The $398 Laptop from Wal-Mart and HP?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Will+Wal-Mart+sell+398+notebooks%2C+desktops/2100-1041_3-5924640.html?tag=newsmap' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Will+Wal-Mart+sell+398+notebooks%2C+desktops/2100-1041_3-5924640.html?tag=newsmap</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Wal-Mart and Hewlett-Packard will likely celebrate this Thanksgiving season by attempting to crush their competitors with low-price desktops and notebooks, according to a Web site that tracks bargains. Black Friday 2005, which posts information about retail deals, posted scans of what appear to be future Wal-Mart newspaper inserts featuring a $398 laptop and a $398 desktop with an LCD monitor from HP. The notebook deal, if consummated, would represent a new low in price for mainstream Windows laptops. The laptop in the ad comes with a 2800+ Sempron processor from Advanced Micro Devices, 256MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, a CD-RW/DVD drive and a 15-inch screen."</i><br /><br />If HP can sell a laptop for $398 and make a profit, however small, why can't someone come out with a slate-style Tablet PC-type 12" screen device for around the same price or less? I want something that would sit in my TV room and be available for casual Web browsing. I tried doing that with my Pocket PC last night and the crippled browser made it a frustrating experience.

[Felix Torres]

If HP can sell a laptop for $398 and make a profit, however small, why can't someone come out with a slate-style Tablet PC-type 12" screen device for around the same price or less? I want something that would sit in my TV room and be available for casual Web browsing. I tried doing that with my Pocket PC last night and the crippled browser made it a frustrating experience.

Been done.
This is old news, but in case you forgot about it:
http://www.bookeen.com/Cybook/Default.aspx?selectionm=0

Browse and read ebooks? Check.
Not much else it can be used for, though; WinCE on PowerPC?
Could they get more obscure? :wink:

For something a bit more useful, give it a year; now that MS has relaxed the digitizer specs on TabletPC we should see something closer to what you want for something under $1000.
Not sure they'll hit $399 this decade, though.

[Jason Dunn]

Been done.
This is old news, but in case you forgot about it:
http://www.bookeen.com/Cybook/Default.aspx?selectionm=0

Eh, close, but no built-in wireless, and the screen is a bit low-res. Still, it's pretty close.

[Phronetix]

"Wal-Mart and Hewlett-Packard will likely celebrate this Thanksgiving season by attempting to crush their competitors with low-price desktops and notebooks, according to a Web site that tracks bargains. Black Friday 2005, which posts information about retail deals, posted scans of what appear to be future Wal-Mart newspaper inserts featuring a $398 laptop and a $398 desktop with an LCD monitor from HP. The notebook deal, if consummated, would represent a new low in price for mainstream Windows laptops. The laptop in the ad comes with a 2800+ Sempron processor from Advanced Micro Devices, 256MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, a CD-RW/DVD drive and a 15-inch screen."

If HP can sell a laptop for $398 and make a profit, however small, why can't someone come out with a slate-style Tablet PC-type 12" screen device for around the same price or less? I want something that would sit in my TV room and be available for casual Web browsing. I tried doing that with my Pocket PC last night and the crippled browser made it a frustrating experience.


This is why I gave up on my axim x50v. My expectations of being to surf while on the bike or watching HNIC were crushed by the sluggish load times and the unit's uncanny ability to forget the 27 digit WAP password. :evil:

I have my eye on the rx1955 right now, but frankly I'd want more real estate. The OQO was ideal in all but the price. I wonder if Vista'a supposed 'scalability' will alter the types of portable devices available in any dramatic fashion. Last May, Apple was granted a patent (http://www.macobserver.com/article/2005/05/10.18.shtml) for a tablet-like device that looks about the perfect size. So I'm half-waiting, but not holding my breath, on that one.

Anyone else agree that the perfect size for such a unit would be the same size as the 'tablets' that Jean-Luc Picard used to work on? :scatter:

[mrozema]

I've found I need a lot of patience and time to use IE on my Axim. Too much scrolling side-to-side.

I like the idea of a $400 laptop though. I'm not sure if I trust HP though... Any thoughts on their low-end laptops?

[Felix Torres]

Eh, close, but no built-in wireless, and the screen is a bit low-res. Still, it's pretty close.

Uh-huh.
Coming from the opposite direction, Motion Computing is also close...
...if price isn't a concern...
http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc_ls.asp

Maybe next year...

[JPD]

What do you think of this: in time for Christmas 2006 - Pocket Mac!

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc_ls.asp

Yup, that's almost exactly what I want - but it's 4x too expensive. For $1900 I'll go grab my laptop. ;-)

[Fitch]

Have you ever used a cheap HP laptop? Huge, heavy, clunky, and loud fans. But you know better than to think smaller could cost LESS. You could get a cheap tablet, for $800 lets say? But it'll be very thick, loud, hot, and sluggish having so many bus bottlenecks (slow FSB, memory, cheap HD, stuff like that).