Asustek, Intel Working on $199 Notebook
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Asustek and Intel are developing a line of notebook PCs priced as low as $199, for emerging and education markets.
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Notebook a +9%, hardware +1,2%, in calo computer desktop
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Attention, notebook shoppers: Intel drops the cost of Pentium Ms and Centrino--a sign that cheaper laptops are on the way.
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(InfoWorld) - Users looking for the best possible display screen on a notebook PC might want to check out a new offering from Asustek ComputerÂ due out in early March. The company, which sells products under the ASUS brand, plans to launch the U1 business notebook PC on March 7 in Taipei, Taiwan with an LED (light emitting diode) backlight behind the display screen. It will be among only a handful of laptop PCs using LED backlights to create stunningly sharp pictures and vivid colors on a display. A backlight is a light behind the LCD display, on a laptop in this instance, used to illuminate the screen. Most notebook PCs currently use cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlights because the technology is less expensive than LEDs. An executive at AU Optronics, the world's third largest LCD (liquid crystal display) screen maker, estimated that LED backlights were two to three times more expensive than CCFL, in an interview last year. But LED makers have been driving down costs by getting their product into more gadgets. The more they increase production, the lower their per-LED cost. LEDs are now used in a number of products, including auto lights and the small displays on DVD players and MP3 digital music devices. As costs comes down, LEDs that can be used in larger and larger screens. Aside from the ability to display a greater range of colors, LED backlights beat CCFL technology in power savings as well. Their reduced drag on battery life is a key consideration for notebook PCs, and a number of companies are promoting their use in laptops, including Intel Corp. The LED backlight used in the U1 is "as thin as the wing of a cicada" according to the news conference invitation from Asustek. The entire LCD panel, including the backlight, is 0.5 centimeter thick, the release says. The new U1, the "F" version, is a smaller size laptop with an 11.1 inch wide screen that will run the business version of Microsoft's Windows Vista OS. The laptop uses the latest Centrino Core Duo mobile processor and offers users wireless connections to other devices via Bluetooth and wireless Internet connectivity through Wi-Fi. Pricing depends on a user's choice of features, including a 40GB, 60GB, or 80GB hard disk drive and a combination Blu-ray Disc/DVD Super Multi DL/Combo optical drive. Availability was not disclosed.
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(InfoWorld) - Asustek Computer'sÂ $199 Eee PCÂ is turning out to be one of the stars at Computex 2007, grabbing attention for its small size and even smaller price. Asustek gave me the chance to use an engineering prototype of the Eee PC 701 on Wednesday, one day after it was announced by Jonney Shih, the company's chairman, and Sean Maloney, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's sales and marketing group. Since Shih revealed few details of the machine's specifications, I was looking forward to a closer look. And I came away impressed: this little notebook has a shot at making a big impact on the market for ultraportable computers. And competitors like Palm, which recently announced itsÂ $599 Foleo ultraportable notebook, should pay attention. Jointly developed by Intel and Asustek, the Eee PC will hit the market during the third quarter, most likely in August or September. The notebook will be aimed at education users, but it should also be available more widely. Prices are going to start at $199, rising based on the amount of flash memory that comes with the machine instead of a hard disk. Currently, Asustek plans to sell models with 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB of flash, but that may change between now and when the first Eee PCs go on sale. Measuring 22.5 centimeters wide by 16.5 cm deep, the Eee PC 701 is 3.5 cm thick with the screen closed and weighs just 890 grams. Other specifications include a 7-inch monitor, a 300,000-pixel camera, 512M bytes of DDR2 (double data rate 2) memory, and Wi-Fi. Next year, Asustek plans to introduce a second Eee PC model, the 1001, which will have a 10-inch screen. Asustek isn't disclosing what processor is used inside the device, except to say it's an Intel mobile chip. One possibility is that the Eee PC is based on Intel's McCaslin ultramobile PC platform, which includes either the A100 or A110 processors, formerly codenamed Steeley. Or it could be something else. Whatever chip it's using, the Eee PC doesn't run hot. The prototype I tested had been running continuously for at least six hours when I picked it up, and the machine was barely warm to the touch. Asustek said the notebook can run for three hours on battery, which is sufficient for surfing the Web or checking e-mail, but I would like more. Unfortunately, Asustek doesn't have plans to offer an extended-life battery for the Eee PC. Hopefully it will offer extra batteries as an option. The keyboard and trackpad are slightly small due to the Eee PC's size, but I was able to type comfortably. The keyboard felt fine for typing out e-mails or surfing the Web, but I prefer a full-size keyboard for typing for an extended period of time. Like Palm's upcoming Foleo notebook, the Eee PC runs Linux instead of the Windows operating system. In the case of the Eee PC, Asustek chose to use Xandros for the operating system, the Open Office applications suite, and a Firefox browser. This helps to keep costs down and means the Eee PC boots in about 15 seconds. The Eee PC's user interface, which is still being developed, uses tabs for navigation. The prototype I tested had tabs labelled Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings and Favorites, which contained icons for related applications and Web sites. For example, the Internet tab offered icons for surfing the Web, connecting to Wikipedia, and the Skype VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service. Overall, the Eee PC prototype showed a lot of promise. In terms of its size and capabilities, there appeared to be no obvious tradeoffs for a device that could function well as a second notebook PC for busy executives.
