Tokyo Friendfinder
Laptop fans who aren’t mad keen on shelling out the best part of $1,800 for a MacBook Air might want to get themselves over to Japan for a slice of tasty subnote pie that’s every bit as sweet and just two-thirds the price.
Kouziro’s Frontier line of laptops has just been augmented by the 1.24kg FRLN series of ultra-lights and – for budget machines – they’re incredibly well specced.
For just ¥130,000 ($1,250), the entry model comes with an 800MHz Intel A110 processor, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive and a 12.1-inch LED-backlit screen. The OS is Windows XP Home and battery life is 4 hours, extendable to 8.5 with an optional battery pack.
Although good for the price, there’s nothing in that lot to write home about. That, however, comes in the shape of a 12.5mm body (at the thinnest point) that still manages to include a healthy hand of ports (check out the photo gallery here).
These include a PC card slot, a D-sub monitor connection, a 56K modem, a LAN port, a multi-card reader and three USB ports. Not only that, but the FRLN also has a fingerprint reader, a smartcard slot, a waterproof keyboard and can survive a fall from 1m onto concrete.
Looks like those Japanese claims about being able to built a better subnote than Apple weren’t just idle boasts. We’ll take two please.
(Crossposted to TechRadar)
03:14 AM 
J Mark Lytle •
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Laptops & PDAs 
Tagged with:
frln
frontier
macbook air
subnotes
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How exactly does that “step up” to the Macook Air? Methinks they put something in your green tea. It uses a sub par Intel A110 processor which does not even come close to the same speed as the Core 2 Duo in the Macbook Air. It also comes with a now six year old operating system, less battery life, not as thin, not as good monitor, and is fugly. Exactly how is that even in the same ballpark as an Air? Japan lost the mp3 player war and whether they know it or not have also been relegated as insignificant players in computers and cellphones as well.
Posted by Alan on 08/03/16 at 07:33 AM -
Alan: yeah, as I said the specs aren’t exactly inspiring, but the connectivity options, weight and price far outweigh the drawbacks for the typical entry-level user it’s aimed at. Personally, I’d install Ubuntu on something like this, which doubles the appeal…
Posted by JML on 08/03/16 at 07:00 PM -
A computer with a CPU that underpowered should see more payoffs in the battery life department than this one seems to. The increased number of ports is nice, but why go with a PC-card slot instead of something forward-looking like ExpressCard/34 or /54 instead? A look at the customization page shows that you get 1GB of RAM and that’s it--no slots to expand there.
Not a bad machine for what it is, a lightweight tool for eigyo guys to stick in their bags as they pound the city pavement, but not a real competitor for the MBA when you get down to raw capabilities.
Posted by Durf on 08/03/16 at 10:57 PM -
Not better than EePC
Posted by CasCad on 08/05/12 at 02:03 AM