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Android will attack the low cost notebook market.Intel CEO Paul Otellini recently said that touchscreen PCs could start selling for as little as $200 sometime in the next few months, though it's tough to imagine a Windows 8-based machine carrying such a low price tag. That's because they probably won't. Instead of Windows 8, most of these affordable PCs will be laptop machines built around Google's open source Android platform.
That information comes straight from Dadi Perlmutter, Intel executive vice president and chief product officer, who told CNET that the $200 Android laptops will run mobile Atom hardware inside. The question is, will Microsoft try to compete with Android in the $200 space?
"We have a good technology that enables a very cost-effective price point," Perlmutter told CNET, adding that whether or not Windows 8 PCs will go that low ultimately "depends on how Microsoft prices Windows 8." Perlmutter's hunch is that they'll be slightly higher.
As to the Android notebooks, details are nearly non-existent at this point, though it's likely they'll take advantage of the convertible form factor so they can be used as either a laptop or tablet, as user needs dictate.
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vrmlbasic
April 27, 2013 at 11:53am
If the specs on this are decent, and I can install the vastly-superior-for-my-needs Windows OS on it, I might get this to fill my small-laptop needs.
wumpus
April 27, 2013 at 7:59am
A quick check shows that chromebooks are available for $250, have celerys or dual A15s and your choice of SSD or 320G mechanical drives (the SSDs are tiny, but don't expect OS+apps to take significant amounts of space. This isn't the kludgy land of windows). Some of them (at least one with dual A15s and SSD) are unlockable to put chrubuntu on.
The marketing strategy is interesting. Either they actually think they can dominate android (otherwise why introduce it to a market they already own) or they are trying to beat down the Microsoft tax and give the market they own (notebooks) a chance to compete with places they don't (androidland). I'm betting it is all about Microsoft and that android on a notebook isn't worth bothering with.
comoncents
April 26, 2013 at 9:47pm
I wish someone would ask the actual users what they want.
For Windows users, we would not have Windows 8 without a desktop hook at install. Would we? If nothing else, it would shut up all the detractors and might have sold some new beige boxes.
For Chromebook users, we would have not seen the inability to print. Come on guys, what were you thinking??? Even my grandma wants to print out recipes.
Every "for profit" hates Linux "for free" so what can you say there?
So maybe Android is the answer... At least this guy thinks so.
lindethier
April 26, 2013 at 5:35pm
Meh, I think the sub $400 computer market needs to die. It makes the general public believed that they can spend hardly anything on a device and expect it to have the speed that would more likely be associated with a machine costing over twice that.
That is when the customer calls come in complaining that their latest PC from Walmart is slow and then just associate the crappy performance with PCs in general.
winmaster
April 26, 2013 at 1:59pm
I wouldn't mind this. Snag a free Windows license from school and I have a $200 computer to carry around with me.
DeltaFIVEengineer
April 26, 2013 at 11:59am
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't someone proclaim netbooks to be a dying form factor?
Paul_Lilly
April 26, 2013 at 3:58pm
There have been a couple of recent stories on netbooks that you might be thinking of: IHS iSuppli recently predicted there would be no more netbooks beyond 2015; prior to that story, I wrote a piece titled "The Netbook Isn't Dead, It's Just Evolved" based on a Digitimes report.
j_j_montez
April 26, 2013 at 9:52am
I think I would be able to do more on one of these Android netbooks than on a Chromebook. For $200, if it had an unlocked BIOS (unlike the Chromebooks), upgradeable RAM and storage, and possible a replaceable battery, I'd be down.
PCLinuxguy
April 26, 2013 at 8:35am
this seems a little dumb to me, considering the Chromebook is perfect for that price point and features. If I'm going to tote around a netbook sized device (10 inch screen) i'd rather get an android tablet with a keyboard dock. I'll get better battery life and it'll be easier in the long run.
AFDozerman
April 26, 2013 at 8:27am
The exects at MS must have been shitting in their pants like crazy for the last few months. An OS that most people are dissing, a failed attempt at a tablet that must have cost them millions, mobile phones and tablets eating everything from every direction, alternative, already popular OSes becoming avaliable in already standard formfactors and a new console that looks like it'll flop before it hits. I almost feel sorry for them, and then I remember that they're Microsoft.