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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.
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Let's chip in on the two sides of Intel.
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Advanced Micro Devices has started to ship the Sempron 3000+ chip for budget notebooks.
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In an unexpected development, chip giant Intel Corp. has joined the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. The nonprofit project aims to equip children in developing countries with specially designed low-cost notebooks powered by chips from Intel&#39;s rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).
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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.
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Micro-Star International is working on an ultra-low cost notebook PC based on Intel's Diamondville microprocessor.
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Blog: Intel and the One Laptop Per Child Program have ironed out their differences and agreed to collaborate on future projects.
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Adding Windows XP&#160;to Asustek Computer&#39;s Eee PC will double the price of the low-cost laptop compared to existing versions running Linux.The company will sell a version of the Eee PC with Windows XP in mature markets such as the U.S. and Europe for around US$1,000, while a configuration aimed at emerging market nations will cost about $500, said Jerry Shen, president of Asustek, during an investors conference Tuesday in Beitou, Taiwan.XP-based Eee PCs are expected to be available by the end of this year.The Eee PC is a low-cost laptop&#160;designed for children and emerging markets that weighs less than one kilogram, has a 7-inch LCD screen, and can connect to the Internet wirelessly. Asustek officially put the first version of the Eee PC, costing around NT$11,100 (US$340), on&#160;sale earlier this month&#160;in Taiwan. It runs a Linux OS from Xandros.The laptop PC will soon reach the U.S. and Europe.Asustek plans to launch the Linux-based Eee PC on Nov. 1 at retail stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, and Toronto, and also through e-commerce Web sites in North America.On Nov. 9, the company will hold a launch ceremony in Germany, the first country in Europe to get its hands on the low-cost laptop.The company will launch the Eee PC in major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, in mid-November.Asustek has shipped 100,000 Eee PCs so far this month to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand, said Shen, and he is targeting 400,000 units by the end of this year.Next year, Asustek forecasts it will ship 3.8 million Eee PCs.&quot;We&#39;re in talks with a few governments and we have already confirmed orders for one million units next year,&quot; said Sunny Han, global marketing director at the company.Asustek also reaffirmed its commitment to pushing the cost of the Eee PC down to US$199, nearly the same 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, said Shen. 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 goes up to about $300 with the taxes factored in.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 (US$247) 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 (double data rate, generation two dynamic RAM) and a 4GB flash drive. The other laptop, at NT$13,888 and due out at the end of November, carries an 8G-byte flash drive and 1G byte 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 Eee PC included Office 2003 versions of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.&#160;
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Advanced Micro Devices will demonstrate dual-core chips Tuesday, but Intel will likely do the same in a week.
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Nonprofit and chipmaker have faced off over low-cost laptops in the past, but they're coming together to bring PCs to kids.
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Steering into the mainstream Just how much is Intel planning to charge for its revamped Core 2 Duo desktop processors, due Q3? Not as much as you might expect, it would seem, if the latest information coming from motherboard-maker moles is to be believed.â¦
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Intel is updating its low-cost Classmate PC laptop with upcoming Silverthorne CPU and a sleeker design.