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Low-cost Laptop cheat sheet

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zridling:
[via Glyn Moody]:

[Glyn Moody] has written a number of times about wannabe Asus EEE PCs, but there are now so many popping up hither and thither (a *very* good sign) that it's getting hard to keep them all straight. Happily, Laptop Magazine has put together a handy cheatsheet that saves us all the effort.

phillfri:
The big corporations really do rule the world these days. The politicians have all been bought out by them and in many places around the world business regulations often prevent circumventing the big company pricing with low-cost initiatives by competitors (often accomplished by import regulations). But at least in the US there is still enough freedom from regulation and control such that smaller rebel vendors out there can put downward pressure on entrenched market prices. My favorite tech vendor of all time was eMachines. They broke the $500 barrier on desktop machines a few years back (when they were small). Until they came along, desktops had been stuck at $800 or more for some time. The established vendors had a good profit margin going and they weren't about to rock the boat. eMachines started a revolution in tech pricing by building machines that were designed to the level of the user's needs, and managed to cut the costs of machines by doing it.

Now the same thing is happening with laptops in the US. The big companies and established retail vendors are trying hard not to fall below the $500 mark on laptops. But standard technology today can support a decent laptop that is completely acceptable to 80% of the users at a $300-400 price range. Of course, that would severely cut into the price differential between laptops and the new ultra-laptops, so established industry who have invested heavily in the new ultra-laptops trend really don't want to see that price differential disappear.

The point is though, that kind of market battle can still take place in the US. It can be economically hard for a small vendor here in the US to go up against the likes of HP or Dell or even a Walmart, but they aren't precluded by regulatory controls from trying to do so. In Europe, for example, the marketplace has gotten too regulated for this to happen. The governments in Europe are squeezing the small vendors out for the benefit of the big companies and retailers. It's a sad story.

But do keep your eyes on small vendors in the US. For example, Micro Center Online. They often have a low cost laptop in their offerings in the $350-400 price range. They are currently offering this Lenovo for $400. http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0283496 The previous low cost laptop they offered was an Acer at $359.00. These laptops may not be as small as the new ultra-laptops, but they are perfectly acceptable for many uses, are price competitive with the ultras, and are definitely more powerful.

tomos:
In Europe, for example, the marketplace has gotten too regulated for this to happen. The governments in Europe are squeezing the small vendors out for the benefit of the big companies and retailers. It's a sad story.
-phillfri (April 24, 2008, 06:19 AM)
--- End quote ---

? that true ? :-\ (I have no idea even though I live in "Europe")

I've seen some pretty cheap laptops on offer here in the last couple months
If you convert from euro to $ they wont seem cheap but in "real" terms based on earnings here they are cheap
mind you average wages around here have been taking a knocking the last couple years too but I guess that's another story...

Mark0:
I haven't noticed that too.
What I really dislike is when some product come here with a price that make you think about how others do the currency conversion - the Apple-Dollar is a brilliant example!

Some times, things go well: take the Eee PC for example.
The 4G-701 is listed at 399$. A straight Euro conversion come out at about 250€. Add the 20% VAT (at least here in Italy), and in fact it's available at 300€.

Take Apple instead: the basic iMac cost 1.199$ at the USA Apple Store, and 1.199€ at the Italian store.
And it was this way even when 1 Euro was far less than 1.3 USD. Now it's at an astonishing 1.569 and for Apple is the same thing. Boh!  :-\

Bye!

wyrwolf:
It would be good to have a link to the homepage for each so that we can follow up on our interest.

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