A recent report by the New York Times states that PC makers are shaking in their boots because other manufacturers (like Asus) have proven that yes, you can deliver a usable low-cost low-power notebook to the market that people will actually buy (like the EeePC).
Right now is not a good time for PC makers because it seems that no matter how much they drop their prices, people don’t seem to be buying these days.
I can totally understand why. When you see an EeePC for $300 and fast realize it can do just about everything you need, why would anyone want a $500+ desktop?
The answer to this is for the industry to offer a low-cost "net-top" PC. It would cost roughly the same as the notebook version (around $300). This computer would have no optical drive, a solid state disk and a few USB ports to plug in whatever you need to.
Some would say "Isn’t that what a Mac mini is?" Not exactly; it doesn’t use SSD and has an optical drive. And it’s $600. We’re talking about next-gen low-power/low-cost units here.
We could finally see the advent of the "silent brick" PC, which is what the net-top would be. A small out-of-the-way box about the size of a novel and at a price point that would have most people say "Yeah, I could use one of those."
Watch for it.
Uh isn’t what this is http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/21/the-cherrypal-cloud-pc-249-ready-for-the-new-world-order/ ?
That’s one example but certainly not the defining box. Some believe there should be no OS whatsoever and have everything load from the cloud (like the CherryPal) while others think there should still be a local-OS present (what we use now).
The eeebox should come close (minus the ssd): http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/05/23/asus_e_dt_is_ebox/
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/05/24/asus-takes-wii-nintendo
If it doesn’t have a optical drive, to me it is not worth it.. What it yo wanted to watch a video or install other programs? this to me sounds like nothing more that a laptop or internet access only..
uhm.. what you just described is a thin client with disk access protection turned off. go to hp and you can get a thin client running xp-embedded or linux and you can add a thumb drive for storage, and an external cd/dvd drive via usb. its also only $179+ — so why reinvent the wheel?
The NYT article did not mention the best one, OLPC.
Whether it ends up being called a net-top, nettop, or netbook, this new wave of Netbook Computers offer more performance and a lower price than PC’s and laptops.
If it doesn’t have a optical drive, to me it is not worth it.. What it yo wanted to watch a video or install other programs? this to me sounds like nothing more that a laptop or internet access only..