Take the MacBook Air, shrink the screen down an inch, slap in some netbook components, and load it up with Windows 7 Release Candidate and — drumroll, please — you’ve got the iiView A2 out of Singapore. Oh, and lower the price to $468. That’s kind of important there.
Will we ever see this machine in the US? Maybe. Probably not. But it’s got a nice look reminiscent of the MacBook Air, which is basically a really expensive netbook (I’m gonna get flamed for that one).
According to CNET, “the design is so similar that even the monitor-out and USB port are hidden within a flip on the side.” Other features include:
- Atom 1.6GHz processor
- 2GB RAM
- Intel 945 chipset
- 12.1-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel resolution
- 320GB HDD
- Two USB ports, mini-HDMI port, 2-in-1 headphone/mic jack
- 802.11b/g, 10/100 Ethernet
- Six-cell battery
- Windows 7 RC1 with Vista Home Premium license
iiView’s CEO says that the netbook will come with Windows 7 RC1 preinstalled for performance reasons. The Vista license will allow users to upgrade to the retail version of Windows 7 when it comes out this fall, though.
The iiView A2 is expected to go on sale in Singapore next week for $699 (Singapore dollars), which is roughly $467.78 in US dollars.
Over-priced. I’ll take a Asus 1005HA over this any day of the week, or even the 1008HA model.
The Asus 1005HA looks pretty decent, but for me the killer feature is the screen size. I’d like a minimum of 1024×768 and the Asus, as well as other netbook manufacturers, have only 600 pixels for the height. Too many applications don’t work sufficiently well enough for me to put up with the hassle. The Gateway netbook would be a decent alternative if it didn’t ship with a lousy 1.2GH Atom chip!
I agree with Michael D… The screen size is the pivot on this one. A six cell battery too!? What six AA cells?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A61IeasPCFQ