Lenovo Aims $199 PC At China's Rural Population

athloi writes "Lenovo has announced they are gearing up to sell a basic personal computer for 'China's vast but poor rural market'. The pricetag could be as low as $199. 'The new Lenovo unit will include a processor and a keyboard and will use a buyer's television set as a monitor, Chen said. He said he had no details on the processor size or other features. The new PC goes on sale later this year at prices of 1,499 to 2,999 yuan ($199-$399), Chen said. Lenovo is the world's third-largest PC manufacturer, behind U.S.-based Hewlett Packard Inc. and No. 2 Dell.'"

Comments

I bet you 1 yuan

[UncleWilly]

This looks a lot like the Tandy Color Computer from days of yore.

Re:I bet you 1 yuan

[trolltalk.com]

Thanks for the memories ... I loved my CoCo2 (16k upgraded to 64k ram) - I learned assembler on that old box. When the CoCo 3 came out, with 128k of ram (which I upgraded to 512k + 3 floppy drives + 2 tape drives + multi-io + speech synth + mouse + touchpad + remote electrical control unit, etc., Microware OS9 + RGB monitor yadda yadda yadda, I was one happy camper. People with their early PCs were stunned! True multi-tasking, a graphical environment, multiple console terminals + multiple consoles per screen on both text and graphics, and v and pascal compilers. w00t!

Sometimes the "good old days" really were the "good old days."

Re:I bet you 1 yuan

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably not -- too expensive.

My CoCo was about $599, including 16k of memory and "Extended Basic". Cassette tape recorder and data cable were optional. Now THAT was one Microsoft product that worked!

Yea, right

[Anonymous Coward]

3,000 yuan is like a year's salary for China's poor.

Re:Yea, right

[Culture20]

And beyond that, they'll not have much use for it. Without internet access, a computer is a tool for the middle and upper classes only (unless you think using a computer at home will making rice farming or sweatshop-working better).

Re:Yea, right

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you completely miss which group will benefit from this the most: rural students bound for college. Even in rural communities, most students attempt the college entrance exams. Many are accepted into big universities in big cities. It's quite a big deal, because the village commissions print up and hang banners with the names of the kids from their town who are bound for university.

The ministry of education already dramatically suppresses tuition costs. Even top universities are usually 1,000 yuan per year in tuition, which is within the range of what rural families can afford -- assuming they are not augmenting their income by renting spare rooms out to tourists and urbanites looking for a weekend out of the smog for 150 yuan per night.

The problem is that the schools tend to be very poorly equipped with computers, and the universities expect students to have access to their own. Your average laptop here is priced at 7,000 yuan: more than the cost of a student's entire education. I have known some students from somewhat backwards parts of Anhui who this was a major sticking point for.

Keep in mind most students in college, even those from Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, tend to get money from their parents -- almost 200 to 300 yuan per month without exception. Of course, that is to pay for student meals, etc.

The point is, for these college students, such a low-priced laptop is extremely important news. I would expect these to sell a whole lot. On top of that, Lenovo is a top domestic label and is known for have international-quality customer support, unlike those shady companies down in Shenzhen.

Re:Yea, right

[Anonymous Coward]

urbanites looking for a weekend out of the smog for 150 yuan per night.

150 RMB per night sounds pretty steep to sleep in a cinder block box (if you're lucky) next to the creek of raw sewage.

15 RMB is more like it.

Ugh

[afidel]

Almost all SD TV's make horrible monitors. I'd think you'd be better off with a OLPC from a usability standpoint.

Re:Ugh

[TheSHAD0W]

Not to mention, for US$200 you can get better than an OLPC in processing power, once you discard the display. If they're stuck on getting the price as low as possible, and there are enough TV sets around for people to use them, the proper price point is IMO ~$80.

Re:Ugh

[ScrewMaster]

Horrible is relative, and for someone who doesn't have a computer, and can't afford anything better, a TV is much better than nothing. I started out on an Apple ][ Standard back in 1978-79: 40 column video and we were thrilled to have it, although we eventually upgraded to a monochrome monitor and a Videx 80-column card. Does anyone know the capabilities of China's regular broadcast television standards? I would hope that it would be better than NTSC, something on the order of PAL/SECAM maybe. I just threw my back out and I'm not in the mood to Google it.

Re:Ugh

[fm6]

But the OLPC is designed in the U.S. and made in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Now, the People's Republic of China does trade with both countries (even though it doesn't recognize the existence of the ROC) but importing a "computer for the people" from them is politically unfeasible.

