Everybody and their third cousin twice removed seems to be jumping into the low cost subnotebook field these days. The latest entry is Norhtec's Gecko Laptop. The laptop will reportedly cost less than $300, and will sport a 1GHz VIA processor and Linpux Linux Lite, a custom distro designed for devices with small screens. I checked out Linupus Lite a few weeks ago, and it seems to closely resemble the Easy Mode version of Xandros that Asus installs on the Eee PC.


The Gecko is aimed at developing markets, as are the XO Laptop and Intel's Classmate PC. But I think Asus's success at marketing the Eee PC to developing nations has shown that that there is a market for low cost, underpowered devices everywhere. Hopefully we'll see a slightly higher priced Gecko Laptop in Europe, the US, and other developed regions at some point.

[via Desktop Linux]