Hardware prices may be dropping but business users shouldn’t count on finding a decent notebook PC for $100 any time soon.
This is one of the conclusions of a recent report from Stamford, Conn.-based Garnter Inc., which predicts prices are “unlikely to fall” within the next three years. Although some component costs are coming down, the cost of packaging, assembly and software is likely to remain the same, Gartner says in the report dubbed “Will the $100 Notebook Succeed and What Will it Mean?”
Therefore, companies that become too fixated on getting $100 notebooks will lose focus on important factors, such as hardware specifications, power availability and Internet access.
In the report, Gartner says mini-notebooks are attractive to consumers and schools, but to succeed in the business space they need to be positioned as a communications tool.