Hands-On with the ECS G10IL Mini-Notebook

Finding a specific mini-notebook on the Computex show floor is like searching for buried treasure—it takes a bit of digging. Elitegroup Computer System’s (ECS) G10IL was one of those treasures I went in search of this morning. Though ECS wasn’t demoing the system at its booth, I stumbled upon a system that looked strikingly similar to the first shots of the G10IL at the Intel Atom booth (or what I am calling Netbook Heaven). A simple check of the system properties confirmed my suspicions.

Despite the system being locked to the table I was still able to get a solid look at the mini-notebook. Check out our first impressions, pictures, and videos of the ECS G10IL.

MSI Wind-esque

At first glance, the matte black lid on the ECS G10IL is reminiscent of the MSI Wind NB. Opening the mini-notebook, I was greeted by a 10.2-inch display and a decent-size white keyboard (although the Shift keys were tiny). I wish that ECS would match the color of the keyboard to the rest of the system. Is it just me or does the white keyboard on black look odd? The rim surrounding the keyboard immediately brought to mind an Apple MacBook. The trackpad felt comfortable, and it has two dedicated right and left click buttons.

Surrounding the ECS G10IL are three USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, modem, VGA port, and a 4-in-1 card reader. A 1.3-megapixel webcam sits on top of the screen. The unit was locked to the table, but it weighs no more than 3 pounds.

Atom Power
The ESC G10IL is powered by an Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM. Though I didn’t have that much time to check out performance or even connect to the Web the system seemed to run Windows XP smoothly; I was able to launch Microsoft Works and Internet Explorer in a few seconds. However, when I tried a boot test this mini-notebook took 45 seconds to show the XP screen. That’s a bit slow compared to the MSI Wind NB, but I expect this time to be speedier on the final production model.

Hands-On Video

Boot up Video

Early Verdict
The ECS G10IL looks like a pretty good mini-notebook, especially since the company initially promised that the device would have integrated HSDPA mobile broadband. However, given that the final specs, price, and the release date are still unknown, I am not holding my breath for the ECS G10IL, especially with the MSI Wind NB and the ASUS Eee PC 1000 on the loose.