An SD TV makes an OK monitor if you can live with 320x480 4-bit graphics -- and there was a time when many Apple ][ and IBM PC folks did. I'm sure many Szechuan villagers would consider such a setup the epitome of high tech. The problem I see is that nowadays people want computers mainly for connectivity — and making an ultra-cheap PC does nothing to create the necessary infrastructure in China's many rural regions.

Re:Ugh

[Rogerborg]

And have you been frozen in a block of ice since 1979, that your expectations haven't risen?

Re:Ugh

[assantisz]

40 column video and we were thrilled to have it, although we eventually upgraded to a monochrome monitor and a Videx 80-column card.

That's cool and things but do you really think those Lenovos are going to run in text mode with 40 or 80 columns (I grew up with a ZX81 attached to my tiny B&W TV set)? I think not. You might be able to get CGA resolutions (what's that? 320x200?) but the usualy 800x600 on a SD TV screen? That's going to suck royally.

Re:Ugh

[ScrewMaster]

{sigh} why do people persist in ignoring the actual content of a message, and focus instead on whatever detail they can use to deride the other person? If it matters to you, I'm typing this on a dual monitor software development system, so of course my expectations have risen.

Then again, I live in a country where personal computer ownership is near-ubiquitous, where the only people that don't have a personal computer (or more than one) are those who simply don't want one. But if I were a poor Chinese peasant, who has no expectations greater than what I had back in 1978, that TV-based computer might be considered a Godsend. It's all relative, and that TV display is a one Hell of a lot better than nothing.

At the rate China's industry is expanding, I would venture a guess that the people who are the target market for this system will eventually have the opportunity to raise their expectations as well. But that takes time, and you have to start somewhere.

Re:Ugh

[ScrewMaster]

You can generally get a lot more than that. 640x480 is not uncommon for NTSC sets using composite video, and I have a 27" set that will actually run up to 1024x768. Blurry, but readable.

Re:Ugh

[PCM2]

Does anyone know the capabilities of China's regular broadcast television standards? I would hope that it would be better than NTSC, something on the order of PAL/SECAM maybe.

Last I heard, China uses PAL.

Re:Ugh

[TheRaven64]

But the OLPC is designed in the U.S. and made in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Some of the components are made in the PRoC, and the designs are all available royalty-free, so they could use them if they want and produce the machines locally. Alan Kay said he hoped that a lot of countries would do this, and produce their own copies locally, supporting the development of a local technological economy.

An SD TV makes an OK monitor if you can live with 320x480 4-bit graphics Why 4-bit colour? TVs are analogue when it comes to colour, so the limit is the quality of your DAC. 24-bit colour on a TV is certainly feasible. The interlacing means you don't want to be looking at it for too long though.

Re:Ugh

[Dogtanian]

I started out on an Apple ][ Standard back in 1978-79: 40 column video and we were thrilled to have it Yes, but was it uphill both ways?

Re:Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

It's unlikely it'll come with a TV modulator. Tons of graphics card come with TV-out in the form of s-video and you get a decentish picture from that.

Re:Ugh

[fm6]

Why 4-bit colour? TVs are analogue when it comes to colour, so the limit is the quality of your DAC. 24-bit colour on a TV is certainly feasible. The interlacing means you don't want to be looking at it for too long though.

OK, you caught me in a faulty assumption, namely that the limits of those old NTSC-compatible video cards were all due to the limitations of the monitor. (As the pixel resolution certainly is.) But now that I think about it, you must be right, and only having 16 colors must have been a limitation of the video card.

Re:Ugh

[evilviper]

Almost all SD TV's make horrible monitors.

They aren't nearly up to par with monitors, but they are usable. Of course you're limited to 704x480 or 704x576, and the interlacing will cause flickering with smaller fonts. However, if you use large fonts (eg. 24pt or 80x24 text console) it can work just fine.

Just look at any DVRs for an example. I often browse the web on mine, when I want to look up something fairly simple. Though I certainly don't recommend reading text off a TV screen for hours at a time. If you're poor, the lower quality is probably worth the $100 savings over buying a monitor.

Re:Ugh

[Rogerborg]

Did you have a point in there, or were you just telling me your life story? I kind of zoned out after the bit where you claimed to be a poor Chinese peasant.

Re:Ugh

[zenhkim]

> Almost all SD TV's make horrible monitors.

I remember getting my first video card equipped with an NTSC RF output (an ATI 3D Rage Expression) and excitedly plugging it into my 20" TV set.

