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SCMP Reporter

With Linux laptops becoming more  popular  in the region, it was only a matter of time before the free operating system reached the tablet PC arena.

The Helium 2100 comes from  New York-based company  Element Computer. Element first displayed its Linux on a laptop system at LinuxWorld in August, when the platform was a Toshiba Portege. This time, by using a Taiwan-manufactured computer, it  has kept the price down to US$999 before shipping.

The system is essentially VIA Technologies' Slim'n Light tablet, running the user-friendly Lycoris Desktop/LX Tablet Edition and KDE desktop. You can buy the same machine in North America under the Eurocom, Sager and TDV Vision brand-names, but running Windows XP Tablet Edition, for around the same price.

The basic configuration is the  one-gigahertz VIA Antaur mobile processor, 256 megabytes  of DDR266 memory, a 30-gigabyte  hard drive and a 14-inch XGA touch-panel display.

There are ports for infrared, PC Cards, audio, modem, Ethernet, video, USB 1 and 2 and a 4-in-1 Flash Card Reader.

Anyone who has ever configured a PC online will know the price rises quickly as you upgrade basic specifications to match your ideal.

The bare-bones Helium comes in at US$999. But once we  added Wi-Fi and an internal camera, and boosted the hard drive to 80GB and the memory to 512MB, the price  shot up to $1,653.

Add on US$139 for delivery by UPS, and that bargain starts to sound a little less competitive.  Element Computer Helium 2100

Specifications

Price: From US$999

Pros: First Linux-powered tablet PC, bargain price

Cons: It is a case of buy before you try. Extra features push up the price



Upgrades to Linux tablet eat into competitiveness