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I care about points? I seriously doubt anyone has bothered to read that far down. Dell has the largest PC market share. I'd say it's pretty significant when Dell offer computers with Linux installed. http://media.arstechnica.com/news.media/1q08us-1.png As for Walmart, check out the gPC http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614

There is no rule of lower prices == more sales to begin with.

Yeah, it's not like there are any businesses that built an empire on that model or anything.

I understand what you're saying, but at the end of the day, the market is mostly saying that the prices are way too high. $1/song is a rip off. Especially when you consider that of the $1, you're lucky if, on average, $0.01 goes to the artist who actually wrote and/or recorded that song. The rest goes to the middle men, who pretty much do nothing but throw temper tantrums in the media when they don't get their way for their $0.69 share.

Here you go

Check out Walmart.com.

The Linpus Linux netbook - "not available in stores" - has a modest 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of flash.

For ten bucks more the XP netbook comes with 1 GB RAM and a 120 GB HDD. Mini laptops

It weighs two pounds and ships for 97 cents.

RCA apparently made one but from what I can see, it's been discontinued.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2216232

And at $388 you can buy a small ATSC 1080i/720p set for less than that.

Here's a samsung one at Best Buy, in store and HDMI only, though you can get an HDMI to DVI cable.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8102796&type=product&id=1161734592183

The article explores features new to the beta.

It is not - and does not pretend to be - a review of Win 7 as a whole.

MS Vista ended the year with 21% of the global desktop. The OSX MacIntel with 7%. Linux with 0.8% Top Operating System Share Trend

We are not talking licenses here, we are talking users surfing the web - and a site that tracks access through the Wii as diligently as it does OSX and Windows.

The trend line for Linux couldn't be flatter if you drew it with a T-square.

Apple and Microsoft are pretty much where you would expect to find them anywhere in the last 25 years or so.

But Apple has bet its future on pricey high tech gadgets.

Microsoft profits - indirectly - from the $150 720p HD pocket camcorder.

"Attention WalMart shoppers."

Fun tech.

Family tech.

But not a budget-buster.

That is a good place to be right now.

The XP netbook at $350. The 64 Bit Vista Premium laptop at $800.

Microsoft is solvent, profitable - with Exxon-Mobil rated corporate credit. "Solid as the Rock of Gibraltar." Not even Apple can claim that much.

Vista ended the year with 21% of the market and the MacIntel with 7%. Top Operating System Share Trend

This is the MS Vista Basic desktop at WalMart.com at $700:

Dell Inspiron 531s Sempron CPU, 19" widescreen monitor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, HP Multifunction Printer-Scanner, MS Office Home and Student 2007 [Full Version]

Vista Premium at $800:

HP Pavilion Desktop 2 GHz Intel Dual-Core CPU, 22" screen, 3 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD.

64 Bit Vista Premium at $900 + options:

HP Pavilion Desktop AMD 2.2 GHz Phenom Quad Core CPU, 6 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, nForce chip set and NVIDIA 6150 DX 10 graphics

The point being that the headless Mac Mini remains a tough sell in the mass consumer market.

Vista ended the year with 21% of the market and the MacIntel with 7%. Top Operating System Share Trend

This is the MS Vista Basic desktop at WalMart.com at $700:

Dell Inspiron 531s Sempron CPU, 19" widescreen monitor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, HP Multifunction Printer-Scanner, MS Office Home and Student 2007 [Full Version]

Vista Premium at $800:

HP Pavilion Desktop 2 GHz Intel Dual-Core CPU, 22" screen, 3 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD.

64 Bit Vista Premium at $900 + options:

HP Pavilion Desktop AMD 2.2 GHz Phenom Quad Core CPU, 6 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, nForce chip set and NVIDIA 6150 DX 10 graphics

The point being that the headless Mac Mini remains a tough sell in the mass consumer market.

Vista ended the year with 21% of the market and the MacIntel with 7%. Top Operating System Share Trend

This is the MS Vista Basic desktop at WalMart.com at $700:

Dell Inspiron 531s Sempron CPU, 19" widescreen monitor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, HP Multifunction Printer-Scanner, MS Office Home and Student 2007 [Full Version]

Vista Premium at $800:

HP Pavilion Desktop 2 GHz Intel Dual-Core CPU, 22" screen, 3 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD.

