[Arm-netbook] ATX motherboard

[Gordan Bobic]

On 10/17/2012 04:04 PM, Bari Ari wrote:
> On 10/17/2012 07:32 AM, Alexey Eromenko wrote:
>> Such an ARM PC, if priced under $100, could make a killing.
>> This machine will target 2 communities: Android buyers and GNU/Linux
>> buyers. Much easier to sell.
>
> Some people feel this way, but PC makers do not believe this to be true.
> If the fact is that a manufacturer can make a killing (assuming you mean
> a large profit) doing this, wouldn't at least one be doing it? Maybe if
> the facts were presented clearly a manufacturer would make this happen.
> The real killing seems to be in creating status symbols with very wide
> profit margins with built in obsolescence.

Because you can charge a huge amount for a cheap-to-manufacture product. 
The problem is that your entire product ($100 PC) has a retail price of 
less than the profit margin of a status symbol tech toy.

So no - it isn't something that any manufacturer will make a killing on.

However - it is something that could easily drive a lot of manufacturers 
out of business.

Thus, no manufacturer is going to go anywhere near it. A product like 
this can only really happen via a back door or community interest. Once 
it does, it'll apply a Google-like business pressure (i.e. "find 
something that somebody is still managing to make money on and offer the 
same service for free" - in this case not quite free, but cheap enough 
that it's not really competable with).

>> I think Solidrun Cubox ticks most of the boxes, apart from a *TX form
>> factor (it's a 2" cube).
>
> If the Solidrun Cubox is close to the ideal spec except for the lack of
> open docs and a few other things, why is it priced out of consideration
> at $139.99 to keep it from becoming popular?

Because $ fell against €. It's €99 for a Cubox.

> Hardkernel offers a quad core ARM Cortex-A9 developer board for only
> $129 in single quantity
> http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G133999328931
>
> They or others could easily spin a board to make a complete PC in high
> volume for under $100 with the same ARM SOC and features. Why isn't
> Hardkernel or any other manufacturer doing this with the Exynos4412? The
> Exynos 4412 Quad Core CPU Module for $119 in single quantity is sold out!
> http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G134032695534
>
> How many million did they sell to exceed the capacity of the foundry at
> Samsung? Was Hardkernel only allocated a few hundred or a few thousand
> 4412 SOC's?
>
> The Wandaboard's start at $69 ea in single quantity. Unfortunately the
> boards only support a fraction of the features available in the i.mx6.
> http://www.wandboard.org/
>
> Freescale seems to be making the i.mx6 available to anyone at any
> quantity. The i.mx6 supports all the features you mention. Maybe someone
> could be convinced to make an imx6 board with all the wanted features
> with plenty of room for profit.
>
> If manufacturers are actually unaware of this high profit market for an
> ARM PC priced under $100, what can we do about getting them the facts to
> understand this? Is it merely due to the lack of or ignorance of the
> facts, or are there other reasons why sub $100 ARM PC's don't exist?

Inertia.

Oh, and the Raspberry Pis manufactured from this week come with 512MB of 
RAM, which makes them borderline usable. Still for $35.

Gordan