Elonex Webbook notebook

Can Elonex challenge the Wind and Eee PCs?

Reviewer: Stuart Miles
Review Date: 1 August 2008
Manufacturer: Elonex
Price as reviewed: £250 or free on mobile broadband contract
Latest price: compare

Our score

8/10

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Full Review

1 August 2008 - With consumers snapping up netbooks faster than companies can make them, what makes Elonex think it has the solution with the Webbook? We took a closer look to find out.

Available from Carphone Warehouse the Elonex Webbook offers a 10.2-inch screen, 1.6GHz VIA C7-M processor, comes with an almost full-sized keyboard and measures 252 x 183 x 31.8mm.

Weighing in at 1.3kg, this isn't the lightest netbook on the market, but nor is it the heaviest, and the weight gives the design a solid feel rather than the sometimes lightweight feel of the early Eee PC models.

The hinged design sees a black outer case with silver inside and there was no Carphone Warehouse or Orange branding to be seen on our unit. There is, however, a big Webbook Logo on the top of the laptop for all to see when you’re using it.

Get past the colour scheme and the laptop sports a QWERTY keyboard and trackpad with two buttons beneath it rather than to the side, a power switch and two shortcut keys for calling up a browser or a calendar. The front of the unit also features six different lights to let you know that you're on, being charged, accessing the hard drive, have Wi-Fi turned on or merely have number or key locks on.

When it comes to ports, the Elonex shouldn't let you down. There is an Ethernet port, headphone, mic, SD card, three USB sockets and a VGA out so you can connect it to a monitor when in your house or office and of course has b/g Wi-Fi options as standard. Considering this is part of a mobile broadband offering via Carphone Warehouse we are surprised you'll still have to have use a USB dongle instead of something internal.

Inside the Elonex Webbook and you get an 80GB hard drive and 512MB of memory to go with that VIA processor and while that means plenty of storage for files it means that you can’t expect too much on the performance front from this machine. Try and go beyond basic document management, web surfing or chatting and you'll start to hit problems. That's not to say this is slow, but to remember that it's a netbook not a fully blown laptop.

The Webbook comes with the option of two operating systems - Windows XP or the Ubuntu variant of Linux.

We tested the Ubuntu version, which comes with the Firefox browser, Evolution email client and OpenOffice already pre-installed amongst other packages like chat client Pidgin and Wine.

Those new to Ubuntu shouldn't find it too difficult to use, although the only complaint we had with the system is that you can't easily turn of the tap click feature on the trackpad unless you start digging around in system's registry (check out Ubuntu forums to find out how).

The overall interface is very similar to Windows XP or KDE Desktop on the Asus Eee range and while there are little differences like the "Start Bar" at the top rather than the bottom you'll soon get the hang of it if you've opted for this OS. Ubuntu has the added advantage of faster startup than XP, so great for workers on the move, we found it typically took just over a minute.

For those choosing the XP variant, you'll get demo versions of Office, as well as Outlook Express and Internet Explorer for your browsing needs.

Battery life came in at about 2.5 hours during our tests, so compares favourably with the MSI Wind variants we have looked at recently.

Although there is a hole for a webcam, there didn't appear to be one included.

Verdict

So how does it fair against other netbook offerings on the market? The 10.2-inch screen will match the Asus 1000 and MSI Wind for its quality, and the keyboard was easy to use with.

The trackpad, although not suffering the same annoying fate as the HP Mini-Note, was a bit on the flaky side to use and the annoyance of not being able to easily turn the tap click feature off for us made it almost unusable (I seem to flex my finger too much).

However (and here is the interesting proposition) if you're willing to sign a 24- month contract at £25 a month with Orange, you get it for free. If that's not appealing enough you can buy it without contract for £249.99 making it £30 cheaper than the Advent 4211, although you will be getting less memory.

It might not be the prettiest looking netbook on the market, but if you are thinking of getting a mobile broadband card from Orange in the near future upgrading the account to get one of these for free my be something you should seriously consider doing.