64 Bit Vista Premium at $900 + options:

HP Pavilion Desktop AMD 2.2 GHz Phenom Quad Core CPU, 6 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, nForce chip set and NVIDIA 6150 DX 10 graphics

The point being that the headless Mac Mini remains a tough sell in the mass consumer market.

Here's a cheaper one for around $170 (Magnavox ZV450MW8): http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5622734

I paid a thousand dollars for mine!

What did you buy? A 60" LCD? Here's a nice one for $115. It's even an RCA.

Walmart.com will gladly sell you a HP Pavilion Slimline

Yeah, for $1,000. I could buy all three major video game consoles for that amount of money. I saw another HP Pavilion Slimline PC in Office Depot that costs no more than a PLAYSTATION 3 or an Xbox 360 Elite. But here's the kicker, from the "Specifications" on the page you linked:

External Ports: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 Front, 4 Back) , FireWire (IEEE 1394) port (Back), Headphone (Front), 2 PS/2; Digital Audio-out; LAN; Microphone/Line-in/Line-out; VGA-out (Back)

No composite video output. My aunt's CRT SDTV has composite video and analog audio inputs (yellow, white, and red RCA jacks), and the PC you recommend has a VGA output (DE15) and a 3.5mm stereo audio jack. Adapters for the latter are easy to find, but the only way to turn VGA video into composite is a scan converter. All three consoles come with a built-in scan converter, and some discrete video cards have one built-in, but none of the desktop PCs in Office Depot have it. And the only scan converter on Walmart.com has 1 star out of 5.

Monitor extra.

Most people already have an SDTV monitor in the living room that's large enough for four people holding gamepads to sit around. Consoles have the advantage over low-end slim PCs in that consoles work with SDTV monitors.

This is too pathetic for words.

Walmart.com will gladly sell you a HP Pavilion Slimline

Quad Core AMD CPU, 4 GB RAM, 64 Bit Vista Premium, NVIDIA DX 10 graphics, a 640 GB HDD, an HDTV tuner and the combo Blu-Ray drive and DVD Burner for $1K.

Monitor extra.

The truth of it is that Walmart has never been able to sell OEM Linux at a significant discount.

Though every now and again the big W will unload a few carloads of junk it picked up on the cheap on the ever-so-naive and hopeful Linux Geek.

Linux distributions need to start sponsoring companies like the old Loki Software. Companies like Canonical, Red Hat, and Novell would do well to sponsor some of that work.

The port is what you get when you are the PS3. The original big-budget production is for the Wii and the XBox 360. The port simply keeps you in the game. It is not the winning hand.

The commercial Linux distros are shamelessly enterprise oriented. There is no intelligible reason for Novell or Red Hat to go into the high risk, high stakes, game business.

Microsoft remains the major player on the desktop - period.

Microsoft writes operating systems for hardware that will be mid-line at the time of release and entry level a year or two later.

This isn't "perfection" as the geek understands it.

But it is shrewd and sophisticated marketing and to get it right demands a great deal of technical sophistication. This is how Henry Ford managed to get 22 million cars on US roads by 1920 - and why the Ford V8 became the sensation of the Great Depression.

---and it sucks the air out of the room for OEM Linux.

Walmart will gladly sell you an XP ATOM netbook for $350. The dual-core HP laptop with 64 Bit Vista Premium with 4 GB RAM will set you back $800.

In a sense, there are no "first time" users.

I know families who began with MSDOS, Win 3 or Win 95 whose grandkids are starting out with Vista.

The OEM system install is the gold standard here.

That will never change. The out-of-the-box experience is everything.

This is fantasy - and fantasies are dangerous. Toyota doesn't become irrelevant in heavy industry because its shows its first loss in 71 years. Microsoft doesn't become irrrelevant in tech because its revenues and profits continue to grow in good times and bad.

Object Lesson #1: Michael Meeks Says OO.o Project is "Profoundly Sick"

Object Lesson #2: The Moz Foundation and Google.

Life and death by the add-click.

Object Lesson #3:The Netbook at WalMart

Object Lesson #4: Operating system market share, Top Operation systems versions trend

Ten of the fifteen mini-laptops sold through Walmart.com run XP on the Atom.

The XP ATOM netbook at $350 includes a 9" screen, a 120 GB HDD and 1 GB RAM.

The Ubuntu Dell with 512 MB RAM and 4 GB RAM at $350 is at least interesting. But I am beginning to suspect that 512 MB RAM and 4 GB of Flash isn't going to cut it in the netbook sector - no matter what your OS.

9" screen. Clock speeds approaching 2 GHz. That is a credible platform for media and games.

The five netbooks available in store all run XP.Mini-Laptops

This is the Walmart Vista Premium laptop at $500: 15" screen. 2 GHz AMD Sempron. 3 GB RAM. DVD-Burner. Etc. The Acer Vista Basic laptop at $550 ships with a multifunction HP printer. The Walmart could be forgiven for not knowing that there is such a thing as a Linux printer.

gOS Linux at $300
7" screen, VIA CPU, 512 MB RAM, 30 GB HDD

Windows XP at $350
8.9" screen, Atom CPU, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD.

SUSE Linux at $400

9" Screen, VIA CPU, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB Flash, and a webcam. Not sold in stores.

Windows XP at $400

9" Screen, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD and a webcam. In some stores. Mini-Laptops

The Economist ~ understates ~ the advantages of being able to run your Windows apps on your netbook - and there is really nothing in F/OSS of interest to the general consumer market that isn't available for Windows.

take a wild guess as to what it would cost to have thousands of photos transferred to negatives/prints...

Don't have to guess. Photos cost about $0.09 each to print at Wal-Mart. No wild guess: $90/1000 pictures.

Who says you can't merge them, my console is on a desk like this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9854979

With this TV:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9204671

With this printer down below:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bpd02982&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=58749#

and this external hard drive that works in both Linux and GameOS:

http://www.amazon.com/Maxtor-Basics-Personal-Storage-External/dp/B000HKKNH8

And there's people with HTPC's in their living rooms attached to their big screen HDTV.

Who says you can't merge them, my console is on a desk like this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9854979

With this TV:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9204671

With this printer down below:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bpd02982&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=58749#

and this external hard drive that works in both Linux and GameOS:

http://www.amazon.com/Maxtor-Basics-Personal-Storage-External/dp/B000HKKNH8

And there's people with HTPC's in their living rooms attached to their big screen HDTV.

Wow, I never thought that Wal-Mart would be good for something. But you're right, they hold a ton of clout in negotiations because their chain is so large, and they frequently throw this clout around to force manufacturers into allowing their goods to be sold there on the cheap. I remember reading an old article about how John Deere decided not to sell their tractors in the store, because the price that Wal-Mart was asking for was so low that they'd have to send them sub-quality tractors, and whoever was in charge of making the decision decided not to because they felt that those tractors would undermine the quality and reputation of the brand.

I forget where I read that, but incidentally, if you check out their website, you'll notice that the only John Deere products are toy tractors for children, calendars, and so forth -- no actual tractors or lawn mowers.

Of the fifteen "5 Star" laptops you can walk in and buy at any WalMart store, all run XP or Vista. Customer Favorites
Of the 86 laptops sold through Walmart.com, seven are netbooks running Linux, and "not available in stores."
The notion that Windows is a stumbling block to sales is lunatic.

Where the hell do you live that you can buy a terabye of storage at a retail store?

Where do you live that you can't? Even Walmart sells them!

According to Wal Mart, 12/2/2008

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10339484&sourceid=1500000000000003142040&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=10339484

.
How many times has the geek been absolutely certain that this time the hardware requirements for a Windows OS would remain out-of-reach -- leaving a clear track ahead for Linux in some new market segment - only to see high-end specs become low-end specs in a year, or two, or three?

HP 8.9" 2133-E Mini-Note PC
Vista Basic. 1.2 Ghz VIA CPU. VIA DX 9 Graphics. 2 GB RAM. 120 GB HDD. $610

Why can't I get Vista to crash and run slow like you can?

Maybe you didn't test it on this or this or this?

Go ahead and tell me it's because these computers aren't "modern". I love that one.

64 Bit Vista Premium at $1000

15" Screen
2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
320 GB HDD
256 MB NVIDA 9200M Graphics
LightScribe DVD Burner
Integrated webcam, HDMI, Firewire, etc. HP 15.4'' Pavilion

64 Bit Vista Premium at $1600

18" screen
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
2 250 GB HDDs
Combo Blu-Ray BD Play and DVD Burner
512 MB NVIDIA 9600M Graphics
Integrated fingerprint reader, etc. HP 18.4'' Pavilion

The point to this exercise being that the "high end" hardware demanded by a Windows OS does not remain high end for very long.

If you are serious about testing Win 7 - as a consumer OS - you should be looking at realistic projections for the OEM hardware and software bundle.

64 Bit Vista Premium at $1000

15" Screen
2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
320 GB HDD
256 MB NVIDA 9200M Graphics
LightScribe DVD Burner
Integrated webcam, HDMI, Firewire, etc. HP 15.4'' Pavilion

64 Bit Vista Premium at $1600

18" screen
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB RAM
2 250 GB HDDs
Combo Blu-Ray BD Play and DVD Burner
512 MB NVIDIA 9600M Graphics
Integrated fingerprint reader, etc. HP 18.4'' Pavilion

The point to this exercise being that the "high end" hardware demanded by a Windows OS does not remain high end for very long.

If you are serious about testing Win 7 - as a consumer OS - you should be looking at realistic projections for the OEM hardware and software bundle.

How difficult can these things (Linux vs of EEE?)really be to find...




If you can get them at WALMART????

That being said, most people want something they can buy, take home and install their 9.99 bargain bin version of sudoku and a some goofy card making software on. Linux just doesn't work for the majority of people out there. Sorry, it doesn't. What the heck is the point of having a mini netbook, if the wireless adapter won't work? Or it *might* work, assuming you are using this version of this distro OR if you feel like editing registry files and installing wtfwrapper.

Not to mention, at this point in time. *most* people know at least or or two people who have been using windows for some time and can do some type of techinical support for them if they get into trouble. "Hey Sam, my printer isn't working...". How many average schmucks know someone who is a linux power user? Which means the only source of support they have is user forums and the IRC channel, and if you have no wireless adapter.....


Yeah.....

.

Entry level for a 64 Bit Vista laptop with a 2 GHz Intel dual core CPU and 4 GB RAM is $812 at Walmart.com: Laptops-4 GB RAM

Walmart.com lists 25 dual-core laptops with 4 GB of RAM.

18 run 64 Bit Vista.

It's become trivially easy to meet Vista's hardware requirements as a mass market price.

64 Bit Vista is mainstream today.

The day after tomorrow, the quad core CPU will be everywhere, the Blu-Ray drive will be a burner, and systems sporting 8 GB RAM will scarcely seem unusual.

A lot of people are just not buying content - even though they would like to buy content - because they know that money spent that way is wasted and they don't want to throw their money away again. Of these I believe that many are just avoiding the content rather than downloading it through any of the myriad options for that, and that's demand destruction. Once the content is available unprotected, a huge market of people is opened up who would prefer to pay for what they get if they can pay for it in a way that's not stupid. See the MP3 sales of Amazon and iTunes and even Walmart.com.

Making content available DRM-free is actually a huge win for the content industry, even if it makes it harder to prove unauthorized distribution. Hopefully soon they'll see this.

OTOH, brick and mortar content sales outlets are pretty much toast. They sell a digital product in a digital age with an analog method. And, they close. The Internet doesn't close.

Top Operating System Share Trend

October 07
Vista 8%
OSX 6%
Linux 0.5%

August 08
Vista 18%
OSX 8%
Linux 0.9%

Net Applications tracks users on the web not corporate licenses.
OEM Vista is almost exclusively Vista Premium with 64bit Vista becoming increasing visible even at Walmart. HP Pavililion
This is a real intrusion on territory claimed by the Mac.

Try again... again. How about $29.88 for a standalone player, that you can pick up at your local Wal-Mart?

I'd never heard of it either, but -- here you go.

$9.22 albums, DRM-free MP3s, can't purchase on Firefox or on non-Windows. Not bad, if you have Windows and IE. Does browser ID-spoofing work?

I dislike echoing one of my own recent comments.

That said:

The Dual Core 4 GB RAM 32 Bit Vista Premium laptop at Walmart.com is $850. Acer 16" Aspire 6920-6508 Laptop PC w/ Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

The 64 Bit Dual Core Vista Premium laptop with 4 GB RAM is $1000.

The 64 Bit Dual Core Vista Premium laptop with Blu-Ray and NVIDIA 9600 series graphics is $1500.

Walmart.com currently stocks 16 Vista laptops with 4 GB RAM. starting at $1000. You can get 64 Bit Vista Premium at this price point.

The 64 bit Vista Premium desktop at Walmart.com with 4 GB RAM also starts at $1000:

Quad Core CPU, 750 GB HDD, NVIDIA 9500 GS Graphics, HDTV Tuner and Combo Blu-Ray Player and DVD Burner.
HP Pavilion s3530f Slimline Desktop

Absolute rock bottom for the MS Vista Basic desktop at Walmart.com is the $329 Compaq Presario SR5505F w/ AMD Athlon X2 4200 Dual-Core Processor

--- and for the laptop the 1 GB Vista Basic Acer 15.4" Aspire 5315-2326 Laptop PC w/ Intel Celeron M Processor at $448.

The dual core laptop with 3 GB RAM starts at $800. Toshiba 15.4" Satellite L305-S5883 Laptop PC

It goes without saying that OEM Linux at Walmart.com doesn't come within ten light years of the specs of the MS Vista system at - any - price point.

Walmart.com currently stocks 16 Vista laptops with 4 GB RAM. starting at $1000. You can get 64 Bit Vista Premium at this price point.

The 64 bit Vista Premium desktop at Walmart.com with 4 GB RAM also starts at $1000:

Quad Core CPU, 750 GB HDD, NVIDIA 9500 GS Graphics, HDTV Tuner and Combo Blu-Ray Player and DVD Burner.
HP Pavilion s3530f Slimline Desktop

Absolute rock bottom for the MS Vista Basic desktop at Walmart.com is the $329 Compaq Presario SR5505F w/ AMD Athlon X2 4200 Dual-Core Processor

--- and for the laptop the 1 GB Vista Basic Acer 15.4" Aspire 5315-2326 Laptop PC w/ Intel Celeron M Processor at $448.

The dual core laptop with 3 GB RAM starts at $800. Toshiba 15.4" Satellite L305-S5883 Laptop PC

It goes without saying that OEM Linux at Walmart.com doesn't come within ten light years of the specs of the MS Vista system at - any - price point.

Walmart.com currently stocks 16 Vista laptops with 4 GB RAM. starting at $1000. You can get 64 Bit Vista Premium at this price point.

The 64 bit Vista Premium desktop at Walmart.com with 4 GB RAM also starts at $1000:

Quad Core CPU, 750 GB HDD, NVIDIA 9500 GS Graphics, HDTV Tuner and Combo Blu-Ray Player and DVD Burner.
HP Pavilion s3530f Slimline Desktop

Absolute rock bottom for the MS Vista Basic desktop at Walmart.com is the $329 Compaq Presario SR5505F w/ AMD Athlon X2 4200 Dual-Core Processor

--- and for the laptop the 1 GB Vista Basic Acer 15.4" Aspire 5315-2326 Laptop PC w/ Intel Celeron M Processor at $448.

The dual core laptop with 3 GB RAM starts at $800. Toshiba 15.4" Satellite L305-S5883 Laptop PC

It goes without saying that OEM Linux at Walmart.com doesn't come within ten light years of the specs of the MS Vista system at - any - price point.

Walmart.com currently stocks 16 Vista laptops with 4 GB RAM. starting at $1000. You can get 64 Bit Vista Premium at this price point.

The 64 bit Vista Premium desktop at Walmart.com with 4 GB RAM also starts at $1000:

Quad Core CPU, 750 GB HDD, NVIDIA 9500 GS Graphics, HDTV Tuner and Combo Blu-Ray Player and DVD Burner.
HP Pavilion s3530f Slimline Desktop

Absolute rock bottom for the MS Vista Basic desktop at Walmart.com is the $329 Compaq Presario SR5505F w/ AMD Athlon X2 4200 Dual-Core Processor

--- and for the laptop the 1 GB Vista Basic Acer 15.4" Aspire 5315-2326 Laptop PC w/ Intel Celeron M Processor at $448.

The dual core laptop with 3 GB RAM starts at $800. Toshiba 15.4" Satellite L305-S5883 Laptop PC

It goes without saying that OEM Linux at Walmart.com doesn't come within ten light years of the specs of the MS Vista system at - any - price point.

The $150 clearance special, in store only.

"Step up to the Everex Vista Basic system with 1 GB RAM for only $68 more."

In the states - the OEM Linux system with bottom-feeder specs and the shelf life of a housefly remains the reality in big box retail.

Looking at the world through a Penguin tinted lens?

In the states, OEM consumer Vista is 32 bit Vista Premium SP1. Dual core is a given. 2 GB RAM or better is a given. [You will find the single core Athlon LE at entry level]

The $1500 HP Elite at Walmart.com:

64 bit Vista Premium
2.66 GHz Intel Quad CPU, 4 GB RAM, 1 TB of storage
512 MB NVIDIA 8600 GT graphics, Combo Blu-Ray Drive and Lightscribe DVD Burner,
HDTV Tuner, Wireless multimedia keyboard and mouse, Remote Control...

Etc., etc. You get the idea - buy from Tiger and you might even save a few bucks.

The versatility and raw horsepower of a system like this does not strike me as a compelling reason to migrate to Linux. But you can go - far - down the food chain and the specs and performance will still look good.

"With this winglet's 6km/h speed bicycle is also much faster...."

6km/h = 3.7mph

3.7mph is a fast walk, and remember that's maximum top speed (so it probably only gets that going downhill) and I'm sure that's if the passenger is a ideal weight, but the release doesn't disclose weight limit.

I have a feeling people will be walking pass people riding on these so I think they'll have a hard time selling them if they're more than $100. Even the $99 electric scooter @ Walmart does 10mph so who'd want a Segaway doing 3.7mph?

This has been the death knell for OEM Linux at Walmart.

What are you smoking? Linux at Walmart is not dead at all. They have a ton of systems available online like this $300 laptop and this $200 desktop. I have the desktop. It works fine and it doesn't suck the power from the wall like most of the PCs you buy these days.

I've even seen linux products on the shelf at the local Walmart from time to time. Go in the software section and some of the boxes even have penguins on 'em.

Walmart doesn't carry products that don't move a lot of units. So, again, are you confused?

This has been the death knell for OEM Linux at Walmart.

What are you smoking? Linux at Walmart is not dead at all. They have a ton of systems available online like this $300 laptop and this $200 desktop. I have the desktop. It works fine and it doesn't suck the power from the wall like most of the PCs you buy these days.

I've even seen linux products on the shelf at the local Walmart from time to time. Go in the software section and some of the boxes even have penguins on 'em.

Walmart doesn't carry products that don't move a lot of units. So, again, are you confused?

As a wal-mart (and k-mart) shopper, perhaps I can explain. Wal-mart usually has multiple price points of stuff. Really cheap low end stuff, slightly less cheap stuff that's not bad for the price and so on. For many things, they carry the same stuff that Circuit City/Best Buy carry, and they also have stuff made just for them.

For example, last month I bought a cheap LCD HDTV there because I was going to get a PS3. I wanted something between 15 and 17 inches with 1080p, and HDMI. Turns out, if you want 1080p you have to go big it seems. So I was looking at them and saw two models EXACTLY alike in capabilities, inputs, and even the exact same placement of the controls and inputs. one was this one:

Polaroid TLX-1911

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9204672

the other is this one:

Element 1920b
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9204671

Now when I looked at them the Polaroid was 298 and the Element was 278. But they are EXACTLY the same, so I bought the Element. It's a fine screen for my purposes, various PS3 related stuff: games, video, Linux.

After I got the screen but before I got the PS3 we found this:
HP dv6809wm

It's a 2 GHz dual core 64 bit Turion with 3GB of RAM running Windows Vista Home Premium (32 bit). When we got it it cost around 578 I think, they were heavily promoting it. It replaced a Gateway 400SP plus (from 2003) for general use. It runs Vista better than that Gateway runs XP even with Aero enabled by default.

Now they are currently promoting in stores a $700 dell for back-to-school, that has a Celeron (single-core I think) and WinXP

There's quality to be had at Wal-Mart...if you keep your eyes open.

As a wal-mart (and k-mart) shopper, perhaps I can explain. Wal-mart usually has multiple price points of stuff. Really cheap low end stuff, slightly less cheap stuff that's not bad for the price and so on. For many things, they carry the same stuff that Circuit City/Best Buy carry, and they also have stuff made just for them.

For example, last month I bought a cheap LCD HDTV there because I was going to get a PS3. I wanted something between 15 and 17 inches with 1080p, and HDMI. Turns out, if you want 1080p you have to go big it seems. So I was looking at them and saw two models EXACTLY alike in capabilities, inputs, and even the exact same placement of the controls and inputs. one was this one:

Polaroid TLX-1911

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9204672

the other is this one:

Element 1920b
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9204671

Now when I looked at them the Polaroid was 298 and the Element was 278. But they are EXACTLY the same, so I bought the Element. It's a fine screen for my purposes, various PS3 related stuff: games, video, Linux.

After I got the screen but before I got the PS3 we found this:
HP dv6809wm

It's a 2 GHz dual core 64 bit Turion with 3GB of RAM running Windows Vista Home Premium (32 bit). When we got it it cost around 578 I think, they were heavily promoting it. It replaced a Gateway 400SP plus (from 2003) for general use. It runs Vista better than that Gateway runs XP even with Aero enabled by default.

Now they are currently promoting in stores a $700 dell for back-to-school, that has a Celeron (single-core I think) and WinXP

There's quality to be had at Wal-Mart...if you keep your eyes open.

Also, for about $550, you could get a new laptop, with dual core processor, 2 GB of RAM, 120 GB HD, wireless networking, and a DVD writer. Costs 4 times as much, but it's easily 4 times as useful. It's like saying you could get a Vespa for $5000. Yes, you could, but that only makes sense if you don't have to buy another car. In the same way, this computer is only cheap if you don't plan on having another computer to make up for its lack of features.

A small safe should suffice for keeping the kids out of your stash. If you can afford a game console, and a game, you can afford the $20 for a small safe. Of course, once the kids decide that they are going to play the game when they are not supposed to, it doesn't matter if the game is out in the open, hidden, locked up, or is at someone else's house.

Since we're talking about the walmart cluster try one of these gPC units for $199. Power is really low, but not as low as the item in TFA. I've bought them and they work great for linux or XP. Slap a couple terabyte SATA drives in there and it makes a fine media server.

If you want to save some watts and noise convert it to DC with a pico-psu for another fifty. If you're going for high density get four and mount the other three motherboards inside the first one, or mount them all on sheet of lexan - they make an interesting digital industrial wall covering for about the price of a nice framed print. BTW, if you're going for the wall covering look with the PicoPSU I would recommend Intel's Atom motherboard instead. It burns fewer watts and is cheaper because it doesn't come with a case and PSU. You'll have to buy a gig stick of DDR2 to go with it, but you're still money ahead going this way.

I'm all for this new era of ultra-cheap PCs with small flash memory, but for $50 less, I can get a gOS PC. Also, barring users from accessing the Linux running on the hardware just pisses me off. I read the article on EETimes about this new PC, but I didn't see the value proposition.