First look at new Pegatron Smartbook

With Pegatron GM Chou Biao Sheng, yesterday remarking that the company would launch a sub-USD 200 smartbook in Q1 2010, today’s ARM “Connected Community Technical Symposium 2009” event in Taipei seemed like a good chance to find out more. A quick look around the devices being shown off revealed the unit above – a Pegatron 10” ARM-based smartbook running Ubuntu. Presumably, this is what’s going to be hitting the shelves early next year.

Chou summed up the advantages of the Pegatron smartbook with the acronym AQUIC: Always on – able to function more like today’s constantly on cell phones than current notebooks, Quick on – able to boot rapidly when switched off, User interface – a more accessible and user-friendly experience, ID – reduced power consumption and the fanless nature of ARM chips will enhance industrial design of devices allowing thinner, more innovative products, and Cost – cheaper price points.

If the Pegatron device we saw today is anything to go by, the smartbook category could prove popular. A good-sized smartbook like this with all-day battery life could easily prove a more attractive option than current netbooks. Software will be the key and Google’s upcoming Chrome OS could well be a major force in this department.

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