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VIA Unveils $79 Rock and $99 Paper ARM PCs

Posted by timothy on from the what-no-scissors? dept.

Don't yet have one of those million Raspberry Pis, but you're in the market for a tiny, cheap ARM computer? An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from geek.com: "VIA has decided it's time to update the APC (ARM PC) board with new components and the choice of two configurations. The new systems are called APC Rock and APC Paper. The hardware spec for both boards is exactly the same except for the fact the Rock ships with a VGA port whereas the Paper doesn't. The Rock also costs $20 less at $79, whereas the Paper is $99. The reason for the price difference is the fact that the Paper ships with a rather novel case whereas the Rock is a bare board. The Paper's case is made from recycled cardboard attached to an aluminum chassis to help with strength, meaning it will keep the dust off the components and make it easier to carry while keeping weight to a minimum."

4 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Remember Netbooks? by sexconker · · Score: -1, Troll

    Does anyone remember netbooks? I don't. Because they were trash and pointless.

    In 6-8 months, these cheapo mini PCs will also be trash and pointless, and people will regret having bought them. There's no actual demand for these types of devices. People are just buying them because they're the "new thing" (even though they aren't actually new). They will soon be forgotten except for a handful of devices that a handful of nerds convince themselves they need for various pointless projects that no one gives a shit about.

    If you want to do something useful, get a real computer and get on with it.
    If you want to diddle about like a 14 year old taking a suspiciously long shower, there's about 93572385 Arduino things and 385269 Android things out there that will do just as well as a these new mini PCs. These things are only good if you want undercapable components for use in your sloppy implementation of a stupid and pointless project you copied from the internet.

    MOD ME DOWN AND MOD DOWN THE TRUTH

    1. Re:Remember Netbooks? by sexconker · · Score: -1, Troll

      Oh hai. I'm posting this from an EEE PC netbook, about 4 years old, running Mint... something. I dunno, it Just Works. I ruse it regularly for intardtubes, watching things and also stuff, and even some casual programmorzing. Pew, pew.

      Small, cheap general purpose devices - especially with real keyboards - do have a point, and that point is to make it easy to debunk your "spunked from my iPad" chucklehead rant, kthnxbye.

      Everyone knows your lying because netbooks can't handle the mountain of shitty javascript required to read and post on Slashdot.
      Furthermore, my computer weighs over 50 pounds, 46 of which are RAW PERFORMANCE, thank you very fucking much.

  2. What does it say by mark-t · · Score: 1, Troll

    when 60% or more of the posts so far attempt to make an extremely obvious joke about scissors? This article even says its from the what-no-scissors? department, so the joke isn't even that inventive.

    For crying out loud... you guys call yourselves nerds?

    What I want to know is what about the lizard and spock PC's.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:What does it say by sexconker · · Score: -1, Troll

      when 60% or more of the posts so far attempt to make an extremely obvious joke about scissors? This article even says its from the what-no-scissors? department, so the joke isn't even that inventive.

      For crying out loud... you guys call yourselves nerds?

      What I want to know is what about the lizard and spock PC's.

      Fuck off, nerd.
      Or, in your native language, "Bazinga!".