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> They gave away a free version of windows on it... Not true. It was a low cost version of XP, for which OEMs paid $11 to $15. > ... with heavy restrictions.

by scholia 11y ago

> They gave away a free version of windows on it... Not true. It was a low cost version of XP, for which OEMs paid $11 to $15. > ... with heavy restrictions. That's certainly true (as defined by Microsoft and Intel). However, it was arguably better for users to have machines with 2GB or 4GB of RAM and without letterbox screens, and there was no restriction on making those. Today there are dozens of "netbooks" with 10in screens that outperform the old netbooks, run full Windows 10, have touch screens, and cost a lot less than the old netbooks.

ZenoArrow 11y ago
> "it was arguably better for users to have machines with 2GB or 4GB of RAM" Microsoft intentionally restricted the RAM in netbooks during the main growth period for netbooks. This article shows that RAM was limited to 1GB for Windows 7, I'm pretty sure the same restrictions applied to Windows XP: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-netbook-hardware-limits,7889.html http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-netbook-h...
- scholia 11y ago
  Yes, as I've already said, that was part of the deal. OEMs could choose to design whatever they liked, or choose to exploit a netbook/nettop design package that provided some discounts on Microsoft/Intel technologies. Netbooks were originally intended for school uses (see Intel's Classmate) not to replace consumer laptops. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education-solutions/classmatepc-clamshell.html http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education-solutions/c...
  - ZenoArrow 11y ago
    IIRC the Intel Classmate was announced after the first Asus Eee PC, so I wouldn't say they were originally intended for schools.
    - scholia 11y ago
      The original Asus Eee PC was designed for schools and was launched first in the UK by the then leading education supplier, RM. I was there. It had a Celeron inside. It was part of Intel's response to the threat of the OLPC.

by scholia 11y ago

ZenoArrow 11y ago

> "it was arguably better for users to have machines with 2GB or 4GB of RAM" Microsoft intentionally restricted the RAM in netbooks during the main growth period for netbooks. This article shows that RAM was limited to 1GB for Windows 7, I'm pretty sure the same restrictions applied to Windows XP: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-netbook-hardware-limits,7889.html http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-netbook-h...

scholia 11y ago
Yes, as I've already said, that was part of the deal. OEMs could choose to design whatever they liked, or choose to exploit a netbook/nettop design package that provided some discounts on Microsoft/Intel technologies. Netbooks were originally intended for school uses (see Intel's Classmate) not to replace consumer laptops. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education-solutions/classmatepc-clamshell.html http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education-solutions/c...
- ZenoArrow 11y ago
  IIRC the Intel Classmate was announced after the first Asus Eee PC, so I wouldn't say they were originally intended for schools.
  - scholia 11y ago
    The original Asus Eee PC was designed for schools and was launched first in the UK by the then leading education supplier, RM. I was there. It had a Celeron inside. It was part of Intel's response to the threat of the OLPC.