Aimed at appealing to computer newbies and the green computing crowd, the CherryPal cloud computer debuted Monday, a desktop that is roughly the size of notebook and uses as much power as a clock radio.
CherryPal, based in Mountain View, Calif. said that the computer uses 2 watts of power -- versus 116 watts used by typical desktops -- and uses 80 percent fewer components than a traditional PC. Since it doesn't have any moving parts, the company said that the unit can last 10 years or longer. A rock bottom price of $249 also adds to its appeal.
The desktop was built with inexperienced computer users in mind. The company takes care of technical details such as upgrading and installing software. Users can control the computer's functions and applications through a browser without having to go into the operating system to fix problems, configure the system or locate files. The company built the desktop using open-source software, including the Mozilla Firefox browser and Linux.
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| CherryPal Desktop |
The computer comes pre-installed with the OpenOffice.org office productivity suite, iTunes, a CherryPal-branded media player that supports all common files formats, and a CherryPal-branded instant messenging client that supports all common IM programs. More programs will be added on an on-going basis, the company said.
The CherryPal has 50 GB of online storage space, and the company said that free, additional storage may be offered in the future. Other features include Freescale Semiconductor's 400 MHz MPC5121e mobile GT processor, 256 MB of memory, a 4-GB NAND flash-based solid state drive and two USB 2.0 ports. It also supports 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi. Keyboard and mouse are not included. Units will start shipping at the end of this month.
