There has been a lot of discussions on the pricing of the UMPC, Linda over at TabletPC2 has given a detail explaination of the reason behind why UMPCs cost this much and why it can not be lowered. Most of all why it is worth every penny - A Good analysis
[...] In the summer of 2005, there were a few companies offering ultra-portable notebooks. Companies like Sony, Fujitsu, OQO, and Motion had success offering these small machines to professionals. These designs usually cost just over $2000. The industry saw a value for a similar style system for consumers at a lower price. [...]
HARD COSTS Processor $125.00 Operating System (100.00 - $125.00) $100.00 Hard Drive (average of 2.5″ - 1.8″) (85.00 - $135.00) $85.00 7″ Screen (glass) $95.00 Display (Touch pannel) $85.00 512 RAM $40.00 Motherboard $25.00 Video Chip $30.00 Battery $30.00 Included Accessories (cables, cases, headphones, power, cleaning cloth) $25.00 Overseas Freight $19.00 Restore CD and User Manual $8.00 Microsoft COA, Manual and backup CD $6.00 Plastic Casing $5.00 Packaging $5.00 Packing Materials $4.00 $687.00 AMORTIZED COSTS Tooling Costs $50K - $100K NRE Cost $250K - $500K
Here is our take on it, We fully understand the pricing today, but a computer that costed few thousand dollars 5 years back is less than a grand today. So an UMPC that is a $1000 today will be $500 soon. What’s your take on it?
Why a $500.00 Price Tag for an Ultra Mobile PC isn’t realistic [TabletPC2]
Simple solution? Get rid of Windows and bundle it with a free Operating system instead. Much cheaper. :p
exacltly load it with ubuntu , you really believe that a computer manufature company is really pay that much for parts ,some mabie but im sure theres a few of thoses they pay way less for
UMPC are just gadgets, not for serious work like a notebook, besides its quite damn slow