ECS announces G10IL Eee-alike

March 21, 2008 | 09:56

Tags: #eee #laptop #notebook #subnotebook #ultraportable

Companies: #ecs #elitegroup

It's been at least a week since a company announced an Eee PC-alike ultraportable sub-notebook, but things are looking up again with Taiwanese electronic firm Elitegroup Computer Systems getting in on the action.

The G10IL (which for some reason, I want to pronounce that “Gi-Oil”) is everything we've come to expect from a marketplace taking their lead from Asus's popular sub-notebook. It's white, it's small, and if you hate the Eee you're probably not going to like this too much either.

Like the Eee, the G10IL comes with a trio of USB 2.0 ports, a 10/100 Ethernet jack alongside the increasingly ornamental 56K modem, and 802.11b/g wireless connectivity. Interestingly, it also features Bluetooth wireless built-in – something originally planned for the Eee but ditched shortly before it reached the market. ECS will also be offering a choice between 8.9” and 10.2” displays, so if your main anti-Eee sentiments revolve around the tiny 7” display this could be a real contender.

One addition that may well make the G10IL stand out from the crowd is in inclusion of in-built mobile broadband capabilities in the form of a HSDPA connection offering up to 7.2Mbit/sec even when away from a WiFi hotspot. Like others of its kind, it's also capable of running on a more common GPRS network – albeit at reduced speeds. Having this functionality built-in means that you're covered no matter how you want to connect to the wibbly web: WiFi, Bluetooth, wired Ethernet, or HSDPA.

The remainder of the specification is nothing we haven't seen in the rest of the Eee-alikes: a single DIMM slot supporting up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a built-in webcam which will inevitably be used once and then forgotten about, and a choice of a solid-state disk or a traditional mechanical drive. Buyers will also be given the choice of Windows XP or a Linux variant on the OS front.

ECS is keeping shtum on pricing details although they have stated that more information will be arriving some time in April, presumably ahead of a summer launch.

Do you think that this could be the sub-notebook to have, or does it all depend on the price hitting that magical sub-£300 point? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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