Finally! Notebooks become affordable.
The shape of things to come?
As computers became more and more powerful, it was more and more apparent that there was a particular price point that all manufacturers seemed to settle upon – a $600-$1200 range. I can only imagine these prices somehow correlated to labor and fixed costs.
However, when it comes to notebooks (with the exception of college students who live out of their laptop for TV, DVDs, and music) most use them for writing documents, email, and some internet research. It became apparent that the power under the keyboard was more than needed and computer power equals higher prices. Generally, notebooks became more powerful so that they could handle the operating system and feel responsive. With Linux, the need for ever increasing power to cope with the OS is no longer necessary.
Finally, the affordable notebooks are coming to market. Dell, HP, and Acer all are introducing mini-notebooks (competing with Asus’ EeePC) that can provide internet access and word processing capabilities for under $500. Although Dell has not yet made an announcement, hopefully it will be a Linux machine with short boot times. Acer has developed a customized linux that “will boot in 15 seconds compared to minutes for Windows.”
The market for Windows is definitely diminishing. Vista, the OS on the computer upon which this post is written, is a pig – slow, unresponsive, and obtrusive. Ultra Mobile PCs can’t afford to be so hindered – even if we are talking about XP. UMPCs will therefore likely be the platform for linux. Also, because UMPCs must be inexpensive, the cost of a Microsoft operating system is prohibitive.
I suppose it is linux and the ability to leave Microsoft licensing behind that has finally made UMPCs possible. Asus proved that – lets hope that Dell and HP bring honorable efforts to the market. HP has already dropped the ball by offering only one UMPC under $500 and their custom UMPCs don’t run linux. The only reason I would consider purchasing a UMPC for more that $500 is if all the components are manufactured in the United States (I am so tired of subsidizing Chinese communism).
If Dell does it right they will have many Sub-$400 UMPCs with options for linux and 802.11n wireless. No doubt some will want XP and slow wireless, but the key to success is options.
This brings up another business axiom:
Give the customer what he wants, not what you think he should want.
Update:
Another blogger on the ComputerWorld site has similar thoughts and they are good enough to share.
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