I think there might be one less Intel OEM employee today, as we seemingly have the first images of Intel's next generation of the Classmate PC courtesy of a quick Tech Corner camera phone and too many beers:
My buddy works for a US Based OEM, and showed me a sample of one of the products that will be hitting US shores soon. This thing is sweet, super portable. I estimate it weighs less than three pounds, and has a carrying handle. He told me it was designed by Intel and is for education.Now the first question Charbax will have is "Where's the Intel Atom Diamondville processor?" while I wonder if that $400 price tag is real. Regardless, I'm sure you have an opinion on this mysterious new low-cost laptop entrant and will share it with us right about now.I got on it to check my email and it was running XP Pro like a champ. When he got up for a minute, I snuck some pics of it and checked out the specs. It has a 900Mhz Celeron, 512 Ram, 40GB HD, 9 Inch screen, wifi, and Ethernet. It seems to be about 7” x 9”x 1.5”. I asked him how much it was going to cost, and he said he didn’t know but would probably be around 400 bucks.
Update:Thanks to "Made in India" we have a close-up photo and comparison between Asus Eee and the Intel Classmate 2:
Recent Comments
Hey did you see my interview with the Intel Atom products manager: http://techvideoblog.com ? I also did an Interview with the Asus Eee products manager.
It basically looks like the Eee 900 but even more expensive closer to 600 dollars like the Eee 900 then anything like 400 dollars whitch is the minimum manufacturing price for the Classmate 1 and the current Eee.
So this is Intel doing as they usually do, add more features, lower the battery life and increase the price. Probably that the Atom won't be ready before the second half of the year or the end of the year, so Intel needs all the bloatware they can get to try and stop projects like the one in Birmingham Alabama to even get initiated.
Cause once OLPC is deployed in initial pilot cities, it is so successful that there is no turning back and that means the whole country will embrace it, and that laptop revolution will hurt Intel's market monopoly position immensely.
http://tinyurl.com/2bfav6
that's the URL to the Microcenter ad for the ASUS Aspire AS4315-2963 and the price is $360. That's an entirely conventional laptop enjoying the dubious benefit of Vista Home. A year ago a laptop with virtually identical specs could be purchased for $500 and that was a very good price indeed.
If Intel, Asus or any other manufacturer want to sell a $300 laptop for $600 then let them try. Sooner or later the board of directors will step in and if not the board then the bankruptcy court.
Technology and competition has been forcing the price of computers down relentlessly since there have been computers and the trend shows no sign of slackening.
Better images below:
http://www.selfexile.com/open-university-giving-eee-pc-and-classmate-pc/
http://www.selfexile.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/16022008045.jpg
http://www.selfexile.com/intel-aiou-joint-offer-classmate-pc-for-rs-17000/
Is this new Intel machine going to be able to run Vista? That question is relevant because Microsoft is going to stop selling XP to OEM's June 30, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP#Support_lifecycle
Charbax,
Thanks for the interesting video - perhaps using low-res would have been better (and Ogg format rather than divX ) - it's just and interview after all, not the latest Bollywood movie... ;)
According to that photo, the new Intel Classmate is sold for 550 dollars. So my estimation of 600 dollar manufacturing price is not far off. Kind of the same price as the new Eee 900.
Price going up, battery life going down. This is not the correct direction cheap laptops should take.
Charbax,
The price is in Pakistan Rupees, not India Rupees, so the conversion rate makes the Rs. 22,000 about US$350, not US$550. This makes sense when you compare it to the eee 4G right next to it, selling for Rs. 20,400, or about US$325.
Also, if you check the site that hosts that picture, you'll see that the price subsequently dropped to Rs. 20,000 for the Classmate 2, or around US$320. The eee 4G dropped even lower as well, to under $300.
http://www.selfexile.com/intel-aiou-joint-offer-classmate-pc-for-rs-17000/
These are still more expensive than the XO, but then this specific program is aimed at Pakistan college students who are paying for them out of their own pocket.
eduardo,
I wouldn't take Wikipedia's deadline as gospel. Considering that Microsoft is developing a version of XP for the XO, it's clear that MS is interested in continued selling of XP in at least certain niches, like the subnotebook arena.
Also, from the webpage wikipedia took its deadline from:
http://www.news.com/Microsoft-extends-Windows-XPs-stay/2100-1016_3-6210524.html
"[Microsoft] will allow computer makers in emerging markets to build machines with Windows XP Starter Edition until June 2010."
So it's likely that MS will continue licensing XP for specific platforms for a few more years, at least until they can make a stripped-down Vista like they did with XP with Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs.
great thing