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

Yea, right

[Anonymous Coward]

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

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

[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

[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.

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.

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.

1975

[Anonymous Coward]

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

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:This sounds more like ...

[berashith]

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

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.

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

Re:I thought that China was communist.

[LainTouko]

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

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.