Change Clothes

Sylvania g Netbook Meso

[I’ve spent nearly every day and night with this netbook since right up before Thanksgiving. It’s like my new moleskin notebook — because it’s practically that light. Did I say it was only 2.2 lbs? Well, it is.]

[With its 4 Cell battery, I only got about 2 hours away from being wired, but those two hours were enough time to do some mobile reporting away from the office or home. What I like most about this system — well, of course its design and its lightweight, but Ubuntu is quicly becoming my favorite flavor of OS. Of course not everything is as easy to figure out as Mac OS, but it was sure easier than Windows Vista. And what I didn’t know — like how to put the computer on the home network or to reinstall missing system tools properly — I easily learned in the Ubuntu Community.]

[But seriously, it was so easy that a 10-year-old figured it out, without any instructions or nudging, she was right away plaing games that came preloaded and on the browser checking her gmail. We could have even used the built-in Webcam for skyping, but we resisted. It’s not a powerful machine, no, and the miniature keyboard takes some getting used to, but for $299 it’s a likely alternative to carrying that Powerbook or Lenovo around, yeah it’s even lighter than those new Lenovos.]

[It’s been my obsession of the past few months so much that I’m actually contemplating buying one. And don’t worry, you won’t miss me, I plan to stick out with the bright yellow one that’s remniscent of a solar yellow Nissan Xterra. In fact, it looks like it could be made out of the same material as that SUV. The body is really smooth, and did I already say that it was sleek? ]

[And the other thing, who knew Sylvania made netbooks? (An earlier model came with gOS installed as it OS.) Didn’t they make lightbulbs, and at some point even TVs? It’s been an unlikely manufacturer but a very well made and built device. If we’re talking about the device itself here, the product design to me is on par with an iPhone, a Vespa, or even a Mini Cooper (they’re like all the same family to me). If we’re talking about its guts, then it’s not much different than other netbooks that were recently announced at CES. As for the OS — it’s Canonical you’ll have to speak with.]

[I try not to love something solely on the basis of its form factor, but this model has a body that I really can’t complain about.]