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CheapPc posts

CTL releasing Atom-powered 2go nettop for $149

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 31st 2008 at 3:25PM

CTL, the same cats who brought us the 2go PC laptop, are apparently working up an equally cheap and not-exactly-flashy nettop PC. The 2go PC Nettop will reportedly range in price from $149 to $299 depending on specifications, and the baseline model will feature Intel's DG945GCLF motherboard, Intel's Atom 230 processor, 1GB of Kingston DDR2 RAM, a GMA 950 graphics accelerator, support for one HDD and one optical drive, six USB 2.0 ports and an Ethernet jack. The Essential Plus Edition ($199) adds in Ubuntu and an 80GB 7,200RPM hard drive (while slashing RAM to 512MB); the $299 Essential Performance Edition comes with Windows XP Home, a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of memory. There's no word just yet on when the 4.5-pound boxes will be released, but we'd expect 'em to surface pretty quietly.

[Thanks, Nate]

Gigabyte M912 low-cost laptop to feature Intel's Atom CPU

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 28th 2008 at 8:58AM

Remember that mention that Gigabyte was looking to dole out some sort of low-cost PC later this year? Can't discern that from the hordes of other similar notices from nearly every other computer maker out there? Fret not, as DigiTimes has it that the aforesaid firm will indeed be rolling out a budget-priced subnote as early as June. More specifically, the M912 will feature an 8.9-inch panel (resolution still unknown) with an Intel Atom CPU, and according to "sources," it'll support either Linux or Windows XP and could come stocked with Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the most critical point (yeah, price) is still left to our imagination.

Elonex ONE toyed with on video

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 29th 2008 at 12:06AM

Sure enough, that 100 quid laptop we heard about early last week is already making the rounds, as the BBC caught up with the ONE at The Education Show in Birmingham, England. Granted, this thing is far from stylish (okay, so it's downright ugly), but it's hard to expect too much more given the ultra-low price tag. Satisfy your curiosity by checking out a minute long clip of the unit in action -- go on, it's right there in the read link.

[Thanks, KC]

Novatium's $113 netPC offered to internet-deprived MTNL customers

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 28th 2007 at 7:10PM

While it's not quite free, folks in India that are having a hard time securing a PC (let alone an internet connection) will soon have another alternative. Reportedly, Novatium's stripped-down ?4,500 ($113) netPC, which will be "connected to a centralized server in the locality by MTNL," will act like a dumb terminal in users' homes. Consequently, applications will all be stored outside of the actual PC, but customers will be allowed 2GB of remote storage and access to the internet, the latter of which will require "a small monthly fee." To promote the offering, the firms are touting the system as one that is immune to traditional viruses and provides a low total cost of ownership, and buyers can even choose whether they'd like to work on Windows or Linux. Sorry, Mac lovers.

[Thanks, Jagannath A.]

Lenovo aims for 'rural market,' announces $199 desktop for China

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 3rd 2007 at 10:50AM

Looks like Lenovo won't be the one to get left behind in the pursuit of the "poor rural Chinese market," as the firm has just announced a basic PC that it plans to sell in that neck of the woods for between $199 and $399. While there are currently "no details" with respect to processor choices or other internal hardware specifications, we do know the unit will "include a keyboard and use a buyer's television set as a monitor." Interestingly, Lenovo actually went so far as to deny assumptions that it was merely "responding to Dell's initiative," and noted that it had been selling low-cost PCs to "rural Chinese families since 2004." Of note, there was no mention of which operating system would be running the show, but considering that Microsoft just halved the retail price of Vista over in China, you just may see it vying for selection.

Read - Lenovo to sell $199 PC in rural China
Read - Microsoft halves Vista retail price in China

Details on YellowSheepRiver's $150 Municator

by Ryan Block, posted Apr 22nd 2006 at 4:55PM

We first heard about the Municator / YSR-639 from our Chinese bureau a couple weeks ago; now it looks like we've got somemore solid info on the $146 Linux PC by Chinese firm YellowSheepRiver. It's not exactly a device we imagine is going to run amok in the state-driven market before the impending worldwide release of the OLPC (or to a lesser extent, the Edu-wise), but the BYOKVM angle will definitely put the hurt on Intel's Community PC. The specs ain't too shabby either: the Municator features a 400 or 800mhz 64-bit Godson-2 CPU, 40GB drive, 256MB of RAM, four USB 2.0 ports, IrDA, S-video, VGA, Ethernet, PS/2, and runs a Linux variant called Thinix OS. YellowSheepRiver also supposedly has a lithium-ion battery, WiFi, and modem options lined up; we'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.

[Via LinuxDevices, thanks Kim L]