Everex Readies Sub-$300 Linux Notebooks
After introducing a $198 Linux desktop this week, PC vendor Everex said it will bring Linux laptops under $300 to users next year. — The laptops will come with 12.1-inch to 17-inch screens and run the GOS version of the OS, built on Ubuntu Linux 7.10.
Context & Ripple Effects
Everex is extending a bet it just made on the desktop: days after shipping the $200 TC2502 Green PC through selected Wal-Mart stores, the vendor says Linux laptops under $300 will follow next year, with 12.1- to 17-inch screens running gOS built on Ubuntu 7.10. The move lands five months after Intel and Asus announced the $199 Eee PC, which established that consumers would accept Linux on very cheap portable hardware.
First-order effects
- Everex becomes one of the first vendors to offer both a mass-market Linux desktop and a sub-$300 Linux notebook line, deepening its reliance on the Wal-Mart retail channel that carried the $200 gPC.
- Buyers of entry-level portables gain an option priced below typical Windows laptops, with Google-centric gOS replacing the Windows license as the software layer.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft faces pricing pressure on low-cost hardware: every sub-$300 Linux machine shipped is a unit where no Windows license is sold, forcing a response on XP licensing or pricing for this segment.
- Asus, whose Eee PC proved demand at $199, must now compete against full-size-screen Linux notebooks rather than defining the category alone.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the Wintel pairing that defined consumer PCs starts loosening at the low end, with Linux distributions and web services substituting for the OS-plus-office bundle on price-sensitive machines.
- Retailers like Wal-Mart become gatekeepers for whether Linux reaches mainstream buyers, since shelf placement — not specs — determines exposure beyond enthusiast channels.
The trend: Linux is migrating from servers and gadgets into mainstream consumer PCs, with Everex and Asus racing each other down the price curve toward the sub-$300 machine.