Onkyo brings out super-thin Sotec C204

Onkyo announces a 23mm netbook which is less than a kilo.

The C204

White exterior with the USB ports

The dashboard

The card-slot and adaptor port

Onkyo brings out yet another netbook in what seems to be a never-ending stream of similar featured commoditized category of machines.  New in the lineup is the ultraportable Sotec C204.  Capable of giving up to five hours of battery life with its 1800mAh Li-poly battery, the C204 is powered by the ever-popular Intel Atom N270 processor with a clocking speed of 1.6GHz.  USP of the C204 is definitely the lightness and sleekness, along with a very good battery life.
Let’s talk about the exterior first. The whole body gives a matte plastic look, with a white exterior with the brand logo on it in grey. The black interior sports a 10.1-inch LED display panel with a not-so-special 1024 x 600 resolution. The keyboard although doesn’t have any special appearance, but looks pretty comfortable to use, with non-chiclet keys. The trackpad is situated below the keys with the mouse buttons towards the bottom of the pad. It has an executive rather than funky look. There a red line that borders the interior and exterior on the side of the laptop that gives the machine a particularly sleek look. A rather unique feature is the placement of the speaker which looks like long stretched hinge that connects the monitor to the dashboard. When you are facing the machine, on tour right side are two USB ports along with the microphone and headphone line-in and provision for locking. On your left you’ll find the adaptor port and the card-slot with another USB port.
It has a 1GB RAM and facilitates the other usual features like 802.11n Wi-Fi, 0.3MP Webcam, Windows XP Home pre-loaded, although there is no VGA or LAN port – probably to preserve the thinness.
This new thin and light 10-inch netbook weighs less than a kilo at only 960gm, and is slim enough to enter your pocket. It’s expected to be out on sale in Japan on the 1st of July for a relatively cheap 49,800 yen. That’s roughly $350 in the US market. The DC204 model should be sold directly from the company and have a number of different Office software configuration options.