A few minutes later my eyes were hurting so much I unplugged the TV and hooked up my normal 17" SVGA standby. Damn, what a letdown.... :-(

Re:Ugh

[ozphx]

Mod parent +5 Ownage Against Pedantry now! :P

Not only price but law

[jshriverWVU]

I was under the impression, there was limits on what people could buy in China. A chinese class mate was telling me how you would get slips, that would authorize you the ability to buy 1 computer. But you were limited on how many or what you could buy. So even if you were rich, it wasn't like you could go down to the store and buy 10 computers for a home cluster. Anyone know more on this?

Re:Not only price but law

[suv4x4]

I was under the impression, there was limits on what people could buy in China. A chinese class mate was telling me how you would get slips, that would authorize you the ability to buy 1 computer. But you were limited on how many or what you could buy. So even if you were rich, it wasn't like you could go down to the store and buy 10 computers for a home cluster. Anyone know more on this?

In a capitalism, when stock is limited, prices go up and demand gets lower. In a centralized economy they put you on queue and first-in gets first served. So for some property, yes, you gotta prove you need what you buy (from the bigger stuff, cars, apartments, and in the past computers, I don't know about presently), since the prices are sub-market and the stock is limited.

But China today isn't so black-and-white in terms of the economy model. It's a weird mixture of capitalism and communism.

Plus, this limitation of purchase applies to a person though, not companies. Companies still exist in China and they can make clustered servers for their business without troubles, trust me.

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

That is only true for items with government regulated pricing. The slip allows you to buy a certain items in a set amount and price. It is similar to food stamps and applies mostly to basic necessities.

Re:Not only price but law

[cryfreedomlove]

If you were establishing a new government today, which would you prefer? Capitalism or a centralized economy?

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

Your Chinese classmate is full of shit. The process involves: saving up money, going to the store, giving them money, and then buying it. You also have the option of using a credit card I guess, or buying it online, or buy it second hand.

There's electronic chain stores, mom-and-pop stores, and superstores, that all sell computers. You don't need a slip, and you don't need to register your computer purchase with the government.

Re:Not only price but law

[ajs318]

Definitely some sort of a planned economy. If you give vendors free rein to set the prices of goods, consumers get royally screwed.

Re:Not only price but law

[sakdoctor]

Maybe in soviet Russia you needed a slip authorizing you to buy 1 computer...but not in China.

In at least 3 medium-large cities I visited these amazing 6+ floor computer stores that puts PC world and anything else in the UK to shame. The choice was amazing, from whole computers to obscure parts, which I would expect to have to mail order in the UK. Bags of dirt cheap OEM hard drives, and quality branded RAM.

Bottom line, if you have the cash then anyone, Chinese or otherwise can go and buy a pc, the parts to build a pc, or indeed an entire Beowulf cluster of pcs, and there's no VAT/sales tax. China is more capitalist than 'merica.

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

What are you talking about? There's a huge VAT in China on most technology and luxuries. You're much, much better off buying in Hong Kong, or even better in the US. Maybe you didn't notice because the VAT is assigned before the prices are even shown (unlike America, where the sales tax is added to the cost at the time of purchase), and because those 6-floor computer stores don't have listed prices and specialize in ripping off those who don't know the real price walking in (especially foreigners).

Price generally vary from about 10% higher than US prices, to double the cost of what it would be in the US.

Re:Not only price but law

[E 99]

But China today isn't so black-and-white in terms of the economy model. It's a weird mixture of capitalism and communism.

That's for sure. China itself is far from a centralized economy, although some regions within it may be. Some of the autonomous regions there are more free-market than most Western countries. In the rural provinces, I doubt you'll find the kinds of restrictions you find in the urban areas. You definitely find far more entrepreneurism than you would expect in a "communist country". You also find far less of a "safety net" than you find in Western countries. One of the common struggles in rural families is coming up with tuition to send their kids to school, whereas most Western countries have state-run free schooling.

Re:Not only price but law

[suv4x4]

If you were establishing a new government today, which would you prefer? Capitalism or a centralized economy?

I personally - aspects of both. Running a country at maximum efficiency is complex. No single rule works everywhere. And even when you setup just the right balance, in 5 years the right balance will be elsewhere. So it's complex. Which doesn't mean politicians are very smart, many of them have no clue what they're doing.

Of course I wouldn't limit people to buy cars and apartments if they want to, but centralized economy if done properly has this strange property of lowering crime and fraud, since there's less incentive to have plenty of money, and there are better social services.

