EMTEC’s Gdium Netbook

The GDium Liberty 1000 uses the unique G-Key. It is a bootable USB key that contains all the software as there is no hard drive inside the netbook. Families or businesses can have a G-Key for each person. Your changes to personalize the computer are stored on the G-Key. It looks to be attached to the computer in an odd place (under the keyboard near the front edge) but might not be a problem.

The user experience is delivered entirely using open-source software. It is a complete installation of Mandriva Linux with Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice.org along with programs for most any required task. I personally like Debian based distributions like Ubuntu but Mandriva is worthy and an understandable choice for a French company. The Mandriva OS is said to be a 64-bit optimized version. The particular 64-bit processor used is from ST Microelectronics. The unit sports a 1024x600 pixel 10-inch screen and "full" keyboard. With no hard drive they are able to rate the computer with a 4-hour battery runtime.

The announced price is $400.

Learn more at Gdium.com.