The rise of the $299 Wal-Mart laptop
15.08.09
The long-term trend of computer pricing is down. (After all, it was not very long ago that the sub-$1K desktop PC was revolutionary.) Most first-time computer buyers (and more than a few third- or fourth-time computer buyers) don't realize that what they are paying for is an amount of time before software incompatibility renders the computer obsolete. Today's top-of-the-line computer will be a mid-range computer at Christmas time and a low-end computer the Christmas after that. The difference is that the low-end computer is about half the price of a high-end computer (maybe less). These
machines have a practical life of several years until software incompatibility renders them obsolete -- probably four-to-five years for the average
home user, possibly more. It probably does not make sense for such a user to buy a top-of-the-line machine that will be obsolete in five years when you could wait a year and buy the same machine as a low-end machine that will be obsolete at precisely the
Source: CNET News