French punters offered petite Eee PC rival

French online retailer Surcouf has become the latest purveyor of sub-notebooks based on chip maker VIA's Nanobook reference design. Surcouf calls the machine La Révolution Mobile PC, but it's standard Nanobook fare, comprising a 1.2GHz VIA C7-M processor, 1GB of DDR 2 memory and a 60GB hard drive. It comes with Wi-Fi and …

[Greg]

What an ugly machine

Now I'm all for substance over style. If something works, I don't normally give a crap how ugly it is, and I'm sure this is functional, but holy heck, that is an ugly machine. It reminds me of the little pieces of crap I had to use back in the early 90s. Urgh.

[Anonymous Coward]

French yet no AZERTY?

Oo la la!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Functional"

That really does look like early 90's retro-tech.

Reminds me of a stylophone too also for some reason.

Does it come in garlic-white?

[DrXym]

The Nanobook is just so ugly

Okay, so the Eee PC is not a fabulous looker, but it isn't ugly. It's compact, rugged and fairly conventional. On the other hand the Nanobook is just plain ugly from its exposed hinge, the offcenter screen, the nasty "module" thingy to the side of the screen, the miniscule trackpad and buttons inconveniently placed either side of the trackpad. It's just an ugly machine and one which has been panned in its Cloudbook incarnation. The module is just an awful idea and I haven't see anything be it a webcam, VOIP phone or clock which justifies such a waste of space.

[Ken Hagan]

adding a €0.33 donation to eco-oriented causes

Do they think there are people out there trying to give 20p to charity but unable to find a way? Do they think we'll be impressed by their generosity? Or are they just trying to draw attention to the price?

[Matt]

@ugly

I know what they 'Should' do with that empty space.... Extend the bloody screen another couple of inches!!! :)

My money will be spent on the HP, now, thats pretty

[Anonymous Coward]

Industrial design circa 1983.

My word, it looks as if it was designed in 1983, and kept on ice since then. I half expect it to have a monochrome, red-on-black screen and an acoustic coupler, and a tape cassette interface. And an Apricot logo somewhere. And a cartridge slot. Even the word "module" seems incredibly old-fashioned. Yuck.

[Patrick O'Reilly]

Not Just Looks

It's not just the Looks that are crap, so's the OS

[alyn]

What do you expect?

Of course it's an ugly machine - it was designed by the french. The same nation who designed the 2CV, anything by Renault, etc.

Anyway, at least it won't crash, it'll just surrender.

[Anonymous Coward]

A better comparison with the Eee

Would be if you provided a photo of this one in the company of la technocrumpet française.

(As well as a picture of the Eee with its beach friend for old time's sake)

[James Pickett]

Qu'est ce c'est?

"a choice of white- or gold-coloured cases"

Made of bakelite, presumably. Not exactly chic, is it?

[Steven Hunter]

Where's the mouse?

Where's the mouse/trackpad/trackpoint/trackball?

And actually, I like the unintentional retro look. Reminds me of Nintendo's Game and Watch "systems".

[Jason Rivers]

YUK!

yep, that is one ugly machine.....

also, it wasn't the size that drew me to my recent Eee 900 purchase, it was the SSD, offering me a machine that has the old Eee701 screensize/resolution, and a non SSD Hard disk, AND something that looks THAT ugly, it's no competition, I'll spend the extra and get the Eee-900 :)

oh and by the way, the Eee-900 is REALLY nice ;) - you should all get one - err.. black for the guys, white for the girls.... (mines also the 20GB Linux version - wouldn't have it any other way)

[Andy]

@alyn

Do read the article first -- it was designed by the Taiwanese. Renault's chief designer is an Englishman. Look up "battle of Verdun".

-A.

[Nev]

As any fule no....

The €0.33 "donation" is in fact the standard French state levied eco tax for electronic goods !!!

You need to learn a bit of French, La Reg.

[Stuart Gray]

=.33 "Donation"

Actually this is more likely to be the required "green tax" to offset the cost of recycling your old equipment. It's a French thing, you wouldn't understand.

[alyn]

No BSOD

Instead of a BSOD you'll get a WFOD (White Flag Of Death)

[Alan Cowderoy]

Surcouf is adding a €0.33 donation to eco-oriented causes

No they aren't. They are passing on a tax which they are obliged to levy that finances the recyling of consumer hardware. It's a transposition of an EU directive but perhaps not reached the UK yet? Article here http://www.presence-pc.com/actualite/deee-ecotaxe-20293/

[Laurent Leconte]

@Ken

The ".33€ donation" is probably a mistranslation. Methinks it's actually the "eco-tax", by which you have to pay a (small) fee to cover electronic waste disposal when you buy a new electrical/electronical device.

[michael aubert]

€0.33 donation is a mandatory tax

on high-tech goods.

[Bounty]

So what OS does it come with?

So what OS does it come with?

Mandriva?

[Graham Lockley]

Point is being missed

>the nasty "module" thingy to the side of the screen

Isnt it just perfect for an add on 'HAL' module ?

Red glowing lens that says 'Im sorry Dave, I cant do that'

[Captain DaFt]

I rather like its look

It's got a nice retro feel to it. And the Module bay just screams "Hack me!" But 800x600? way to low a resolution! That plus the lack of SSD and the price (WAY too high!!) means if I ever get one, it'll be off a bargain rack a couple of years from now.

[kain preacher]

Looking for

I'm looking for the TI 94\a label

[Alain]

@Anonymous Coward (keyboard)

Usual here... they're generally too lazy to take pictures of the localized versions for their ads, so they use stock pictures from the manufacturer and you get to see the US keyboard on pictures. Unfortunately (I'm French but I *hate* AZERTY) what's in the box has a french keyboard, no way to order a QWERTY.

More likely explanation : by the time they are finalizing the ads, the first unit with a french keyboard hasn't been delivered yet.

Would by this box at 399 Eur (I told you, no Euro sign on my keyboard :-) when discount retailers have decent 15" regular notebooks from Acer at 388 Eur ? (saw one recently)