Why is this computer so expensive?

[swoll1980]

My 4 year old latitude 100l has better specs than this piece of crap (amazon.com/Eee-PC-Screen-900-Preloaded/dp/tech-data/B00191PKJK/ref=de_a_smtd/105-2778715-7984442). :confused:

[Quickshot]

My 4 year old latitude 100l has better specs than this piece of crap (amazon.com/Eee-PC-Screen-900-Preloaded/dp/tech-data/B00191PKJK/ref=de_a_smtd/105-2778715-7984442). :confused:
It's expensive because it has solid state disk instead of normal harddrive.

[chewearn]

If you need to compute while doing back flips, that's the PC to use.
That's why it is expensive.

.

[smoker]

i think now they are just trying to cash in on the success of the earlier eee models, which is a shame, before they had portability and price as a selling point, now they only have portability. i think a lot of customers will give up portability for a higher spec model at a more reasonable price.

[swoll1980]

It's expensive because it has solid state disk instead of normal harddrive.

What's special about a 20gb solid state that would make it cost so much? What does it do?

[swoll1980]

i think now they are just trying to cash in on the success of the earlier eee models, which is a shame, before they had portability and price as a selling point, now they only have portability. i think a lot of customers will give up portability for a higher spec model at a more reasonable price.

maybe they are trying to be the new Mac

[p_quarles]

What's special about a 20gb solid state that would make it cost so much? What does it do?
No moving parts (like a flash memory drive). Which means, in turn, that it uses less electricity and won't get misaligned if you whack it against a wall.

It's a really sweet technology, actually. I wouldn't mind having one of 20g Eee PCs.

[quinnten83]

SSD are more energy efficient and start up way faster than rotating disks. But since they are not produced en masse yet, they remain expensive. In a couple of years when they become the norm, they will be much less expensive.

[swoll1980]

even with the cool hard drive for $600 they could have done better than a
900mhz Celeron that's what computers 8 years ago had

[p_quarles]

even with the cool hard drive for $600 they could have done better than a
900mhz Celeron that's what computers 8 years ago had
Keep in mind that this thing will fit in your shirt pocket -- it'd be more fair to compare the processor to the one on something like a Nokia N810.

[swoll1980]

Keep in mind that this thing will fit in your shirt pocket -- it'd be more fair to compare the processor to the one on something like a Nokia N810.

I had no idea it was that small. It looked like a regular laptop in the pic. If thats the case I can see why it would be more expensive.

[p_quarles]

I had no idea it was that small. It looked like a regular laptop in the pic. If thats the case I can see why it would be more expensive.
I didn't realize how small they were either until I saw someone using one. They're only slightly larger than an internet tablet.

[swoll1980]

I didn't realize how small they were either until I saw someone using one. They're only slightly larger than an internet tablet.

well in that case it beats the crap out off the macbook air. I saw one of those at microcenter, and it was bigger than my Latitude. It was thin, but thin doesn't to do much to reduce the actual amount of space it takes up

[chewearn]

Why is smaller == more expensive?

We have:
Smaller == less stuffs == more $$$

:confused::confused::confused:

Why isn't it:
Smaller == less stuffs == less $$$


Why do less plastic, silicon, glass, etc cost more?

[shad0w_walker]

Because there isn't less stuff.

It's the same stuff, but made smaller, which takes alot more time/machinery/money then making it at the normal size. The theory 'Smaller = less materials' does not work with electronics.

[chewearn]

Hah! I'm just trolling, now a victim has bitten the bait.:lolflag:
Time to reel it in...


True: smaller == less material
False: smaller != less material
This is law of physics. You can't be smaller but have more stuffs.

But...

False: less material == less $$$

$$$ is more than just material cost.


:evil laugh: muah ha ha ha.

[_sAm_]

My 4 year old latitude 100l has better specs than this piece of crap (amazon.com/Eee-PC-Screen-900-Preloaded/dp/tech-data/B00191PKJK/ref=de_a_smtd/105-2778715-7984442). :confused:

Its not expensive, its cheap. Take a look at some other ultraportable pc, like those from Sony, and compare the prize tag.

[aimran]

Hah! I'm just trolling, now a victim has bitten the bait.:lolflag:


Hah! You're covering up!

[LaRoza]

Why is smaller == more expensive?

We have:
Smaller == less stuffs == more $$$

Why isn't it:
Smaller == less stuffs == less $$$

Why do less plastic, silicon, glass, etc cost more?

The first hard disk was about 24" in in diameter and with five platters. It stored 5 MB.

The technology of hard disks has changed little in principle since then. Making something smaller also demands a increase in quality and reliability. A hard disk spinning at 10,000 and only 3.5", must have a very high degree of accuracy. Remember, they don't stop or rewind ;)

It takes less aluminum (which is what hard disks are usually made of, among other things) to make modern hard disks, but it takes a very precise and developed process. Did you know that the first PC's often didn't have a floppy disk drive to save money? The best ones had two, and an owner of those would be the envy of everyone else.

Now, a SSD is the newer and upcoming technology. Instead of relying on the ancient spinning platters and read/write heads, it is a nonmoving object. Do you not see the advantage? It is new, so it is more expensive to produce, and it doesn't have the highest demand. It is in the same state that floppies were in years ago when they were a luxury.

[smoker]

Now, a SSD is the newer and upcoming technology. Instead of relying on the ancient spinning platters and read/write heads, it is a nonmoving object. Do you not see the advantage? It is new, so it is more expensive to produce, and it doesn't have the highest demand. It is in the same state that floppies were in years ago when they were a luxury.

