Maplin flogs mystery minibook

Founded in 1998, Germany based company CnMemory have rapidly become one of the largest Manufacturers of flash memory products within Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestlink_Electronics

The Maplin page lets you download the manual and a flyer which point to a site with a bit more info:

http://www.cnmlifestyle.com/

Apparently Scan and Novatech are flogging them too

Maplin's extended specs mention Neo, a manufacturer in the Philippines. They're in the same niche, so it could possibly be one of theirs.

From your namesake's website:
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20080330-127238/Neo-Intel-launch-P16999-mini-laptop

This one doesn't look ruggedised, though. I'd give it about 15 minutes with the little f^Hangels.

It looks like the Elonex ONEt to me?
http://www.elonexone.co.uk/onet.html

Just got CCL's mailshot

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=24903


It's made by CnM and is called the miniBOOK (Note trendy use of lower case and caps,.)

Scan are currently selling it.

http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=859195

It's OK but is essentially a glorified PDA..

In my view save yer pennies and buy an eeeeePC

The Elonex OneT which is being sold at 119 + 10 postage, which I cancelled yesterday as it will not be delivered until the end of August.
The two things that put me off was that I needed it now and the processor is not x86 - so you may have issues upgrading / installing other distros / non standard software

It looks like a German company called CnMemory are behind it, according to Scan anyway. They are selling it a whole £9 cheaper, but I'm sure they'll get you on delivery charges.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=859195

Google finds this
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=859195

Anyone looking at putting Adobe Flash Player, Windows, or other x86-only binaries on this system will be disappointed. The XBurst CPU this is based on is a little-endian MIPS ISA design.

Never heard of them before, but it's apparently an Ingenic 400MHz processor...

From their page:
A set of industry-standard RISC instruction set
Which industry standard RISC instruction set, they don't mention...

Also the page seems a bit old as the fastest it mentions the processor going is 360MHz (and is fabbed at 0.18 micron)...

Novatech at www.novatech.co.uk are also selling them at this price
seems to be exactly the same one as well.

I think you'll find this machine bears more than a passing resemblance to the Elonex ONEt (not the ONE).

come on guys, is the best you can do? 128MB ram? ffs, go and earn your keep....dont waste our time with this rubbish

its not even that cheap when you compare it to... well any of the other decent minibooks around.

this is like one of those cheap MP3 players on ebay, made by children in china and should be avoided, if not reported.

A company called Novatech also sells it.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-MINIBK#

They claim that they are made by them:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/top_reasons.html

A likely claim as all of their laptops can be supplied OS free. I don't know of any other manufacturers that do that.

I know someone who is looking to buy one, if they do I'll post a quick review!



just brill, 400 MHz 32 bit cpu, 128 ram, can only open 3 applications at once, only six months warranty on battery, some bargain ?? i dont think so :O)

... Silverstar E-PC

Here in white:
<http://www.supergps.co.uk/silverstar-epc-swe700a1b0-white-linux-ultra-mobile-pc-p-3496.html>

128MB RAM and a 2.2A 3.7V battery make this thing nothing more than an expensive paperweight.

I SUSPECT that the CPU is not X86 compatible.
Therefore don't expect to be able to download your favourite Linux apps.

The EEE PC can now be bought for less than this so best to avoid this probable lemon.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/101486145/7_Inch_Mini_Laptop_With_Digital_A_Grade_Panel_Umpc_.html

Processor: XBurst 400 MHz 32-bit CPU

or the same here:
http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/orienthrive/product-detailgohxIBCjLLWq/China-Mini-Laptop.html

Youtube reveal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADIGpBRsoDU

Appears to be manufactured by Chempros Limited using a MIPS-like ISA (Xburst) CPU

http://www.ingenic.cn/eng/productServ/XBurst/pfCustomPage.aspx

http://chempros.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008825269924/Homepage.htm

-- note the 'iphone' look a like too :)

They could have gone into a little more detail on the processor type. Look in the direction of the Ingenic XBurst (mips clone + SIMD)... Much cheaper elsewhere.

I bought one of these, but once the battery had charged I quickly regretted it.

Out of the box, I can't get to a command line.

The software installer asks for .WAP files -- has anyone ever heard of such a Linux distribution method? Google isn't throwing up any matches.

However, I win on a technicality -- it uses Linux, Firefox, a modded OpenOffice, a FOSS AIM client and various other bits and bobs... but the GPL isn't mentioned anywhere, so it's technically unlicensed.

I say technicality, but it's more than that.

If you're buying non x86 it's *very* important that there's the possibility for community support and modification.

Weird weird weird.

Had a flick through a manual and its installer requests .XAP files. Has anyone ever heard of Linux .XAP installers...?

Elonex ONEt
http://www.elonexone.co.uk/onet.html

Same as the Alpha 400. The ONEt is suppose to retail at £129. £220 for this puts it in the same region of a Acer Aspire One 8GB SSD.