Comments

About the touchpad issue....
To disable tap-to-click in ubuntu, you have to enable SHMconfig in xorg.conf by doing:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Restart X (ctrl alt backspace) ---

Then do: sudo apt-get install gsynaptics Posted by yochai, USA
Definitely consider giving Ubuntu a try. I changed to Ubuntu recently and have no plans to go back to Windows. Several friends are also planning to switch. If you like 3D desktop effects and a Mac-like dock, try installing the Compiz and AWN packages. Posted by pacha, spain
We helped get Ubuntu onto the webbook and have set up a blog for it here: http://webbookblog.com/

The early units have a few minor snags which we show how to get around.

@yochai, thanks for the tip to turn off trackpad tapping. Posted by The Open Sourcerer, UK
how much does it weigh?
can you do both XP and Ubunto on a dual boot since it has 80g?
Posted by jordan, us
1.3kg Posted by Gordon CPW, Scotland
I took delivery of one of these three hours ago as part of a carphone warehouse package with an orange 3G broadband usb stick.

I am not a linux guru, but I have written the odd network kernel driver for series 1 kernels back in the days when you had to set up X windows the hard way. Yet I am stumped by a small problem.

The Evolution Setup window is a fixed size and it WILL NOT shrink to fit the elonex's screen, so I cannot see the #forward' button and the others in later windows that I need to set up my mail settings.

And the screen resolution setup doesn't seem to allow me to use the 'screen bigger than the physical size' workaround that I used in the old days.

Bit of an 'oops' here I think. Any answers to this most welcome though (!) Posted by john v, south wales, uk
just hold down alt, then you can drag any part of the window and drag it up off the top of the screen to see the bottom of it

i hate ubuntu Posted by ian, uk
Ive just got one of these from CPW. I was getting a orange contract from them anyway and i wasnt bothered by the handset it came with as im keeping my practically brand new n95. the sales guy got one of these out and said that i can have it free and still get a nice slim nokia for a backup device. SOLD i said!
so far ive got online via wifi, used my phone as a modem and used it to dump some pictures from my camera onto it when i realised i had maxed out my 4 gig memory there. the pictures are also easy to view on screen. ive got the linux version and im getting used to it and quite enojying the interface. also finding that theres allot of people out there who can help programme things in and help sort out issues too! gets a thumbs up from me :) Posted by Dean, england
Anyone looked at increasing the memory or trying to obtain a spare battery.

Accorinding to a system scan it says there is a spare memory bank but cannot find it.

My only little quirk about this is that the lan port can be tempremental and why put the function key in the bottom left.

Posted by Robert, UK
Can any one tell me PLEASE!!

Can this webbook work on dailup connection for email.Friend bought it and she has only dail where she lives.

Email me at henning.ras@gmail.com or mobile phone 07763113535 UK Posted by Henning Ras, United Kingdom
One way to dial-up, buy a small usb plug-in modem. Posted by Dave, UK
hi,

i cant get through an internet wireless connection.i got the signal though...but cant open firefox .although i configurured the WEP key.still no connection.can someine help me with this please
Posted by bella, uk
Just installed vista x86 ultimate and i just love it ! Sound, lan work out of the box.
i used the graphic driver supplied on elonex website.

very smooth, excellent performer, and yes u wont be able to play newest games (no t&l support) but who cares!

video perf is a bit choppy but i am upgrading to 1gb crucial pc2 5300 mem, so it will definitely solve that!

Just buy it! or get it 4 free like me...... Posted by Anthony Peltreno, UK
to "bella, uk"

make sure firefox isn't in "offline mode"

open firefox, click "file" then "work offline". There SHOULDN'T be a tick next to work offline. Posted by Richard, UK
Does anyone know if you can put i-tunes on the web book??

