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Personal Computers are becoming more and more cheap by every day, and the Computer manufacturing companies are now looking for the lowest end market.

Indian consumers have always preferred value for money product which in terms which seems to be reflected to the manufacturing companies as cheap products.

The direct result at PC market would be the 7″ screen portable PCs.

The hopes were high when 1st they were 1st announced as the market thought of a product bellow Rs. 8000/- + TAX (may be around Rs. 10,000/-) (USD 199) as a portable but usable product.

Where as when the product now is at market we may see the reality is really different !!

What are these 7″ screen portable PCs ??

The idea is to shrunk the conventional mainstream notebooks to a price tag of Rs. 15000/-. So the concept of having a smaller display and just enough power resourse for running the basic applications..

Few models are asus EEE PC (available) basic model at Rs. 16900/- + TAX.
ACi is offering their version of 7″ at Rs. 15000/- + TAX.
HCL MiLeap is at Rs. 18000/-

Whats the configuration ??

What do you get for more or less Rs. 18500/- for a 7″ screen notebook ? The HCL MiLeap and the ASUS EEE PC is now available in market !!!

The ASUS EEE PC the basic Model at Rs. 17000/- + TAX is,

• Intel Pentium Dothan M Processor clocked at 900MHz
  Intel 910 GM Chipset
  512MB DDR2 RAM
  7″ (17.7cm) Wide 800×480 Resolution LCD
  2GB Solid State Drive (SSD) NAND Flash Storage
  Built-in Microphone
  Headphone, Mic-in, AC-in ports
  Integrated 10/100Mbps Ethernet
  Keyboard, Touchpad,
  802.11 b/g WiFi
  2 x USB 2.0 ports
  4 hrs battery life under idle state with the 6-cell battery pack
  Linux Operating System

Read the full details

The ACi Ultra Minithe basic model promisses to come at Rs. 15000/- + TAX

• 7-inch LCD screen
  VIA 1.0 GHz ULV Processor
  512MB Memory
  40GB HDD
  WiFi & Bluetooth
  Webcam
  No Optical Drive

Its not in production yet…

The HCL MiLeap the basic model promises to come at Rs. 15000/- + TAX

• Intel Celeron M Processor clocked at 900MHz
  Intel 915GMS Chipset
  512MB DDR2 RAM
  7″ (17.7cm) Wide 800×480 Resolution LCD
  2 built-in stereo speakers
  2GB Solid State Drive (SSD) NAND Flash Storage
  Built-in Microphone
  Headphone, Mic-in, AC-in ports
  Integrated 10/100Mbps Ethernet
  Keyboard, Touchpad,
  802.11 b/g WiFi
  2 x USB 2.0 ports
  4 hrs battery life under idle state with the 6-cell battery pack
  Linux Operating System

Once again its on display but not available in store so promised Rs. 15,000/- price tag doesn’t look good any more !!!

What are the cheapest mainstream notebooks ??

The Acer Aspire 3680 the basic model available at Rs. 20000/- + TAX

• Intel ® Celeron ® M Processor 440
  (1.86GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB)
  Intel ® 940GML Express chipset
  Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g
  512 MB DDR-RAM (Max 2GB) 
  80 GB HDD, Weight 2.35 kg.
  DVD-Super Multi double layer drive, 5-in-1 card reader
  56K Fax/Modem, 10/100Mbps LAN
  14.1″ WXGA Acer CrystalBrite TFT LCD (1280×800 pixel) / S-Video Out
  Intel ® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 up to 224MB
  Acer OrbiCam integrated 0.31 megapixel CMOS camera
  Linpus Linux BE
  1 year warranty (International)

Read more on the productnow Add some spice to the basic config and in India, this model, with 1 GB (2 x 512MB) RAM and 120 GB HDD is at Rs. 23200/- including TAX the take home price.

The Compaq C702TU the basic model is Rs. 23100/- + TAX

• Intel Celeron M 530 (1.73 GHz / 533 MHz FSB / 1 MB L2)
  Intel GMA x3100 (Vista dx10 support)
  Intel GL960 Chipset
  512MB DDR-II RAM (Max 1 GB)
  80 GB SATA HDD
  DVD-Super Multi double layer drive, 5-in-1 card reader
  56K Fax/Modem, 10/100Mbps LAN
  15.4″ WXGA TFT LCD(1280×800 pixel) / S-Video Out
  1 year warranty (International)

Read more on the product, now once again add some spice, upgrade the RAM to 1 GB DDR-II with dual Channel support the product comes at Rs. 25200/- including all TAX.

HCL is also there with their version of product at less than Rs. 25,000/-.

To buy or not to buy ??

Before I may go and produce my verdict that fact I need to consider that as an user does one need a portable solution in the 1st place !!!

Ask your self what are the needs. Are you really in need for a portable solution ??

