Honestly, I have to say that thus far, the jury is still out on what I am going to end up for my next notebook. Recently, I was sent a review version of the still in Beta Zonbu notebook. Despite a fairly balanced review I did for another publication (yet to be published), I am finding myself liking the product more than any other notebook used elsewhere. Let me tell you why.

While I too, have drooled over the prospect of the Eee and the upcoming Cloudbook, for a simple WYSIWYG type of notebook that is very portable, I am turned off by a few things that I am still working to overcome. Oddly enough, the Zonbu notebook has over come these issues for me. Allow me to share:

• Take your Zonbu, toss into the river. Now pick up another and login - poof, there is your old data from the previous notebook. The Eee and Cloudbook are not offering this last time I checked.
• Unless you are built like a Smurf, I fail to see how typing on these micro-devices is any easier than those now dated keyboards they used to make for Palm Pilots? And the resolution? Get serious. Zonbu’s notebook is a full wide screen.
• Hard drives matter - flash is not cutting it for me. Sorry Eee and Cloudbook. The Zonbu notebook offers a fair sized 60GB hard drive.
• Zonbu will connect to anything I can toss at it. Ethernet or wireless, it all the worked for me. Enter my WPA2 passphrase and I am wireless with DHCP. Not sure about the Eee or the Cloudbook, however. I am sure they do work with WPA2, however I am seeing mixed messages with regard to the Eee.
• Battery life. For the same crappy battery life I would get with the Eee, on the Zonbu I get a clear, clean widescreen that is easy to read. I really like that. The Cloudbook however, looks like it will be handing the Eee’s backside back to ASUS on battery life - five hours, I could live with that.

One thing I ought to make very clear about all of these options - Zonbu’s notebook and the Cloudbook, both Everex products, use VIA CPUs. The Eee uses Intel. Obviously, Intel is preferred, yet the performace on the VIA notebooks are not half bad, considering the source. So despite me leaning more with something running Intel, Zonbu or the Cloudbook win me back with their features listed above not offered on the Eee.

Two last things to consider.

Two, nay, three of the biggest things that have me leaning with Zonbu besides having (near) bullet proof data backup include:

1. I can return it within 30 days for EVERYTHING back. Yes, this is for real, I have worked with these guys for some time as I reviewed their stuff. It is rather compelling as I doubt you will see ASUS offering this.
2. Consider the price. Assuming I agree to their two year service agreement (this is after my 30 day buyers remorse policy) at $14.95 per month, I walk away with an idiot proof notebook for a cool $294.
3. It stops working during the first three years, they replace it - free. Obviously, their is some fine print here as otherwise some fool is going to spill stuff all over it when the keys start to fade or they just want something with a new screen after the user keyed their initials into it. Common sense applies.

So what is best for my money? Honestly, I am looking for the following for myself:

• At least 3 Hours of battery life - all three notebooks have this. Cloudbook is about Five hours.
• MS Exchange compatibility - Zonbu should have provided this with Evolution, but for whatever reason has opted to leave this plugin out - very poor choice considering the choice of email apps. The Eee provides users with the option of using XP (compatibility), so you can purchase Outlook if you like.
• I do not care about installing new apps on the go. I just need a notebook, not another desktop machine that I can tweak. Zonbu is locked down with minimal apps, so this is fine with me considering its usage.

At the end of the day, it is a toss up between the Cloudbook with its battery life and Zonbu with its encrypted data storage. If this was something you wanted and you happened to be tired of baby sitting yet another notebook, which would you choose?

Be mindful, those of you those of you who are thinking “go to eBay, buy and old Thinkpad and install your OS on it” are totally missing the point. Re-read the features above, then comment. I want it ready to go, cheap and easy. ;)