Why The Dell E Series Rocks
I purchased an Eee PC for my sister back in Christmas and prior to giving it to her, I used it extensively for a solid week. I had to see what the whole fuss was about over this mini laptop. It was a love hate relationship. Too small yet it was really compact. It was too slow but I didn't need a lot of speed. There was also the issue of storage capacity but since it was just a little blogging machine, I didn't need much of that either.
One thing that did bother me was the screen size. Blogging is easier with a higher resolution so I've held off on getting one of these until there's a screen size that is the sweet spot for me. It looks like Dell is dropping the E Series notebook in August. Finally, a laptop from a manufacturer that I trust that will come in colors and have a decent resolution for my needs.
From Digitimes:
Dell is planning to introduce a low-cost notebook in August to join the low-cost notebook market, according to the market sources. The notebook will be manufactured by Compal Electronics, according to the sources.
Dell is coming to the low-cost notebook party relatively late, compared to other first-tier vendors such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Acer. However, the Dell E series low-cost notebook will be priced at only US$299, US$100 cheaper than Acer's Aspire one, and the market sources estimates that Dell can ship 2-3 million units this year.
The panels for the Dell notebook will be provided by Samsung Electronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), and perhaps AU Optronics (AUO), when the panel makers begins mass production later in the third quarter. However, the sources noted that Dell will not use all three panel suppliers at the same time.
Engadget adds:
For that price, assuming everything we've heard so far is correct, you'll get an instant-on Linux distro running atop Intel's 1.6GHz Atom processor, a 1,024 x 600 display, 3x USB, a wee SSD, integrated webcam, WiFi, and more in a 0.82-1.22-inch thick sled weighing about 2.2-pounds.
I can't wait to get my hands on this thing. Dell has some hits every so often and this might be it.
