Netbooks are becoming increasingly popular nowadays; known for their small size and cheap prices, money-focused consumers (basically, anybody) love them for providing a solid, portable computing experience without sapping the bank account too severely. A company named Gecko has come out with a product called the EduBook, that can be powered by none other than regular, household AA batteries.
The hardware in the EduBook is as follows: it features an x86 processor that runs at 1.0Ghz, dubbed the Vortex86MX and built Taiwanese company DMP Electronics. To add to this, it boasts an 8.9" 1024x600 display, an internal SD card for storage, plus room for a BlueTooth/WiFi dongle. Lastly, is has removable CPU/RAM modules, and it can have between 256MB and 1GB of standard DDR2 RAM. That's all well and good, but we're sure that most people would be interested in the rather unique power supply. If you desire, you can choose to use a normal battery pack that will provide 6 hours worth of usage, but if you opt for the AA route, you will see rates of around about 4 hours. Keep in mind that you will need to have 8 of these batteries for this, also. This would be ideal for users constantly on the move, without ready access to a power outlet; a quick trip to the supermarket or any other local store, and you will be back in business.
If you get it standard, it will be running Ubuntu, but if you wish you can run Windows XP or Windows CE on it. It will be available for $200 US, and include an 8GB storage card plus a WiFi module. If you want, however, versions without these features will set you back around about $110-$130 US. Lastly, this will become purchasable in July, so keep an eye out if you want to get your hands on one.
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