France-based Jolicloud‘s Jolibook will reportedly hit the (UK) market starting today at a £279 price point (roughly $380). I’m one of the first to have received a review unit, which runs the all-new version of the company’s eponymous Linux-based cloud OS, Jolicloud 1.1.
I’m not much of a hardware reviewer, unlike the CrunchGear team, but fortunately there isn’t all that much to review when it comes to the hardware. All in all, it’s a pretty standard package for a small-sized computer at a fairly steep price considering it doesn’t include Windows, which many, far cheaper netbooks with the same configuration do.
Update: you can now get it on Amazon UK.
Still, Jolicloud 1.1 is the reason I’d recommend some people – not everyone, and mainly people who travel a lot and have made the switch to Web-based applications for most of their work-related or personal activities already – to purchase a Jolibook, over any netbook that comes with Windows in that – rumored – price range.
http://player.ooyala.com/player.swf?embedCode=djbDJ1MTozxibjuOdZ72wbsWbPPgj5Jk&version=2
We already noted some of the hardware specs, but here’s the full rundown:
– Intel Atom N550 processor (1.5 GHz, dual-core)
– 250GB hard drive
– 10.1″ screen
– Memory: 1GB
– Three USB 2.0 ports
– Jacks for mic, headphones, LAN and an external monitor
– 3-in-1 card reader
As I said, the hardware isn’t really what makes the Jolibook truly shine, at least as the perfect travel laptop in my experience. It’s the software. Jolicloud 1.1 makes this netbook load fast, lets you interact with friends and share and discover applications, enables you to easily access cloud-based services at the speed of light and simply never gets in your way (courtesy of the underlying technology, Chromium and HTML5, and the Facebook integration).
You can run Jolicloud on pretty much any netbook alongside Windows, but I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t just make the switch. I don’t have anything against Microsoft products, but Windows simply doesn’t play nice with netbooks, and hinders people at exploiting the advantages of using a lightweight notebook rather than the other way around.
If you have a netbook, go download Jolicloud (its free) and give it a whirl right now. And if you don’t but you’re thinking of getting one, the Jolibook is worth considering, especially if you’re into speed, nicely designed software that just works and not afraid to try out a slightly different type of computing device.
Mediocre-quality pictures:
