Folks, this price ($498) caught my eye....

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3504708&cat=179113&type=19&dept=3944 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3504708&cat=179113&type=19&dept=3944)

But look what comes with it (or doesn't)...

VIA C3 processor 1.0 GHz (just 1 gig, somebody must have found a stash of old chips)

Lindows/Linspire version 4.5 (Yep, Lindows, NOT Windows... XP in the stores cost about $200)

128 MB memory (That's it, first thing to do, upgrade the memory!)

CD-ROM drive (Read Only, not a RW.... and how cheap are RW drives nowadays..)

I just went to one website, Fry's, to see what they had at a low price

The best deal I found there quickly (didn't spend more than a minute or two)...

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4197133 (http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4197133)

This is $650, so for $152 more, let's see what you get

Intel® Celeron 2.4GHz Processor. (No slow VIA chip, instead a Intel chip that is about 2 and 1/2 times faster)


Microsoft® Windows® XP Home (Yes, the real OS)


256MB Memory Exp to 512MB (twice the memory, though I would upgrade here also)

40 GB Hard Drive (An extra 10 GB)

DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Drive (Hey, a RW drive...)

So, folks that see this deal, I hope you take a moment and THINK before you buy......:~D :fez:

As a note, "Lindows" is actually Linux with a custom GUI. This laptop is definitely seriously underpowered, but I understand some of the other Wal-Mart "Lindows" based systems have actually been fairly popular with some that are looking for a low-cost Linux box to experiment with.

-Jeff

Most people aren't looking to "experiment," though. Most people are complete rubes when it comes to computers.


and come on... who in the hell would buy a computer, or computer parts from Walmart? That's just asking for trouble.

Most people aren't looking to "experiment," though. Most people are complete rubes when it comes to computers.


and come on... who in the hell would buy a computer, or computer parts from Walmart? That's just asking for trouble.

Unless you need a mouse or keyboard at 2am. That's fairly simple and harmless ;) Not to mention it comes in handy after you spill coffee on one or the other during the 11th hour of a term paper.

...Along the "experiment" lines... Wal-Mart offering something like this to someone who is looking for a PC on the cheap is, in my opinion, a real bad marketing decision on their part. I wonder how many people will return them when they found out that "Lindows" was not a misprint of "Windows?"

I know that we are in the day where technology is getting cheaper, but let's not help along too much, eh WalMart?

...Along the "experiment" lines... Wal-Mart offering something like this to someone who is looking for a PC on the cheap is, in my opinion, a real bad marketing decision on their part. I wonder how many people will return them when they found out that "Lindows" was not a misprint of "Windows?"

I know that we are in the day where technology is getting cheaper, but let's not help along too much, eh WalMart?

For what its worth, Wal-Mart has been selling various "Lindows" based systems for several years now. It hasn't been a huge business, but I suspect their margin is pretty decent on these, since there would be minimal, if any, software licensing costs.

To be honest, I suspect that a wide percentage of the target market for a PC sold at Wal-Mart would do just fine with a user-friendly Linux front-end and a few open source software packages.

-Jeff