News Bits: CompUSA to Sell $299 Laptop, Western Digital 320GB HD, Intel Component Shortages

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Libya buys 150,000 Intel Classmate PCs

Libya's education ministry placed an order in August for 150,000 Intel Classmate PCs. Intel and Microsoft were reportedly not subsidizing the price of the laptops but there was no mention of exactly how much was paid for the machines.

Read More (Engadget.com)

CompUSA Selling $299 notebook this weekend

It seems like $300 is the new bottom of the barrel price for laptop deals this year. CompUSA will be offering an Acer 15.4&quot; screen Celeron based laptop for $299 starting on November 2nd. The specs include a measly 512MB of RAM, Vista Home Basic, 80GB hard drive and Celeron M 520 1.6GHz processor.

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You can see the full 2-day blowout ad at CompUSA.com by clicking here.


Western Digital introduces 320GB notebook hard drive

Western Digital today introdued its latest 2.5-inch notebook hard drive, the 320GB Scorpio 320. It has an 8MB cache, 5,400RPM rotational speed, and 3.0Gbps SATA connection. Power consumption is kept down by Western Digital's Intelliseek technology, which slows down the drive if data throughput is not reduced.

The drive is available now directly from Western Digital for $200 and will soon appar at retailers.

Read More (ChannelRegister.co.uk)
Product Link (WesternDigital.com)


LED backlight penetration to surpass 10% in '08

According to AU Optronics (AUO) senior vice president David Su, the penetration rate of LED backlighting panels in the notebook market will surpass 10% in 2008. As soon as LED backlighting becomes mainstream in the smaller LCD market, it will move to larger size applications. Current supply is tight for LED-based backlighting units because of high demand from panel makers such as Samsung.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


Notebook component shortage may arrive Q2 '08

According to a DigiTimes report, the notebook industry could see a component shortage in Q2 2008 if upstream suppliers do not expand their facilities in time. Shipments of notebooks are expected to reach 25.98 million units by Q2 2008. Notebook component suppliers are not moving quickly enough to meeting the strong demand.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


$100 OLPC XO laptop is almost $200, Uruguay places order

The OLPC XO laptop is now costing an average of $188 to build. The costs can vary according to material prices, especially nickel. Originally the laptop was envisioned to cost $100 apiece.

In more positive light, OLPC  received an order from Uruguay for 100,000 laptops. The country will give them to children between 6 and 12 years old. The country has the option to buy another 300,000 laptops by 2009, meaning every child in the country would have one of the XO laptops.

Read More (ChannelRegister.co.uk)


Intel notebook CPUs are in short supply

Increased notebook shipments in 2H 2007 have caused numerous notebook component shortages, namely Intel CPUs and WLAN modules. The gap between Intel's production capacity and the market demand is growing; Intel said it will adjust its production capacity to fix the shortage problems. The firm expects the problems to be solved by the end of the year.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

 

Seems like that Acer machine is competing with the ASUS EEE PC if you ask me...I wonder who will win

 

I like the new WD drive...

 

My axe will win

 

Wow $299 for a new notebook! I remember last year they were advertising it at $499. I hope next year it will be down to $99. (Just wish full thinking though )

 

299.... damn.,.. thats low, but im still getting the asus EEE

 

That WD hard drive would solve almost all storage space problems I might have in my next notebook....I hope that this will drive the price of 250GB drives downward, so that I can actually afford one.

 

300 USD for a notebook What is the world coming to? In many European countries you would have to pay at least 800 dollars for the same thing. It is just not fair

 

I vote Acer...the EEE is just too small IMO. Acer has a much more manageable screen size - reading-wise, that is, not too mention a regular-sized keyboard.

I must say, that's a very good deal. Bottom-of-the-line specs, of course, but you can't beat the price. Everex has a $200 no-monitor and Linux desktop that you couldn't get Windows on for less. So if you want Windows on a very tight budget...this is the way to go.

 

LOL , 299$ Acer is the 1st EEE killer and the EEE is not even out yet .

Yeah I know its a lose leader and not as portable weighing x3 but it also has x2 screen , x2 speed and x20 storage , not to mention OD , probably same battery life all for 100$ less .

Waiting for more models like that not because I want to buy one but because it will affect the higher end models as well .

 

That Western Digital (320GB) is a HDD that worths every penny. I mean, 120GB over the Hitachi and at the same price, even though it's at a lower speed...but 120GB!

 

Oh...though Acer is sold at $299, surely EEE would be more interesting for me.

 

Another EEE killer indeed. More proof of the EEE being overpriced.

 

Your going to want to upgrade the ram on that Acer for Vista, the cost is more like $368. The EEE according to the review does just fine running its Linux distro with just 512Mb of RAM which is going to be obnoxious in Windows Vista. You could always format with XP on the Acer though.

 

512mb of RAM on a Vista machine? Ouch ouch ouch! However, the $300 price and versatility of the machine is _exactly_ why I called the EEE PC overpriced in my last comment. Low-budget notebooks like this have been rumored to be coming since earlier this year. Expect to see more $300 laptops coming for Black Friday.

 

I can't wait until Black Friday. Forget the $300 price tag with 512mb of ram! Just add another $80 on there and you get your self a pretty reasonable laptop for some internet and office usage!

I would go down to CompUSA tomorrow but I have class! But Black Friday will be the night/day!

I can't wait!!!!!!

 

Those Acer's at compusa went quickly. I was going to buy one for my mom as a xmas gift, but when I went online at 12:34am, they were already sold out for delivery.