Thread: Asus Eee Pc and Nokia N800
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2007-08-17 , 18:30
Posts: 11,700 | Thanked: 10,045 times | Joined on Jun 2006 @ North Texas, USA
#38
Originally Posted by fpp View Post
Well, obviously, since you didn't define "cheap" :-)

If "cheap" means "same price as N800", there is nothing available now. Maybe when the OLPC ceases to be vapourware. Maybe if the Western Asus subsidiaries don't kill the eee concept out of self-interest. Maybe next year, etc. But not right now.

OTOH, if "cheap" means "cheaper than what brand-name ultra-portables usually go for when they weight less than a kilogram, have an x86 CPU capable of running Linux OR Windows, 4-to-5 hours battery life, PC-like RAM and hard disk, Wifi, BT, plus CF, SD, USB, LAN and VGA ports"... well yes, less than 600€ is *VERY* cheap. Now. Until the above materialize...
Good points. It's funny to watch the dialog entangle over semantics. The cost/performance ratio isn't absolute, but varies from person to person. Still, there ARE demarcation points, and $400 appears to be one of them for US consumers. Wait... make that $399

And FYI, I only brought the OLPC up because it was alleged that Nokia may not have expected a $200 "laptop". My point had nothing to do with technical ability (I did make the disclaimer) but was regarding awareness. Based on some of the rants raised here, apparently some people would be extremely surprised at what Nokia does follow. You don't get to be a world leader with close to 40% global market share by misisng every boat. Granted, as a monolithic company Nokia is not always as nimble as it could be but we can see from the Motorola RAZR debacle that this isn't always fatal. Sometimes slow and steady really DOES win the race. We'll see if that translates to the "palmtop" category.