[Arm-netbook] "the competition" - an example 13.3in 1388x768 intel atom laptop... for $203

[Gordan Bobic]

On 08/30/2011 09:51 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> http://lkcl.net/linux/Gmail%20-%2013.3inch%20laptop%20from%20phenix.html
>
> in amongst the copious spam i now receive, thanks to the various
> buying leads i've put out, i keep getting these really rather
> eye-opening but completely wrong "offers" that have absolutely nothing
> to do with the original buying lead... at all :)
>
> what's instructive about this one - and why i've copied it to the
> above URL - is the price and the features.
>
> $USD 203 for a laptop... with a 3000mAh battery, a single-core 1.6ghz
> intel atom but with 1gb of RAM, a 13.3in 1388x768 LCD, a 160gb hard
> drive... 802.11n WIFI and it's... $203.
>
> now, i know that both you, mark, and you, gordan, are saying that
> $300+ for an ARM-powered laptop with _only_ a 10.1in screen, even if
> it's 1280x768 (or better) is justifiable, but it's not really getting
> through to me.

Personally, I'd prefer 1366x768 on a 10in screen, but that's just me. If 
I'm going to carry something that's 13" in size, I'll stretch to 15" and 
take my ThinkPad T50 with a 2048x1536 screen and get better battery life 
out of it to boot. I haven't seen many implementations of N450/N455, but 
the two that I have seen (Dell Mini 1012 and Advantech industrial 
motherboards) have both had outrageously botched power management and 
draw upward of 25W idling (I kid you not!). For reference, the CPU/SB is 
supposed to be 5.5W+2W TDP (Note: TDP, not idle). My AC100 pulls 6W from 
the wall plug at full tilt and it's faster, too.

> so please be patient with me - run it by me one more time.  what
> "unique selling points" are there which justify a $300+ price-tag?  i
> can think of some reasons, but i'd like to go over this again, to make
> sure it's clear.
>
> really appreciated.

The things that immediately come to mind are:
1) The fact that a Cortex A9 will give you about 6-8+ hours of battery 
life compared to the N450's 2 hours.

Now, granted, maybe it's simply the fact that Dell's and Advantec's 
engineering sucks - I wouldn't be disupting such a claim. But that is a 
pretty awesome selling point for a small laptop. And with a Pixel Qi 
screen you'd double that battery life expectancy.

2) RAM on a DDR3 DIMM socket would also add to the ARM cost and put it 
more in line with the x86, but also make it more desirable because it 
means people like me could actually put a 4GB DIMM in it for a few $ 
rather than be stuck with whatever pitifully inappropriate amount of RAM 
the manufacturer soldered onto the motherboard. To do this you'd need 
the firmware to actually check SPID and set the timings accordingly - 
another thing that isn't commonly available on ARM at the moment.

Of course, you could pick a decent SoC and put as muc RAM on it as the 
SoC can address thus removing any requirement for upgradability. It'd 
push the price up but that's the price you pay for lack of modularity.

Gordan