cheap

The low-cost Eee PC may have been officially announced only last week, but Asus has kept the buzz going by confirming that it will offer Windows preloaded on the Eee PC by the end of the year. "With the addition of Microsoft Windows," reads the press release, "the Eee PC can now also accommodate educational and corporate requirements." It's a smart move on the part of Asus; provided the laptop's price remains below $500, a Windows-based Eee PC will have tremendous appeal to schools and parents who want to give every child his or … Read more

Hot on the heels of the $799 LifeBook V1010, Fujitsu has announced the $849 LifeBook A6110. Like its sibling, the A6110 features a 15.4-inch display and built-in DVD burner; its higher cost can be attributed largely to its current-generation Core 2 Duo processor and Mobile Intel GM965 Express chipset. Other key features of the 6.6-pound A6110 include integrated Intel X3100 graphics, a large 160GB hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, a built-in Webcam, and a slot for both PC Cards and ExpressCards. Higher-end models include Fujitsu's unique point-and-write touchpad.

The LifeBook A6110's base configuration includes … Read more

Every year they arrive earlier and earlier: press releases touting new products "for the holidays." One such release arrived this morning from Gateway, with news of two new P-series laptops for holiday giving. The 8.3-pound laptops include a 17-inch display with a 1,440x900 native resolution, a full-sized keyboard with numeric keypad, and a DVD burner with LabelFlash (which lets you burn labels onto special discs). Both new models run Vista Home Premium.

The lower-end configuration, the $800 Gateway P-6301, features a budget Pentium Dual Core processor built on Intel's previous-generation chip architecture and carrying 1GB … Read more

Not one to be topped by Sony, whose VAIO NR160 lowered the price threshold for owning a Sony laptop to $829, Fujitsu has announced a budget-friendly addition to its LifeBook line. The LifeBook V1010, which starts at $799, combines a 15.4-inch display, 120 GB hard drive, built-in DVD burner, and spill-resistant keyboard in a hefty 6.2-pound package. So far so good, though the baseline configuration includes the super-budget Pentium dual-core processor, which occupies the bottom rung of Intel's dual-core options. The $799 price also only includes 1GB of RAM, so it's a good thing that Fujitsu … Read more

Every story that crosses our desk about ultra-cheap laptops--from the $100 OLPC schoolkid special, to the $150 Medison Celebrity from Sweden, to the $200 Asus Eee (for that price, you only get one letter)--generates a tremendous amount of buzz, not to mention more than its fair share of blog posts.

Of course, getting any of these systems actually in our greedy little hands is another matter entirely. The One Laptop Per Child project is still struggling to get (now $200) OLPC systems into the hands of kids, turning to a new plan--instead of getting governments, corporations or charitable … Read more

Novatium Solutions, which has come up with a thin-client computer for emerging markets, has landed an investment from New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

The company has mostly installed its computers around Chennai (formerly Madras) in southern India. The systems work on the thin-client model. Most of the actual computing and the Internet connection goes through a central server. Users then tap into the server through desktop units.

With thin clients, updates and security patches are easier to manage, according to Rajesh Jain, one of Novatium's founders. Energy can also be conserved. In a novel twist, Novatium's clients use a … Read more

You don't want to spend an arm and a leg on an Apple product. Your pockets are getting cramped with any number of gadgets, and space is at a premium. Yet you still need music for your commute, workout, walk around the block, or airplane trip. What to do? Woot.com has your answer. They're offering this player at less than half the price of other retailers.

The Philips GoGear SA1110 holds 1GB of music files and is only as big as a cigarette lighter. It's perfect for those of you who can't get enough lime … Read more

Crave presents this week's laptop news, in digest form.

Our Apple rumor of the week: A patent application describing collapsible ports, which would in theory allow for a slimmer laptop, prompted talk of the long-awaited ultraportable MacBook. Elsewhere in the rumor mill, Dell is reportedly poised to launch a 17-inch mobile workstation, the Precision M6300, at the end of the month. The workstation will supposedly include support for up to 8GB of system memory and an optional Blu-Ray optical drive.

In the world of actual products, Fujitsu announced two new tablets: the $999 LifeBook U810, which weighs 1.6 … Read more

Could it be a rounding error? Deep discounts? Rebates? Try none of the above: The Associated Press reported today that a man in Monroe, La., paid just $4.88 for a Sanyo plasma TV (normally $984) at a Wal-Mart self-checkout stand. The 23-year-old suspect allegedly switched the TV's original price tag with a tag from another product. When store security stopped the man on his way out, he produced a receipt for the full value of the TV.

The glitch? The man was at the Monroe Wal-Mart store, while the receipt came from the West Monroe location. Apparently he … Read more