A £99 GNU/Linux laptop: is it just too cheap?
On 28 February 2008, Elonex launched the Elonex ONE—the first sub-£100 laptop in the UK. Clearly competing against the much in-demand Asus EeePC [2], Elonex say they are aiming at the school-student market. The thing is, I just can’t stop asking: isn’t £99 too cheap for a laptop?
Elonex kept the specifications very close to their chest until the announcement at the Education show—a conference in Birmingham. Some tech sites had managed to speculate based upon the apparent similarities between the ONE and the Taiwanese-made Fontastic A-view. Elonex have denied rumours that the ONE is a re-badged A-view.
You can add to those the fact that both come with LinOS Linux 2.6.21, sport the same “mouse emulator” (two each in fact), have a similar 3-cell battery (which Elonex claim will last for four hours). The same rugged hardware design is in both. Finally both have a removable keyboard, enabling the screen section to be used tablet style. If the ONE is not a re-badged A-view then they appear to be very close cousins.
Cutting costs
The specifications show how Elonex can put the ONE out at £99. I can’t remember when I last saw a new PC product with a 300MHz processor and it is the hardware specs which make me question whether this product will fly. Like the EeePC the 7 inch screen will bring its own cost (and power) savings. Of course using free software gives a whole host of advantages, including in this case cost.
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