Taiwan's Asustek -- which makes some notebooks for Dell and 13.3 inch MacBooks for Apple -- plans to start manufacturing own-brand notebook PCs with prices starting at $249 or less. These could be a threat to sales of MIT's $140-$200 XO, designed under the One Laptop Per Child banner.
Asustek is planning four designs based on Intel's Classmate PC prototype (see below), at prices from $249 to $549, according to company vice president Jerry Shen. He reckons sales could reach 10 million units next year.
The story was reported in the Chinese-language Commercial Times, then picked up by the English-language Digitimes and Ars Technica. However, an earlier story, published by Digitimes on April 16, said there would be five Classmate-based notebooks with prices starting at $199.
Ars Technica previously published A comparison of OLPC's XO laptop and Intel's Classmate PC. It says:
Both the XO laptop and the Classmate PC provide unique advantages that are worthy of consideration. With a more powerful processor, more memory, and support for unmodified Windows and Linux software, the Classmate PC provides schools with more choices and greater flexibility. OLPC's XO laptop offers a better price, a more cohesive and well-integrated software platform, and special features like a built-in video camera, high-resolution dual-mode screen, longer battery life, and pull-string charging.
Governments adopting the Classmate PC could go with Edubuntu or take the Microsoft deal that offers Windows and Office for $3, or both.
At the moment, Windows has close to 100% of the third world market because of the ease with which cheap machines can be assembled locally, and the ready availability of pirate software, including games. Non-standard designs such as AMD's PIC (Personal Internet Communicator) have fared poorly.
The OLPC even uses what is basically the same chip as the PIC: the Cyrix Geode. Cyrix was bought by National Semiconductor, which sold it on to Via and AMD.
