The Original $600 Netbook for $100

Posted on 04 December 2008, Last updated on 11 November 2019 by

image On June 5th 2007, the first real-life into and images about two 7", low-cost laptops were splashed all over the Internet. One was a VIA-based product, the iDot Nano, and the first price estimates were $600. The other was an ASUS product called the Eee PC which had price estimates of $199. We guessed at a 600Mhz Celeron processor and said that there was no way you’d see that in a western market for $199. We were right but in the end, it didn’t matter. From that moment on, the eyes were all on the $199 and all because of a lie.

Exactly 18 months later, it’s funny to see both devices still in the market. They seem so ‘sub-netbook’ and a company called Coby does too. They see it as a good thing though and now want to release that original VIA-based design (assuming the image provided in the source article is actually correct) with a new, cheaper processor for $100 in a new cut-price, bubble-pack market. "It’s smaller than a netbook but not THAT small" they say. Funny how we forget!

The original Eee and Netbook were always a little borderline in their ability to handle heavy web pages and video so moving to a Loongson processor isn’t going to improve things but for the price, I doubt many will worry.

This isn’t the first Netbook using the Loongson processor, the Lemote Netbook and Emtec Gdium use it too.

Source:Arkansas IMC

3 Comments For This Post

  1. Erwos says:

    For a hundred bucks, no one is going to care what the performance is. And, frankly, you don’t need very much to just browse the web and check your email. (Flash, well, that’s a different story.)

    The real question is what resolution the LCD will be.

  2. Yves says:

    According to an update in Engadget.com, it’s a hoax

    ”Update: Our pal Ross Rubin noticed that his quote was two years old and did some digging — yeah, this looks like a hoax through and through. So much for that.”

  3. Genjinaro says:

    Oh well. Its sad because the $100 is the only appealing thing that could’ve been.
    Its not worth a 2nd look compared to the other netbooks without it.

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