DealExtreme is a company best known in the netbook community for offering third party extended batteries and other accessories for laptops. The Hong Kong based company picks up cheap electronics and computers from China and other countries and ships them across the world, often with free shipping. Now the company is offering what appears to be a rebranded Chinese netbook that DealExtreme is calling the NUODO UMPC Nebtook Laptop. I’m guessing the redundancy is for search engine optimization purposes.
The NUODO netbook is about as generic as they come. it has a 10.2 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a 0.3MP webcam, a 160GB hard drive, and 1GB of RAM (although it supports up to 2GB). It ships with Windows XP, includes 802.11b/g/ WiFi, and a 4-in-1 card reader. it ships with a 4 cell, 4400mAh battery, and there’s apparently room on the inside to insert a Bluetooth or 3G module.
On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with generic when it comes at a low price, and the NUODO is reasonably priced at $318. When you throw in the free shipping, that’s a pretty good deal, although you can certainly find a number of other netbooks from companies you’ve actually heard of for under $350.
via Netbook 3G
This appears to be a rebranded Hasee to me.
As you said, with other, known quantities being available for *less* than $300…a no name would really have to come in at *least* at that price point for anyone with sense to give it a second look…
The market really is getting flooded with these little machines. I have two worries about that :
1. How would any newcomer differentiate themselves in a world where every name you’ve heard of has a dozen(or more) models out there? How many companies with good ideas and good people will just die because they’re one unknown voice in a chorus of netbooks from names we all know and trust?
And no…it’s not that I want every company to survive in a world of sunshine and infinte marketshare…please. I just know that innovation comes from the bottom up usually. I just want new ideas to prosper, not be drowned out in the press release touting the latest amazing netbook with a 10 inch screen, 1 gig of ram, 160 gig hard drive…
2. What happens when we reach saturation point? Does a major drop in sales mean innovation in this space slows down, delaying things like PixelQI monitors, better graphics processors, etc? Does the market get smaller, more insular, and more expensive?
Maybe all of this will happen. Maybe none of it will. I just can’t help but speculate on where this(Probably the major PC innovation in for the second half of this decade) is all going…
The keyboard has carpel tunnel written all over it. I don’t see the value in buying this netbook when you could spend a few bucks more and get an EEE 1000HE.