Re:Not only price but law

[cryfreedomlove]

That's interesting. Whose job is it to plan the economy? For example, how many sets of golf clubs should be put into the economy each year?

Re:Not only price but law

[YrWrstNtmr]

but centralized economy if done properly has this strange property of lowering crime and fraud

Really? Where, in the last 100 years or so, has it ever been 'done properly'?

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

...and because those 6-floor computer stores don't bother to report their true sales, so they can avoid paying sales tax.

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

Anywhere except America.

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

The tax is a good thing, especially if it could help with educational system. Nevertheless, even after the taxation, it is still cheaper than buying in western countries (excluding promotional items). You are getting ripped off if you have to pay more, beside the real bargain is to negatiate for a 30% price cut (and more if you are a government offical).

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus, your "classmate" was talking about 30-40 years ago. Back then everything was rationed, pork, rice, eggs, cloth, shoes, you name it. Today China is the 2nd largest PC market in the world, bigger than Japan but behind the U.S. Look it up. The media might want to give you certain impression but the numbers don't lie.

Re:Not only price but law

[Anonymous Coward]

>Bottom line, if you have the cash then anyone, Chinese or otherwise
>can go and buy a pc, the parts to build a pc, or indeed an entire
>Beowulf cluster of pcs, and there's no VAT/sales tax.

Sure there is. There is a 6% sales tax if the vendor is deemed a small scale company, and a 17% tax if it is large. If you are a street vendor, it is 4%. What you are seeing is tax evasion.

1981 called

[Anonymous Coward]

They want their VIC-20 back.

It makes me laugh.

[selain03]

It makes me laugh everytime I see someone develop a "cheap" computer with substandard, obsolete technology. The irony is that I can buy a nearly top of the line computer for $199 here in the states. It just takes some smart shopping and rebate forms. Examples:
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/749939/ (laptop for $181 after rebate)
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/749936/ (desktop for $180)

What I'm trying to say is that Fry's should open up a location in rural China.

Re:It makes me laugh.

[bcrowell]

I've bought four or five $180-200 desktops from Fry's without any rebate (not including monitors). They're Great Quality brand, and come with Linux preinstalled. All of them are still running, including the one I bought ca. 2002.

Re:It makes me laugh.

[evilviper]

The irony is that I can buy a nearly top of the line computer for $199 here in the states. It just takes some smart shopping and rebate forms.

You can't count "Rebates", "Sales", "Clearance", etc. They only work because there is a thriving high value market in the US already. It's often a tactic to get their company name out there, or develop consumer demand to get shelf-space in stores. In other words, if there weren't millions of people willing to pay $500+ for a computer, you wouldn't companies taking a loss and dumping old ones at dirt cheap prices. So, it's good to be poor in the US, but it's not a model that can be applied elsewhere.

However, I do share your skepticism at the price of this thing. If no monitor is needed, it would be easy to make a (current, but low-end) PC for just a bit over $100, and have a much better chance in the Chinese market.

So much for M$'s Conquest of China.

[twitter]

It should be obvious, but Bill Gate's victory lap was premature and I told you so.

Re:So much for M$'s Conquest of China.

[keithjr]

Lenovo makes no claim as to what OS goes on this PC. Since MS has promised China Windows XP deals as cheap as $5 I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the end up running.

Old times...

[Tom]

The new Lenovo unit will include a processor and a keyboard and will use a buyer's television set as a monitor The return of the C64. :-)

Re:Old times...

[Larry Lightbulb]

Or is it the return of the C64 v ST wars?

I thought that China was communist.

[AltGrendel]

Why not just have the government give it to them for free?

Re:I thought that China was communist.

[IBBoard]

Maybe because Communism is about sharing the means of production rather than giving everyone everything ;)

Re:I thought that China was communist.

[FudRucker]

communism has several definitions, the government enforced type of communism is more of a totalitarian state definition, i am sure a government enforced communism is only enforced when it is towards the government's advantage like slave labor and taking people's property, (not giving away property)...

Re:I thought that China was communist.

[LainTouko]

China is an authoritarian capitalist state nowadays. That's more or less the opposite of communism.

Re:I thought that China was communist.

[stranger_to_himself]

Why has this been modded troll?

I think its quite a good point. There might be an overall cost benefit anyway, maybe saving in other communications areas or in preventive health or in education if you put these in every household.

Re:I thought that China was communist.

