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PC Prices Reach $300 Milestone
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Prices for fully loaded, name-brand PCs have slipped below $300 in the last few weeks, a major milestone. 'Ten or so years ago, when PCs cost five or even 10 times what they do now, it was common for analysts to say that they would never become a staple in homes until they were priced the way consumer electronics were, usually defined as costing less than $300,' Lee Gomes writes in the Wall Street Journal. 'In the days when PCs were $2,000 and even more, that target seemed to be something of a fantasy. Now, PCs cost less than some telephones--and less than a lot of TV sets--and can be found in roughly three-quarters of U.S. homes. But while they are priced like consumer electronics, the machines still aren't even remotely as easy to use, and the trend lines there aren't particularly encouraging.'"
Interesting article...but it seemed to fail to mention one important dynamic.
As time passes, operating systems and applications become progressively larger and more complex, requiring correspondingly more robust hardware to run on. I doubt that the 'entry level PC' (whatever that means) of a year ago is equal to the 'entry level PC' of today.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
'Ten or so years ago, when PCs cost five or even 10 times what they do now,
I got a fully loaded (ie Windows and such) for ~$300 about eight years ago. It was (and still is..runs like a champ) an Emachines which I would call a major brand. These prices have been around for a while.
You have to remember that, although low, we have also had some inflation over the last 20-30 years. So, that $300 PC is more like a $150 machine of a couple of decades ago. Compare that with the VIC-20, which cost about $400 in 1981 (with 64k of memory).
Some OEM's TRIED to do this, until MS threatened to never let them sell Windows again... then they stopped.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Linux for most people is not easy to set up. A lot of people dont even know how to install programs properly, let alone an operating system. Most linux installers are not easy to use, especially for the free distros. Linspire or Xandros are what most people would probably be most comfortable with.
Now, I will grant you that if somebody knowledgeable sets up linux, they can make it so that the interface is very simple and easy to use. That said, many people are still simply comfortable with windows. They don't like to use something different at home from what they use at work. Even though the word processor may just say 'Writer' instead of 'Word,' it can confuse people who don't like to work with things that are not familiar.
With regards to security, I agree. My mom had neglected to install the antivirus software I sent her as well as the anti-spyware programs I told her to download (adaware, spybot, webroot spy sweeper, spyware doctor, ms-antispyware, tweaknow regcleaner). She simply wasnt comfortable installing things because she was too afraid she would mess up her computer. Three months later when I was visiting, I took a look at her computer and it was running extremely slow. Just from normal everyday web browsing she had 6 viruses and just shy of 700 spyware infections. Windows, now that it has the basic protections set up, is safe enough for her to use and maintain. Default security settings and programs on Windows machines need to be improved.
Using a computer can be quite daunting, but using something different than what one is comfortable with can be terrifying for the average user.
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." -Zapp Brannigan
Isn't that the point of being easy to use? I'm sure I could find anyone who's an expert at anything to configure it for me... but that doesn't change the fact that it's too complex for the common user in the first place.
I have been using a Plextor DVD recorder on USB2 for quite a while now, with no problems at all. In fact, I have hooked up 10 external CD-R drives to my main machine, all on USB2, all working fine with Alcohol 120% for disk duplication on a semi-industrial scale.
Last I looked, USB 2 was on par with FireWire for most things, certaintly in terms of bandwith/throughput.
No, you pretty much missed his point, which is actually typical. 90% of the home media devices out there are a pain in the ass to use (if it is even possible) if you use anything other than Windows. Of the ten percent that remain, you are better off getting a Mac than a using a Linux box, because at the very least you can haul the rig into an Apple Store and the folks at the Genius Bar will help you get it up and running.
If I were to set my parents up with Linux, I would end up being their sole source for tech support. I spend enough of my life supporting computers as it stands now. At least if my friends or family choose either Windows or OS X, I can point them to affordable alternative sources of support. Neither Red Hat or Novell handles home user support very well (although I have been pleased with their corporate offerings), much less the groups of holier than though geeks who make up the online Linux community, particularly when the response of said geeks is to call someone full of shit and then present no solution to the problem other than to spout some buzzwords. Incidentally, I know plenty of people burning DVDs and capturing VCR home movie quality video over USB2 just fine using Windows XP -- perhaps the poster wasn't as clueless as you assume?
You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
-- Colonel Adolphus Busch
Definitely not the Rolls-Royce of computing.
I don't think anyone implied that. I would call the $300 PC the "authentic replica Rolex" of computing.
FireWire is 400Mbps full-duplex while USB2 is 480Mbps simplex with 10% reserved for arbitration/scheduling/etc.
With FireWire, speed is independent of cable length while on USB2, length directly affects propagation delays which are a killer on simplex lines since it forces longer pauses between packets.
While USB2 may be 20% faster than FireWire in marketspeak, under real-world circumstances is only 50-60% as fast for one-way file transfers. When I got my first USB2 and FW HDD boxes, I did some benchmarking...
1- USB2 box with 3' cable: 23MB/s
2- USB2 box with 6' cable: 18MB/s
3- USB2 to USB2 with 3' cables on same root hub: 10MB/s
4- FW box with 3/6/9' cable: 32MB/s (FW/IDE bridge maximum)
5- FW box to FW box, independent ports: 30MB/s
6- FW box to FW box, stringed to same port: 25MB/s
USB's usable bandwidth suffers horribly as bus load increases. FireWire is much steadier under heavy loads. This is exactly the same story as 10/100Mbps Ethernet's hub VS switch... nobody sees the difference until network load exceeds 10%, beyond which point the switched/duplex alternative quickly becomes clearly superior.
My wife recently switched from moz to ff and imported everything. She had some problems with several sites until she redid her profile. In the end, iirc, it turned out that she had some problems with an old version of flashblock. Make sure you have 1.3.1 and dont autoupdate it.
GQ-7000 (Fry's cheapy brand)
:)
Pentium 3.0.
motherboard video
Generic motherboard, case.
Speakers, mouse, keyboard.
DVD burner. 4.7 gig dual standard.
256mb ram.
--- I plugged in my home network cable and turned it on.
It started up and immediately worked.
I could see all other computers on my network.
I put in DVD's and they played.
I could burn DVD's.
The neighbors 3 blocks over called to complain about the noise.
--- Since then, I've made the following upgrades.
1) replaced the ram with a stick of 512mb mushkin ($29).
2) Installed two silent fans ($9 and $12). One replaced the noisy fan that was screwed to the heatsink- I kept the original heat sink.
3) New video card (but the 9250 is NOT dx9 like it says on the box so it's going back).
---
Out of the box, the GQ-7000 is a noisy good computer for playing, burning dvds, browsing the internet, and playing games that do not need heavy video performance. It is NOT suitable for modern games.
---
With MINOR upgrades ($29+$21+~$169), you have a very quiet, 3.0ghz computer with a 1 generation old (geo6600 or similar ati) graphics. Furthermore, you don't have to install the OS and you have a restore CD to quickly reinstall the OS later.
---
$300 computers are usually celeron/semprons in my experience and too far back. But at $400, you can get last year's state of the art performance without overclockiing.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.