First Look: Pioneer DreamBook IL1, a notebook for under $500

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Tuesday July 01, 2008

Written by William Maher

Tags: Pioneer | DreamBook | IL1

$499

Price at time of review.

It looks like Pioneer wants the record for one of the cheapest notebook on the market. Take a look.

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The Pioneer DreamBook IL1 is being pushed as an "Eee PC killer" - one look and it's impossible not to make the comparison between this and the pint-sized ASUS marvel.

The killer is the price, starting at $499, which sounds great until you realise that's only the starting point. We built up a basic IL1 on the Pioneer site with 40GB HDD, 1GHz CPU, a 7in screen, and the total came to $609, putting this much closer to the current gen of Eee machines.
Overall, the IL1 will make do as a rough and ready, uber cheap, email and Web browsing laptop - just don't expect anything more. The processor's a Via C7-M, (up to 1.2GHz), versus the 1.6GHz Atom for the new generation of Eee machines. There's 1GB of RAM, versus up to 2GB for the Eee, and the screen's a tiny 7in, though there's an 8.9in option.

A couple of positive notes are the hard drive options (40GB-80GB), and the battery life - for which Pioneer claims a whopping 8 hours. We've yet to run in-depth battery testing, but if the IL1 even reaches half of this, it'll be doing well compared to the Eee.

There is also an IL2, which is listed for an amazing $349 on the Pioneer site. It's a tablet, 4GB flash, and weighs 800g with an 8in screen.

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Comments: 6

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macain2004 Jul 6, 2008 10:54 AM	good thing you only gave, just add the negative sign -3. i bought a dreambook il1 and just after a 1.5 months the keyboard went bad. nobody wants to fix it since the keyboard is not covered under warranty here in the philippines. the distibutor is ADI-ASIANIC Distributors at SM Clark. Be wary dealing with them & dont buy This Dreambook Comment made about the PC Authority article: First Look: Pioneer DreamBook IL1, a notebook for under $500? It looks like Pioneer wants the record for one of the cheapest notebook on the market. Take a look. What do you think? Join the discussion.
Graham Jul 7, 2008 5:29 PM	I'm looking at buying a new laptop but I've started looking at notebooks, and have read or heard nothing good about notebooks. Are notebooks worth it.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jul 7, 2008 5:36 PM	The only quality Netbook I've seen is the Eee 901 and the Eee 1000. The MSI Wind has hinge issues, and this one has keyboard problems. ASUS are also bringing out a 3G version, and a refresh of the 9xx series which have a larger keyboard.
BenHarvey Jul 8, 2008 11:07 AM	Cyber your right the Asus is quality from the moment you touch it your feel the difference i have the EEE and the Wind. And the asus's build quality wins However every single Netbook defeats the purpose of conenctivity Wifi is old, We need 3G connections in our netbooks. I don't want to plug in my 3G dongle wait 30 seconds for it to authenticate. My netbook is for the internet and email When im in the office its great when im on the run its just annoying. Portability without conenctivity Its good to see the new series EEE PC is fixing this major issue with the netbook category
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jul 8, 2008 11:52 AM	I've heard good things about the HP Mininote, apart from the small trackpad.
canaussie Jul 9, 2008 8:56 AM	I am a small person. Been teased, bullied and beat up. Despite that, I managed to find a wife and have always flown the banner, "Good Things Come In Small Packages". After reading the specs of the Pioneer, I have decided to lower the banner to half mast and shop around for growth hormones.