[vidarh]

What gave you the idea that China is or has ever been communist?

And even if they were, why would that imply the government should give them computers for free?

I just bought a 163 pc

[josepha48]

without Hard drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse and OS.

Essentially there is a mini-itx motherboard with a Celeron CPU for $79. CPU included, add 1G memory for $24 and case for $60, and it came to about $160. I can get a hard drive from newegg for dirt cheap and have a Linux PC for under $200.

Yeah, the mini-itx celeron system will not be the fastest and it is certainly not a gaming machine, but for a desktop pc to surf the web and all that, it is pretty cheap. I'm guessing if you include a monitor and mouse / keyboard it would be more, but I have that so, this is a realy cheap deal.

Re:I just bought a 163 pc

[GreggBz]

I'm guessing if you include a monitor and mouse / keyboard it would be more, but I have that so, this is a realy cheap deal.

There is a surplus of used, decent CRT monitors, at least where I live. All the second hand shops have more then they can sell. Now, certainly, this is probably not the case in China, but here I can go to a Salvation Army store and get a 17" CRT for $9. Monitors and mice can be had for a few bucks as well. If I try hard enough, I can get this stuff for free from Work/Friend/Dumpster. Also, monitors are practically given away on craigslist.

strange brew that's also good for you

[Anonymous Coward]

that would be kombucha tea of course.

talk about a world class bargain.

Slave Labor

[Anonymous Coward]

Lenovo has announced they are gearing up to sell a basic personal computer for 'China's vast but poor rural market'. The pricetag could be as low as $199.

Chinese workers could build it cheaper themselves.

Not worth it

[OfficialReverendStev]

Um... seems to me that I can go to Newegg and put together a fairly kick-ass computer (certainly when compared to what Lenovo seem to be offering) for ~$400US. At least OLPC seems worth the price tag, considering what you get. In this case it sounds like a total rip-off. Unless that $399 machine has some really impressive specs (how can it if it plugs into a freaking TV?) this idea blows. Especially when it's marketed toward those with a lower income who will want to get the most possible for their money.

Hell, if there are rural Chinese people who are willing to drop $400 on a pc give them my phone number. I'll build them something a hell of a lot better than this.

Re:Not worth it

[eln]

Where did you get $399 from? The summary clearly states it's $199. Even $199 is probably well out of reach for your average Chinese farmer, though. Of course, so is most of the stuff they're likely to find on Newegg.

Re:Not worth it

[IBBoard]

No, the summary clearly states:

The new PC goes on sale later this year at prices of 1,499 to 2,999 yuan ($199-$399), Chen said.

Never mind RTFA, it's a RTFS ;)

I'd agree that even $199 is probably too expensive for many Chinese farmers, though.

Re:Not worth it

[OfficialReverendStev]

Thank you, you beat me to the reply and then even made the second point that I forgot to make more clearly in my first post. In fact, please allow me to sharpen the point more: do you really think that a computer is really the best use of $199 to $399 for a "poor, rural Chinese" person?

It's one thing for a government to buy laptops for severely under-priviledged kids in Africa. At least the kids aren't spending their own money which could be better-spent on food, medicine, clean water, etc. But to think that somebody described as "poor" in China could even afford $199 for a computer is crazy. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Chinese_social _structure#Chinese_Social_Stratification_after_199 3:

An October 2002 official report showed that, in 2001, the annual income per capita of urban residents was 6860 yuan (US$825), and of peasants 2366 yuan (US$285). On the surface, the gap is three to one. However, 40 percent of peasants' income is in goods, not currency, so the currency is only 1800 yuan/year (US$217) or 150 yuan/month (US$18). Of this 150 yuan, 20 percent must be spent for seed, agricultural chemicals, chemical fertilizers, diesel oil, and so on. As a result, the monthly purchasing power of a peasant is only 120 yuan (US$14)...

That computer would cost the equivalent of more than 14 months of income if they never bought anything else during that time, and that's the cheap model.

1975

[Anonymous Coward]

Your class mate must be talking about 1975. I was born in 1976 in China, never heard such "slips" for computers.

Re:1975

[Anonymous Coward]

ching chang chong?

Heh...

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Sell cheap PCs to poor Chinese requiring TV for viewing
2. Poor Chinese' eyesite deteriorates due to horrible readability of text on a TV
3. Open large eyeglass manufacturer
4. Profit!!!!!

Re:Heh...

[thatskinnyguy]

With the added expense of a TV, these systems aren't exactly going to be $200 now are they? Just a reminder: a system is all the parts working together to make something that is useful.

