Tracking the products, trends and reach of China's local to global technology & culture.
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According to our sources in China, devices powered by the Chinese-designed Loongson CPU could soon be sold with Google's Chrome OS pre-installed. Designed to work with Linux software, the Loongson 2F processor is in a sound position to take advantage of Chrome's OS on netbook and all-in-one desktop devices.

The Loongson CPU may be the darling of the Chinese media, such is the capacity for nationalist fervor on the Mainland, but in the West it has been met with emotions ranging from mild curiosity to abject cynicism. As a MIPS based processor in a similar vein to an ARM chip, the current Loongson 2F architecture would seem to have enough grunt to compete in the ultra-compact Smartbook and possibly all-in-one desktops segments. If this review is anything to go by however, the real challenge for Longsoon/Lemote is getting the software right, which is of course where Google's Chrome OS fits in.

Sold by a partly government funded company known as Lemote,  products like the Yeelong notebook PC  and the Fullong Mini are designed to work with open source software like Linux, but as the aforementioned reviewer notes, these devices are somewhat hampered by their pre-installed Lemote Loonux OS(seriously), which he describes as  '...ugly like Brian Peppers. Uglier in fact', so perhaps the move to Chrome OS is indeed a wise move.

Regarding Loongson-based devices, apparently there have been significant orders made for the CPU, with 7 to 9 inch designs like the netbook above, appearing around China with the first Lemote store recently opened in Beijing. The netbook device apparently sell for under 200 bucks, which would place it directly in smartbook territory.

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Here's a netbook board with the Loongson 2F chip.

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This is a Loongson -based all-in-one desktop effort.

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Here's the Loongson store where reviewer Derrick Sobodash got his Lemote Yeeloong netbook.

Time will tell whether Longsoon can grab a piece of both mainstream and shanzhai markets in the long run, and while it might seem like pie in the sky right now, it's surely a mistake to underestimate the power and influence of the state in these matters.

[Image Source]

Lemote Yeeloong

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Comments  

 
-1 # Clayton Hallmark 2010-01-25 17:40
The largest and most sophisticated consumer market in the world is our American market, and Loongson must crack that to compete in the world outside China -- and they have just done it!

This site (alpha-400-mips-elonex-razorbook-coby.blogspot.com/)
explains more.

Chinese mini-laptops (or smartbooks) have just broken the famous $100 barrier in North America, thanks to a Canadian company named "Merimobiles." This is big news, believe it or not.

This is what the netbook world has been waiting for, even if most didn't know it. It is a game changer. The price is everyday, not a sale price. $100 with cheap shipping from Canada to any US address; no $45 shipping for a single "sample" unit direct from China, one at a time.

If this news can get out to the world, esp., to the US consumer, everything will change and the Loongson chips will go mainstream definitely.
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+1 # blah 2010-01-29 21:56
"largest and most sophisticated consumer market in the world is our American market"

the world is a much bigger than you see it... you arrogant american idiot
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0 # Valeri Stoletov 2010-01-29 23:26
Are you surprised? Just watch CNN - american worldview is quite interesting...
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