This Sakar thing is what I have been waiting for: Really cheap computers sold in "strange" places, in this case, Rite-Aid.

In a depression things get really cheap (you need cheap things) -- and new products are sold in new ways. The Sakar MiniBook is REVOLUTIONARY -- not for what it is (it's like a Razorbook 400 or HiVision MiniNote, or Alpha 400) but for HOW IT IS TO BE SOLD.

Ever think of buying a computer in a drug store? Target, maybe, but not a Rite-Aid, or a Ritz Camera. What's cool is that the company, Sakar International of Edison, NJ, promises cheap-only computers, nothing over $299. The Sakar MiniBook is the real future, not phony "netbooks" that are just as high as regular notebooks, $400 and up.

Also cool: Never have cheap computers -- any computers for that matter -- been sold so widely, in so many kinds of stores. (See graphic.) Most people won't pick up on the revolutionary nature of this. But it is a REVOLUTION. Truly this is the way to get to $100 computers to be sold in dollar stores on blisterpack cards. One Laptop Per Child (at MIT) and $99 laptops at Radio Shack that really get you for $600 with a cell-phone contract are not the way. The cheapo manufacturers are the way, and if Coby Electronics can't do it, perhaps Sakar can.

Some say the Sakar mini-laptop is for kids, based on the fact that Sakar International has sold consumer electronics for kids under brands like Crayola and Hello Kitty, which it has licensed. Actually, all ages buy its products and it is the No. 1 supplier of digital cameras to the "mass retail channel" -- that's the drug stores, departments stores like Sears and Kohl's, camera stores, and just about any other kind of store -- not just electronics stores like Best Buy (which oppose cheap computers anyway). Coby Electronics is the king of electronics in "mass retail," but Sakar is the first in that market with a supercheap computer.

The Sakar MiniBook is a 400-MHz machine based on the MIPS processor and architecture. It can do all that most computer user (over 90%) need. It uses an Ingenic processor from China, which of course is cheaper than Intel. The operating system is Linux (Windows is for expensive computers). All kinds of people use computers similar to the Sakar, not just kids. Over a quarter of a million of the Elonex One have been sold in the UK and Europe. A US brand of 400s, the Razorbook of the US company 3K Computers is widely sold, as is the Belco Alpha 400, which typically goes for $169.95.

This is a tipping point: Cheap China computers soon sold all over the place. Soon there will be dozens of brands, mostly Chinese, and they will push the netbook as well as other PCs aside. ( http://www.alpha-400.com)