Re:Heh...

[Raistlin77]

Well of course they are assuming that those who would by the system either already have or can afford to buy a TV.

c64 with a touchpad here we come

[Anonymous Coward]

.... USD$199 is expensive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64

This sounds more like ...

[MitchInOmaha]

... the return of IBM's PC Jr. than the C64 or Tandy's CoCo. -- Mitch

Re:This sounds more like ...

[berashith]

everyone is forgetting about the Atari 800XL ... mine even had a tape drive!

Re:This sounds more like ...

[Jherek Carnelian]

everyone is forgetting about the Atari 800XL ... mine even had a tape drive! Anyone who had an atari 410 tape drive has already done their best to forget that experience!

Re:This sounds more like ...

[berashith]

100k on a 60 minute tape, and 600 baud... yup, I forgot all about it too !

errhhhh , orrhhhh , orrhhhh, errrhhhh, errhhhhh

Re:This sounds more like ...

[Aokubidaikon]

Bah. Tape drives are for wussies.
You haven't lived until you've made your own punch cards.

Re:Old times... the C64

[couch_warrior]

The Commodore 64 was a landmark in personal computing, I had one tricked out with hard drive, printer, modem (for BBS - there was no internet), Z-80 co-processor to run CPM. C-compiler, Pascal Compiler, and a big stack of game cartridges... When the IBM PC came out I didn't see how it could compete with the vastly superior C64 - groan-

bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a load of crap. You aren't buying a laptop for $181. You're buying a laptop $459.93 and almost $500 in software. Then you have to jump through fucking hoops and try to cash in on 23 rebates and HOPE you get your $755 in rebates back. You're an idiot if you think that's worth the risk. And then when half your rebates never show up you're out that money.

He who laughs

[fm6]

The irony is that I can buy a nearly top of the line computer for $199 here in the states.

Well, you won't get a good gaming or media computer for that much. But if all you want is a basic web-surfing/word processing beast, then even $200 is too much, unless you insist on something that's brand new.

But do remember that projects like the OLPC are not just trying to make cheap computers. They're trying to make systems that will be usable in areas with very bad infrastructure: no reliable power, no real network access, no computer repair shop down at the mall (no mall), and harsh conditions that would quickly destroy a standard PC with dust and heat.

Re:Old times... the C64

[ImaLamer]

No, I'd say the TI-99 holds the title for landmark; essentially the same type of machine being introduced today, but ahead of the C-64 by a few years. I wish I could get it out for nostalgia's sake, but my brother took a hammer to it years ago.

China already has cheaper PC's

[John Sokol]

Gold Leopard King GLK has computers the are selling all over Asia, from China to India.
  These PC retail for the equivalent of $5 US!
  There is only a single chip in a cartridge the rest is just buttons and interconnect, no chips. They have at least 15 models that I have seen.
  They support printers, modems, a mouse, and supports 100 of video games from perfect clones of most Atari 2600, and early Nintendo like Mario Brothers.

  I have been trying to track down this company, there products are in shops everywhere, but there is no Address, website or any information on how to contact the company.
  Even the shop owners don't know how to contact them because there are just people that come around selling then to the shops.

    Model numbers look like GLK-6102, GNC-1133, GLK-5002, GLK-1119, GLK-2012,GLK 98, GLK 1339, GLK 5002
    They also seem to come under many other brand names, and make lower end game clones that are sold here in the US, and even in Walmart China.

    With a little bit more work, they would be able to add a web browser and many other cool apps.
    I would really like to get in touch with this company.

Here is an example:
http://famiclone.emucamp.com/goldleopardking/glk.h tm
http://www.museo8bits.com/famiclones.htm
http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/famiclones/gold _leopard_king.htm
http://n-europe.com/special.php?sid=retro3&page=2

This is really just ....

[kwandar]

a updated version of the Commodore Vic-20 or the Atari 400/800 systems. Similar price point, and the market in China is 25 years behind North America,so it makes sense

Re:This is really just ....

[Anonymous Coward]

That is silly. If it doesn't get on the web or run a modern GUI, it won't sell shit. It'll without doubt be just the same as every other PC, only slower, and the marketing will emphasize the option of hooking up a TV. Pretty much every modern computer does that anyway, it's just a matter of how it's marketed.

China has more users on the Internet than the US, I'm not sure how China is 25 years behind.

But, but, Proffit Gates says so!

