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Wal-Mart to Offer Wal-Mart Notebooks
ducomputergeek writes "Cnet News.com is running an article that Wal-Mart plans to launch its own line of notebook computers. I wonder if these will run Lindows or XP. We've purchased a couple low cost boxes with no OS's for cheap file servers and they've worked pretty well."
A Wal-Mart notebook to go right next to my Arby's MP3 player. Although perhaps the logo can be sandblasted off so that users won't die of embarassment.
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So let me guess, instead of Clippy you have a little bouncing yellow smiley face that keeps darting in and changing the numbers on all your Excel documents?
Bazing!
There's a neat link at the bottom of the article to another article about $200 being the magic number for PCs.
I've always thought this would be a neat idea for corporations: Several fairly powerful servers, running everything from file sharing to groupware (on BSD or Linux, SMP, etc.). A bunch of cheap PCs with no hard drives and Knoppix-type CDs configured for the company's network. All files accessed via NFS, etc.
Talk about a) inexpensive solution and b) easy support. The computers are throwaways, and you don't have to move data from a broken one to a new one. It's all on the servers. But the computers are still powerful enough to do plenty of processing on their own.
Upgrades are a cinch - distribute new CDs to everyone.
With $200 computers (how much cheaper would they be without hard drives?) it's more than possible.
Hrm.
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
10 PRINT "Trash 80s suck!"
20 GOTO 10
running it and walking out. Ah, memories!
Let me guess they have spiral binding and come with their own pencil!
I don't care if it isn't able to run the latest video games. I'd like to see a sturdy notebook computer that has good battery life and a price under $500.
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"For the same reason Dell and Gateway can get TVs, there's no reason Wal-Mart can't get computers," Baker said.
I really hope Wal-Mart decides to sell notebooks with both Lindows and Windows. It will never be mentioned in the press, but many people would buy the cheaper of the two, then chuck Lindows and replace it with a pirated copy of Windows.
Microsoft will no doubt fight this tooth and nail. They know that seeing two identical machines side by side in Wal-Mart, people will see how expensive Windows really is. Then there will be more reason to mainstream more Linux software, especially games.
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Alienware and Sager both already sell Clevo laptops as their own house brand (after neon spraypaint, etc.). Pretty good units, so a Walmart-branded one might be an OK computer.
There are already comments whining about Walmart quality - how much differentiation is there among the vast majority of PC's today anyhow? Sure there's always premium gear, but most of the stuff for sale in stores, whether it says WalMart, HP, or Dell on it is all low-end gear designed for price, and will probably last out its useful lifecycle.
It is surprising how WalMart is making the high-tech play; netflix, itunes, now laptops, yet they've skipped consumer electronics (no walmart-branded TV's, DVD players, etc.). Their other areas for house brands are clothing and pharmaceuticals - seems like they target areas where they think there is alot of profit, and try to take some fat out of it.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
It is immensely difficult to compete with a corporation that gets massive amounts of government assistance in tax incentives and loans. The idea that Walmart won in the marketplace isn't true. They beg local governments for preferntial treatment in everything from tax treatment to land zoning. These are the reason Walmarts prices can get so low. Corporate welfare for the largest retailer in the world.
How quickly we have all forgotten, from just weeks ago, Walmart's hiring of illegal aliens too.
most people who purchase laptops are not purchasing their first machine. onw, where most people who buy the emachines $399 at best buy, or the microtel (?) special at wal-mart for $199 are not going to jump on a $799 laptop. in some markets, price is everything, like gasoline. but in some markets, there are other intangible factors. not the least of course is the fact that going into most laptop type environs (offices, coffee shops, college classrooms, etc.) there will be a stigma.
let me give you an example. in william grieder's book "secrets of the temple" about the federal reserve, (great book), he tells the story of bluefish. now, for those of you who don't kow much about bluefish, it is plentiful on the east coast, but not the best eating fish. but, when bluefish prices were higher, it sold more. as it price dropped, it actually sold less. why? well, it became a "cheap" fish. when it's price went back up, its sales did too. with the laptops, apple is selling tons, and they are not the cheapest. i don't think wal-mart will sell lots of laptops. people are looking for something a little more. for me, the clincher on the ibook was the screen. i couldn't deal with the cheaper laptop screens. my guess is that most laptop buyers are a little more discriminatory.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Wal-Mart is the Microsoft of stores. Wal-Mart is crushing American companies. They demand lower prices, forcing American companies to outsource overseas, causing losses of American jobs. If they cannot or will not cut the prices to levels that require slave labor, Wal-Mart goes to overseas companies. The result? Americans who shop at Wal-Mart are shopping themselves out of a job.
Selling PCs at supermarkets has rocked the German PC market.
ALDI (a very popular discount retailer, similar to Wal-Mart) began selling computers a few years back, both desktop PCs and laptops. They still do so on a regular basis and just this week they had a not-too-bad all-in-one all-purpose PC for home users.
These computers are special time-limited offers, marketed in large quantities over a few days, about twice a year. So limited that when the first series was sold in 1997, one customer tried to secure his PC using a gun.
Aldi has become so successful that its main supplier Medion has slowly become the #1 computer manufacturer in Germany (although it is unclear wether it can hold that spot - the company is struggling, too).
Several other competing supermarket chains have joined the market with their own line of bargain PCs and now there are a number of "Schnappchen PC" offers popping up in several supermarkets chains before Christmas every year. You pick up your fully-installed, ready-to-go PC right next to your milk, bread and toilet paper.
Although computer pros initially laughed at the thought of buying an ALDI PC, it turned out to be a pretty good offer. Thanks to huge numbers of absolutely identical PCs to be sold, the company preparing these boxes had time to slash prices and still do the configuration better than what you'd often get at the likes of Dell or your local selfmade-PC-shop.
The ALDI PC is targeted at home users and its first versions were quite well thought-out and sold like crazy. (See gun story, linked above.)
These days, customers aren't that mad about the ALDI PC anymore, it seems. The recent offerings were more and more prone to feature-overload. The current ALDI PC comes with everything and a kite: Next to the standard stuff it includes a universal card drive, a TV-in card, a remote control, wireless keyboard and mouse, wireless LAN and a DVD burner on top of the DVD read only drive...
But still, ALDI teared down the wall, put massive price pressure on everyone else and literally brought the multimedia PC to the masses with a PC that's actually really ok.
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Arima, as pointed out in this article. It says here that Walmart has already placed an order for 100,000 notebooks for their test-run.
Gotta get me one of these!
as long as if something goes wrong and you need to call tech support, they don't have those walmart greeters answering the call....
You may want to read the following article to get a more clear picture of how wal-mart operates. I read the article this morning, and it happens to be very timely.
-- Solaris Central - http://w
Economies progress by making jobs more efficient so resources are freed for new jobs. You can't make new products unless some old product goes away or becomes more efficiently made.
It's hard to figure out who gets retrained in what way and how much. No system could be perfect. That Wal-Mart makes companies more efficient is not to be denied. That some companies don't adapt and go out of business, well, their workers and capital go into other businesses eventually, and the economy gradually becomes more efficient. If there were no unemployment benefits, the economy would become more efficient faster, but more people would suffer. If unemployment benefits were too easy to get and keep, the economy would progress more slowly. The trick is figuring out the best compromise. No one can ever know where that line is, and it keeps moving.
</LongWindedRamble>
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