Earthlink Sponsors Cheap Linux PCs

prostoalex writes "Earthlink and Microtel are offering cheap Xandros-based computers to anyone who's willing to sign up for Earthlink dial-up service at $22 a month. The desktops on Microtel Web site start at $70 for a basic AMD Sempron machine, Microtel laptops start at $399. ExtremeTech says there is also a SkypeOut gift certificate: 'All Xandros PCs and laptops include free Skype-to-Skype calling worldwide, plus an exclusive bonus voucher for up to 120 minutes of SkypeOut calling to any phone number in the world.'"

Comments

Bill Gates

[mboverload]

Could Bill Gates be right about hardware costing dirt in the future? Since they are selling this on software Gates is kind of 100% right.

Re:Bill Gates

[LiquidCoooled]

Of course he's right, but its not happening because he said it.

Mobile phone companies have been like this for years, its just an expansion of that.

$22/month for dialup?

[Tackhead]

> [$69.99] with a 12 month EarthLink membership subscription at $21.95 per month

Well, at least it's running Linux. Because on dialup, it'd probably take at least 12 months to download the patches to secure XP.

If you've got $21.95/month for dialup, but don't have an extra $2-4/month for DSL from your phone provider (or $20/month from your cable provider), you've got no business spending $333.39 ($69.99 + 12 * 21.95) or "$69.99" for a low-end PC with no monitor.

Use $300 to buy a year's worth of broadband, and with the remaining cash, support your nearest surplus store ($50) or computer recycler ($10), garage sale ($50), or even lighten the load on your apartment's dumpster ($0.00).

Re:$22/month for dialup?

[vondo]

Well, at least it's running Linux. Because on dialup, it'd probably take at least 12 months to download the patches to secure XP.

Umm, I hate to break it to you, but every month I have to download about 200MB of updated RPMs for the various Mandrake and Redhat distros I run/admin. It's fine on broadband, but it is in no way a lower volume of updates than XP.

2.0 ghz Sempron 2200?

[bombshelter13]

Under 'processer', it says 'AMD 2.0GHz Sempron Processor 2200+'.

Do even a tiny ammount of Googling, and you will see that the Sempron 2200+ is a 1.5 ghz chip. So, this means one of two things... either A) they're blatently lying about the clockspeed, or B) they're pre-overclocking the chips... which is the case?

If they're saying it's equivelant to a 2.0 ghz Intel chip in speed (which most AMD fans, myself included, would agree with), that's one thing. If they're pre-overclocking the chips, that's another (which some people will support, and others won't)... but in either case, they should be clearer in what they're saying and doing, since the way they're saying things now is somewhat suspicious.

Even the Windows versions come with OpenOffice

[Rob Y.]

Some nice things about these boxes:

They're actually cheaper with Xandros than with XP. Not by much, but I guess that means they're actually paying Xandros and not Microsoft.

They all come with OpenOffice. Even the versions with WinXP. And MS Office is clearly listed as a (very) pricey option.

This makes it very clear that, even for users not ready to adopt Linux, there are big cost savings to be had by adopting OOo.

Now if all vendors would start offering Firefox and OOo on their boxes (with or without WinXP), that might make a real splash.

Re:$22/month for dialup!!??

[denofslack]

The deal part about this is that you're paying $200 over the course of a year, with no financing or interest charges.

So you pay $70 for the desktop (plus shipping) and $21 per month for the dial-up service.

I can imagine a lot of people wanting a cheap server or another pc in the home hopping on this, even if they already have broadband.

Hell, if I needed another machine, I'd do it in a heatbeat. And I'd never log into the Earthlink account, and would cancel after a year.