[twitter]

Almost all SD TV's make horrible monitors. I'd think you'd be better off with a OLPC from a usability standpoint.

You can go back and forth with this, bashing OLPC. Of course people are better off with OLPC and Gates will think of some reason he hates this thing, which answers his previous complaints, because it's not going to run Windoze.

Rather cheap...

[Krojack]

So does this mean that computers can be made and sold this cheap and the company still makes money? Either the computer is a total POS or computers can be made cheap now.

If the buyer has the money then sell him the product for more. Sounds like the $5,000 hammer the US government buys.

How about all those "recycled" monitors

[pentalive]

That we have been sending to China. If they had stockpiled a few of them they would have cheap monitors to go with their .1k$ computers.

Cheap PCs for China

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks like cheap computers for China is going to become a crowded market. There's at least two manufacturers creating Loongson-based machines for the same market (cheap, can use a TV for display). Lenovo and other regular PC-makers have the advantage in that the users can use pirated Windows and Windows software, but on the other hand it's possible that the Linux-based Loongson machines will be subsidised by the government. Personally I just hope that the price will stay at the same level if the machines become available outside China too.

Still a few months salary

[Billly Gates]

The poor in China have these great manufactoring jobs because Mexicans and Latin Americans were viewed upon as too expensive because of $.33 an hour vs $.11 cents in China.

The middle class already can afford a pc. However I do admit the Chinese are very frugal and save rather than spend their hard earned money. Its fustrating many economists.

Re:Still a few months salary

[ScrewMaster]

Well, they should just ship George W. over there. Maybe he can convince them to (ahem) "stimulate their economy" by spending all their hard-earned money on U.S. made products, just like he wants us to spend all of our savings to buy Chinese-made products.

I think he frustrates economists too.

You mean like they did in 1998?

[JoeCommodore]

The Commodore 64 WebIt a 486 laptop bottom half with Windows 3.1 and a pre-loaded 64 emulator.

BBTS

[Anonymous Coward]

Better buy them soon. The Chinese economy has about 9 years left in it before it collapses.

PCs are now cheaper than free

[ChrisA90278]

Here in the US working PCs are free. Or even less than free. A while back a loaded a pickup truck with old computers, CRTs and some printers and scanners and took them to a recycle facility. I effect I paid someone to take them off my hands. Today I still have a couple working computers that are powered down and in storage. I tried giving this stuff to a school (my daughter is in 3rd grade) but the school has a "minimum standard" that they will accept. Basically if it's not a 2Ghz Pentium with a good sized hard drive and monitor and CD/DVD they don't want it. The school has to haul of their old stuff to be recycled too.

So anyone who wants a three or four year old PC can have on for the asking. and if they work it right can have hundreds of them. All of these are usable and better then the using a TV set for a monitor.

Re:PCs are now cheaper than free

[jez9999]

So anyone who wants a three or four year old PC can have on for the asking. and if they work it right can have hundreds of them.

Do you have any CRT monitors with a D-sub15 port on the back of them? This is as opposed to the CRTs that have a permenantly attached video cable. I hate those permenantly attached cables; if they break, the whole CRT has to be chucked. With the detatchable ones, you can just replace the cable.

A nice added side-effect is that the CRTs with such ports tend to be very high quality and often include BNC connector ports too!

So anyway, I'd like to take any CRTs off your hands that have D-sub15 ports in the back. :-)

And in just a few days...

[CXI]

I'm sure they'll all be running Spam@Home

That might be $1 x 100 million business

[humaniverse]

People may laugh on this cheap PC. But they forgot the population effect of China. China has already been the No.1 in the world on the number of web surfacer, mobile user and PC user. Those counts mostly in urban area only. NOT YET the rural area with more than 80% of its population. And they eagerly require something like this. Even they make tiny profit say $1 on every single item, they will hurt their finger to count the money they made. And the PC may be equipped self-made CPU with Linux which will be the huge boost to its chip manufacturing.

Wal*Mart suppliers @Home

[gelfling]

Now Wal*Mart can charge their own suppliers what we are charged.

TV instead of a monitor?

[AmiMoJo]

Welcome to the wonderful world of 50Hz flicker.

I spent many years with a 50Hz monitor, back in the Amiga days. Now I can`t stand anything less than 80Hz.

Re:TV instead of a monitor?

[adisakp]

Welcome to the wonderful world of 50Hz flicker.

I spent many years with a 50Hz monitor, back in the Amiga days. Now I can`t stand anything less than 80Hz.

