OLPC Halves Power Consumption For XO 1.75 160
angry tapir writes "One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has reduced the price of the next version of its notebook to US$165 and power consumption has been slashed by half compared to the previous version. The XO-1.75, with its 8.9-inch touchscreen, will start shipping in the second quarter of this year."
Re:No flash or Java (Score:5, Informative)
Flash is a curse on the web...
But it does work on some ARM stuff. Just because Apple doesn't have it doesn't mean others don't. I have it on my N900, for instance.
Re:Not a chance.... (Score:4, Informative)
ARE YOU DAFT?
Of course there are other benefits to Apple. Some are very, very hard to compare objectively. That doesn't necessarily justify the extra expense.
Let's try another comparison, this time with full specs. I beefed up the specs on the Dell laptop to meet your concerns. To wit:
Apple:
2.53 GHz Core i5
4 GB RAM
500 GB HDD
15" 1440x900 display
8x DVD Writer
NVIDIA GT 330M
OS X
Backlit Keyboard
$2049
Dell:
1.73 GHz Core i7
8 GB RAM
640 GB HDD
15.6" 1080p display
Blu-ray reader + DVD Writer
NVIDIA GT 420M
Windows Ultimate
Backlit Keyboard
92 Wh battery
2 MP Webcam
1 year in-home service
$1825
Now, I believe that should satisfy most everything you mentioned. This is by no means a low-end system, and exceeds the Macbook Pro in almost every possible way (at least, on paper). And STILL saves you over $200.
Does the Apple still have a few advantages? Of course. The dual video thing, the power adapter, and it's probably lighter (but that's hard to judge on customized systems).
Maybe a better measure of the "Apple Tax" is how much they charge for upgraded components:
Extra 4 GB RAM? Apple charges an extra $220 vs. Dell.
256 GB SSD? Apple charges an extra $100 vs. Dell.
3 year protection? Apple charges an extra $139 vs. Dell.
That is the Apple tax in action.