15 April 2008

Has Asus Lost the Plot on Ultraportables?

Like many, I have been waxing lyrical about the possibilities of the new ultraportable market pretty much created by the Asus Eee PC. One of the key drivers of this sector is cost, so anything that reduces it is likely to be important. Against this background it's hard to understand the following:

Asus Eee PC 4G (white, Windows XP)

Product Summary

The good: Small, light weight, and inexpensive; Windows XP for the same price as the Linux version.

The *same price*? Are they bonkers?

Fortunately, Asus is not the only player in this sector - there's probably around a dozen now. So if Asus won't do the decent/sensible thing and pass on the savings arising from using free software, I'm sure someone else will.

Update: But here it says same price, but more memory for GNU/Linux....
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6 comments:

  1. Sam11:44 am

    Glyn-

    Linux just isn't as good as something OEMs can charge for.

    The difference between WinXP and Linux on one of these low-priced sub-notebooks is equivalent to the per unit profit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glyn Moody12:14 pm

    If the pricing is the same, the profit on the GNU/Linux machine is higher...so maybe Asus should really push that version. Can't see it happening, myself.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dr. Roy Schestowitz7:28 am

    Glyn,

    1. specs are different (known this for a while...)

    2. Iain Lynch told me MS gives them considerable discounts. Let them burn their money dumping.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous2:36 pm

    It was probably more difficult getting Linux to run on the thing given some of the driver problems the Linux version has had.

    I'd also expect that the Linux version costs them more in terms of tech support.

    - n00b

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glyn Moody6:42 am

    @Roy: well, people were saying different things about the specs. Now it does look as if the specs are definitively different.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Glyn Moody6:43 am

    @noob: true - although I don't know now much support will be provided given the price.

    ReplyDelete