Thin and Inexpensive Netbooks Affect PC Industry | Hacker News Reader

Thin and Inexpensive Netbooks Affect PC Industry

nytimes.com

20 pointsnickb17 comments

Netbook makers have turned to Linux, an open-source operating system that costs $3 instead of the $25 that Microsoft typically charges for Windows XP.

I think I owe somebody $3!

Seriously, what an odd statement/error. Maybe someone is charging somebody $3 for Linux, but you would think that the nytimes.com would know what Linux is...

Not an error at all. Linux is free "in terms of liberty, not price". Just because you know how to get it, install it, and customize it to your settings for free doesn't mean everyone does. That $3 covers things like sending consultants to the manufacturer, writing specialized drivers, and removing certain parts of Linux to make it run faster.

I'm sure it's possible to work out a per-copy price for Linux, but that number probably came from the cost of Windows XP Starter Edition, and the reporter got it muddled up.

http://www.google.com/search?q=windows%20%243

The nice thing though is that if you have some upfront developer/consultant cost for Linux that cost gets amortized over every netbook you crank out. I have no idea how the economics of this really works, but it would seem at least that the per-machine Linux price would keep falling toward zero.

I know that you can charge what ever you want for Linux and that the per unit price might be x dollars, but my gripe is that the New York Times article makes it sound like The Linux Company sets the price at $3/copy without any kind of explanation. You would think that they would give some background info on Linux, explaining why, as open source, it is fundamentally different (e.g. no single company controls it)and can affect the netbook pricing in this way.

Forget, for a moment, about whether this is the end of the PC industry or not (I would bet on not...). What I find intriguing about this article is the mention of AT&T giving away cheap netbooks to wireless subscribers. What I find even more intriguing is that, even with 4 desktops and 2 laptops on my desk (don't ask), I'm really tempted by that offer.

Maybe not the next generation of standards (LTE and 802.11n), but the generation after that will, I believe, mark the end of the distinction between local wireless and long-range wireless. That devices like iPhones and Netbooks should appear as an consequence (or even in anticipation) is not so surprising, then.

I am thinking of getting either an Asus Eee or HP Mini. Does anyone have any experience playing Hulu or other flash sites on one of these? How does it compare?

FWIW, I really love my Acer Aspire One which I've been using for 6 months or so. I'm not an active Hulu user but I did just give it a try and watched about 5 minutes of Family Guy without incident; your mileage may vary.

Originally, I picked it up just to satisfy my inner geek and thought it might be good for my 7 year old daughter. On that score, it sucks because educational/kids games just can't handle the small screen. I can play a mean game of desktop tower defense or a few goodoldgames.com games, but as a gaming machine, you'll be disappointed.

I use it mostly for surfing the web, skyping, and watching video while traveling, and it works great. I bought a 3rd party battery off ebay and can literally run it for 6 hours watching video which covers most of the travel I've had to do. When around the house, I tend to use it more than our other laptop; it's just so light and easy to carry from room to room, I prefer it for short stints of web surfing.

It's also fairly hackable; I have it running linux, winxp, and MacOS (although I did replace the wireless card to get it working properly).

My wife is going to give it a go for a couple weeks to see if she can effectively use it to replace her laptop at work. With the slightly smaller keyboard and less than stellar mouse, I don't think it would be good for 8 hours of office work alone, but when connected to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, it might work for her and you can't beat how much lighter it is to lug around.

I think the sweet spot of the market is teens and college students who don't care about video gaming. With it's long battery life and small size, it would be awesome for taking notes in class, and be good enough in a dorm room with an external monitor and keyboard, for most other non-gaming use.

You also can't beat the price albeit for $200 more or so, you can get a pretty decent laptop these days (or if you are like me and buy extra junk like a battery, external dvd reader, and a wifi card, it's almost a wash).

I'd wait on your purchase... the current models will handle 360p okay via Hulu but will lag noticeably while trying to run fullscreen or even windowed 480p. I really think the next major selling point for netbooks will prove to be more HD video capabilities. VIA and Habey have already introduced hardware decoders (the VX855 and BIS-6550HD, respectively) that are able to handle 1080p. These or something similar could easily be included in next-gen netbooks.

How are they not considered part of the PC industry?

they are cheaper and lower margin

Thanks OLPC.

More "thanks Asus", I think?

Well, if we're going to play that game, wouldn't it be more like "thanks Alan Kay and Dynabook"?

No, it's pretty fair to say Asus developed the first netbook, proving the segment was commercially viable. OLPC got some publicity among the nerd crowd but had no real effect on the market.

short dell, appl, hp?

RIP PC, for at least you lasted longer than VHS.

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