Comments on: Freescale Challenges Intel, Wants to Bring Down Netbook Prices to Sub-$200 http://eeepc.net/freescale-challenges-intel-wants-to-bring-down-netbook-prices-to-sub-200/ Blog about Asus Eee PC & other netbooks Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:21:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Harry http://eeepc.net/freescale-challenges-intel-wants-to-bring-down-netbook-prices-to-sub-200/comment-page-1/#comment-23656 Harry Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:01:06 +0000 http://eeepc.net/?p=2383#comment-23656 Chances are that in a year the cheapest Atom based netbooks will also be at $200, or less. So for the ARM design to survive it would have to offer something compelling that is hard for Atom netbooks to match, or users just won't bother. There are two things I can think of: One is huge battery life. I am thinking of 12+ hrs as standard in a sub-Kg package. Here the low ARM power will come in very handy (assuming the chipset is also low power). The other is an instant-on capability (for the complete environment-not a limited one), although linux based Atom netbooks might match that. One or both of these could make the Freescale netbook useful enough. Otherwise the non-compatible CPU could turn out to be fatal. Chances are that in a year the cheapest Atom based netbooks will also be at $200, or less. So for the ARM design to survive it would have to offer something compelling that is hard for Atom netbooks to match, or users just won’t bother.

There are two things I can think of: One is huge battery life. I am thinking of 12+ hrs as standard in a sub-Kg package. Here the low ARM power will come in very handy (assuming the chipset is also low power). The other is an instant-on capability (for the complete environment-not a limited one), although linux based Atom netbooks might match that.

One or both of these could make the Freescale netbook useful enough. Otherwise the non-compatible CPU could turn out to be fatal.

]]>