By Wolfgang Gruene



Boca Raton (FL) – A small Florida-based PC builder is jumping on the cheap notebook train with a UMPC-sized device that is offered in only one version and priced at $299 – which makes it, at least as far as we know, the cheapest notebook currently offered in the U.S.

The company’s new Razor 400 may not be the most striking notebook you will ever see, but it could be an interesting option for basic computing and Internet needs on the go. Its $299 price tag undercuts not just any notebook we know of, but also UMPCs and upcoming MIDs.

Not surprisingly, $299 does not buy very much in terms of computing horsepower – the device is based on a 7” 800 x 480 pixel display, 512 MB DDR2 memory, 4 GB flash story, Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity and runs on a Linux operating system. Ground shipping is included in the $299 price and the only option offered is a $70 carrying case.

The processor is an interesting story by itself:  The chip is described as a 400 MHz version of the Jz4740 CPU by Ingenic, a Chinese chip manufacturer. We have no idea how fast this processor is, but know that it really was not designed to power notebooks. Instead, Ingenic says that it is a chip to run in GPS, PMP and smartphone devices.

It isn’t the most sophisticated processor we have seen and even its production process (180 nm) is a few generations behind. But it appears to be an extremely cheap processor in a relatively small package (13 mm x 13 mm) that consumes only about 200 mWatts. That would mean that the Razor 400 could achieve a decent battery running time, even with its small 2-cell 2100 MaH battery.

We were not able to reach 3K representatives to provide further information on this notebook.