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HP Thailand Sells $450 Linux Laptop

Posted by michael on from the tco dept.

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."

9 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. Woah, HP Thailand? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    When did HP buy Thailand? What's next? MS Canada?

  2. Hehe by Ignorant+Aardvark · · Score: 5, Funny

    VIVE LA REVOLUTION!

    Ohhh crap, I'm gonna get flamed ... better put freedom in there somewhere to make it okay ...

    VIVE FREEDOM REVOLUTION!

    --
    Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
  3. the revolution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The revolution has begun!

    Shoot. . . I work for the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. . . should I be concerned?

  4. Specifications by Captain+Pooh · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cnet.com has the specifications on the laptop.

    800MHz Intel Celeron processor

    128MB of RAM

    20GB hard disk

  5. Obligatory *really* bad pun by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 5, Funny
    I heard that Mr. Gates was fit to be Thai'd when he heard about this...

    Yeah, my work day is done.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  6. The Thai keyboard isn't a problem... by MerryGoByeBye · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...as long as you're a good Thaipist. ducks

  7. Re:Hmmmm. by steve_l · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Big hardware costs in a laptop are display, HDD and CD (say $25) /floppy ($5), plus CPU and memory.

    a pure linux laptop can get away with a lower power CPU, less HDD and by the CNET report, the CD. That leaves display.

    The nice thing is that not only can they get rid of the MS tax, but they can include a full suite of tools: gimp, OpenOffice.org, evolution, and at a price point that you cannot do legally with a windows box (of course, you can get all the windows stuff illegally at discount rates in Asia: Redhat CDs sell for the same as Windows Server CDs, $5 or so).

    The interesting thing is the network effect: if lots of people start to use linux distros, then it makes sense for even people with $$ to use it, offices to use it, etc, as it is what everyone will understand. And if one developing country follows the Open Source path, it can set an example to others.

    Something to watch, perhaps.

  8. I really like the IDC quote... by pjrc · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...where Byran Ma is quoted saying:

    What you've got is a blank canvas in which the user can paint any color he wishes whether that's officially licensed Microsoft software or pirated software.

    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.

    --
    PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
  9. Re:It's about time. by Fizzlewhiff · · Score: 5, Funny

    You misspelled Debian...

    Relax, it was just a Thaipo.

    --

    'Same speed C but faster'