Now that the Jolicloud Jolibook is available in the UK, we’re starting to see reviews pop up. CrunchGear recently posted some thoughts on the hardware and the cloud-centric Linux operating system. Now Engadget’s Joanna Stern has published a detailed review.

Here’s the short version: The hardware is pretty much par for the course, although the touchpad and display could be better and the 48Whr will only offer around 5 hours of run time. The operating system is user-friendly, easy to use, and works well for anyone who runs a lot of web-based apps, but wants to be able to run offline apps as well (which Google’s upcoming Chrome OS won’t support).

In other words — I can’t see a lot of reasons to buy the Jolibook instead of simply buying a cheap Windows or Linux netbook and downloading and installing the free Jolicloud OS on your own. But if you really want the colorful lid, or don’t feel comfortable installing operating systems on your own, I guess the Jolibook might be attractive.

The computer runs £279 in the UK, which is about the same price as many Windows 7 netbooks. No word on how much it will cost if and when it ships int he US.