TechCrunch CrunchPad Tablet Shows Its Face

We have kept an eye on Michael Arrington of TechCrunch’s tablet project (and his arguments against the current state of netbooks) and a very early looking prototype has made an appearance. Termed the CrunchPad, the 1024×768 resolution 12-inch slate is powered by a Via Nano processor and 1GB of RAM.  In lieu of a The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.
Learn Morehard drive, it has a slim 4GB flash drive for storing the basic browser and Web applications. The prototype is running an Ubuntu Linux distro. Arrington and crew are still hoping to get the price some place around $200, but expect it to be closer to $300.

Check out the videos. The touchscreen seems to be  fairly responsive. We are a bit skeptical about the virtual keyboard, but the design looks very early and Arrington acknowledges that they are hoping to see something slimmer, more along the lines of what the original PhotoShop images looked like.

It should be interesting to see how this project develops and if they decide to bring the CrunchPad to market. I, for one, am very eager to see the thing in action and experiment with it. Of course, there are rumors of Apple creating a similar device (or an enlarged iPod Touch) but aren’t we all a bit sick of waiting for Apple?