Topic: Need a laptop? Have $150?

[Quemaqua]

Then this just might be for you.  Basic concept is this: it does everyday stuff like email, word processing, web surfing, etc., but you won't be doing anything graphically intensive on it.  Comes equipped with Linux (Fedora from RedHat), can run Windows if you choose to buy it yourself.

I'm really, really curious.  This could be super handy for me.  Even I can afford $150, and it would make some of my writing projects a whole hell of a lot easier to manage.

But... $150?  Makes you wonder.  Still, the specs don't look bad, and the battery life must be awesome (at least compared to my monster laptop which lasted around 3 hours... because it wasn't really much worse than my current desktop...).

[NatchDan]

I am sceptical. The site is full of bad grammar and typos, and the accessoriespage makes me weep. Still, who knows?

[idolminds]

Yeah, that doesnt look suspicious at all. I'd hope it being true, but I have a strong feeling its a total scam.

[Antares]

Interesting.  Hasn't the $150 or $100 laptop been something of a holy grail for suppline poor kids with computers or something?  Hopefully it isn't a freezy peice of shit that is completely worthless.  A ton of people could benefit from a cheap reliable laptop like that, myself included.

[idolminds]

The OLPC laptops ended up being more than $100, and when they go on sale to the rest of us they'll end up being like $350 or somethiing.

[Ghandi]

There is a laptop that was developed for third-world countries that is a little more than $140, which is much in the same ball field. I don't know how it compares but as Antares mentioned, it is extremely promising. It doesn't look anything like that, though.

I read about the laptop (for third world countries) quite a few months ago. It sends and transmits wireless internet signals, so that there is this web of people that can be connected. Interesting concept. Also those laptops use a hand crank to generate electricity. I would read more about this one but I'm drunk and don't have the concentration.

[JacksRag(e)]

Mm, and they also have this money back guarantee if the laptop isn't received in three months.

[Quemaqua]

I remain quite skeptical, but something like that would sure be nice if it was reliable enough to actually be useful.

[scottws]

Besides what's already been said:  Fedora.... ewww.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I've not heard good things about RedHat lately.  Having never used Linux, I don't get the impression that's where I'd want to start.  But that could be rectified pretty easily since they said Windows can be installed.

[idolminds]

Not $150, but ASUS showed off a cheap laptop: Eee PC. Ignore the retardo name, and you've got yourself a $200 laptop.

There is a catch, though. First there is no hard drive, its a flash drive (like the little MP3 players). The $200 model has a 4GB drive and the $300 has 8GB. So you won't be putting a ton of programs on it, but thats ok. I hope. I wonder how much of that the OS takes up? Whats a WinXP install look like? At least you can plug in an external HDD via USB if you need more room for stuff.

The other is there are no disc drives on the thing, so installing stuff is going to be a bitch. Plug in external DVD drive to install programs? Lucky for me I'd probably just use a lot of the programs I've downloaded (Inkscape, Artrage, opencanvas, foobar, abiword, firefox, etc) but for retail things it'll be trickier.

Despite that, I'm actually kind of interested in having a laptop to do simple things with.

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Oh looks, theres a second page. Hmmm....built in Linux OS. Lucky for me most of the software I use is OSS and have linux versions. I wonder if you can install Ubuntu or some other distro on it in case you don't like the default one?

Neat, they said they do test it and it can run XP, it just doesn't come with it to keep costs down. So thats cool.

[Antares]

Three months sounds like just enough time to leave the country with all of the duped people's money.

[Ghandi]

When I read names like "Eee pc," I get excited about looking for a job in a year after I graduate. Seriously, what marketing genius came up with that name? Holy shit.

[idolminds]

 They should have called with a WiiC and ran with the popularity.

[Ghandi]

Because when you are trying to make the cheapest laptop possible, motion sensor technology is pretty much the only option.