Thanks :D Posted by Clair, UK
Hi,
Got this free from carphone warehouse, with my new phone, never had a lap top so no idea how to use it, are there any idiot instructions anywhere Posted by carole, UK
try the ubuntu.com website Posted by Julian, UK
ah iv been through all of the bluetooth settings pressed f2 but still cant connect??? Posted by liz, uk
can sum 1 please tell me how the hell im ment ta install norton with no disk drive n y can i not install msn wishing i never got this stupid thing Posted by emma, uk
Webbook supplied by Car Phone Warehouse Store Hemel Hempstead came with Linex operating system. When I returned to the store the next day to get one with Windows XP I was told that their offer came with Linex only. Tried on 3 separate occasions to get this resolved but Store Manager refused and when I complained that this cannot be legal his reply was "Then Sue us" .

Complaint to Carphone Warehouse of misleading advertising and refusal to provide a webbook with the advertised Windows XP operating system has been submitted to them.

Buyers beware. Upfront sandalone price for Webbook is £249 and taking out separate £15/m Orange Everywhere Broadband Contract with only 18 month tie in costs £270, i.e £270+£249 =£519. Carphone Warehouse contact is for tie in of 24 months tie is £25/m = £600. "There is no such thing as a free lunch" clearly applies here with the Carphone Warehouse deals. What you actually get is an "interest free" webbook, a 24 months contract tie in with an overall saving of £9, compared with purchasing the standalone webbook and keeping the Orange contract for 24 as opposed to 18 months.

As Carphone Warehouse deal comprises an element for the Orange Services at £15/m, it raises the question of precisely what Services are being provided by Carphone Warhouse that justify an additional £10/m plus an extension of 6 months to the Orange contact tie in period. Or is this simply a means being used by Carphone Warhouse to disguise a credit arrangement for supplied goods - the webbook. Posted by Malcolm, UK
Hi guys,

Despite still awaiting for a good gpu driver, i managed to install Mac OSX Leopard on the Webbook. Everything works well.

Just a fab netbook with now a quad boot:

1. Vista
2. XP Sp3
3. Leopard
4. Linux (but i don't like it, sorry!) Posted by Anthony, United Kingdom
how do i get msn on this thing ? !!!!!! Posted by luke, england
I would like to know if any one can tell me how u download something? Tried to download itunes and it says its successful and then nothing happens! I tried to open the icon and nothing happens. Also the same happens on msn! I've got the Linux version x
Please help as I love this webbook and the only reason i wanted it was for these two things Posted by Nikki, England
You won't get MSN to the Linux version as Microsoft don't provide a version, and in any case the philosophy behind Linux is free software (as in freedom not price) and Microsoft restrict the use by its EULA.

There are a couple of packages which you could use to get into the MSN network - aMSN and Pidgin - I prefer aMSN, but choice is yours.

iTunes can be made to run on the Linux version but as it uses so much from the OSX operating system, you might find the only way to do it practically is to dump Linux for OSX - IF it works. Instead of trying this, use amaroK, which as as I am concerned beats iTunes hands down.

To download anything in the Linux edition (which uses the Gnome desktop) make sure you have repositories listed in /etc/apt/sources.list. Then in a terminal (yes command-line but don't be afraid!):

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

As far as I remember, you should have synaptic installed. This is a graphical front end to the apt-get tool, which has been called "the jewel in the crown" of Debian-like systems (of which Ubuntu is one). Synaptic will show you all the packages installed on your system, and you can search it to find a particular package. But before you do so, search for a package on Google Linux (http://www.google.com/linux) and then when you have a suitable one, install it through synaptic. If you want to know more about the power of Ubuntu, try to use the command line. And keep up to speed by going to the Ubuntu forums (I believe there's a forum for netbooks) - thats where the Ubuntu community help each other and you will often get the actual developers and coders helping you.

To thos who cry "I hate Linux", I would cry "I hate Microsoft and Apple and every software developer that insists on me using a EULA". I have nothing but free software on my computer(s) - free software as defined by the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org) - and it is as stable and robust as you'll find. There is a wealth of software available for it. I personally prefer PC-BSD (BSD is the original Unix on which all others are based and Ubuntu is a Unix variant) which has been running non-stop on my home PC for 7 years. And I do not particularly like the Gnome desktop (which Ubuntu runs) but other desktops are available - KDE (Kubuntu), Xfce (Xubuntu as part of the Ubuntu family but probably not suitable for a netbook. One Ubuntu variant you might like to try is gOS 3.0 Gadgets (http://www.thinkgos.org) - it is perfect for netbooks.

