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

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:I thought that China was communist.

[IBBoard]

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

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.

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: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.

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: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.