14 DAY TRIAL // Some time ago, to the delight of open source fans, Asus has announced that it will release a special series of netbook models that will run the Ubuntu Linux operating system, and recently the company has started selling its first such laptop in Europe.
The netbook in question is the Eee PC 1215P, which has now been listed by an online retailer in Italy for 279.47 Euros, making it 40 Euro cheaper than its Windows counterpart.
For now, the 1215P is only available for pre-order, but shipping is expected to begin in a few days. The data on the website doesn't mention what version of Ubuntu is installed, but most probably this is Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.
For those of you that don't remember, the Asus Eee PC 1215P is powered by an Intel Atom N570 dual-core CPU clocked at 1.66GHz, that can process up to four threads simultaneously thanks to the HyperThreading technology.
The Atom processor is paired with as much as 2GB of DDR3 system memory, which is seconded by a 250GB or 320GB hard drive with 500GB of additional on-line storage space.
The rest of the Eee PC 1215P specs list includes WLAN 802.11 b/g/n and optional Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, a VGA webcam, a multi-format memory card reader, three USB 2.0 ports and a D-Sub video output.
The screen measures 12.1-inch in diagonal, is LED backlit, and has a native resolution of 1366x768, which is appropriate for this type of display.
Complete with the 6-cell battery pack that has an autonomy of 8 hours, the Asus Eee PC 1215P weights 1.45Kgs.
Right now, we don't know if Asus plans to launch any other Ubuntu-powered notebooks, but we can assume that, if everything works well with the Eee PC 1215P, more models will soon follow. (via Notebook Italia)