So, it's a pretty great value for money. Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 installed smoothly from flash drive, and everything works out of the box. Skype, Adobe flash, video codecs were downloaded smoothly and worked like charm. I was pretty surprised by the quality of a modern Linux UI. At the back of my mind I still considered it as a server platform :)
Completely friendly interface for a simple user, unless you want some crazy stuff like iTunes :)
few minor annoyances so far:
-- built-in microphone didn't work. Probably it's a physical wiring problem and needs a warranty replacement. External microphone works fine.
-- SD card slot is so inconvenient to use, and requires applying some physical force. I actually forgot to test if the OS sees the SD card :)
-- A little switch that switches off the Wifi antenna doesn't switch it back on :) You have to reboot in order to get wifi back. Probably some BIOS problem, will check that out.
Thus, for 300 Francs, you get a perfect toy for traveling, and it's not too much trouble if it gets stolen or broken :)
----- Original Message ----
From: Stanislav Sinyagin ssinyagin@yahoo.com To: swinog@swinog.ch Sent: Sun, January 31, 2010 12:34:35 PM Subject: [swinog] dirt cheap netbook at Mediamarkt
couldn't believe my eyes yesterday at Mediamarkt: a quite solid netbook with 1 gig RAM for only 300 CHF. People on the net report quite good build quality, and Ubuntu running out of the box:
http://www.pctipp.ch/news/hardware/50348/media_markt_angebote_top_oder_flop_...
Acer eMachines eM250 Preis: Fr. 299.– Bildschirm: 10,1 Zoll (LED), Auflösung: 1024 x 600 Bildpunkte CPU: Intel Atom N270 (Takt: 1,6 GHz, 512 MB L2-Cache) Arbeitsspeicher: 1024 MB Festplatten: 160 GB Optisches Laufwerk: nein Grafikkarte: Intel GMA950 Sound: Stereo-Lautsprecher Akkulaufzeit: ca. 3,5 Std. (geschätzt) Gewicht: ca. 1,2 kg Weitere Ausstattung: 2 x USB 2.0, LAN/WLAN-G, Webcam Betriebssystem: Microsoft Windows 7 Starter