Coby Offers Up $85 Smartbook Perfect for Kids and Cheapskates
March 3rd, 2010
When my son turned seven, I did what most geeks would do when he wanted a computer. I upgraded my computer and built him a machine out of the left over parts. My daughter decided it was cool and wanted a computer of her own, but she is five and still thinks the way to get things to do what you want is to bash them with a Barbie a lot of the time.
The guys over at Engadget spied a cheap smartbook at the CeBIT show in Germany this week. The best thing about the Coby NBPC722 isn’t its performance, looks, or wow factor — it’s the price. The little smartbook will sell for just $85 (USD).
You can’t expect much for that price. You get a small 7-inch screen and the rig uses a 624MHz Marvell PXA303 processor, 2GB of flash storage, and the machine runs Windows CE. Honestly, I am surprised to see any flavor of Windows on a machine costing less than a C-note. I figured the thing was running Linux. This would be the perfect first computer for my daughter; if she and Barbie beat the thing to death, it wouldn’t be that big of a loss. The machine is expected in America this spring.
[via Engadget]
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Categories: Computing Gadgets Technology
Tags: cheap Coby computer netbook portable Smartbook windows ce
Any machine running Windows CE should be beat with something more like a sledgehammer than a Barbie.
It’s a game-changer. Similar PCs already have been sold at truck stops, grocer Albertson’s, home-depot Menard’s for about $120 last fall.
http://alpha-400-mips-elonex-razorbook-coby.blogspot.com. Above link has more on the COBY NBPC722.
This is big news, for a company whose products are as pervasive as COBY’s to get into the PC price war. Finally the day of ubiquitous CHEAP computing has arrived. This should help drag down all computer prices, even for Apple and Sony. Let’s hope so anyway.
hi there great computer for kids becuase it is only $85 plus has tough flash memory soo there is no hard drive sping platers too break give coby $85 computer few more years we could see a 8 gb flash versionn with a 642 mhz cpu may be a duo core for $58
It’s actually pretty nice for $85, imagine what they could turn out for $150 with linux instead, probably something comparable to the current $400 netbooks but with more battery life. It’s just so cheap and the performance difference would be acceptable. I think we all have days where we splerge and spend that much or more.
The specs had very little RAM (128MB) and CE likes at least 384. Bump the price to a C-note – 512+ RAM, 4gig+ flash and a webcam with 802.11b or better. Kids would buy them if they had colored covers. I’d buy one for an e-reader and avi movie watching machine for trips. Would be good for a lot of tasks if it had a long batter life and weighed less than a pound. Where can I get one?