fic ce268 laptop
Hi all, I am considering buying a FIC CE268 laptop, and would like to get reviews about it from current users of it. It's a low-profile netbook, costs 699 NIS in officedepot: http://www.fic.com.tw/product/ce268.aspx http://officedepot.co.il/catalog/catalogSku.do?id=4236592pr=QJ5N=2%2032937sgID=10 Does it work well? Is all the hardware working well? Sound? USB? Webcam? Wireless? How long does the battery hold? Does it seem to have reasonable quality? Can I expect it to work for more than the 1 year warranty they provide? What distribution of linux does it arrive with? Does it support Hebrew well (i.e. as well as other current common distros)? Is the webcam giving good pictures in linux? I recently used two different USB webcams that worked well in Windows and in linux did work rather well but gave a too dark image, with no apparent solution. Does it work well in skype? That is, like a faster normal linux PC? Is the keyboard comfortable enough for touch-typing? I do not expect to type a lot on it, thogh. Does it run hot after several hours of use? Suggestions from current users of other similar small/cheap laptops/netbooks that are easily bought in a store in Israel with local support/warranty are also welcome. TIA, -- Didi ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: fic ce268 laptop
Hi Didi, 4 words: Stay away from this! The machine is based on an old VIA CPU and chipset. The fan makes *tons* of noise, and you might burn your laps, since it's power management sucks. 5 hours battery life? sure, if you shut down the screen and the hard disk. I remember reading about a similar machine (they all have the same part, same build, same design, just different lables). It is *utterly slow* piece of junk. It's webcam really sucks and skype (specially the latest one for linux) will crawl with it. How slow is this machine? try this: Celeron 600Mhz is way faster. I would not recommend buying this. If you're going to buy a netbook, buy something with an Atom processor that has good battery life. Today, the average ASUS or MSI netbooks with Atom can achieve about 10 hours from the battery (9 cells), and they can run Skype well and you'll get full compatibility for all the hardware inside with any modern Linux distribution, be it Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL/CentOS, SuSE, Mandriva etc.. It costs more, around 2.5 times more (depending on your negotiation skills with the seller), but as an owner of Asus eee 1000HE I can say it worth every Shekel and it saved me couple of times. I just came back from Zefat and surfed the net on the bus going to Zefat and back home without any charge, and that include 3G connectivity and charging my E72 from the netbook. Not bad.. Hetz 2010/8/14 Yedidyah Bar-David linux...@didi.bardavid.org Hi all, I am considering buying a FIC CE268 laptop, and would like to get reviews about it from current users of it. It's a low-profile netbook, costs 699 NIS in officedepot: http://www.fic.com.tw/product/ce268.aspx http://officedepot.co.il/catalog/catalogSku.do?id=4236592pr=QJ5N=2%2032937sgID=10 Does it work well? Is all the hardware working well? Sound? USB? Webcam? Wireless? How long does the battery hold? Does it seem to have reasonable quality? Can I expect it to work for more than the 1 year warranty they provide? What distribution of linux does it arrive with? Does it support Hebrew well (i.e. as well as other current common distros)? Is the webcam giving good pictures in linux? I recently used two different USB webcams that worked well in Windows and in linux did work rather well but gave a too dark image, with no apparent solution. Does it work well in skype? That is, like a faster normal linux PC? Is the keyboard comfortable enough for touch-typing? I do not expect to type a lot on it, thogh. Does it run hot after several hours of use? Suggestions from current users of other similar small/cheap laptops/netbooks that are easily bought in a store in Israel with local support/warranty are also welcome. TIA, -- Didi ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il -- my blog (hebrew): http://benhamo.org Skype: heunique MSN: hetz-b...@benhamo.org ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: fic ce268 laptop
On Aug 14, 2010, at 11:58 PM, Yedidyah Bar-David wrote: Hi all, I am considering buying a FIC CE268 laptop, and would like to get reviews about it from current users of it. There is also one called the JumPC which is about the same price. I don't know much about it, except it was sold originally in toy stores, so it was aimed at a younger market. From the pictures I saw of it, it was more rugged than your average cheap netbook. Before you buy it, you may want to check out if it runs linux, it comes with Windows/XP. Both have small, lo-res screens. If money is less of a concern, there are three to consider. I have an MSI Wind U100 (there is an improved model out now). Paid over 2000 NIS, but it is bigger (10 inch LED screen 1024x600), has a decent sized keyboard in is very well built. I've never run it more than 3 hours on at a time on the batteries, but if you spin down the hard drive, etc, it will last for at least 6 if you buy the 6 cell battery version. I run a BSD variant on mine. The newer netbooks (again in the 2k NIS region) have better graphic chips than the older ones. The older ones have Intel 950's, these have better ones I think they are Intel GMA 3500's. Check before you buy. There is a dual core ATOM processor, and there are netbooks in the pipeline that have them. The only one I have seen so far cost almost 3000 NIS, but I expect that they will replace the single core ones in a few months, both in availability and price. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM To help restaurants, as part of the stimulus package, everyone must order dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it. :-) ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
