Mobo gets rebadge happy with two new low-cost subnotes for Brazil
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 7th 2008 4:50PM
posted May 7th 2008 4:50PM
It looks like folks in Brazil are soon going to have a few more low-cost subnote options to consider, with Mobo announcing two new but curiously familiar-looking models. That includes the Positivo Mobo (pictured above), which appears to almost certainly be a rebadge of Airis' Kira 740 Eee PC lookalike (or a rebadge of whatever that is a rebadge of). That likelihood is further backed up by the nearly identical specs, including the usual 7-inch display, Via C7-M processor, 1.3-megapixel webcam, and built-in WiFi, although this particular model appears to come with 2GB of flash memory in place of the Kira's standard 40GB hard drive. Set to be released alongside it is the company's Mobo Kids laptop, which is just a straight up rebadge of Intel's Netbook platform (a.k.a. Classmate 2), with it boasting the same Celeron M processor and presumably all the same specs seen in other incarnations like CTL's 2go PC. Look for both of 'em to pack the same R$999 price tag (or $590), with the Positivo Mobo hitting stores first on May 23rd and the Mobo Kids following sometime in July.
[Via Zumo Blog, thanks Leoberto]
[Via Zumo Blog, thanks Leoberto]
Does anyone know exactly how many Eee copies are out there floating around the market right now?
6.5
Close to 30?
Previous post on it here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/low-cost-laptop-overload-arranged-in-digestible-list/
Crikey, what is going on with this trend of making screens WAY too big?! They need to shrink the LCD down to the size of peanut and make it all bezel.
Yes I know ! They are definatelly shelf leaders ! No one buyes them, they just seat there...
BRL 999 is a steal for that ! You can get a lowsy 14" Intel Celeron 1.73 GHz 1024 RAM 80 GB for BRL 1400 (Arround USD 800)
Funny you should say that. I actually did a double-take when I read this article thinking to myself, "Oh, those bozos at Engadget forgot to copy edit yet ANOTHER one of their articles." Apparently, though, they actually got this one right. Funny, that. But I digress...
While on business last week, I found myself at an electronics store getting some ink, and noticed heaps of laptops priced from around BRL 799.00 to BRL 4999.00 (US 474.33 to 2967.65). I wasn't interested enough to notice brand names. Regardless, it just seems like there are better options available than what these ePC'ers are trying to pawn off on the rest of the world (and the US).
$500 to $3000? Are you kidding? Thats like saying I went to the car dealership and say loads of cards for $5000 to $50,000. I mean no kidding, $500 to $3000 is like 95% of the total range of laptops, I see no reason for that to be relevant here.
If you had said $500 to $800 I might have paid attention. Granted, it should be obvious by now that you have a huge number of choices for a laptop prices $500 to $800, but at least it would be a reasonable observation.
In other news, I just noticed a bunch of houses on sale for $100k to $1000k.
at least it's cheaper than an Eee on those computer stores on the infomercials. (and they don't know the power of the Eee brand, they just call it an ASUS)
I simply don't understand the sub-notebook market. What's the allure?
Power? *chuckle*...no.
Battery life? *scoff*...no.
Cost? OK, at the fabled $200, sure, but most of them are $500+ now -- for that much I could get a much more powerful/flexible Vostro (or other low-end real laptop).
Size and weight? They're too big to fit in my pocket like a PDA, so I'd still have to carry a bag. But they're too small to do much with them, at least without a lot of scrolling and 2-finger typing.
Is it all just novelty?
Seriously, what's the practical draw these things hold???
I don't get it either. I was really excited about the Eee when it was going to be $200, but they totally blew it.
If you have to ask the question then its not for you.
size and weight. you say you would have to carry a bag anyway but theres a big difference between 1kg and 3kg, and size is also a big factor. the smaller size is more chuckable. you can throw it across the room and it is more frisbee like.
students prefer it to mammoth laptops because they fit in smaller bags and are lighter and easy to pull out in class and take up much less space on a class table or lecture theatre.
apart from this the fact is that the majority of people dont need the horse power of traditional laptops since they mainly use a pc for web surfing and light office tasks and this is far more suited to browsing the web because you have no qualms about taking it in the toilet and not break your browsing habits.
This need to stop!
Every MOBO or MOFO is coming out with some piece of plastic slapped together with a $500+ price tag..
what happened to the Eeepc that we were denied the $199 price tag?
That thing should be like $300 tops.
remember, there are too much taxes here in Brazil.
but Positivo PCs do sell well here.
two hands-on videos of Mobo and Mobo Kids made at Positivo launch:
http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=4sl2XrK63UY
and
http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=GldJjucBH20
All brazilians who commented neglected to point that 'Mobo' is not a company, but the notebook line from Positivo Informática.
And most are moronic enough to think price is the point. Of course you can get a 14-incher for 'just' BRL400 more, but the point is portability ! I carry my Eee in my backpack and can almost forget it is there, but a 14-incher is hard to ignore.
"ultra brazilian"
my taint hurts already
The price $590 is wrong... first you need to take off 60% of TAX (for imports) + 17% ~ 30% of ICMS (other gov TAX), and you get the real "price".
The total TAX for something from outside Brazil is arround 100%, so this crap goes for arround USD300. That is what FedEx told me.
BTW, do we have any other UMPC option in Brazil? The EeePC seems to appear from grey market, and that is the only option I know.
bezHell.
In Germany the same notebook is sold by "One" with Windows XP Home preinstalled:
http://www.one.de/shop/product_info.php?cPath=131&products_id=2658
Without webcam, Windows and with less memory:
http://www.one.de/shop/product_info.php?cPath=131&products_id=2667
I don't find Mobo a dirt. It is not one copies of EeePc, several sub-notebooks exist thereabout, he is of the same price that Eee PC and if you order of Brazil, it leaves much cheaper. And it has two models.
You are been thinks still it is a dirt looks those characteristics:
Processor: VIA C7®-M, 1GHz.
- FSB: 400 MHz;
- Cache L2: 128 KB.
· screen Type: LCD, TFT, widescreen.
Size of the screen: 07."
· Memória: 512 MB DDR2.
Storage: 02 GB in NAND Flash.
· Sistema: Authentic Windows XP Home Edition.
·Webcam: 640x480 - 0,3 megapixels.
· Fax modem: 56 kbps.
·Leitor of cards: SD/MMC/MS.
· Rede: 10/100 mbps, Fast Ethernet.
· Wireless: integrated. IEEE 802.11b/g.
· Vídeo: processing of integrated video shared up to 128MB, graphic accelerator THROUGH Chrome9 HC IGP.
Chipset: ROAD VX800U.
· Typed Pattern: Portuguese-Brazil, 80 keys.
Integrated ·Som: High embedded speakers, sound stereo.
Connections:
- 2 USB;
- 1 VGA;
- 1 RJ-45;
- 1 RJ-11;
- 1 Line in (audio);
- 1 Line Out (ear phone);
- 1 DC (source).
Weight aprox. of the product: 1,1 Kg.
Weight aprox. with packing: 1,8 Kg.
·Dimensions of the product: 24,4 x 4,25 x 17,2 cm.