60 Hz (or 50Hz PAL) isn't so bad. After all, most people can stare at a TV for several hours a day without noticing any flicker. The problem with the Amiga displays was mainly due to interlace without a vertical interlace filter to reduce high frequency artifacts.

The interlacing meant that a single pixel was only updated at 30Hz (or 25Hz PAL) -- ie. two output fields (60Hz) per frame (30Hz). The lack of a multi-line interlace filter meant that a single-pixel-high line output of white on a black background would flicker horribly since every other field would output a black or white line at that point in the refresh.

As for monitors persistance is as important as refresh rates. If you have slow moving images, a very low refresh rate with rather high persistance works fine (like LCD's at 60 Hz) but for games and moving images, high refresh rates with lower persistance ends up being much better (and avoids trailing artifacts like you'd see on high-persistance CRT's or LCD's).

Re:TV instead of a monitor?

[AmiMoJo]

It's got nothing to do with interlace - in fact the default resolution for the Amiga Workbench was 640x256 non-interlaced, and almost every game was 320x256 (or 320x200 for NTSC).

The problem is that, unlike a TV where the viewer is usually sat at considerable distance viewing large, moving images, when working at a computer you sit close to the screen and for practical reasons need to read relatively small text. The standard Amiga font was 8x8 pixels.

You wouldn't want to work on a screen like that for long periods. TVs often don't have particularly good horizontal resolution either, or are intentionally not very sharp to deal with poor quality over-the-air broadcasts.

Considering $100 can get you a laptop with LCD screen... even a CRT would be better.

Re: Uphill both ways

[billstewart]

Depends on whether the vertical hold was adjusted correctly....

Last time I displayed computer output on a TV was around 1995. It wasn't intentional - I was visiting my parents, and the signal from my laptop showed up on their TV. It wasn't quite in sync - there were about three copies of part of the text, scrolling slowly vertically. But it was semi-readable, and was definitely enough to answer the discussions about "so can you avoid TEMPEST eavesdropping by using a laptop?" I suspect the leakage was coming from the CRT port on the back of the PC, as opposed to from the LCD monitor electronics.

Yawn

[frisket]

> will use a buyer's television set as a monitor

BTDT 25 years ago. Good then; non-starter nowadays.

bad deal

[Anonymous Coward]

What a rip-off. Medison is selling a whole laptop for $150.

http://www.medisoncelebrity.com/product.html

Not a bad deal if you think about it...

[voss]

The market for this computer is not for people with SDTV's but EDTV's (480p)
A 720x480p tv set with component video would make a perfectly acceptable computer monitor
for people without a lot of money.

Post digital switchover most small cheap tv sets will be 480p not 1080 or 720.

XP? no way.

[twitter]

Lenovo makes no claim as to what OS goes on this PC. Since MS has promised China Windows XP deals as cheap as $5 ....

There is no version of Windows that runs comfortably in the quarter VGA that SD TV is. WinCE and friends have a chance, but are feature and application poor compared to embedded gnu/linux.

Re:XP? no way.

[Anonymous Coward]

Turn off Luna on XP, and it falls back on ye olde Windows 95 theme. That theme was designed for VGA (640x480) screens. A standard-definition television should be able to resolve 640x480 clearly, as long as the encoding hardware doesn't suck. "QVGA" (320x240) is sub-SDTV quality, and is only useful on handheld devices (PDAs, smartphones, game consoles, etc.)

Re: Uphill both ways

[MichaelSmith]

definitely enough to answer the discussions about "so can you avoid TEMPEST eavesdropping by using a laptop?"

LOL

Luxury item ?

[Yvanhoe]

Isn't it still a bit expensive ? What is the average income of a rural Chinese ?

Re:Luxury item ?

[yongshunz]

The average income of chinese people was just over $2500 in 2007.
about $300 with the rural people in china.

Re:XP? no way.

[Anonymous Coward]

SDTV is not 'quarter VGA'. VGA falls well within SDTV which has a current maximum resolution of 704x480. As someone else pointed out quite rightly, Win95 was designed to run in 640x480, so there'll be no issue at all.

Re:XP? no way.

[jb.hl.com]

Me, my Windows 2000 running laptop with a TV-out and my television all disagree with you.

Re: Uphill both ways

[ozphx]

Yeah when I was 8 I tuned into to dad's spreadsheets on the old Amstrad 1512 using an old TV. That earned me a lecture about privacy.

If only we'd seen the potential in this I'd be a world famous hacker :P