw your attention, using similar examples about the iphone to highlight the way you have dissmissed somthing as craptastic, featureless, 5yr old phone os.

I use a 4yr old CE mini-laptop at the moment;

I can connect to wi-fi and browse web quickly (via inbuilt IE or Opera 8.65),
I can write word, excel and powerpoint presentations,
Build databases,
Make Skype calls,
run full GPS navigation (looks good on 7" screen) - and as it is ARM cpu you can use the same software that the PNA's use (a lot is not available for x86)
do full email,
record audio,
view photos and even do basic editing or cropping,
connect to IRC,
play music,
record music,
read pdf's
remote control my PC via RDP or some media remote software
It turns on and off instantly,
MSM,
Video replay (films etc)

Apart from 3d games and stuff like large RAW photo manipulation, CAD etc. I don't see what it can't do that an atom base machine with XP or will (well not much beyond 90% of the people who buy a netbook will use them for).

Yeah 400Mhz is underpowered for real processor intensive stuff but isn't always the hinderence people like to think. Myself, I am waiting for a cortex CPU based one.

I would always recommend for things like this though wait till you can try one, see a friend with one or at least see a good vid on youtube of one in action as the OEM may cut corners and could make these needlessly slow.

John

No point comparing UK price to US one via exchange rate.

The cheapest eeePC etc. are about £160 so UK price of £200 is far from double the price. Due to Tax and the fact the companies are more greedy over here we almost always pay considerablly more than just the exchange rate compared to the US. So when these CE devices hit the US I would expect a more reasonable entry price.

It is too expensive "yes". but the amount of devices hitting the market and the speed of price drops I guess part of it is just there is no stability in prices etc.

This type of device will drop very quickly to somthing affordable. After all Maplin introduced it's version of the razorbook at I think near £200 a while back and over the last 2 months it has droped a number of times to £139.

With the sheer overstock we will see and the Recession / Global finacial Crisys I think post Christmas it will be a buyers market (so if you want one for yourself hold on to some Christmas money). Though I think the same bargain prices will apply accross the whole netbook market.

John

John

You are either:
-a salesman, assigned by Lexibook
-a frustrared parent who is desperately trying to overcome the loss on a lousy investment.

Tom's point of view is real and indicates that the only way to sell a dumb article is to disguise it as a toy to see if a kid falls for it...not the parent.

We bought one of these for our 6 year old and I have to say I am very pleased with it at the price of £176 we paid in a sale. It is fairly fast at surfing the net, although I could not get it to send e-mail using POP3 and ended up using the IMAP4 option which works fine. The bundled games are fine and it can do documents, spreadsheets, presentations etc. We bought a cheap optical mouse as the tracker pad isn't that great (although many more expensive laptop tracker pads are likewise lousy). We could have paid around £220 and got a basic netbook running windows xp but then you also would have to add the cost of software on top. I think the Lexibook does what it says o the tin and isn't pretending to be something it is not.

Stuart