I'd wait for the ONEt, just a pitty about the MIPS and not x86 cpu.

they appear to be made by this company, same spec, etc:

http://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/sungworld-81/product-detailpohndlbECzkj/China-EPC-E700A1-.html

Model: E700A1
Company: Shenzhen Sungworld Electronics Co., Ltd.

The Asus EEE seems heaps better and on catch of the day (today only) 299 AUD or about 139.65 GBP pay by paypal and thats the landed price. heaps better specs too.

http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/

It's amazing to see how everyone sits around guessing at who made it, where did it come from. 

The product is not an Elonex 1 or any of the other products listed. 

I would recommend you go into a maplin store and check it out yourself and make your choice. I have already bought 1 and the kids love it. It's robust, it has already been dropped once and no problems so far!

Great little product that looks great, it does what it says and a decent enough speed. 

Perfect for the first time user, somebody on the move and especially good for kids!

Nice one CnM!!!

With regards to comments on quality I think we all know what you get when buying on ebay from a random source. I am happy to say the quality on this is excellent.

there is a website also at www.yourminibook.com

Thanks

Steve


How many errors can one cram into a single spec?

"Processor: Integrated 2D/3D engine"
Nope, the Ingenic Jz4730 has no acceleration.

"Built-in Wi-Fi ( IEEE 802.1 b/g ) USB dongle"
Contradiction in terms.

"10/100MB Ethernet port"
It used to be Mb/s when I was young.

"Supports up to 4GB SD cards"
So you lied earlier about SDHC.

"Expand the storage with USB or SD Flash Memory (not external hard drives)"
Sure you can add a disk using USB, not that you want to (see USB 1.1).

"DDR2 128MB memory"
Nope, SDRAM.

"3 x USB 2.0 ports"
Nope, USB 1.1. That means no HS (480 Mb/s).

Still, they are not _that_ dumb to claim the cpu is 400 MHz, as Elonex does (it's 336) or the TFT is 24 bit, as Novatech does (it's 16 bit).

I bought one from Maplin's, I'm gonna take it back tomorrow.
No options to setup a USB printer! even though the software installed has printing options.
Max capacity in O/S for 4GB drive of any type, does accept large capacity 2.5"Hdd's but will only see 4GB of any drive. 
Software is out of date, abi word is 3 year old version!
Can't get any additional software installed, skype would be have been nice. 
It will play large files (no limit on file size for media files, so 100MB Mp3 files are ok, as are 1GB .Avi movies, though it does struggle to play them at anything close to normal frame rate.)
Proprietry Linux Distro!!!.
No Bios or Root Access!
Oh and it keeps opening up with defaults in chinese? and there are silly spelling mistakes in the operating system, Along with Japanese default settings for the instant messaging software?.(which is also out of date, so connectivity/compatability issues may arise)
No support web site yet, though that may eventually go live.

the size and versitility was what i was going for, but it fails on versitility.
and the battery is a 7.4v 2100ma instead of 2200 as advertised!
pity really, looks like i'll have to get a Eeee instead.

if your looking for no frils enhanced idiot proof PDA device then its ideal, if you need to actually do real work on a supa-compact laptop, then unfortunatly this isnt what you need, Any Eee is better suited with x86 compatability and a fully configurable O/S ability.


I walked past the Maplin in the centre of Sheffield today, and noticed this sitting in the window. Looked interesting, but even at £170 I found myself thinking that it just wasn't enough cheaper than an Eee to be worth considering. Indeed, I've just checked, and there's a company in Sheffield (More Computers, on Collegiate Crescent) that will happily flog you the most basic Eee - 2Gb Flash, 256Mb RAM - for £150, which frankly has to be a better bet than this no-name sucker magnet.

I have to wonder what Maplin were thinking. I also have to wonder how the hell they think they'll sell any of them at all once they've bumped the price back up to the same as a base-range Aspire One...

if you bought one of these be warned! you will not easly get your money back,from maplin they say as its a memory product, we are not under any obligation to give refund, make sure it's what you want, its only have 128k cache memory, unknow 32bit cpu is very slugish sometimes its takes longer to boot up than my home made pc? with hard drive. application running under linux, are bit naf, also look at the asus before parting with your cash. according to maplin any product with memory, being purchased, you will have hard time getting your money back..........

This laptop was/is sold here in the Netherlands as Trendtac and even though the specs are tiny it is still a nice laptop. The whole machine uses 4.5 Watts to run so for all kinds of controller projects it is a great base.

The limitation on the number of programs (not processes) is by windowmanager and seems logical with just 128 MByte memory.

We started a community for this laptop look at http://trendtac.hyves.nl or http://projects.kwaak.net or http://littlelinuxlaptop.com
Root access is easy and you can install debian mipsel packages with some fiddling. (or even a complete debian mipsel install!) 
The screen is so bright you can use it outdoors even in sunlight.

Gert

Seemed ideal and a good price. So two of us went to see them at Maplin's Guildford. After both failed to connect by wireless we went back today to learn that 'because there have been so many returns' you only get your money back after sending a form to head office. Apparently there's an issue with the WiFi. Hmm. Simple really. It doesn't work. I'll carry on with my Psion 5. Battery life about two weeks on two AA cells and slips into the pocket.

