$350 SOL laptop sips juice from the sun for 2 hours, gives 10 hours battery life
I think it’s safe to say that, at one point or another, we’ve all been caught short with a laptop that decides to run out of charge when nowhere near a plug socket. How great it would be to have a solar-powered lappy that doesn’t cost the same as a NASA mission. Perhaps SOL is the answer?
SOL is a solar powered Ubuntu-powered, rugged-looking laptop that costs from just US$350 (£230) but claims to offer a ten-hour battery life on two hours of sun.
Tick those boxes, then!
SOL laptop gives ten hours worth of battery life from just two hours of sun.
The point of this Intel-powered, 13.3-inch HD-screened laptop is to offer powerful computing to the poorer nations where a charge is often hard to find.
So, it makes sense that this “all-terrain laptop” will launch in Ghana – a place that gets an abundance of the sun’s rays. Perhaps, if this current weather keeps with us here in the UK, the SOL might get offered here too.
Even though the price seems really low to our Western minds and pockets (especially when compared to Ralph Lauren solar backpacks and Louis Vuitton travel cases, although maybe not as fun as plugging your tech in to someone’s bikini), that price tag will undoubtedly be way too steep for a lot of the locals. It will, however, equip aid workers with a useful way to keep computing without the need to drag around a generator.
The SOL is also packing 802.11n Wi-Fi, GPS, 4G LTE, Ethernet and a satellite modem module option, so should be able to stay connected just about anywhere.
The “engineered for extreme efficiency” hints at low-power internals, including its 2GB RAM and Intel Atom D2500 dual-core chip with HD3600 graphics. The display is a 1366×768 720p screen, above which sits a 3MP webcam. Storage comes from a 320GB hard disk.
The almost Alienware-looking back of the laptop folds down to reveal a solar panel the size of the screen.
If you’re looking for Ultrabook slenderness then look away. But, if you’d like to be able to compute in a jungle, rainforest or up a mountain then the SOL is your machine, there’s even a submersible ‘Marine’ variety should you be more seabound than Sahara.
Check out the very eco-loving, sun-worshiping video below or head to the website for more details.
