
"The most disruptive changes come from the high end of the low end" - nickb
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=414016&cid=21992584
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tx
I disagree. Sure price/performance ratio is only going to get better. However,
there will always be high end, low end and stuff in between.

After all, the equivalent of Pentium II with 64MB of RAM and a basic video
card can be had for next to nothing today, but nobody wants it, because it
will not run latest Linuses or Windows XP smoothly and dealing with 8-10-12
megapixel photos from your camera will be slow as hell on such PC, I am not
even talking about video or modern games.

In the end, people want software. It is always about the software. It's always
about _creating value_ \- if "next Vista" delivers something that everybody
wants, and it will require $1K hardware to run, it will be tough to sell $400
laptops. People have been overpaying for Apple hardware for ages, because
those computers ran Apple software and they wanted it.

Haven't you heard this conversation before: "You should by X. Really? But will
it run Y?"

~~~
greendestiny
I think there is a fairly small set of things a $400 laptop has to do to be
succesful - handle digital cameras, surf the web, play mp3s and run a good
office package. Mpeg's and dvd's might be in there as well.

~~~
gscott
I just bought a laptop from Dell for $427 after tax (free shipping).

A Dell Vostro 1000 with 1 gigabyte of ram, 15.4inch screen, 120 gigabyte hard
drive, and Amd Semptron 3600+ processor.

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dhouston
i.e. "disruptive innovation". for a more formal jump into this topic, "The
Innovator's Dilemma" by christensen.

