Barry - Re: 300% Multiplier
If there was a 300% multiplier for all major components of notebook computers, there would necessarily be the same multiplier for desktop units. If that was the case, a $300 CPU would add $900 to the cost of a PC - and you and I know you can get a FULL BLOWN PC for not much more than $900, CPU included.
Further, if a TFT display "cost" $1000, it would add $3000 to a notebook cost using the same 300% multiplier (why should it's multiplier differ from the CPU ?). A 2 1/2" hard drive, costing $300, would add another $900. Thus, these 3 components would combine for $5400 of the cost of a notebook computer, neglecting case, power supply, modem, memory, keyboard, floppy disc, CD ROM, mainboard, connectors, etc.
I submit that very few notebook computers cost above $5000.
In fact, you can get quite a few for under $2000, even with a Pentium MMX processor (133 - 166 MHz). The major cost advantage seems to be the inclusion of passive LCD displays, small capacity hard drives (1 - 1.2 Gig) and relatively small and slow memory - 16 Meg EDO.
To summarize, the reason that some notebooks cost $3,000 to $5,000 is the added cost of high end components - TFT Active Matrix Displays, large hard drives ( > 2 GigaBytes), large and fast memory - 32 Meg SDRAM, etc., as well as the Intel CPU - but not due solely to the CPU.
Paul |
