News Bits: Wal Mart $398 HP Notebook?, Dell Gives up Price War, Dell Orders from Asus, Atlanta Wi-Fi

Wal Mart $398 HP Pavilion ze2000 Notebook on November 25?

Last week there was a Dell Inspiron 1200 notebook that could be purchased for $399 after use of coupons, you still had to pay for shipping though. I was astounded at that price. But HP and Wal Mart are apparently teaming up to sell a ze2000 model notebook for $398. According to a site http://www.bfads.net/that posts deals for what Americans call "Black Friday" (Wikipedia Black Friday description), a big shopping day that kicks off the Christmas shopping seasontheFriday after the Thanksgiving holiday, a Wal Mart flyer to be distributed before November 25 advertises the following spec HP Pavilion ze2308mw:

• AMD Sempron 2800+ Processor
• 40GB 4200RPM Hard Drive
• 256MB RAM
• CDRW / DVD drive
• 15" LCD screen
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• Price: $398

HP ZE2000 top view with lid closed (view larger image)

And that's all we know as far as specs. We reviewed the HP ze2000 recently, so checkout the review and keep the specs in mind and decide if you want to lineup early in the morning to get into Wal Mart and score on this deal!

Resources:

• NotebookReview.com User Opinions on the ZE2000

Dell to Give Up on Price War -- Says New Focus on Higher Prices and HigherEnd ProductsWill Cut Into Profit

While HP might be battling to lower prices and sell through Wal Mart, Dell is hitting the brakes on agressive pricing.In a surprise announcement last night Dell indicated they have decided to sacrifice market share for profit growth. According to Brent Bracelin, senior research analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon"Dell's been less aggressive in the entry level," he said, noting that the lowest-price Dell desktop system has moved up to $399 from $299. The company announced in September that it would also market a line of desktop and laptop computers as luxury models.

Dell's stock value dropped 4% upon this announcement. Instead of continuing to squeeze margins on laptops, Dell might focus more on luxury line sales such as with their XPS models.

"There have been lots of signals that Dell's business was falling," Mr. Bracelin said. He said he was not shocked by the news, but he still did not see a clear indication that the company had figured out a way to re-accelerate growth.

More:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/technology/01dell.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1130816422-82373mW+wGufzPO899RUaw

Asus to Manufacture Notebooks for Dell in 2006

Asus sells notebooks under it's own Asus brand and for manufacturers such as Apple Computer. DigiTimes.com, a Taipei based electronics news industry organization reports that Asus will be the ODM for Dell slim profile notebooks next year. According to DigiTimes Asustek won out over Samsung on producing this notebook for Dell.

More: http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20051101PR203.html

Atlanta Airport Rolls Out Wi-Fi Throughout Terminals -- and the Cab Stand

If you're travelling through Atlanta, a major hub airport in the U.S., then take your notebook with you because wireless is now available throughout the airport. Not only that, but they stretched the network far enough so you can get it from the cabstand or on the tarmac while on board the plane. Beautiful, now I won't hesitate as much to board the aircraft. Service is provided by WayPort:

More: http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Atlanta-Airport-Embraces-Wi-Fi/story.xhtml?story_id=0010003JFLKD

FlyBook Version 2Touchscreen Notebook / Tablet PC Announced

The Flybook Version2 has justbeen announced over in Asia and will follow up on the really cool 2.6 pound 8.9"touchscreen version 1 Flybook from Taiwanese company Dialogue. The Flybook 8.9-inch screen supports a maximum resolution of 1024 pixels by 600 pixels and is fitted with a standard touch panel that can be operated by almost any stylus. Initially the machine will be available with either the Windows XP Home or Professional operating systems installed and later with a new version of Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Standard touch panels like that on the Flybook are not supported by Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system--Microsoft has insisted on more complex electromagnetic touch panels and stylus--but a relaxed version of the operating system will soon be launched that will include support.

