When ASUS first launched its Eee PC the term netbook was coined to
describe the small, low-cost systems with roughly enough power to only surf the
net. As time has gone by, ASUS and other manufacturers have introduced new
models with more features and the price for a netbook has slowly began to creep
up into real notebook territory.
Laptop Magazine sat down with ECS vice president of sales Henry Kwan
to get some information
on what the ECS G10IL netbook will bring to market to set itself apart from
the netbook masses. Kwan says that the G10IL will feature EDGE, HSUPA, and
HSPDA mobile broadband support, but will not feature support for WiMAX.
The ECS netbook entry will be produced in 8.9-inch and 10-inch size systems,
but the version most likely to hit the U.S. will be the larger 10-inch version.
The ECS G10IL will hit stores in the U.S. in September with prices for basic
systems lacking mobile broadband capability starting at $399.
The G10IL will be available in versions running Linups Lite 9.4 Linux on an
8GB SSD -- likely to be the $399 version -- and systems will also be sold with
an 80GB HDD running Windows XP. ECS says that the G10IL is the first netbook
designed specifically for the business user, not the education customer.
DailyTech first reported on the specs
of the ECS G10IL in March of 2008 when specifics were scant and pricing was
rough. Later in March DailyTech confirmed the ECS
netbook would use Intel’s Atom CPU.