Litl Webbook Gets Video Demo: Is Simplicity Worth $699?
The Litl Webbook met with confusion when it officially launchedearlier this week. While the 12-inch notebook may resemble a netbook for kids, its $699 price tag slots it in among grown-up laptops, begging the questions of who exactly is the target audience and why should they bother? CrunchGear’s Doug Aamothcaught up withthe Boston company to find out some more details plus get a hands-on play with the Webbook itself.Video demo and interview after the cut
While we’ve grown used to the idea of netbooks as simply cheap computers – rather than “straightforward” notebooks for those who don’t want to learn to deal with an OS' complexities – the Litl team seem determined to take pretty much every hump out of ownership. Data is primarily kept server-side and they even offer a remote control for TV-style access.
Meanwhile the company themselves are alsoresponding to pricing criticismon their blog. Their stance is that by looking at the Webbook as solely a hardware proposition, you’re undervaluing the server-side complexity that goes into it as well as your own time in managing patches, virus-checks and other mundane housekeeping we pretty much do without thinking about it.
“So, take your run of the mill netbook, add whatever expense/time you spend doing virus, updating, upgrades, patches, plug-ins, synching, back-up, tech support, and file transfers for the life of the machine. Add in a one year service plan then add some more because we give you an unconditional money back guarantee not an extended warranty. Add in a killer screen. Then add in the stuff I haven’t talked about such as plug-and-play HDMI, awesome channels, and sweet UI. What’s that worth? Depends on your situation. But for most home computer needs, $350 netbooks are probably too cheap and $1000 laptops are more than you need. litl, at $699, is just right.”
[viaGottaBeMobile]
