Size/Weight:
The size of the Smartbook is exactly what netbooks where intended to be when they where first created. It is thin and lightweight while still being a functional tiny laptop. The device weighs just under 1 kilogram and has a form factor of 160x115x20mm.
Hardware:
The Smartbook sports an 800mhz ARM processor, 512MB of RAM and 16gb of internal storage. One of the benefits of being an ARM chip is that the Smartbook is fan-less - making it silent while running. For wireless connectivity the device has b/g/n support for wireless networks, as well as 2.1 + EDR for bluetooth and optional 3g support. In terms of ports the Smartbook has two USB jacks, SD card slot, micro SD card slot and an audio out port. The screen is your typical 1024x600 resolution you get on most 10" netbooks to date.
The keyboard on the Smartbook is easily the best keyboard I have ever used on a 10" netbook. It has a full six rows of keys and takes up over 90% of the width of the device. It is a chicklet design so typing is a smooth and easy process. The track pad in contrast to the keyboard might very well be the worst track pad I've ever used on any netbook or laptop. It is tiny and the left/right click buttons are awkward to press down. Thankfully it has the saving grace of being able to left click by simply tapping on the pad. Holding a left click and moving the mouse is a painful process though.
The hardware in the Smartbook isn't going to break any land speed records, but then again if you need some serious computing power odds are a netbook isn't for you.
Software:
The Smartbook comes with Ubuntu 10.10 as it's default operating system. Honestly the default Gnome 2 desktop is a bit sluggish on the Smartbook hardware. Thankfully the power of the Ubuntu repositories is at your finger tips and you can very easily install LXDE or some other light-weight desktop of your choice. Because the Smartbook is an ARM device, some closed source technologies (such as Adobe Flash) do not support it.
If you are not a fan of Ubuntu, fear not - because the Smartbook is easily one of the most open source friendly ARM devices currently in existence. I just recently published a guide for getting Bodhi running on the device. Beyond this I know other people have had success running Debian, Arch and Gentoo on the Smartbook.
Battery:
One of the most important questions with any netbook - what is the battery life? Due to it's ARM processor the Smartbook sees far better battery life than any other netbook it's weight. On a full charge with average usage the Smartbook sees between 6 and 7 hours of battery. The battery itself is also easily removable/replaceable.
Cost:
One of the most attractive things about the Smartbook is it's price tag. The Smartbook will only set you back 199 USD. Not a bad price at all for this little guy.
Wrapping Up:
I've had my Smartbook for a couple of months now and all in all I am very pleased with it. In fact the only thing that I dislike about it (and was mentioned above) is the trackpad on it. This really isn't a huge deal though as I've taken to carrying around a small USB mouse for when I need to do a good deal of mouse work - which isn't often.
Whether or not the Smartbook is right for you is something only you can decided. If you are looking for something light, portable and a very good battery life - there is no beating the Genesi Smartbook.
~Jeff Hoogland
How sturdy are the ports?
ReplyDeleteThey chose not to include ethernet in the design of the thing, so (because wifi and me work best at arm's reach or greater distance) networking will mean using a USB/ethernet dongle. Do the ports look like they're robust enough to support that kind of day-in day-out use?
Also, what's the input voltage going from the power brick to the computer? That'll matter when looking towards a mobile extended use solution other than daisy-chaining an inverter and a power brick. Is the DC-input jack sturdy durable enough for mobile use?
It uses a 19 volt power adapter. The ports on it seem sturdy enough. Not any better or worse than your average netbook.
ReplyDeleteLOL. You simply had to plug Bodhi in there. That's cool. With you being the "lead developer" of Bodhi, you are gonna be very proud of it and include it in your article.
ReplyDeleteI also "plugged" Debian, Arch and Gentoo.
DeleteWhats your point?
Heh! As if the many many hours spent preparing the Bodhi port for the Genesi were not worth a mention, especially in this context.
ReplyDeleteI've got the Efika MX 'smarttop' version, a desktop-in-a-DVD-box, only slightly smaller. Agree with Jeff that Gnome is not ideal on this cpu board, although it does work much better than expected. Have now downloaded the Bodhi files, and should be ready to go when I can borrow hardware to transfer them to my SD card - shouldn't be a problem here at Linux.conf.au in Ballarat. (Now that was indeed a gratuitous plug).
If all goes well it'll be on display in the canteen on the big-screen TV tomorrow, in the break after the Keynote speech.
Flymo
Good message, Jeff, thanks. An actual qest: Is Genesi going to certify its netbooks for Win8 with closed bootloader? Some smell of unwilled future...
ReplyDeleteGenesi has nothing to do with Microsoft.
Deletedear Jeff
Deletewondering if you can help my 3g dongel wont work with my smartbook and was wondering whicth settings i shoul use
3g devices will work the same on the smartbook as they do with any other Linux distro.
DeleteIm curious to know how long it takes to boot into the Desktop environment (with automatic logon; both with the original OS and with Bodhi)?
ReplyDeleteBodhi boot time on the device is about 16~ seconds. I honestly didn't have Ubuntu on it long enough to recall what it's boot time was.
ReplyDeleteOur Genesi Efika MX 'Smarttop' with the vanilla as-installed Ubuntu Maverick boots to login in 21 seconds pretty consistently. After login it then takes nearly 30 seconds for the Gnome desktop to stabilise. That's over 50 seconds before it's fully operational. To be fair, this was roughly what we were used to with Win XP on a brand new early model P4 desktop, years ago. Poor deluded fools that we were!
ReplyDeleteFlymo
Hi Jeff. Nice review and thanks for your work on Bohdi. Just a quick word about the trackpad: You simply need to quickly tap once before touching the trackpad again to hold a left-click (for moving a scrollbar, for instance). I agree that this is not necessarily obvious behaviour but it should work reasonably well once you know how to do it.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering, why so little memory?
ReplyDeleteMy CPU is often maxed when using FIrefox or Chrome. Anything better you'd recommend?
Hi Paul, check it out Midori Web Browser, its a little faster than Firefox, one more thing, I have LXDE and it works better.
ReplyDelete