Are you buying ultra-low-cost notebooks yet? Well, someone is

Writing about the Tuesday introduction of new iPods by Apple, American Technology Research's Shaw Wu observed that the product debut came smack in the midst of a lousy economic cycle where "macro headwinds are becoming more apparent."

That qualifies as more than mild understatement.

Atom: Let's get small.

The economy's wheezing, big banks are collapsing and oil prices remain sky high. So then why is PC demand expected to be strong through the end of 2008--and beyond?

That's the gist of a new report out of IDC. No matter that Lehman's on the ropes or that Uncle Sam had to rescue Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae before they went insolvent--and the financial sector is a big consumer of IT products. IDC still projects that global PC shipments will grow nearly 16 percent this year and remain at a double-digit pace through 2011.

And the No. 1 reason, according to IDC: the low end of the portable business is super-hot. I suppose the explanation isn't rocket science: when the economy's hurting, who doesn't want to find a bargain?

One other nugget in the IDC report caught my eye: a nascent trend marked by increasing "form factor diversity" in notebooks. The upshot is that with prices dropping, you'll find more people who own several different computers.

And when it comes to inexpensive notebook computer, we're primarily talking about Atom-based machines. Though it's unclear how long Intel will have this business to itself. Dirk Meyer, who now runs Advanced Micro Devices, recently acknowledged that the company also has its eyes on the ultra-low-cost notebook market.

One person who lives and breathes this market is my gadget-loving colleague, Erica Ogg, who explained the pros and cons of the latest notebook computer technology during a segment we recorded Wednesday on the CNET News Daily Debrief. Check it out.

[keepntabs]

In my house of only two adults, we have one PC for husband, one HTPC in the living room, one HTPC in our bedroom, and I have a laptop. We also both each have Nokia N95s that we use to surf the Net, email, GPS, watch YouTube, etc. I was thinking of getting a netbook to take along on trips since you now have to provide your own entertainment on most airlines. With the small hard drives though; I need figure out how to get movies and TV programs onto a memory card. Once that is figured out, I'll be selling my portable DVD player that I no longer carry with me during travel.

[bruceslog]

Caution.. from what I understand, customs agents are now allowed to, and often do, seize laptops at the borders, and they do not need a reason for doing so.
Particularly the agents at the Canadian border.
Just something to consider if you're buying a laptop to travel with across our borders often.
Some links from Google;
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/10/24/business/24road.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1163167597-AG6aUDZ9oZSYZ66jYaSLnw

"Until recently, their biggest concern was that someone might steal the laptop. But now there?s a new worry ? that the laptop will be seized or its contents scrutinized at United States customs and immigration checkpoints upon entering the United States from abroad.

Although much of the evidence for the confiscations remains anecdotal, it?s a hot topic this week among more than 1,000 corporate travel managers and travel industry officials meeting in Barcelona at a conference of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

Last week, an informal survey by the association, which has about 2,500 members worldwide, indicated that almost 90 percent of its members were not aware that customs officials have the authority to scrutinize the contents of travelers? laptops and even confiscate laptops for a period of time, without giving a reason.

?One member who responded to our survey said she has been waiting for a year to get her laptop and its contents back,? said Susan Gurley, the group?s executive director. ?She said it was randomly seized. And since she hasn?t been arrested, I assume she was just a regular business traveler, not a criminal.?"


And here
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/border-agents-c.html
"Border Agents Can Search Laptops Without Cause, Appeals Court Rules
By Ryan Singel EmailApril 22, 2008 | 6:21:20
Federal agents at the border do not need any reason to search through travelers' laptops, cell phones or digital cameras for evidence of crimes, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, extending the government's power to look through belongings like suitcases at the border to electronics."


And here;
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/08/us_government_p.html
"August 1, 2008
U.S. Government Policy for Seizing Laptops at Borders

Amazing. The U.S. government has published its policy: they can take your laptop anywhere they want, for as long as they want, and share the information with anyone they want:

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption, or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

[http://...|http://...]

DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies ? which apply to anyone entering the country, including US citizens ? are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism.

[http://...|http://...]

The policies cover 'any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,' including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover 'all papers and other written documentation,' including books, pamphlets and 'written materials commonly referred to as "pocket trash..."

It's not the policy that's amazing; it's the fact that the government has actually made it public.

Here's the actual policy.

Slashdot thread. My previous essay on crossing borders with laptops, and how to protect yourself.

Although honestly, the best thing is probably to keep your encrypted archives on some network drive somewhere, and download what you need after you cross the border."


Sad to say it's true, and just wanted to give you a heads up about traveling with a laptop these days. The seizures appear to be random and baseless.

If you're gonna buy an ultra portable for traveling across the border and just to watch movies and such, I'd keep ALL personal info and files off of it, and indeed use it JUST for entertainment. And make sure you can prove that you paid and have legal use of the movie/video/songs on the drive :)

[bburn--2008]

Why PC sells still strong despite bad economy? Because they never been this cheap! Duh!

[NoVista]

One homebrew desktop machine, two years old. One PocketPC from 2002 trip back to the U.S. One H-P notebook. And most recent: Asus EeePC -- unfortunately, I could only find the Windows XP model. But I Managed to put Damn Small Linux on a USB stick and boot up from that.

As soon as I get a max size SD card, probably 16 GB, I'll be working with LinuxMint 4.0KDE. Yippee.