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FIC Condor Small Form Factor Reviewed
VL writes "A gamer's best friend? That's FIC's catch phrase, and we take them to task in our latest review. 'FIC put together a nice little barebone PC, but missed on some important features that enthusiasts have come to expect. While it's no slouch in gaming, it does not stand out in the performance department which is a shame as the design itself was well thought out.'"
200W powersupply, average looks and average expansion slots.
Now I guess ok for a living room PC, but for small form facter lan party box, I'd pass. Been looking at the Frag box, now thats a nice looking PC.
My father-in-law gave me his old HP Pavilion 6683, since Windows 98 was hosed on it and he'd upgraded. I plugged it in, and Zzzzt, smell of ozone.
Opening up the case, I found that just to see how much RAM was installed I had to remove the motherboard from the case!
I installed a new power supply and installed Linux for my daughter. She's happy, but I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to open up that POS.
sigs, as if you care.
Doesn't it seem odd that a small form factor PC is named after a very large bird?
It looks like some sort of modernist toaster to me.
Who cares if it's a nightmare to upgrade/repair?
Computers are heading in the same direction all household appliances have gone: fixed-function and disposable. Ignoring all the environmental concerns and whatnot, this is inevitable. It wasn't really all that long ago when a TV owner was expected to replace tubes in their TV as casually as we replace ink cartridges in our printers. Now TVs end up in the trash when the power switch breaks.
Using the "mom test", I've had my mom add memory and swap cards/drives in her computer, and she's recently even done it without my direction or assistance. Non-technical people can do this stuff, it's just that they don't want to. Most people just want their computer to work, and, when it doesn't they want to be able to buy a cheap replacement because their time is too valuable to bother fixing it.
I'm not advocating this trend, but it's obviously the choice of the bulk of consumers. You are going to be fighting a losing battle if you try to stop this.
I hate to be cynical, but all these review sites "like"/"don't like" products based on:
...and a zillion other things unrelated to actual product quality or suitability. Meanwhile, of course, they're all getting played by the companies, who reward good reviews by bumping those sites up on the list of who gets Hot Product A in what order.
Which is why this has no business being on the front page. Put it in games.slashdot.org and make it a non-frontpage for slashdot.org....or something...
You can damn well bet that if they wanted to 'like' the unit, the PSU figures would not have been mentioned, the onboard audio problems dismissed as moot because "we all install soundblaster audigy boards anyway", so on etc. You get the idea. The review remains technically accurate, but the bias clearly swings.
Please help metamoderate.
The parent post is currently modded as "Troll". I must respectfully differ, owning to the fact that the Condor, indeed, looks like a toaster.
I first saw one of these things sitting on an end-cap in Fry's. The very first thought that ran through my head was, "It looks like a toaster." While I was poking at it to see what features it had, a person from behind me remarked, "What is that, a toaster?"
So, just for my own personal amusement, I stood there for a few minutes watching passers-by react to the Condor. I didn't approach or prompt anyone; I just stood idly by watching people. Of those who said anything, the overwhelming majority of them noted a resemblence to a toaster.
So, it looks like a toaster. And, personally, I think that's kinda cool. I think FIC should run with it.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions