|
Cheap Compact Laptops Changing The Computer Market |
|
|
|
|
Written by Webmaster
|
|
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 |
By Sebastian Marders
 In the year 2005, Nicholas Negroponte had a vision: To educate people living in third world countries who had no access to computers by introducing an affordable model that would cost only one hundred dollars each. He wanted to bridge the gap in terms of education and computer literacy between developed countries and those in the less developed countries through this initiative. The program was called One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and the computer built for this purpose was a mini notebook named OLPC XO.
Computer maker Asus was the first company to realize the huge potential sales of cheap laptops like that of the OLPC program. A cheap laptop that people could carry around easily was their primary goal. They started the mini notebook / subnotebook / netbook phenomenon with the introduction of their first model along these lines.
The Asus Eee PC 700 series debuted in the fall of 2007 with a retail price of around two hundred forty five dollars. It had simple specifications: a two gig hard drive, ram of 256 MB and
Linux operating system. Sales of this model were decent with around 300,000 sold worldwide in the first year.
As months went by, they introduced upgrades to the line by adding models which had larger hard drives, built in webcams, wireless networking and bluetooth, higher ram and Windows Xp models. Though prices of these newer models had increased, they were still cheaper in price compared to the standard laptops.
Another reason why they did so well with sales is the introduction of exciting new colors for their casing targeted at the teenage and female segment of the portable computer market. Easy to learn, easy to work and easy to play is what Eee in Asus Eee PC stands for.
Seeing how well these models were selling, large computer manufacturers like Hewlett Packard, Lenovo and Dell also introduced their own cheap subnotebook lines. Almost every computer manufacturer nowadays has their own version of cheap subnotebooks with the most expensive models costing around six hundred dollars max. Most of these cheap subnotebooks use an Intel Atom chip as its CPU which has speeds comparable to that of the Intel Celeron M chip.
The draw of these subnotebooks is their portability, price and the ability to connect to wireless networks all over the world. With schools pushing for computer literacy for all its students, these subnotebooks fill that need because of their affordable price.
Though these cheap subnotebooks are a hit with users, there have been some problems with regards to their performance. Among the problems include short battery life, lousy wireless connectivity and compatibility issues.
Lets face it, the world has gotten so small with the advent of internet. Every citizen of this planet should have the chance to experience the beauty of connecting and communicating with different cultures all over the world. These cheap subnotebooks serve the purpose of linking people all over the world.
Sebastian Marders loves writing about a variety of things and sharing the website that inspires each piece with his readers. If you are interested in cheap gaming computers, as well as the cheap Alienware laptop, and cheap computer memory then please visit.
Computer Software Share Your Opinion. (0 posts)
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 04 March 2009 )
|