SSD is being developed far more vigourously than either early mechanical hard drives, or floppies, which in reality never changed much during their whole period of use. here's a 72GB SSD:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49294951,00.htm

usb flash drives are cheap as dirt now, for even larger capacity ones, though a few years back you had to remortgage your home to get a decent one!:)

[Crick]

It takes less aluminum (which is what hard disks are usually made of, among other things) to make modern hard disks, but it takes a very precise and developed process. Did you know that the first PC's often didn't have a floppy disk drive to save money? The best ones had two, and an owner of those would be the envy of everyone else.

Hey, I'm not even 30 and I remember that, back in the days of the C64 and the XT.

[gn2]

Will be interesting to see what price the other forthcoming netbooks will be, MSI Wind, ECS G10IL, Medion Akoya Mini etc.

http://www.liliputing.com/2008/04/over-past-six-months-or-so-asus-everex_24.html

[rune0077]

But seriously, those EEE's are too small. Has anyone tried one? Is it even possible to type on them without hitting multiple keys at once?

Also, to add to the equations:

smaller == fire hazard (at least what batteries are concerned)

[LaRoza]

But seriously, those EEE's are too small. Has anyone tried one? Is it even possible to type on them without hitting multiple keys at once?

Also, to add to the equations:

smaller == fire hazard (at least what batteries are concerned)

aysiu has one, and he says it works better than one would think.

[freebeer]

Size and convenience is overrated.

*loads his ENIAC into two tractor trailers, hitches his 10kw diesel generator to the end of the train, heads off to the beach for sun and surfing* :D

[rune0077]

aysiu has one, and he says it works better than one would think.

I have a hard time imagining a functionable keyboard of such small size. But if it turns out to be functional, I could see the appeal of it.

Next test would be: do airport security detect them as bombs? (apparently that has happened to quite a few Airbooks)

[LaRoza]

I have a hard time imagining a functionable keyboard of such small size. But if it turns out to be functional, I could see the appeal of it.

Next test would be: do airport security detect them as bombs? (apparently that has happened to quite a few Airbooks)

The main advantage is the ssd and the portability. I wouldn't have a use for them, but I have travelled short distances with my "small" laptop with a 14.1" screen. I can see the appeal of a smaller machine for those who move a lot.

I don't know, you try to sneak one onboard and let us know ;)

[gn2]

I have a hard time imagining a functionable keyboard of such small size

Think mobile/cell phone and how fast some kids can rattle out SMS messages on them.

Makes the Eee keyboard look huge.
Big enough for both of my forefingers anyway.

[rune0077]

Think mobile/cell phone and how fast some kids can rattle out SMS messages on them.

Makes the Eee keyboard look huge.
Big enough for both of my forefingers anyway.

I suppose it's something one could get used too. I never figured out how to do the whole SMS thing, though. I take minutes to type a message - my kid-sister can type ten of 'em in the same amount of time.

[aysiu]

I have a hard time imagining a functionable keyboard of such small size. But if it turns out to be functional, I could see the appeal of it. Granted, I don't have Andre-the-Giant-sized fingers, but they're not ultra-slim either. Still, the keyboard is functional.

The lack of usability of some parts of it are only indirectly because of its small size (for example, the Up arrow and Shift key being too easy to mix up - this is bad placement of keys as one possible solution to the keyboard not being big).

[rune0077]

Granted, I don't have Andre-the-Giant-sized fingers, but they're not ultra-slim either. Still, the keyboard is functional.


Well my fingers aren't very thick at all, so I may be able to pull it off. I'm not sure what they'll end up costing when they come to Denmark, but if they're affordable, I may take it into some serious consideration when shopping for a new laptop (though I'll need to persuade my significant other as well, which may cause some issues).

[hessiess]

SSD,s may be faster, but I have doubts over there long term durability and ability to recover data from a dead one. Solid state media has a limited number of reed/right cycles.I have had flash drives completely die and no longer be detected.

[yssida]

In Philippine computer shops, these ultra-small pc's main selling point is not their portability, it's the price. Yep, they only cost a fraction of what you'd pay for any full featured notebook.

EEE=Php 20,000. or around $500 American.
Other notebooks=Php 60,000 or around $1,400 American.

And it's priced quite comfortably, and no one pays in full here. We do it in small installments. So it's within affordable range of most middle class incomes.

[freestylekyle]

this chip may be a 900 celly but it been reworked quiet a bit. If you look at the bench marks it's almost as fast as a 2.4 Ghz P4. I have a 2.4 Ghz p4 laptop with a Gig of ram, and my Eee 900 handles ubuntu way faster than it. After all the 900 in the Eee has a much faster font side bus and a fast hard drive. That said the hard drive is sweet it wont fail from shock like the last 4 HD I put in my other laptop, so I can mount it in the car. If you think it's cheap check the prise of SSD on new egg, I wanted to put one in my laptop a 32G was something like $500.

[freestylekyle]

Thumb drive are made of cheaper SSD than the stuff in the Eee, their slower and have about 500 read/write cycles. The one in the Eee has a 100000 read/write cycle chip, and the HD controller detects had sectors as well as making sure every sector is written to evenly IE it doesn't keep using the the first sector over and over until it goes bad. I read some review of the math on the drive in the Eee and it and down to you could write and delete a 5MB file 24/7 for 100 years before the drive failed.

[uraldinho]

The rumour has it (Google it) that Google sees SSD as the solution to reducing their enormous energy bill.

With the correct error correction and spreading the writing into different sectors, some say the controller is much more likely to fail than the disk itself. Some numbers show that a continuous usage of 25 years is possible. The moral of the story is, whatever you do, back up your data. The probability of storage failure is never zero.