̶p̶e̶a̶r̶b̶o̶o̶k̶ New Aluminium Ultrabook - Would you buy it?

[ReTV]

Old post:

I've been to Taiwan. Again. I met a new company that produces something that certainly looks like one of those cheap (Intel Atom) MacBook Air knockoffs.

 

They however, did it right. The design is still pretty apple-like, but the build quality is great. It is as slim as a MBA and rocks some nice hardware. The way I see it is as a cheap, full alumin(i)um body, ultrabook. I got them to sell me a pre-production model. Currently, it is sealed for customs but as soon as i get back to Germany, I'll take a few pics for you. 

 

Until then, here are the specs (please note, it is preproduction):

 

- i3 and i5 variants

- 2 / 4 / 8 GB RAM

- 1x USB2.0

- 1x USB3.0

- 1x HDMI (fullsize)

- 1x SDXC/HC slot

- SSD starts at 120GB

- maximum height (closed): 19.5mm

- 9000mAh battery

- 1x full-size ethernet

 

They said the price will be about 649USD. It is expected to be shipped from Europe.

 

So far, I'm impressed. This is the first device I consider a "real" laptop rather than a blatant knockoff. Doesn't stop apple from suing them, though ;-)

 

I have confirmation for a lot of the data (and I'm also not permitted to show you any footage ...). The first model will be the less powerful version, here are the final specs:

 

- Intel i3 4326U (4600 GPU)

- 4GB RAM

- 64GB SSD or 500GB HDD

- I/O: USB3.0, USB2.0, HDMI, SDXC, Ethernet.

- full aluminium body

- 2x mPCIe expansion (one occ. for WiFi)

- 1x mSATA slot

- 4800mAh battery

- still only 19.5mm thick

 

Price (for Region 1 countries like USA, Canada, Central Europe...): $499 (including shipping and warranty).

 

Competitors in this price Range might be the Lenovo M30-70 or the Acer Aspire V3-371. The bottom line is, that <this new laptop> (no longer called pearbook) is a really good value for this price, since it's aluminium body. I'll be keeping it for business, but it might be interesting for students, too.

[dadasmithywinkle]

Would I buy it? No.

 

And for one basic concept: I don't give money to coypcats, scammers, or thiefs.

 

It does sound interesting though. Cant wait to see the photos.

[Godlygamer23]

Nickelodeon has used the Pear branding(PearBook, PearPhone, PearTunes, etc) in their TV shows Victorious, iCarly, and Sam & Cat. I don't recall them going through any lawsuits from Apple due to the branding knockoff.

[ReTV]

Nickelodeon has used the Pear branding in their TV shows Victorious, iCarly, and Sam & Cat. I don't recall them going through any lawsuits from Apple due to the branding knockoff.

 

I think they just did it to have some kind of running gag. They didn't try to sell them

[Godlygamer23]

I think they just did it to have some kind of running gag. They didn't try to sell them

Branding is branding. They used the Pear brand to avoid lawsuits.

[Sauron]

Still a bit expensive for what it offers in terms of performance (hey, I'm a poweruser) but compared to the air it's great value. If I was after something like this I'd definitely give it a thought. By thw way, how is the screen? That could be a turnoff (although the standard mba screen is not hard to match...).

 

As for apple suing them, I doubt it'll happen... what happens in Taiwan pretty much stays there ^^ besides there already are much worse copycats of apple. They only care about big players like samsung. Not to mention apple themselves ripped off so many things it's not even funny.

[ReTV]

snippity-snip

 

Well, the screen is your everyday 1080p glossy (TN?). I have been told that the main price impact is the material. The second greatest is better quality control. If i can have a business laptop that looks as clean as a MBA and doesn't brake my bank account, I'll consider this. But I have to test it (maybe try to hackintosh it ).

[handymanshandle]

 

 

Does it run Windows or either a mainstream Linux distro or a OS X knock off distro?

[ReTV]

Does it run Windows or either a mainstream Linux distro or a OS X knock off distro?

 

I just got FreeDOS preinstalled. I'll be using Windows 10 for a start.

[Sauron]

Well, the screen is your everyday 1080p glossy (TN?). I have been told that the main price impact is the material. The second greatest is better quality control. If i can have a business laptop that looks as clean as a MBA and doesn't brake my bank account, I'll consider this. But I have to test it (maybe try to hackintosh it ).

 

1080p? Already beating the mba ^^

[ReTV]

1080p? Already beating the mba ^^

 

It is also slightly bigger at almost 14". 

[Geekazoid]

Interesting, interesting. *commence thinking face*

[ReTV]

Well, if they end up <500$ they might be perfect for productivity (university and stuff).

[Kermit]

I don't know whats better.

The Pearbook or Miranda Cosgrove...

[ReTV]

I HAZ NEWS.

 

Not much though. It is still in German customs (...). Apparently, it won't be called "pearbook", but there is no name atm. They plan to massdrop it, which is good, because depending on the demand, the price might drop as low as $499.

 

Stay tuned.

[awesomes8wc3]

[ReTV]

Confirmation for the specs and a small price update in the first post.

[Williamchan87]

Too expensive, unless its that good in buildquality etc? and is the quoted price a starting price or the top tier price