Netbooks overpriced

bwana said:
Blame South African retailers?

Looking at Amazon you can get the Acer Aspire One with the 8gb SSD for $299 (R3000) - pay the Windows tax and get the 160gb HDD and you're looking at R3900.

At Incredible corruption the same XP device goes for R6999.95!
Click to expand...

Not the retailers, even though Incredible does inflate a lot. Blame wholesalers...
 
so did someone forget the KY? screwed either way. Most prices are computed based on UK pounds and a whole lota greed!--there is no competition in SA (because the market is limited to a few who have jobs)--so why bother complaining--just bend over...

this just drive me mad.
 
This could be seen as a shameless plug but I think its relevanrt - if it isn't please remove it mods - but see my sig - I can sell those at 4k each - same specs as msi wind - can run osx etc - so not all netbooks are overpriced.

J
 
Another point is that the rand has dropped 40% in value in the last 6 months.
For importers, this puts prices up radically.


eg a $300 netbook, which cost R1800 pre-customs, now costs R3050 pre customs/shipping.

Thats a hefty increase...

Although 9k for the latest EEEpc's is a bit nutz...

Lawrence / Shanghai -> Cape Town (at Airport now!)
 
I got myself a Asus EEE PC 904HD a while back. My old acer weighed about 2.9 Kg's. The new EEE is about 1.2Kg. That alone makes is worth the while. Trust me, if you're lugging the thing with you all day that makes a huge difference.
 
I wanted to buy one for my daughter now that is going to start school.... but I guess she is going to do it the old fashion way... pencil and paper! Crazy the prices are....
 
sunsoffun said:
I wanted to buy one for my daughter now that is going to start school.... but I guess she is going to do it the old fashion way... pencil and paper! Crazy the prices are....
Click to expand...

A laptop for a grade 1 child? Apart from it being a waste, it will be broken or stolen within a few days. Anyone want to take bets? ;)
 
cbrunsdonza said:
pcmall:
Acer Aspire One Ultra Portable Notebook (black)(LU.S420B.014) PCMall Price R 9,320.00

Acer Aspire One Ultra Portable Notebook (black) Description
Click to expand...
good heavens...
lenovo S10e, 1.5GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 10.1" LCD (LED), 2 x USB, VGA port, express slot, sd card, built in mic and camera, bluetooth and ethernet and 802.11b/g + xp home...

running visual studio 2008 and sql server express no problem and very impressed with the atom N270 1.6 HT processor...

Price... inclusive R4899 from pinnicle <sp> micro...

D
 
bwana said:
Blame South African retailers?

Looking at Amazon you can get the Acer Aspire One with the 8gb SSD for $299 (R3000) - pay the Windows tax and get the 160gb HDD and you're looking at R3900.

At Incredible corruption the same XP device goes for R6999.95!
Click to expand...

$249 in black Friday :p
 
Rouxenator said:
Yes, thats all good and well, having so many sub genres of portable computing. But still I think netbooks are either a flash in the pan or the start of a convergence from the mobile computer to what we traditionally called the smart phone.

The thing is, would you really go out and buy a netbook and then carry it around with you if you already have a smartphone to the likes of the Nokia N97 ?

The N97 does a lot more in a much smaller device. It has more storage, better connectivity, better HMI, excellent multimedia capabilities, more uses while it is stored in your pocket.

Yes - netbooks are overpriced - but apart from that, I also think they are a dying bread cause they look very unrestrictive when compared to smartphones. I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on this though.
Click to expand...

A dyng breed?:confused: Hardly, netbooks r just getting started! Smartphones may be improving all the time (I'm a fan myself), but they're still far from being pc's. Netbooks may be scaled down, but they are essentially low-powered portable pc's. When I surf the net on Touch Diamond, I still feel heavily compromised in my experience as opposed to when I surf on my eeepc 900. The HTC Diamond is probably as good as smartphones can get at this point in time, yet... Many web pages still don't format properly on the small 'high-res' vga touchscreen, and text is frequently too small for real comfort, typing is awkward (I'm no 16yr old SMSer), etc. Of course the ppc phone still has it's place in that it's convenient for those situations when you don't have yr netbook, or when its inappropriate to whip out a mini laptop - no matter how small (think...waiting in dentists chair, boring boardroom meetings, etc). My netbook on the otherhand is what I use the rest of the time since it feels similar to my office laptop, just easier to use and goes mostly everywhere with me: under 1kg, 'big' 9" widescreen, 12GB Win XP SSD, WIFI, 1.3MP webcam, 3.5hrs batterylife (wifi on). Frankly, I don't even bother to bring my work laptop home anymore. In fact, I'm typing this on my netbook while sitting in bed! :p
Not sure why folks want to pay so much more for a 3G netbook tho, when they can just surf 3G using bluetooth via their cellphone - is'nt that part of the reason why they get such fancy phones with all those features built in?! Got mine setup so that one click on Vodacom icon on eeepc desktop connects me to to Mybroadband via Diamond in abt 5 seconds!
Smartphone + netbook = perfect combo :)
 
ZA.Schmidt said:
A laptop for a grade 1 child? Apart from it being a waste, it will be broken or stolen within a few days. Anyone want to take bets? ;)
Click to expand...

Times have moved on... as most first world countries have started adopting this form of hardware to assist with the learning process at school. And no, I would not send it to school with her. This is Africa after all.

I was just under the impression, that netbooks where a cheaper alternative to a regular notebook and its portable making it easier for them.

Anyway, at that price I cant see many professionals, even bothering with it.
 
damian24 said:
good heavens...
lenovo S10e, 1.5GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 10.1" LCD (LED), 2 x USB, VGA port, express slot, sd card, built in mic and camera, bluetooth and ethernet and 802.11b/g + xp home...

running visual studio 2008 and sql server express no problem and very impressed with the atom N270 1.6 HT processor...

Price... inclusive R4899 from pinnicle <sp> micro...

D
Click to expand...


Can you get a docking station for it?
 
I recently bought myself the Asus 701CW (The one with Windows) for myself on the current special with my suppliers. I also bought a 16GB SD Card for extra storage. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I bought a 17" LCD. I now literally have a full portable SOHO desktop system. For under 3k, I got a laptop with 20gb storage completely portable, Windows and MS Works ... and I love it. The best part is when I go away, I can take it with me and use my Tytn as a 3G modem. Then when I'm back in the office, I just hook it up to the LCD, keyboard and mouse and I've got a working desktop. My next project is to go to builders warehouse and purchase some wood, and make a housing on the wall for it :) ... the LCD is wall mounted in front of my work bench, and once I finish my little project, my "Desktop PC" (In truth the EEE) will be wallmounted too ... and all for cheaper than I would've paid for a desktop system with windows, as well as less space consuming ... its brilliant, I love it :) And I will be upgrading it to 1GB ram, and then its perfect ... I still got my media PC for gaming and stuff ... but the netbook does a great job at 1440 x 900 with movies and stuff.
 
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