The new machine is the most powerful member of the Flybook range to date. It is based on an Intel Pentium M ULV processor running at 1.1GHz. Other specifications include 512MB of memory and a hard-disk in capacities between 20GB and 100GB.

The machines are designed with mobile communications in mind and have internal Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. European versions also include Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) modems while U.S. versions include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) support. Support for 3G cellular networks is also planned. Availability in Europe and Asia should be November and the U.S. possibly early next year.

More: http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,123258,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp

 

Sweet, go ASUS

They better have mirror models of similiar spec's, I hate it when they do something revolutionary but let other brands rebrand it

$400 laptop looks good, although 2 USB ports is REALLY cutting it, 4 isn;t enough for me

 

Oh, hell. Does this mean Dell's not going to come back with another deep discount coupon on the 9300? Here I was, settling in to wait for one....

Ed

 

mmm cant wait to see what kind of things dell gets from asus.

 

New coupons are due out tomorrow, we'll see what Dell gives us and how crappy they are -- if they're really bad you can say they're serious about what they're saying

 

Higher prices for Dell could also mean sturdier laptops, or at least I hope it does... The fact that they chose Asus to ODM Dell laptops next year shows that they might begin selling higher quality products for higher prices instead of simply raising prices and keeping the same sub-par quality standards.

 

If sacrificing coupons lets them focus more on their high end products AND if it enables them to further improve the said products, I'll be interested, but I still can't be paying over $3000 for a laptop when that money could be better spent on my other needs... I was set on Dell, and they had to announce something like this.

It's like fate doesn't want me to ever get a new laptop. I've been on this "search" for over 2 years and thought that this was the light at the end of the tunnel. I can't bear this any longer...

 

Wow that $398 ze2000z is very appealing. Good to see that nice products are reaching basic users!

Yeah..that's a shame with Dell, but...times change.

Chaz

 

So, do you guys think that machine will be available in Canadian Wal-Mart? For that price, one can't go wrong. (Just read the review and am impressed from what I see. There will be one slot open so you could always upgrade the RAM for better performance).

 

Wal-Mart here don't sell laptops, but you can ask a sales rep about it..

Doubt that they will have it but still a good deal...

 

Yeah, the Walmarts at my zipcode don't sell notebooks either.

 

Yes indeed it is a good deal. Oh, they don't sell laptops in Canadian Wal-Mart? I've never looked into it before. Too bad if that isn't available, I mean, for that price, it could be a desktop replacement and you would still have money left over for a smaller machine! Not on my tight budget however :|

 

For now it's a US only thing, I'm sure if Wal Mart turns it into a success their CA stores will start selling such things though. You're right, there's little that can go wrong with this deal -- although I bet the warranty is 3 months or something terrible.

 

That is true. Warranty could be ridiculus. But atleast here in CA, as long as the Wal Mart SOLD YOU that machine on some date in the past, you can at the least exchange. I'm sure they're a bit more strict with high-end electronics. Meh, maybe not. It's Wal-Mart right?

 

I suspect that Mikey (Dell) won't be able to stay away from the discounts long. That's the way he's built his very successful business and his stock holders expect him to post record profits every quarter. As soon as Dell has a quarter where sales are lagging, you'll see big deals again. I suspect they will be more selective and run for shorter times...but they are not gone for good.

 

The coupons Dell sent this morning are for 25% off a $1499 machine (click on the dell coupon tab to get that) which is not as good as the past but not as bad as they have been recently either.

 

I wonder if some day the Dell board won't fire Michael. To the Asus deal, this is probably good news for buyers. The X1 that Samsung did was pretty nice and one of the more innovative Dell notebooks in a while. Hopefully the trend will continue with Asus.

 

Yeah - I'm surprised, that's pretty good. But then again, who know what next week will hold...

 

In Australia there is a $1000 off for the 9300 for the next 2 days. This news did it. Placed the order last night.
I here what is said about quality and ASUS, but in the end most pople (like me) take a gamble on price over quaility based on the 'Oh, it won't happen to me' - I just hope I get one of the nice screen (samsung??)....