Intel, Asustek announce plans for low-cost laptop
127466
SAN FRANCISCO/TAIPEI  - Intel Corp.  has detailed plans to team up with Asustek Computer Inc. , the world's largest maker of computer motherboards, to make a notebook PC that would cost as little as $200 and be aimed at mass markets in developing countries.
560920
Upcoming chips will lead to relatively inexpensive hardware, company says.
112984
A low-cost laptop, designed for children in developing countries, will go on sale in North America.
415589
Intel Corp.  detailed  plans on Tuesday to team up with Asustek Computer Inc.  (2357.TW), the world&#39;s largest maker of computer motherboards,  to make a notebook PC that would cost as little as $200 aimed  at the education market in developing countries.
189378
Mobile processor is designed for use in thin and light notebooks.
305675
Taiwanese laptop computer maker Micro-Star International (MSI) is already hard at work on an ultra-low cost notebook PC based on&#160;Intel&#39;s Diamondville microprocessor&#160;to compete against rival&#160;Asustek Computer&#39;s Eee PC.Asustek created the Eee PC laptop to sell in emerging markets such as India. It carries an Intel Celeron processor, weighs less than a kilogram, has a 7-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) and can connect to the Internet wirelessly. The lowest-priced version costs NT$7,999 (US$248).MSI is working on a similar device for the ultra-low cost notebook market, using an extremely low voltage, low cost microprocessor from Intel called Diamondville. Intel has said it will formally unveil the chip at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai this April.&quot;When Diamondville is ready, our project will be ready,&quot; said an MSI executive, speaking on condition of anonymity. He indicated that MSI plans to launch its ultra-low cost notebook in July or August, but declined to offer further details.&#160;
102277
Nonprofit and chipmaker have faced off over low-cost laptops in the past, but they're coming together to bring PCs to kids.
671409
Intel Corp.  said on Thursday it  plans to start shipping new processors for desktop and laptop  computers in August.
642740
Advanced Micro Devices has unveiled a stripped-down, low-cost computing device as part of a plan to move into developing markets. The chip maker aims to provide 50 per cent of the world with internet and computing
701802
Intel engineers are developing a motherboard based on one of its chips for an OLPC laptop.
641189
U.S. chip maker Advanced Micro Devices  AMD.N has unveiled a low-cost Internet access device that  could cost just a few hundred dollars, aimed at first-time  technology users in the developing world.
665327
Company outlines plans for Yonah notebook processor, demonstrates desktop chip.
310343
Asustek Computer&#39;s Linux-based Eee PC laptop will soon be on sale in North America and Europe, and the company plans to offer a version running Windows XP by the end of the year.The Eee PC is a&#160;low-cost laptop&#160;designed primarily for children and emerging markets such as India. It weighs less than a kilogram, has a 7-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen and can connect to the Internet wirelessly. The&#160;first version went on sale earlier this month&#160;in Asia, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where it&#39;s priced at about NT$11,100 (US$340)On Nov. 1 the Eee PC will go on sale at stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Vancouver and Toronto, and also through e-commerce Web sites in North America, Asustek officials said Tuesday. It will then be rolled out gradually in Europe, starting in Germany on Nov. 9. Major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, will follow in mid-November.The first Eee PCs run a Linux operating system from Xandros. By the end of the year, Asustek will also offer versions running Microsoft&#39;s Windows XP.Pricing for the laptops in Europe and North America hasn&#39;t been announced. In Taiwan, the price difference between the XP and Linux versions will be about NT$1,000, Asustek said in a statement.Asustek has shipped about 100,000 Eee PCs so far, and by the end of the year it&#39;s targeting 400,000, said Jerry Shen, Asustek&#39;s president, at an investor conference Tuesday in Taiwan. Next year it expects to ship 3.8 million of the laptops.&quot;We&#39;re in talks with a few governments and we have already confirmed orders for 1 million units next year,&quot; said Sunny Han, global marketing director.Asustek reaffirmed its commitment to push the price of the Linux-based Eee PC down to US$199, nearly the same price as the XO laptop developed by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project. OLPC is pricing the laptops at $200, according to its Givemany and Laptopgiving donor programs.One of the biggest costs for the Eee PC is taxes, Shen said. VAT (value added tax) and other taxes have a big impact on price. Governments interested in buying Eee PCs for education could get a better price by waiving such taxes, he said. An Eee PC sold to a government without taxes factored in would cost around $199, while the price increases to about $300 with taxes.The configuration of the laptops also affects the price, with the amount of flash memory and DRAM (dynamic RAM), the camera and battery having the biggest influence, he said. The price of the kind of flash memory Asustek is using for data storage in the Eee PCs has gone up recently.Earlier this month, Asustek announced four Eee PC laptop configurations it planned to sell in stores and online, all running Linux software.The least expensive was the &quot;Surf&quot; with a 2GB flash memory drive and 256MB of DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) DRAM, to retail for NT$7,999 when it comes out around the end of November. Another version of the Surf included a 4GB flash drive and 512MB of DDR2 DRAM, and will cost NT$9,999 when it comes out in mid-November. Both laptops have an Intel microprocessor.Two higher-priced Eee PCs were also launched. The NT$11,100 version included a built-in camera and speakers, and can carry out simple voice commands such as &quot;computer, access the Internet,&quot; or &quot;computer, make a phone call.&quot; It contains a 900MHz Intel Celeron M processor, 512MB of DDR2 DRAM and a 4GB flash drive. The other laptop, at NT$13,888 and due out at the end of November, carries an 8GB flash drive and 1GB of DDR2 DRAM in addition to features similar to the NT$11,100 version.At the launch ceremony, Asustek also showed off one Eee PC running Microsoft Windows XP Professional, version 2002, Service Pack 2. The hardware on board was the same as for the NT$11,100 Linux-based Eee PC. The Windows XP-Eee PC included Office 2003 versions of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
620228
Intel's rugged, low-cost laptop is now available to to consumers and businesses in India.
