From credit card debt and school loans to rising gas prices and adjustable mortgages, there are plenty of reasons why consumers in the developed world can't afford a laptop. Not to mention the fact that underfunded schools and underprivileged kids also exist in the developed parts of the world. Enter the Medison Celebrity laptop. It's a $150 laptop from Swedish company Medison that's available through the Columbus, Ohio-based online reseller 2Checkout.com.
With Nicholas Negroponte's OLPC hovering around $175, and Intel's Classmate PC expected to cost more than $200, the Medison Celebrity laptop can lay claim to being the cheapest laptop in the world. And it boasts an impressive feature set for the money. For starters, it features a large, wide-screen 14-inch WXGA display and weighs a reasonable 4.8 pounds. Powering the Medison Celebrity is a 1.5GHz Intel Celeron M 370 processor and 256MB of memory. You may scoff at such a meager memory allotment considering all the reviews out there that complain whenever a PC serves up less than 1GB these days, but the Medison Celebrity doesn't have to power Vista or any other flavor of Windows. Instead, it uses Fedora Linux, which requires less muscle to run than a Windows OS and no Microsoft licensing fee. Rounding out the specs are a 40GB hard drive, an integrated Via PN800 graphics chip, and 802.11g Wi-Fi. You also get stereo speakers, three USB 2.0 ports, and a PC Card slot. Medison backs the laptop with a one-year warranty but offers little detail about the terms.
Medison takes orders in a variety of currencies, and it claims it will outfit the laptop with the appropriate keyboard. The company estimates it'll take four to six weeks to ship, but "availability of the Medison Celebrity model depends on how many orders we get per day." It also lists additional charges above the $150 price as $6.45 plus 5.5 percent "and extra" for its partner, 2Checkout.com.
Is this $150 laptop too good to be true? Could be--I've tried all morning to place an order, but I keep getting an error message before I can even enter my credit card info and address. I'll keep trying, but it looks like Medison isn't quite ready to bestow Celebrity status on anyone with an extra $150 kicking around. I'll update this post should I get my order to go through.
UPDATE: I successfully completed an order. And wouldn't you know, the $150 laptop ended up costing an even $150. Shipping was free, and no taxes or other charges were applied. I'll let you know when it arrives.
Cheapest Laptop By HCL
HCL Infosystems today launched MiLeap – a fully functional, portable range of laptops that sport a starting price tag of Rs 13,990.
Slated to be the world’s cheapest ultra-portable laptops , the MiLeap would be available in two series, X and Y, at a starting price of Rs 13,990 and Rs 29,990 respectively.
The X series would have both flash-based and disk-based storage options, with a Linux-based operating system. The most expensive model of the series would be available at Rs 16,990.
The high-end Y series , would have multiple navigational features such as touch screen, thumboard, stylus, keyboard and touch buttons, with Windows Vista (Home) as the operating system.
Both the models have network ports, are Wi-Fi ready, have an option for a data card and are available with GUI-enabled, user friendly Linux operating system.
Weighing less than a kilogram, the MiLeap laptops have a 7-inch screen and are equipped with an Intel processor.
The company would start shipping the units on January 26 and these would be available at all HCL retail outlets and distribution centres.
“We will manufacture these PCs at our two plants in India. Initially, we will utilise our Pondicherry plant, beyond which we will use our plant in Uttarakhand,” said George Paul, associate vice-president - Marketing, HCL Infosystems.
“If the demand for the laptops rises, we are open to scaling up through a new centre,” he added.
“With a legacy of having pioneered India’s first micro-computer, the country’s first desktop PC and the first home PC, this revolutionary range of ultra portable ‘MiLeap’ laptops will herald in a new category of computing devices, opening up a wide range of new usage scenarios and application areas,” said Ajai Chowdhry, chairman & CEO, HCL Infosystems.
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