Maplin minibook: Yet another netbook

By Rory Reid on 18 September 2008, 11:21am

It's been at least 24 hours since we saw a new netbook and -- being complete Eee addicts -- we were starting to get withdrawal symptoms. Thankfully, our friends at Maplin have just unveiled the 'minibook' -- yet another low-cost crotch-top. Phew.

According to the Maplin Web site, the minibook's packing a 7-inch, 800x480-pixel display, 2GB of flash storage, 3 USB ports, speakers and a mic, an SD/SDHC card reader, and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. Unfortunately it also uses a paltry 128MB of RAM and an XBurst 400MHz CPU. We've never tested a machine with such a specification, but we don't expect it to be much faster than a pocket calculator.

We also know the minibook uses a Linux-based operating system and includes word processing and spreadsheet applications courtesy of Open Office. The chassis measures a fairly petite 222(l) x 165(w) x 29.5(d) mm and weighs less than 1Kg.

We've asked Maplin to send us one for a full review, but in the meantime you can pop into your local store to check it out for yourself. Be quick, though -- it's only on sale until 30th September. -Rory Reid