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Walmart Offers Sub-$500 laptop With Linspire
LehiNephi writes "Cnet reports that Walmart is offering a sub-$500 notebook running Linspire. The specs are less-than impressive: a 1GHz VIA C3 processor, 128 MB RAM, 30GB hard drive, and a plain vanilla CD-ROM. Seems overpriced for what you get, but cheap nonetheless. And yes, it does run Linux."
I wonder if they include a disclamer for Linspire... a big red "DOES NOT INCLUDE MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP" on the box somewhere.
I'd almost wager that 80% of the people who buy these (or who buy a computer from WalMart in general) are n00bs, and will try returning the devices because 'there's no microsoft word or internet explorer on it'.
Electrons are free; it is moving them that becomes expensive.
Seriously, I feel bad for whoever is putting these together for WalMart. They just got a hugenormous client (WalMart) who will be both the best and worst thing that ever happened to them.
Where I work we split our time between trying to provide excellent service to our non-WalMart customers while keeping WalMart happy because they account for such a huge chunk of our revenue it's not even funny. And that's pretty normal for any company WalMart does business with.
This has a faster processor, bigger disk and more RAM than a standard PC from three years ago; what applications have turned up since then that require more than this?
"Most people"? Naaw. My girlfriend's father is "most people". He doesn't know or care what the OS is or the applications' names are as long as he has email, web access and bare-bones word processing -- and he's out-of-date enough that Windows XP and Office XP will be every bit as foreign as Linspire and OpenOffice.
Mod parent up. If this becomes common, people are going to remember Linspire/Linux==slow because it's always installed on slow computers.
"No one likes working in a hamster wheel, and your shop smells of cedar shavings from here." - TaleSpinner
Agree 100%. The people I went to high school with never went to college, because the union would get them US$40K a year jobs with full benefits right after high school. They scoffed at college.
Now (25 years later) we are finding that we (the US) have overpriced our labor to the point were we are non-competitive in any basic industries. Now my former classmates are unemployed, or on strike for years at a time, and up a creek. The slightly more enlightened among them are at a community college trying to make up for lost time.
Wal*Mart charges a low price and pays a low rate. Don't like it, go to school and get a job doing something other than stocking shelves. No other jobs in Podunk other than Wal*Mart? Move.
Grow up, people. Wal*Mart only controls the job supply if you let it. Train yourself for something other than stocking shelves or waving UPC's over scanners. Especially since we're automating that function, too.
Please watch the stereotypes. I shop Walmart. I also went to private schools until grad school, where I got my Ph.D. in Statistics. I don't hunt, although I do ski and scuba dive. I also employ programmers for things I design.
its all a matter of perspective. to some people that want/need a laptop but dont need a lot of power, cheaper is always better. also, i think there is something about $500 for a laptop. people see that to get a dell desktop is about $500, but to get a walmart laptop ('hey, walmart is a well-known brand' they think to themselves) is now the same price. okay, maybe you need the $550 model to get windows to make that a little more fair. my point is that $500 for a laptop is mad cheap, regardless of the quality. that amount of money has not gotten you a laptop new for some time(if ever). the battery life is terrible, however, ill give you that.
well, crap. i typed all that and just now saw your recommendation for a used celeron. that is a viable solution, theres a 1ghz dell on ebay for $400 right now.
use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy