The sub 10K laptop

Ever since the city-based upstart, Xenitis Infotech, launched laptops in the range of Rs.20,000, the cat is finally out among the pigeons. The scramble to cut down prices of laptops is becoming intense with each passing day.

Intel, the chip major, is believed to be in talks with the PC makers, and it seems the day of laptops priced around 10K is not far off. How is Intel doing that?

John McClure, the chipmaker’s South Asia operations director recently told the ET (Nov 22), “Our 45 nanometer (nm) process technology allows us to put smaller and more chips onto a wafer, bringing down the cost. Our core architecture, with its energy efficiency, allows us to have lower power consumption.”

The quad-core technology, which both Intel and AMD are pursuing, is indeed capable of revolutionizing the chip-making process. The real development in terms of slash in prices seems to have just begun.

Intel’s partner may well be the Taiwanese manufacturer, Asustek, with whom the chip giant plans to launch laptops for as low as just $199.

These developments are important because low-cost laptops plus affordable cost of high-speed broadband have the potential of unleashing a huge demand for Internet access.

That’s the future shaping up, of which we still have no more than some rudimentary idea.

Intel’s HQ at Santa Clara, California – the biggest chipmaker