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Comment by jeffesp | Hacker News Reader

I don't believe this is going to be a game changer for two reasons.

The first one is that the processor can't be that much of the total cost of a system. So these aren't going to be that much cheaper than a regular netbook unless they have a radical new form factor. If there is a new form factor, then it isn't really a netbook, is it?

The second is that it's all about software. Until we get to the point where everything is online, backward compatibility is still going to be very important and there are many things that people use that only run on windows. Or at least only on x86.

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Almost nothing I run is x86-only. There are official builds of Ubuntu for SPARC and PPC and, now, for ARM, that bring me a full rich desktop experience with just about any computer I can lay my hands on.

I am home wherever I can run Gnome, Emacs, Subversion and Django. I see no reason, lack of commercial availability excepted, not to be running on ARM since long ago.

In fact, back in the late 90s, I had a MIPS-based IBM z-50 that ran NetBSD off a compact-flash card remarkably well. Due to its limited memory, I had do screen and ssh my way to other computers where I actually worked, but, anyway, having a completely silent portable Unix RISC workstation that ran for up to 10 hours on a single battery charge was a remarkable experience.

I think the logic is that these will be even less low-end... Cheaper CPU (plus no Windows license to pay for), smaller battery, less RAM, etc. If you're running Android you don't need as much as if you're running XP. Add that to the fact that prices have been hovering at $300 for a while which means there's probably a bit more padding these days anyway.

Not sure if that gets down to the $200 range, but I wouldn't be surprised to see $250 out the gate.

"Until we get to the point where everything is online"

They're netbooks. They're supposed to be used for online stuff. If you want to run Word, I would recommend a mini-laptop.

And anyway, you would be surprised at how many people basically use the web for everything these days.

I would say an even smaller device is actually the true "netbook" - what is sold today are, IMO, a variety of sub-notebooks, and are marketed as such. That's fine, but they're not "netbooks"!

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