The notes from my talk about the Kogan Agora Laptop at the SLUG meeting
Friday, 24 June 2011 are at:
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/06/kogan-agora-laptop-at-sydney-linux.html>
Here is the text:
KOGAN ULTRA PORTABLE AGORA 12" LAPTOP
Three models:
1. SOLID STATE DISK MODEL: 30GB SATA Solid State Hard Drive, Google's
Chromium OS, 1GB Ram, $349 + delivery
2. STANDARD MODEL: 250GB Disk, Ubuntu 11.04 OS, 1GB Ra, $349 + delivery
3. PRO MODEL: 500GB Disk, Ubuntu 11.04 OS, 2GB Ram, $389 + delivery
COMMON FEATURES IN ALL MODELS
1. Intel Pentium Processor (SU2700) - 2M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB
2. 11.6" WXGA Widescreen LED back-light LCD Display, 1366 x 768 (16:9),
VGA and HDMI video out sockets,
3. 2 speakers, 1 Microphone, audio in and out sockets, and 1.3 Mpixel
Webcam.
4. 802.11 B/G/N WiFi, Bluetooth (Not Compatible with Chromium OS, but
Bluetooth works fine with Linux) .
5. SD/MMC/MS Pro Card Reader, 3 USB and 1 Ethernet socket
6. 4 Cell, 4600mAh Battery
7. Dimensions: W:29.0cm x D:19.5cm x H:2.56cm, Weight: 1.32kg
I purchased the "pro" model.
FEATURES
1. VALUE FOR MONEY HARDWARE: The hardware looks good in comparison with
laptops costing hundreds of dollars more. The laptop has panels covering
the hard disk and RAM on the back of the unit allowing easy upgrade.
2. BIGGER THAN A NETBOOK, BUT SMALLER THAN A LAPTOP: The unit is about
the size of an A4 page and as thick of two pads of paper, so it will fit
in a school bag. Even so, the 11.6 inch screen is significantly larger
than a 10 inch netbook, as is the keyboard. This is a keyboard and
screen which could be comfortably used all day.
3. COMES WITH OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE SETUP: The unit comes with office
productivity and other applications pre-installed and read to go.
4. GOOD AFTER SALES SERVICE ON HARDWARE: The power supply of my previous
Kogan netbook was replaced promptly, with no questions asked, when it
failed.
PROBLEMS
1. UNITY USER INTERFACE: "Unity" attempts to provide an Apple iPad like
interface on Linux, but fails to have the iPad's elegance and ease of
use. In addition the interface has bugs making it hard to use and drains
battery life. Selecting "Ubuntu classic interface (no effects)" from the
login screen solves this problem, by reverting to a traditional GUI,
which works fine on the Agora's relatively large screen.
2. LIMITED BATTERY LIFE: Kogan claims approximately 3.5 hours battery
life. The real world life is two hours with the Unity interface and 2.75
hours with the classic interface.
3. EVOLUTION EMAIL PACKAGE: The "Evolution" email package attempts to
provide calendar and email features in one integrated package, but is
slow and unreliable. Replacing this with Mozilla Thunderbird email
solved the problems.
4. LIMITED SOFTWARE SUPPORT: Kogan seem to have simply installed the
generic Linux installation on the hardware without customization or
tuning. The user is essentially reliant on a small number of fellow
Agora users for DIY support. Kogan should sponsor a user group for its
products, to make a virtue of a necessity.
RECOMMENDATION
For a low cost ultra-portable laptop consider purchasing the Kogan Agora
Laptop Solid State Disk model and add 1 GB RAM yourself. The solid state
disk should extend the unit's battery life. Replace Google's Chromium OS
with Linux yourself, if you need a full function operating system. Use
the classic GUI (without effects) and Thunderbird email package in place
of Unity and Evolution.
Kogan should consider offering the Solid State Disk model with 2GB RAM
and a version of Linux with the "classic" interface switched on by
default and Thunderbird as the default email package. Kogan should
sponsor a user group for its products, to to encourage user support.
ps: More in my Blog at:
<http://blog.tomw.net.au/search/label/Kogan%20Agora>.
--
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra
--
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