Novatech Minibook - Anybody used one?

[da.Guvna]

I just got a mailshot from Novatech this morning, with a link to one of these:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...tml?NOV-MINIBK

The specs are sketchy at best (particularly regarding the CPU), but still I'm intrigued.

I've been wanting to get an EeePC for a while now, but I just can't justify spending all that money on something that I only want to keep in the living room for casually surfing the web while watching telly.

This one looks like it would be a perfect alternative (even the meagre 2Gb storage isn't an issue for me, really), but I'm always highly sceptical of Novatech products.

[DDY]

That's essentially a PDA but with a keyboard and 7" monitor bolted on, pretty slow even for web browsing, I'd avoid it if I were you. £160 is far too much to be paying for an over sized PDA when for not-that-much more you can get the ASUS eeepc.

EDIT:

Here is the notebook in question from scan: http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=859195
For only £15 more at scan a superior ASUS EEEPC: http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=859195

[da.Guvna]

Can you re-link to the Asus please? You linked the the Minibook twice

Also, I can't find it for the price you're stating on scan anywhere. Cheapest is £211.

http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=819133

[nichomach]

http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=819129 ?

[da.Guvna]

Ah ok, cool

Cheers!

[itxweather]

Hi,

I'd read this e-mail from Novatech with some interest as well however this seems to be the same Linux based 7" Form Factor that Maplin are selling and, according to their FAQs page this is not upgradeable as opposed to the Asus EEE which generally is depending on which model is bought (the 2Gb version did not allow for users to add additional memory in the form of a SODIMM from what I can remember although there is an SD Card Slot for additional memory to be fitted).

Going back to the Minibook, again according to the FAQs posted, it's not possible to upgrade the Linux distro (guess the same applies to FireFox plug-ins plus other downloads, VLC player etc.) nor memory (except in the form of SD Cards) and the maximum supported SD Card and USB Stick capacity is limited to 4Gb.

A full list of FAQs can be found here:-
maplin.co.uk/AllFaq.aspx?ModuleNo=225532

Not convinced that this is a good buy personally compared to an Asus EEE alternatively an Acer Aspire One.

Hope this is of some help.

[da.Guvna]

Cool, thanks for the heads-up there. Definitely seems an inferior choice compared to the EEE now.
That Aspire One looks really nice, but a bit over-spec'd, and beyond my budget for this purchase.