Commodore Invictus - an Eee Keyboard killer?
The Commodore Invictus builds the entire system into the keyboard - nostalgic!
According to ChipChick, Commodore USA - a company which specialises in producing computers integrated into the body of an over-sized keyboard, just like in the good old days of the Commodore VIC20 and C64 - has decided the time has come to return to its roots and use that knowledge in its future products, and will be looking to capitalise on prior experience with an all-in-one which looks to take the Asus Eee Keyboard on at its own game.
While details are sketchy, the Commodore Invictus - for that is its name - is expected to feature netbook-style components including an Atom processor and Nvidia's ION chipset.
Like the Eee Keyboard, the Commodore Invictus will include a colour touchscreen on the right-hand side, designed to be used as a secondary display and control system.
Connectivity for the primary display is taken care of via wireless HDMI - again, like the Eee Keyboard - and the device is expected to include wireless networking.
The company claims that the Commodore Invictus will be able to last five hours between charges - likely helped by the small display compared to a traditional netbook - although it hasn't indicated whether that's with all wireless functionality purring away or with the system in a low-power mode with the wireless turned off.
A launch date has not been set, and so far Commodore USA hasn't offered any hints as to how much the Commodore Invictus is likely to set prospective buyers back.
Is the Commodore Invictus a worthy competitor to the Eee Keyboard, or has Commodore USA taken a grand old name in vain? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyAs noted in the article this is a step back to the old Commodore machines of the 80's
Now I'm off to go hug my A500.
Take a look at their site: http://www.commodoreusa.net/index.html
Does it really look like 'Commodore is back'? It would be great to have an innovate company have the name and do something with it.
So it's actually made by Commodore, not a third party using the brand.
Personally, I can't see what they're trying to pitch this as; that screen is far too small for the device to be used as a laptop or a netbook, and the form factor doesn't lend itself to that usage anyway. It may find a niche as a net-top device, but it doesn't seem as if that's what they're aiming for; you don't necessarily need a 5 hour battery life for a net-top.
The screen would make a pretty cool control device.
I think you are meant to plug it into your tv set via the wireless hdmi. Kind of mini htpc.
That bit I got, but with such low-power components, it's not going to be good for much more than web-browsing. But are you going to want to use your HDTV to just check Facebook & email? If you really don't want to leave the sofa that badly, you'd probably be better suited with a tablet-style device or one of the many netbooks that are already on the market.
Using it to watch videos does rather make sense. But even if the Ion chipset does manage to give it some graphical power (enough to decode high definition content - frankly, with an HDTV and a machine capable of doing so, why wouldn't you do that?), you're not going to want to use the built-in battery when watching videos - the graphics chipset would eat through battery power pretty quickly.
Which begs the original question: why bother to include the battery in the first place?
The keyboard can then be lighter and have a longer batter life and you don't have to worry about it dying mid film.
As for the branding... meh
Battery life is an issue, but it has an advantage over a netbook in that the screen is not part of the computer - this means it doesn't need to sit on your lap unless you are actively typing.
If they have any sense they'll ship it with a charging station like you get with fancy remotes meaning you can chuck it on that to charge while watching a film.
And now tell me, why the hell should I be willing to buy this instead of a 10" netbook?
The netbook allows me to go outside and watch some video in an acceptable resolution while sitting in the train, and I can allways have a wireless keyboard with touchpad at home, if this is, what I'm looking for...
This thing doesn't make sense, nor does the eeeKeyboard.
I think you're missing my point: Why bother including the battery in the first place?
You clearly can't use this as a portable, so you're likely to be near a power source when using it. Why bother taking up the extra space with the battery when you could make the chassis smaller or fill that extra space with other components?
You'd need see through arms for this to be usable while you're using the keyboard.
Plus I want my screen to be in front of me above my hands, not off to the right.
This one in the USA and there is also a Dutch company named Commodore.
That and the Amiga brand has been misused so much over the years and changed owners at least a couple times.
and what does Bill McEwen have to say about all this? he should be ashamed of himself.