I bought one of these for myself for basic tasks like word processing and web browsing. I also bought one for my mother.

Whilst I found having to connect manually to a wireless network irritating, what really wound me up was the word processor. You cannot set default settings such as the font, nor does it have a spell checker! This is not the fault of the word processing program itself, as a quick Google search reveals that these are relatively easily modified. However, the miniBook does not allows its users access to the files required to make said modifications.

I emailed CNM and the technical support man advised that in the fairly near term a solution to the spellcheck problem would be downloadable, but that there was nothing that could be done for the time being about the default settings issue. He all but admitted that the product was rushed out by the developers.

My partner is quite proficient in using and modifying Linux and could have fixed these problems himself if access to modifying the Linux code was allowed. Unfortunately it was not. 

To be fair to CNM, I can see the rationale for limiting this access, especially if there are likely to be kids using the miniBook - stops them fiddling and screwing up the OS entirely. And also in fairness, it is robust and web browsing is fine on it. It can be a wee bit slow to respond sometimes but I've encountered far worse on Windows systems with far better specs.

To cut a long story short I am having to sell it as I need an adequate word processor for writing. I am also selling my mum's because she too would be a frequent word processor user. Had there not been these issues with the machine, and if it allowed at least some user customisation, I think I would have kept it's not a bad product for the money in other ways. 

Basically, if these features of word processing aren't a big deal to you and if you are willing to wait for the spellchecker, there's little wrong with it. It's not all-singing, all-dancing, but I suppose you get what you pay for!

I ordered one from Maplin on Monday at £119.99 including post. It arrived Tuesday and I spent most of the day trying to connect it to my wifi network. I loaded the wifi patches, tried different channels, went from WPA (AES) to WPA (TKIP) to WEP, and tried a dozen different things to no avail.

So by Tuesday afternoon it was being shipped back by Freepost.

Such a shame, because it would otherwise have done the job nicely. I was able (with a network cable to the router) to show that it would drive my main PC via Logmein, which is what I wanted it for.

Perhaps think of it more as a PDA with real keyboard and screen, than as a true laptop. It would have been a good deal and a lovely gadget if only the wifi had worked.

does anyone know any of the settings for a miniBOOK?
i just brought one of eBay but its not working properly and there was no instructions manual with it.
if anyone knows any of the settings please email me,
hotshortymeg@hotmail.co.uk

thanks :)

I bought one at the new lower price of £140 plus another £7 off with a voucher. I followed the WiFi update instructions and had it running on my home network in about 10 mins - got it working lovely with a Vodafone 3G USB dongle too. I have found that it's much nicer to use with an external travel mouse though. The e-mail client is Ok, but the junk mail filtering doesn't operate properly and it's not too good with displaying HTML e-mails.

As with most people I've found that the web browser is poor, as it won't play Youtube videos etc. and my online banking site tells me I need to upgrade before I can use the service.

The keyboard is fine and it feels more robust than the eee pc I also have.

All in all not bad and ideal for checking e-mail and eBay etc. when you're on the move.

A better WWW browser and Thunderbird e-mail would make it a whole lot better though.

Why on Earth would you want one of these when you can buy an Eee or something similar for the same or LESS and it'll come with a proper x86 Intel processor (read: Windows) and I suspect better support?

Hey,when i got my minibook it was lame my good laptop has to be fast,msn ans youtube and it is possible if you go to the website and inject an sd card to your old computer download the sofware your want then place the sd card in your mini book,and then got to software dowloaders and click SD download or something

Asked for one from Santa (would have bought one anyway at the new low price of £135) but have taken some time getting to play with it properly. I only really expected a lightweight toy with basic functions that would be more usable than my iPod Touch for email, web and basic office apps.

After downloading most of the fixes from the CnM website it now performs much better than expected and my initial misgivings have evaporated: Installer fixed - upgraded to V70 - support for ext hard drive installed (I use a 1.8 20gb Toshiba) There is also a fix for YouTube available. I've never used Linux before but downloading and installing apps was a breeze (I now have it set to auto-install)

I wanted something the size of a paperback with reasonable functionality and now I've got it. Asus and the others are now too big and too heavy and missing the point entirely. If I want a heavyweight I'll take my Macbook with me but for something I don't even notice in my bag I'll stick with the Minibook.

How did you get the update to make the CNMBook work on youtube ? Specifically ?
The trouble with this thing is there is no formal support network and getting advice is hard.
Brother got one for Xmas but took it back. Lack of youtube was an issue. I spent ages trying to get the video player to work but no joy.
Other than that is is functional for email and writing .docs and web browsing is ok.

If anyone has any ideas about how to get on internet with cnm minibook please send them to me.Doesn't even work with 3 dongle.

Very good!
at http://www.tradestead.com
there are different kinds of such beautiful and powerful consumer electronics with very cheap price that I like it very much!

I have just bought one from Maplins. GBP90, they said it had been returned, but it doesn't look like it was. I just plugged in the ethernet and I am typing this on it now. Sorry, "sh", I know nothing of 3 dongles.