160 Euro solar-powered Netbook

this is like putting stripes and a spoiler on a car  - yes it will make it look better and there will be down force and some idiots will buy it cause it looks like it is doing the right thing   - please

Huh? You're on the beach... just toss it out of your backpack and into the sun for an hour or two to extend the battery life a little. What's wrong with that?

Wooly I think what Seno is saying is that most of the time you probably won't utilize the functionality of a solar panel. It is cool but I agree for the most part not that useful. The other thing is the relative cost of the panelpannel for the achieved benefit. AND the fact that Netbook batteries have pretty good performance already.

The whole sand thing would worry me

Cost may not be so prohibitive in a couple of years. Below is an article on polymer Solar cells. Basically they are hoping to use or current mint (money printer) to produce these badboys. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126133435.htm

This sort of technology gets me excited [/Big Kev]

I'm saying Its a gimick  - a selling point  - its doesnt do anything except be able to say  " This is a (partially  in fine print) SOLAR powered pc. Its a Toyato Prius  - costs more has battery failures and in the end the lastest Deisel Golf is more fuel effient  - now put some solar panels on the car  -

If you are thinking its just handy for the beach get a solar panel to recharge  - but the facts are solar power will just do a calculator  not a pc - and even cells now are at nearly 30% ie 30 % of the light and heat can be transfered to electricty  - even when they get to 100% which is impossible it still wont produce 10% of the power required

@seano. Sorry I do agree with you about solar powered notebooks. Lets face it they sit in a laptop bag mostly and when they are not in the bag then the screen is up and not in the optimal position for the solar cells to do their job. 
I kinda went off on the solar cells tangent. The polymer solar cells will be the most efficent and light weight and cost effective form of solar cells. Imagine covering your home roof (especially here in Australia) in these low cost solar cells and never having to pay for electricity again. 

If these polymer cells work out you will see solar panels on everything because it will be SO cheap why not do it.

I know some  of these things - the panel which you can sit on your roof is $3000.00 after rebates from the government - its on your roof and spoiling the design to keep rain and heat out  - it is not angled in the proper way but that panel at summer will produce one kilowatt per hour  - so put 2 and half ones together on your roof and hope for sunny weather and the panel has cost now $7500.00 and still not hooked in to the meter to get reverse charges  - so hot sun no clouds 2 and a half panels going and yes you can now run your kettle of it  - just while is midday

This green stuff is all run by companties to make money - everyone knows the answer to green energy and its such a no brainer that you wonder while only France do it  - nuclear power is green no emmisions  - the waste buried 30 years ago is now beening used to fuel the new breed of plants they are so effecient

and yes china sydnome  - the new designs are gravity fed so if all shuts down gravity will supply the water to cool the reactor  -    

You're right Rooster, maybe I'm just too paranoid about running out of power. The cells take away my phobia of running out of juice.

It's 160 euros with solar panels and 140 without. I'd take the 20 euro added charge, for the ease of mind and of course to attract environmentally aware chicks at Starbucks.

What also caught my eye was the CPU, which isn't Intel but MIPS. I really wonder with how little CPU power you can still run all the apps you'd need.

I wonder what the screen is like.... sunny enough to charge the battery, but too sunny to see the screen!  Clever idea but a gimmick, but for 20 euros I'd pay the extra if I wanted the computer in the first place.  Looks chunkier than my work StinkPad from 8 years ago. :)

It's a dreadful shame that IBM sold their Thinkpad name to that maker of cheap Chinese trash Lenovo. They were very solid and durable machines. Now, bits drop of them like the cheapest Acer model.