719369
Technical details of the new low-power mobile CPU, expected to ship this year, are being released at a chip conference this week.
677776
(InfoWorld) - Discussions are under way to put an Intel microprocessor inside a version of theÂ One Laptop Per ChildÂ (OLPC) project's "$100 laptop" for children in developing countries, according to representatives from both parties. "Intel, like a lot of other people, is more than welcome to try to design great silicon for this project and this mission, and we've been working with them to help them do exactly that," said Walter Bender, OLPC's president, in a telephone interview. Despite its nickname, the OLPC's lime-green XO laptop actually costs $175. The first version of the machine runs on Advanced Micro Devices' 433MHz Geode LX-700, an x86-architecture chip that is slow by the standard of mainstream processors but consumes little power and costs less. OLPC is close to starting productionÂ of the XO. The group has already gone through four generations of test systems to refine the laptop's design. A production run of 300 machines was completed in August, a final preparatory step before the XO goes into mass production later this month or in early October. While OLPC has yet to decide whether or not to use Intel processors, Intel confirmed its engineers are developing a motherboard based on one of its chips for an OLPC laptop. That process required the engineers to start from scratch, since the current XO design isn't based on Intel's chips. "It requires a new design, a new product," said Leighton Phillips, the manager of Intel's World Ahead Program in Asia. The design, which Intel plans to submit for OLPC's consideration, will be based on either existing mobile chips, such as modified versions of the Celeron M called A100 and A110, or Silverthorne, an upcoming processor designed for small, mobile computers. The dual-coreÂ Silverthorne processorÂ will be made using a 45-nanometer production process and will be available early next year in different versions. Silverthorne's main advantages are lower power consumption and size. The chips are so small that Intel can fit 2,500 of them on a single 300-millimeter silicon wafer, helping to keep unit production costs low enough for them to be used in handheld devices and low-cost computers. Whether Silverthorne is cheap enough to be used in laptops like the XO remains to be seen. "We're looking at ways to get there," Phillips said. If an Intel chip ends up inside an OLPC laptop, the laptop may be different from the existing XO design. That laptop was designed for use in harsh, rural environments with lots of dust and high humidity, but OLPC wants to develop laptops for use in urban areas where better infrastructure is available. "I can imagine there will be a family of laptops in terms of processor power and maybe there will be a larger form factor for older kids," Bender said. The discussions over an Intel-based laptop are part of wider talks on how Intel and OLPC can cooperate on technology and product development. Those talks started in July after Intel and OLPC signed an agreement that, among other things, gave Intel a seat on the group's board and prevents the two sides from disparaging each others' products. Besides putting an Intel processor inside a future OLPC laptop, the talks could see some of the technology developed by OLPC find its way into Intel's hands. For example, the chip maker is interested in the low-power screen technology developed by OLPC. Offering an OLPC laptop with an Intel processor doesn't mean the group will stop using AMD's chips, Bender said. "The Geode's been very easy to work with and hasn't been a limiting factor whatsoever," he said. As part of OLPC's desire to offer systems based on different processors, the group is looking to work with other vendors, in addition to Intel. One such company is Marvell Technology Group, which could see its Xscale processors, which the company acquired from Intel in 2006, also end up in future OLPC laptops, Bender said. "We want to have lots of choices, lots of people doing this, because there are lots of kids and lots of need," he said.
64505
Despite previous bad blood between Intel and the One Laptop Per Child program, which opted to include AMD processors in the low-cost computer for developing nations, the leading chip manufacturer will join the non-profit's board of directors and help fund the initiative.