HTH! Posted by Graham Todd, UK
I have an ASUS eee running Linux and I cannot get a mobile internet dongle to work on it. I have tried Orange, T Mobile, 3, Virgin, Vodafone and O2 and none of their dongles have any effect on the computer. Most of the staff have never heard of Linux and even Carphone Warehouse who are selling a Linux Elonex cannot supply a dongle which works - any ideas anyone please. Posted by Graham F, UK
My daughter got one of these notebooks from carphone warehouse and when i try to enable to wireless settings I cant find where to activate iet. As I have wirteles broadband she could use it instead of dongle
Posted by vonnie , England
I have the same problem as Bella. I've configured the wifi and pressed Fn+F1 as instructed on webbook website to activate it. The light is flashing intermittently, and the wifi can 'see' the network, but I can't get online. I've checked that Firefox is not in 'work offline' mode.

What should I try next?
Be grateful for the secret for those who have got through successfully.

Otherwise, this seems to be a really neat machine so far, booting quickly as a Linux distro should. I am hoping for equally good response doing more complex things later on.
Posted by ros, UK
when i try to enable to wireless settings I cant find where to activate it. As I have wirteles broadband she could use it instead of dongle

Posted by ROBBO, ENGLAND
MSN - you don't need. Go to Applications -> Internet -> Pidgin and setup your account

WiFi - if the light is blinking, you need to click the two-computer-icon on the top-right, select your connection and enter the key. If you're not using WPA (v1) you should "Connect to other wireless network..."

Bluetooth - help - anybody???

Otherwise - erm - I don't know! Posted by Matt Dinnery, United Kingdom
I have just had my webbook replaced as the first one kept shutting down, or at least the screen did. The guy in the store said it was the power saving setting, But as it would not restart until it was switched off and on, (losing all work) I didn't agree. It went away for a week and they have replaced with new. Installing and updating ant-virus last night, the new one did exaclty the same. It was running on mains not battery and halfway through downloading updates the screen went blank. Power light still on, hard drive light still on and usb still operating, but could not get screen back on, had to switch power off and lost all downloaded material as it hadn't installed. Is there some additional power settings for these things I need to change, and has anyone else had this problem??? Posted by Darren Davies, UK
how do u set up the webcam :-?? Posted by hannah, uk
does any one know how to bypass the username and pass word on this, as my wife has forgoten hers and now all it does is power up and stay as a blank screen Posted by phil, uk
I downloaded everything on to mine, itunes and frostwire and msn and everything works ok :)

When setting up your internet connection make sure ur wi-fi is on, press Fn and F2 together to put it on/off.

anyone help with setting up a webcam or norton anti- virus?? Posted by Alicia, UK
I have an ASUS eee running Linux and I cannot get a mobile internet dongle to work on it. I have tried Orange, T Mobile, 3, Virgin, Vodafone and O2 and none of their dongles have any effect on the computer. Most of the staff have never heard of Linux and even Carphone Warehouse who are selling a Linux Elonex cannot supply a dongle which works - any ideas anyone please.
Posted by Graham F, UK

Graham, I think the Xandros 901 only works with either the Huawei E220 or E169 dongles. If you call their support people that's what theyill tell you. The E220 has been discontinued but is available off ebay, the 169 can still be had though. Posted by jase, England
hi can you help me please i have notebook elonex which dongle will i wont to get on internet i have 3 dongle but wont work thanks Posted by mark naylor, uk
how do i set up outlook express with my vodafone dongle please? Posted by karen, uk
can some one tell me step by step how to get youtube on my littel laptop thing pleez ?

