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HP Thailand Sells $450 Linux Laptop
greyrax writes "The revolution has begun! Seems that the Thailand branch of HP is selling Linux-based laptops for $450. The government of Thailand is now talking to Dell Thailand about a similar arrangement."
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When did HP buy Thailand? What's next? MS Canada?
What kind of laptops? How many of these were they selling (as many as people would buy or a fixed number)? Can Anyone buy one? Can I buy one over the internet? Would I want to buy one? The list goes on. Anyone have any links to know the answers to any of these questions?
$450? I somehow doubt this is a particularly excellent piece of hardware. I mean, even accounting for the "M$ tax" as it were (which is negligible when applied in bulk OEM licenses anyway) and considering that it's difficult to find a decent laptop for under $800... well, I think this is kinda fishy.
All the posturing and buying senators that Microsoft can do in the US, and Europe will have no effect when China, and India come online in a big way. Especially for governments suspicious of Windows, and the possibility of backdoors.
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Hmm now that's what caught my eye. I believe they said
This could get interesting... I know Wal-Mart sells headless Linux boxes for $200 but the only people that buy them are guys who already run Linux. The support could persuade a LOT more people into using Linux.
VIVE LA REVOLUTION!
... better put freedom in there somewhere to make it okay ...
Ohhh crap, I'm gonna get flamed
VIVE FREEDOM REVOLUTION!
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Witty or funny here...but you know what, that is just a helluva deal. You don't find that many Linux based portables as it is, and finding one at this price would be great.
Now how about spreading the love to those of us in U.S.?
The revolution has begun!
Shoot. . . I work for the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. . . should I be concerned?
Cnet.com has the specifications on the laptop.
800MHz Intel Celeron processor
128MB of RAM
20GB hard disk
It's about bloody time.
This is what linux is best for, after all - low cost hardware made to run just as fast as the new stuff via the application of a good, stable, OS. Also the fact that this allows HP to cut M$ out of the picture completely. An OS is really the only computer component that can be had free, and I see no reason why this couldn't be done on this side of the ocean.
How long before Walmart (a company that I usually loathe) starts selling a super-low-cost lindows laptop? I'd sure buy it! (Or have they released one already?)
(-:Stephonovich:-)
"Who needs reincarnation when we've got parallel universes?" -Me
Yeah, my work day is done.
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Yeah, they could call it the Thaibook!
Sorry...
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
...as long as you're a good Thaipist. ducks
I just bought an HP notebook a few months ago (here in the U.S., where I couldn't avoid the M$ tax). Since then I've seen another HP notebook with a faster Athlon and bigger hard disk (40 gig vs. 30 gig) for the same $850 I paid. Considering that HP will build the systems with 20, 30 or 40 gig drives, will put a 14.5 inch rather than a 15 inch screen, give a choice of CPU, and will sell it with a DVD drive rather than the DVD/CDRW drive I got, it certainly makes sense that you can get a decent Linux notebook for this price, although I would expect a 40 gig version with a DVD/CDRW drive and a hot processor to certainly be more. But HP could well sell decent notebooks here at that price too if they dropped the M$ tax.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
The government of Thailand is the real force behind this move. That is an interesting development, has Microsoft ever taken on a government before? (I'm kidding) I wonder who has more cash?
The fact that Linux has no licensing fee does give these machines a competitive advantage, especially if the user intends on puchasing a pirated copy of Windows. In fact, this government-sponsored initiative also gives an advantage to the software pirates, i.e., it gives them a new market. Hmm, is this a good idea? Is there any fair way to avoid this? Or is it that Microsoft creates their own disadvantage here by way of their licensing policies and fees?
The bulk of the TCO for these machines is assumed to be end user support. Really? If you install a kernel especially suited to the hardware on the laptop, I'd think support would be down. I've struggled very hard with Linux (Debian and Slackware) over the years, but it's always been over hardware issues. Once I learnt enuff Perl to do stuff, use of the Linux environment has been natural and intuitive for me.
In Windows, I am still a stranger in a strange land. I still can't get Windows to do what I want it to do on a regular basis, but hardware setup is usually pretty smooth. If I had been wise enough to ask someone smarter than I to build my kernel for each Linux box I have deployed, I would have spent WAY less time and money on support for them compared to the Windows machines. Is my experience so unique as to be counter to the conventional wisdom? How did the Thai Ministry conclude that they must anticipate higher support costs?
The best way to do is to be.
Right you are, according to this CNet article:
The government is subsidizing the cost of the hardware...
Sorry folks, I don't think the Thai government is going to pony up for the rest of us.
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
Wow, $50 profit per laptop! Lesse, I could probably stuff a couple dozen into my luggage (have to pad the luggage well, of course, as luggage handlers are not typically gentle). So 24*$50=$1200! That's almost enough for airfare one way! Here I come, Thailand...
"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right." -
Do they have a two headed display?
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
My rights don't need management.
I work in HP support, we cover shipping both ways. The user never has to pay a dime for it unless they want it overnight.
