Topic: $100 Laptop... Seems a little similar don't you think?

[Ceric]

Hello everyone this article $100 Laptop talks about the 100 dollar laptop.  I would like to encourage everyone to read it and then think about the Rev.

Obviously there are some differences mainly the lack of any specialized hardware.  But they managed to get the thing to run on 2 watts.  That makes me hopeful for the energy conservation the Rev might have and is a good indication on how far technology has come in the last Decade.  Also if you read through the article they mention that these little buggers can act as routers too.  If something this minimalistic can do something like that then why couldn't the Rev?  

I mean it would be cool if you could use your Rev as a Wi-fi extender or, if Ian gets his ethernet, the router itself.  That's a value incentive.  But now on the flipside this has had a lot of R and D done on it but I don't think as much as the Rev so it would stand to reason that the actual base price of a Rev will be more then a hundred dollars.  Oh well...

[Artimus]

The difference is that regular laptops cost ten times the $100 laptop. The Revolution will cost half as much as the competition.

[Michael8983]

This example is a little extreme but there are other examples as far as laptops go.
I mean you can still get the expensive $1,000+ laptops with everything but the ones that seem to really be selling are the much more basic laptops that are going for under $800. As low as $600 with rebates.
Consumers are willing to settle for a product that might be technically inferior for a much more affordable price.
Especially if the technically superior product doesn't offer much else.
Whatever graphical avantage the PS3 and 360 may have over the REV, will it justify the extra $200 to consumers. Especially if, graphics aside, the games aren't any better.

[Kairon]

The $100 laptop is the ultimate blue ocean project. It's audience is NOT laptop users in the US, but schools in third world countries that can benefit from learning about the global computer high tech industry, a target market of potentially millions!

Of course, the price point is so extreme that, couple with additional costs to make the laptop rugged enough to survive the jungles of Borneo, production runs NEED to be in exces of a million laptops each run.

Of course, this isn't really a business venture. This is just some people at MIT trying to use technology to make the world a better place... *cough*

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Ceric]

Wow the response is different then I thought.  I just thought that this sort of justify if the cost was closer t $200 in fact that would still be cheap even with comparison to this.  Kairon is right this is very blue ocean and steal my job.  Maybe it be better to compare it to a PDA.  A good one can be $500.  Roughly same or, in the Axim case, better specs.  But it's nice seeing technology march on.

[Spak-Spang]

Ceric:  You bring up a good point.  Look what good engineers can do for $100.  Create a functional Laptop.  Pretty amazing.

Sure it is completely basic, but hey sometimes you just want a Laptop that can do the essentials for you...and if I could get that for $100 that is what I will buy.

Now bring that logic to the Revolution.

Hey I want to buy something for my family to play with.  Here is a game system for $399 and on for $150.  

Sure the $399 is going to be better.  Potentially lightyears better.  However, I have $200.00 to spend.  By default the other system is too much.

Now, lets go into depth of the Revolution and see what it can do.  Oh, it has pretty graphics better then the current generation games.  It has a unique controller to create original content and games.  And it has a business model that embraces cheap quality gaming, instead of higher production higher cost business model.  

I guess the point is...it is amazing what you can get for you money when you have talented engineer teams working together.  This is important because your money should not be spent wastefully, but should be carefully measured and the product should fit your personal worth for it...and a fair market price for it.