thanl you for looking :P xxxxxxx Posted by louise , England
how can i play games on my webbook had trouble downloading java Posted by sandra lewis, wales
All I can say about this computer is that its rubbish sorry to say that but it is! Twice in three months my laptop has broken, first time it kept over heating it self second time everything decided to freeze when i went on it every time!
They say it comes with a year warrenty!
So first off I rang carphoneware house to complain and they say its not there problem its elonex, so then I ring elonex and they say now its carphonewarehouses problem! serious not one of them will admit its there problem, so in the end I told carphonewarehouse I would sue them if the problem wasnt sorted, so in the end they admitted it was there problem and they would fix it which took them 28days! Then it happens the second time and I complained I was not happy with this product and they practical told me to fuck off they would only fix they would never refund or replace with a differnt computer which is out of order if twice the computer has died! So now im going to pc world to buy a better computer with a better company! For any1 that is thinking of buying one dont it really isent worth the hassle! x Posted by kim turner, england
Im considering getting this elonex netbook, the windows xp version comes free with a 12 month contract of just 29 Pounds from Orange online,which seems resonable. Pants minutes on offer for this deal, and pants phone too, but I dont use my mobile muchso thats ok!!
Just want someone to confirm for me, I have Microsoft Word and Excel and Powerpoint on a disc I bought some time back, am I right in saying that if I get my hands on an external drive, I can upload them to the Elonex, and it will adequately run word and excel for me?? Using those, and surfing the web, are my main requirements. Is the Elonex for me?? Thanks for any help anyone can give. johncrotty46@hotmail.com Posted by john, wales
Can anyone advise how to play video clips (avi, MP4, wmv etc) on the webbook. I have just bought one off a friend second hand. It has the linus not windows so struggling a bit to pen up and view attachments to emails etc

Thanks for any help offered.

Andy Posted by Andy, UK
i need to no how to turn on my wireless as it will not work fn and f1 bring up a load of options al i want to do is get it turned on so i can get wireless.can anyone help? Posted by vic, england
i have a webbook and a t-mobile usb modem can and how do i play online with a playstation3 plz help iv tryed sorting all the network settings and bort an ethernet cable but nothing works Posted by kyle 1907, wales
I bought one of these (XP version) to use at uni via their wifi intranet - the first one, the battery didn't charge so Carphone Warehouse changed it within the 28 days from purchase. The second one works fine except that it will not hook up to the uni network - I changed the wifi drivers for the latest ones and it worked for about three hours and then collapsed again. The tech guys at uni said that the network card may be corrupted. Neither the computer or the network can find each other - WTF is wrong with it? anyone got any ideas? (nothing too complicated, I am not much use at the tech stuff)

anyone using dial-up - I bought a Pluscom 56k v.92 external modem which works really well on a dial up connection. (it cost less than £10) Posted by Robert, wales
I really want to get tap-click turned off! Is there any way to do this via windows registery or something? I gave Ubunu a try for all of a week, tried following a tutorial on turning tap-click off and nearly nuked my ubuntu install. Fortunately i'd written down the destructions and got things back from a back-up file.

However flash when installed appeared broken and I couldn't put up with such a common internet feature being a broken mess and such a pain to install. So now i'm here in XP land which at least I'm semi-familiar with.

Not that it's my OS of choice since largely I use an old G4 mac with OSX 10.4, but that won't install on this cheap POS which i got as a refurb from maplin btw.

So far it's been ok for what it is, an incredibley cheap bargin basement laptop which so far i find plays youtube clips (and i didn't notice any stuttering) and irc and msn and plays mp3s on itunes in the background while i'm browsing. Posted by Mikey J, Wales
how do yu work bluetooth tried cntrl and f2 dnt work? Posted by lucy, england
@lucy

The manual for the webbook on the elonex website might have something in it. http://www.elonex.com/support/products/webbookxp.shtm

Whatever you're trying to connect it to, has to see the Webbook, or vise versa. You normally have to put in a 4 digit pin (usually 1111) to get the 2 items to communicate. If 1111 doesn't work see the manual for the item you're connecting to for the correct pin.

I just tried Fn+F2 then searched for new devices in the bluetooth section of my Samsung D900s menu. It found no new devices. I assume for mine at least, it's not working. Posted by Mikey J, Wales