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and I was thinking of visiting Thailand too. They'd better not stamp a EULA on my passport.
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As a loving owner of some Via processors let me say that I wouldn't let that stop you. They compete well against an equivilant speed of Celeron processor and run cooler and quieter. I have a lot of different CPUs running around my lan and the via are my current favorites.
:)
For a fun project you could buy a cheap lcd monitor and a mini-itx mobo with via cpu and build your own laptop. It'd be pretty easy to remove the monitor from it's case and then you'd just have to make a new case, add a dc-dc power converter, some ram, a hdd, and you prefered input devices. The only hard part would be making your own case.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
That's fine. The PHB's companies can keep spending an extra few million a year on software. That makes life easier for all their competition that is smart enough to accept the savings. :)
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
hardware setup is usually pretty smooth
Case in point:
We just got some new desktops for the office. None had OS as we were replacing old gear.
I installed, redhat 9, on mine, networked it with my old box, set up an scp to transfer by home dir, went for coffee. Applied all os patches from rhn, installed the nvidia drivers, so I can play quake. Done, total time ~3 hours.
The competition?
Day 1: Installed win2k, had some issue with license key, hunted around for key, gave up, went to warez. Finished install. Unable to connect to network, checked dhcp server, no issue, read news groups.
Second day - Found alternate network driver, got network running, spent rest of day looking for install disks and more keycodes.
And so on... nobody else has been able to switch their computers yet, its been a week, and their new machines are just sitting there.
Yeah, windows is easier to install, sure...
Somewhere around here I have a compaq contura aero.. a whopping 486sx/33 with 4megs of ram. Sub standard sub sized screen that can't be used in the light of day, sub notebook.
In about 1993 or so, it was one among many sub $1000 notebook computers... pretty spiffy back then. I think I paid like $250 or mine at some point, as it was a 486 sx after all.
In 2003, it is a hunk of junk, not worth my bother and effort to get more ram to make a basic linux install bearable, but never the less the unit did have some charm to it at the time.
But I saw the areo being a good thing, dispite it obvious flaws. While it didn't change the world, it was indeed an afordable laptop.
This is the problem that I see with any sorta budget solution, esp with laptops. A simple lack of standardization tends to make them not nessicarly the best option in the PC world. Though, goverment sponcered involement in actually laying down the specifications for a people's laptop could actually change this, i'd hope.
While yes a celeron 800 is indeed substantal, there will always been a need to upgrade at some point, if Thailand actually thought about this, and actually demanded future expantion in the form of motherboard removal and replacement, I can see this as being increadabily cool. Dispite the fact that my laptop has it's issues, i'd invest a few bucks in a motherboard upgrade if it was a viable option, dispite it crappy sub sized screen.
The linux side of things, well i'm not all that sure it will pan out the way we expect. Older slashdot artical said something about the "war" between microsoft and linux, and in cases where it looks like microsoft might loose to linux, they would give away licenses. Don't get me wrong, I hope that Thailand would beable to say to the world, "Fuck you, we don't pirate anymore, we're using this free thing over here".
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Why is it so hard to imagine that users will simply just use whatever comes with the machine? As long as it works, and even if it occasionally crashes or doesn't work in some way (eg, the long sordid history of a certain monopoly vendor)., they'll probably never bother to go to the considerable trouble to reformat and install 'doze.
Especially since the machine doesn't include a cdrom or floppy drive.
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Actulally, this is the project by Thai government offered to Thai citizen who can not afford buying the computer at current market price. It is limited to one computer per household only. (you must show them supported documents, eg. the house registration, ID, etc)
2) Notebook 19500 Baht (VIA 800MHz, 128MB Ram, 20GB Harddisk, 10.4"TFT, speakers,fax/modem,fast ethernet, no floppydisk & CDrom)
The buyer can buy at full price (cash) or via financing service offered by government's bank (24 months @~1000 baht/month for notebook and 490 Baht/month for Desktop)
Current specs:
1) Desktop 10900 Baht(Celeron 1.0 GHz, 128MB Ram, CDRom, 20GB Harddisk,15"monitor,speakers,keyboard,fax/modem)
The desktop will be manufactured by ~12 Local Brand suppliers while the notebook is currently manufactured by HP (OEM by HP sell with brand ICT) and the government is negotiating with other manufacturer.
All computers will be sold under brand "ICT" not HP or anything else.
I hope this should clear up some confusion.
"I'm not a flamer, really i'm not. Why is it that all these forign governments are all looking into linux? I believe BSD would serve a government better. Yes i'm on linux now, it allows a lot more fiddling and customizing, but linux is just too open for secure government type settings. Is "Linux" still on a buzz word high??"
"PS, i realise a lot of people reading this have no knowledge of BSD, please keep that in mind when writing replies. And for the BSDers, OpenBSD."
Doesn't your PS answer your original question? There are now many more people out there who know Linux than know the various BSDs, if the situations were switched you'd probably have the opposite result.
If you can pick up a pirated version of XP on the market, next to the durians, for $3, how much of a price advantage does Linux have?
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