ON A NEW MACBOOK AIR COMPETITOR

IN THIS CORNER...

PC Magazine thinks the new Voodoo Envy laptop, sporting Microsoft Windows, could finally go toe to toe with Apple MacBook Air:

"I wouldn't say that Voodoo PC has been hibernating. But ever since this former boutique company, known for its gaming rigs and luxurious laptops, was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in late 2006, it hasn't launched much of anything (apart from the Blackbird 002 desktop) worth writing home about—until now.

Maybe it was just waiting for a worthy opponent. With its sights squarely set on the Apple MacBook Air and the Lenovo ThinkPad X300, the Voodoo Envy 133 ($2,449 direct) is easily the tiniest and prettiest laptop to ever emerge from HP's research and development labs.

It's as thin and speedy as the Air, and it even improves on some of the Air's shortcomings, like having a user-upgradable battery and better connectivity ports. The Envy 133 isn't without its problems, though. Its price tag, among other things, makes the MacBook Air look like a bargain."

And of course, it fits into the now obligatory manila envelope.  Now if one could only install Mac OS Leopard and iLife on it. 

Of course, since it doesn't, Voodoo does try to do something about it, as the review goes on to explain:

"The Envy 133 is essentially a dual-boot system. It doesn't actually have a full-blown second operating system, but it does have a stripped-down Linux environment that you can get into within seconds.

If you don't want to boot into Windows Vista Business, the Voodoo IOS (Instant Operating System) puts you into a pre-boot environment, complete with a Web browser, a file manager, a photo editor, and an SMS client. You also have access to your Wi-Fi and hard drive from this mini-operating system."

Not Leopard, but at least one doesn't have to wait for the long boot into and out of Windows Vista just to do a little email and web browsing.  Very interesting.

Comments

[Alex Tolley]

"If you don't want to boot into Windows Vista Business, the Voodoo IOS (Instant Operating System) puts you into a pre-boot environment, complete with a Web browser, a file manager, a photo editor, and an SMS client. You also have access to your Wi-Fi and hard drive from this mini-operating system."

Now this strikes me as a very interesting innovation. It is catering the crowd (like me) who want an "instant on" web browser in a light, highly portable package. Now if I could get get that in an inexpensive extremely low energy consuming, platform, I would be sold.