For example my sister-in-law baby seating her 7 month old daughter, definitely in need of a portable solution. Both in terms of her work (basic office apps, Internet, share market) and come entertainment too, movies music.

As a student, when doing full time college, in India the picture is different than USA, the time for computing may not be there at the college / class premise to use a Notebook.. Where as in Labs even your portable USB storage is not allowed. The picture of Indian university and US university in terms of using a notebook at college is quite different. How ever, every picture is different, now days even Indian colleges / universities are also understanding the fact of a student to stay portable.

As a business person, basic office apps, Internet, share market software, some accouting software, some basic entertainment is what required.

So in a mix term, Portable solution is always welcome at any category of user.

What to buy ?? The cheapest mainstream or the 7″ ultra portable ??

Here comes the big question, how ever this one is really a subjective question. There is few factors to consider beforing trying to suggest a solution.

Are their price justified ??

For a 7″, No, simply no. Just like my good friend Charan says, “The promiss yet to be full filled….” and truelly it is.

The ASUS EEE PC was made to be a sub USD 199 portable option, which meant a price tag of Rs. 8000/- + TAX. When the word came out about the product expectation was to see the basic model with 2 GB HDD / No PCMCIA / 7″ screen at lower than Rs. 10000/-. It was in need a really good and attractive price.

As the EEE PC now at sell at Mumbai and delhi the take home price for the basic model is around Rs. 18000/- including all TAX and All India warranty… In really, the actually price is quite higher than the expected price.

We are still in wait to look at the price for the HCL 7″ solution (MiLeap) and ACi Ultra mini. but its quite expected now after watching the EEE PC that their basic model wont come lower than Rs. 16500/- as take home price.

HCL as a brand really has a poor reputation for sub standard product where as ACi is a totally new brand to Indian consumers. Its the ASUS which is only to know to have good products.

Now, let us take a loot at the cheapest mainstream.

Compaq V6608AU with Dual Core X2 1.9 GHz / 2 GB RAM / nvidia 7150 / 160 GB / 15.4″ HD WideScreen at Rs. 35200/- take home price with their (Compaq) C702TU which comes with Celeron M 1.73 GHz / 1 GB RAM / GMA x3100 / 80 GB and rest are same as 6608AU. So they have cut down processor, ram, the onboard video, the size of HDD where as they keep the chasiss the same. Now the price is lowered by almost 30%.

Same with the Acer 3680, if you make the comparison with their Acer 4710z with Intel Dual Core E2080 and 1 GB RAM at Rs. 28000/- + TAX and once again its a 30% price cut for their Acer 3680.

In both these case, the ratio of cutting price versus cutting over all resource is same and quite justified.

Where as with 7″ PCs, we are experiencing too much cut at the resources but the price is not cut at that ratio. The resources are cut by more than 50% over all with, when comparing to a mainstream notebook, but the price is just lowered by just 20% to 25%.

What is that these 7″ are missing ??

Price is too high to lure those customers who were thing for the cheapest main stream solution to the 7″ ultra portable. Where as the resourses are too low to lure those customers who are not evening thinking for a portable solution.

The processor and the ammount for RAM is good enough for the EEE PC, its the Harddrive what they need to consider, a 20 GB at-least is needed… Also Wifi is a good option but at present how many Indian City does have wifi ?? In fact None… Those place where you get wifi are 5 start hotel and an AirPort and a BPO building or such, and its almost certain a person having access to this places are certainly capable to but a MainStream solution… PCIMCIA should have beend there for allowing solution such as BSNL EVDO at Rs. 250/- per month for unlimited CDMA wireless network or similer solution offered by all major telecom service providers such as Reliance / TATA. How ever having said that I would also point that CDMA USB options are also available.

One may even carry out video editing on those cheapest mainstream notebook while running vista (Both are fully vista compatible). Now running vista and video editng is not some thing what is intended for the 7″ idea… It is to make sure a lowest end product at budget of people. So cutting the resourse by that much should also have meant that price is also cut by that margine.

My vendor here at Kolkata (India) offers the Compaq v702TU at Rs. 1066/- (INR) pm for 2 years without any down payment !!! (loan at 11% interest). Almost same for the Acer model also.

Where as at this point, its a full Rs. 18000/- (INR) down payment for the 7″ availlable portable notebook.

What to buy ??

My vote is still with the Cheapest Mainstream solutions (both after a 1 GB RAM upgrade)… Its more productive than those 7″ with their price tag.

How ever then again lets wait and watch what the actual market reacts to the 7″ screen. Unfortunatelly majority our indian cosumer needs to know, “can it run Windows XP ?? Please install a Windows XP (pirated off course) for me.”. There you go, all those company who are planing for a good sale with 7″, unless with a 20 GB, no Windows (un official and Pirated off course) resulting no sell !!!