HiVision NB0700: $98 laptop from China

While OLPC, Intel, Asus, Acer, Dell, and everyone else in the cheap ultraportable space continue to try to produce a $100, it looks like China’s HiVision has managed to pull it off. The HiVision NB0700 is a computer with a 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, WiFi support, and a price tag as low as $98.

Don’t expect the NB0700 to win any design or speed awards. The PC has a sluggish 400MHz MIPS CPU, 1GB of solid state memory and 64MB or 128MB of RAM. It’s designed to run a custom version of Linux or Windows CE and has an SDHC card reader and 3 USB ports. It should be available next month. 

It runs some basic office and internet applications including AbiWord and Firefox.

You can check out a video after the break.

[via Eeextra and TechVideoBlog]


Posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008, 3:08 pm by Brad Linder

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  • Tobias
    3 arrr! battery life.... yarrrrrrr!
  • sracer
    If this ever made it to the US @ $98 it could really shake things up.
  • If this comes to the US - I'm buying 5. These would make awesome Christmas presents! Imagine them at the checkout counter of Walmart - Impulse Buy Laptops! At $97.86 (Walmart always prices thing with weird cents) I could see people loading their carts. Nevermind that the CPU is slow. If it runs Firefox, who cares?
    I already have an Asus Eee PC (701 4GB Surf to be specific - with 2GB of RAM and Windows XP) - but for $98? How can you pass that up?
  • sracer
    Chad78, that is exactly the config that I have too.... the 701 4G runs XP quite nicely.

    I too would probably pick up (at least) 5 of these HiVision netbooks at Walmart.
  • What is going on with your feed???? It's on-off-on-off... One week it works, the other it doesn't.... please fix, I love the blog!
  • Yup, I agree with you, there is something going on
  • dallascaley
    Why do the specs not match from what you have claimed here, to what HiVision claims on their web site. they say it has a 1.6 Ghz processor, 512mb of DDR2 RAM and a 30GB drive? (also only 2 USB ports not 3). There is also no mention of Windows CE, only that it can run Linux, Windows XP, and Vista. Are you sure you reviewed the correct machine?

    Also, (i don't have audio attached to my machine here at work) but the computer you are holding in video (the pink one) is clearly not the HiVision machine.

    Regardless, if i see one of these on the market (and it has the specs they claim) i will buy several. Perhaps we can convince this company to make a Mac clone for under say $500. that would be the real trick.
  • HiVision has several computers. The specs listed are for the cheapest model.
    The model you found on the website will run quite a bit more.

    Also, that's no me in the video. It was produced by TechVideoBlog.
  • dallascaley
    Well their site is a bit lacking, or at least the site i saw (below)
    http://www.hvsco.com/sp_qx.asp?id=75

    as far as i can tell though this is the lowest model.
    (of course i can't read chinese, so their home site is pretty much useless
    to me)
  • Rory
    >400MHz MIPS CPU

    Mips? Is this the fabled chinese Godson-2?
    Smartphones are so powerful that I always wondered why they just take the phones processor and put it in a netbook form.
    For surfing the web, you dont need a lot of juice.
  • I do not see the us as a leader in the "global" economic scene. Unless americans are willing to live like 3rd world heavily populated trolls who can't afford a $98 because they only earn a slave wage.

    Go back to sleep...
  • I want to buy several of these too. I'd keep one in the car, one at work, one at home. Just so I'd always have a computer if I needed it. I'm curious how a 400 Mhz MIPS CPU would perform next to an old Pentium II processor at the same clock speed. Would it be able to play youtube videos or other MPEG4 content? I also have an eee-pc 4G surf but I never upgraded the RAM because it runs just fine with 512MB. I wonder if MIPS processors might start popping up in all kinds of cheap netbooks. if so, Microsoft will be in trouble because that means Linux will rule this market.
  • Eng Hock
    I read from the website of HiVision http://www.hvsco.com/sp_qx.asp?id=75.

    It says the FSB is 400MHz with VIA processor speed running at 1.6GHz, so this is easily Pentium 4 specifications. Should be able to run even XP comfortably since Presario brand laptops use this VIA processor too for their laptops. This is in contrary to what many reviews saying that it cannot run Microsoft OS.
  • hwertz
    That is not the same machine. They make a MIPS version, now an ARM version, and the "XP compatible" version which is like $60 or $80 more expensive.
  • Eng Hock
    The specifications are from the company's website itself though I know many reviews out there says it is MIPS processors. Which should I follow? The company's website or the reviews out there? Thanks.
  • maria dawn arnold
    where can you get this $98.00-$100.00 laptop?
  • Amber
    where can i buy that pink laptop from?. Ive searched the internet for ages to get the perfect pink laptop. and I would love that one for christmas x
  • Paul
    WHERE CAN WE GET THESE IN THE USA????

    Thanks
  • jennifermendes1
    where can I buy it?
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