RM, a United Kingdom based educational software supplier has teamed up with its hardware partner Asus to release a new laptop “Minibook” which would weigh less than 1 kg and would cost £ 169 for basic model.
Minibook will enable its users to use all normal programs which can run on Linux operating system and do not require high system configuration. Its users can create and edit documents, view photographs, send and receive email, play music and video and browse internet.
MiniBook comes with 7 inch screen, Intel Celeron-M ULV 900 MHz processor, 256 MB to 512 MB RAM, 3 USB ports, VGA port and 2 GB to 4 GB solid state hard drive.
Other features include integrated web cam, microphone and speakers, internal wireless 3G module, card reader and an Asus developed Linux based operating system.
Tim Pearson, CEO of RM expects MiniBook to be a success as it includes everything what a student would need and moreover this student device is in the same price range of an Apple IPod.
MiniBook may struggle to play the latest games but its size, price and portability surely makes it a strong contender for back to school list.
As the low-cost laptop war is getting bigger and bigger, Asus has also joined the war with its low-cost laptop series “Eee” which is available in four different models namely 2G, 4G and 8G, starting at $299.
All Eee laptops presently come with 7 inch (800X480 pixels) TFT LCD, Integrated Intel GMA 900 graphics processor, additional VGA port (up to 1600×1280 pixels), Intel Processor 900 Mhz, 512 MB to 1 GB RAM (upgradable upto 2GB), high definition audio, stereo speakers, RJ-11 and RJ45 connectors, 3 USB ports, MMC/SD card reader, microphone, Wi-Fi and 4-cell battery with backup upto 3.5 hours
Asus Eee series does not have that much storage space as Eee 2G comes with 2 GB, 4G with 4GB and 8G with 8GB solid state drive. 8G also have inbuilt 0.3 megapixel camera.
All Eee models come loaded with Linux Operating Systems but they are also Windows XP compatible which means that all Windows fan can install XP on their machine and use it which is rare in these cheap laptops.
Asus would surely give its competitors a hard time as it has much better specifications and design then other low-cost laptops with is a big positive point and surely makes it a value for money product.
As laptops are getting cheaper they are becoming a preferable choice for everyone and people are going for them but these cheap laptops are no good to run latest Windows from Microsoft known as “Vista”. Vista do come in different version but still minimum requirement for even the basic version is way much higher then required by Windows XP or any other operating system.
Any one who would like to use Windows Vista needs atleast 1 GB RAM for normal performance and 2 GB RAM for pure performance but cheap laptops do not come with this much RAM. They mostly come with 512 MB RAM or 1 GB RAM at the most. So any one who would like to use Vista and have a cheap low memory laptop would need to purchase or upgrade its memory which would cost some extra money.
Many big companies like Dell, HP, Acer etc are selling Vista ready laptops which also do not have enough memory to run it decently as it eats a lot of system resources. A lot of Vista users have already moved to other operating systems such as Window XP and other Linux based operating system such as Ubuntu as they do not require high system configurations as Vista do and are easily operational on cheap laptops.
Dell who sells more low priced laptops then its premium laptops has already started offering a choice in operating systems to its new low-priced laptops customers. Dell has received a lot of positive feedback from its customers for offering this option and many other companies are also looking to offer the same choice to their customers.
So if look at the overall talk and reports it would be easy to see that Vista has already been kicked out as people who are buying/using cheap laptops prefer to either go with Windows XP or some Linux based Operating System.
Mary Lou Jepsen, former CTO of OLPC project who has started her own company called “Pixel Qi” aims to produce a $75 laptop which she calls “a next generation OLPC laptop”. Jespsen was a major contributor to OLPC project as she developed multimode screen for XO which is one of the most distinctive components of the laptops.
Jepsen’s 7.5” XO display supports two different display modes, 800×600 color mode and 1200×900 reflective black and white mode which is fully readable under direct sunlight and is also energy efficient as compared to other LCDs. Jepsen hope that in future her display technology can be used in phones, digital cameras and other kind of mobile devices and also she plans to commercially market her unique multi mode technique display technology that she developed for the OLPC XO laptop.
OLPC, a non-profit organization which is presently making low-cost laptops first aimed to make a $100 laptop but as the project went on price of each unit climbed from then $100 to present $188. Jepsen says that price of OLPC laptop would keep rising with the increase in manufacturing cost and the only way to bring down the overall manufacturing cost is to generate revenue from other commercial endeavors that would have positive impact on this project.