Slashdot Mirror
The $45 Windows Laptop
YokimaSun writes "The search for a cheap laptop has brought us news from India of a $10 laptop (which later turned out to be a hundred dollars). Today PC Gaming News has details of a laptop which is selling for a measly 45 dollars, what do you get for that, you get a netbook running windows embedded compact 7, 128 megs of ram, a via8505 processor and a 7 inch screen capable of 800x480 pixels resolution." I'm still waiting for my under $50 Macbook.
I think you're just trolling. Why would you need more than 128MB to connect to a VM, that'd be a simple dumb terminal... I'm pretty sure dumb terminals at that resolution can run just fine with those specs.
Interesting, and inbelievably cheap - not just becasue of the Windows license fee; no idea how much they pay for that. It's Windows CE so linking to the normal Win7 retail prices doesn't make sense.
OS: Windows CE. Never worked with that, no idea on the interface. Should include a browser, assume IE. But what version for WinCE?
Storage: not mentioned. Is this a "true" netbook as in can only do web browsing and web apps? Price could imply no local storage indeed, other than for the embedded OS. The ebay listing has no details at all. They are selling, shipping US only.
Install other OS? Well if no external storage, good luck with that.
Install applications? No mention about this. No external storage could be an issue there.
Form factor looks like the EEEPC 701 series, that's not too bad. It has a higher screen resolution. I like the overall idea. I'm still regularly using that EEEPC, almost exclusively for web browsing. It's sitting on the dining table, quick to grab, small enough to not be in the way too much, light enough to move around with one hand.
Not only did they get the company wrong, it's not even x86 architecture. VIA 8505 is ARM-based. This isn't even including the fact that it runs Windows CE (aka Windows Embedded Compact), so standard Win32 programs wouldn't run on it, even if compiled for ARM.
See the problem is that Apple doesn't make a Mac for your needs and specs and price. They do sell millions to customers each quarter that fulfills their needs as some people want an Ultrabook. I would venture to say that few of them judge you while you judge them.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
It's easy, just start selecting some extra options such as more RAM or an ssd drive. Admittedly the other manufactures also have a high markup on such upgrades but it's much easier to upgrade these parts yourself. Apple do their best to go against this with helpful features such as hard to open cases, oddly sized storage mounts and glued in memory.
If you choose the cheapest RAM / storage options on a "pc laptop" and buy upgrades elsewhere you not only save a few hundred bucks on manufacturers price but also have a spare drive for backups/whatever and an extra RAM stick to flog on ebay. Given Apple's price markup on upgrades the savings will be even greater for similar specs.
As for the GPs comparison of a 13" XPS vs the MacBook Air, Standard: given that the Air uses a low power Core variant the fact that it has a higher clock speed is meaningless. The XPS will be faster and costs 20% less than the Air.
I used to agree with you until I started scrolling the page with the trackpad. Now I use that way more than I ever used the nub.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)