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131 Comments
- pufuwozu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+71Uh, what's so funny about that?
Go try and build a computer that beats those specs for $75. I'd imagine it being pretty hard. - shotgunefx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+44I have a bunch of older machines running ~500mhz with 512mb and they're fine for most things except games.
- ArcticCelt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26pufuwozu: "...Go try and build a computer that beats those specs for $75. I'd imagine it being pretty hard...."
From TFA: "...these computers are used..."
There is many vendors in my area that resell old government and offices computers from there home or from small warehouses. I can get any time a used computer with the same specs for 15 dollars. I bough them many times for friends and family who need text editors and internet access. And 15$ was what I paid last year...
Beaten! - Chordonblue, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Should anyone be frightened off by the fact that the computer they picture isn't acutally the computer they're selling?! Even if it's a beige clone box, I WANT TO SEE WHAT I'M BUYING!!!
- Unbathed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20The New Egg sub-US$100 machines do not include the hard drive.
- munkeyman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Uh, they're all barebones machines with no CPU or drives. This Linux box is a complete computer.
- kripkenstein, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24Ubuntu on 128MB? Doesn't sound like a good idea. 256MB is usually recommended. Perhaps Xubuntu (with XFCE instead of GNOME) would work better.
- Unbathed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17This is their cheapest system. They sell systems with larger HDDs & more memory etc. at a higher price.
- yvovandoorn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Fry's has machines 6x-7x more powerful for $200.
Detailed Description [return to top]
SPECIFICATIONS:
* Processor: Intel® Celeron® D 330 (2.66GHz)
* Front Side Bus Speed: 533Mhz
* Chipset: SiS 661GX
* Memory: 128MB DDR SDRAM (Expandable to 2GB)
* Hard Drive: 40GB Ultra DMA
* Graphics: Integrated SiS Real256E Graphics with up 64MB shared
* Multimedia: DVD±R/RW Drive
* Networking: Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
* Modem: v.90 compatible data/fax (RJ-45)
* Audio: Realtek ALC655 6-Channel audio CODEC, Compliant with AC'97 2.3 Specifications
* Expansion Slot:
o 1 AGP Slot
o 3 PCI Slots (2 available)
o 1 CNR Slot
o 2 184 pin DDR DIMM Socket (1 available)
* Port Connectors:
o Six USB 2.0 ports (4 back, 2 front, 1 used)
o Two PS/2 ports for mouse and keyboard
o One Serial port
o One Parallel port
o One VGA port
o Back Audio jack for microphone, line-in and line-out
* Expansion Bays:
o Two 5.25" drive bays (1 available)
o Four 3.5" drive bays (2 available)
* Accessories:
o Keyboard
o Mouse
o Speakers
* Power: 250 Watss
* Case Micro ATX Form Factor
* Operatng System: Linspire
* Warranty: 90 Days (parts and labor)
Installs Ubuntu fine - AndyVenus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+174GB HDD is a shame. Surely they could have put something bigger than that in?
- Chordonblue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Wonder where they found a 4 GB hard drive anyway... :| ?
- Chordonblue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Xubuntu would definately be the best choice here - VERY lightweight in the processing dept., only uses around 50 MB total from boot to desktop. Sweet!
- wastern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10i'm guessing back in 1996
- jbus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10ubuntu's performance with this little cpu/memory would be quite poor, not to mention that the hard drive would almost full when you get it.
However this would be fine for a custom router/server or a lighter desktop/terminal but not for a robust desktop OS like ubuntu. - mozzep, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10gentoo with fluxbox. Possibly ubuntu without gnome or kde...
- wastern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8xfce or fluxbox would run fine on it
- 7IM80, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Mobile phones have faster processors than this. This isn't good value. You could build a much better pc from parts on ebay. If you just ask around then im sure you would find that tonnes of people have old pcs that are twice as fast as this that they'd be happy to get rid of.
- piggy2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I have a 500Mhz Pentium III, 256MB RAM running FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE which I use as an IRC server and an insignificant web server, w/o a GUI. This machine has uptimes of 100+ days, no memory issues and chugs along absolutely flawlessly. Not every computer on earth needs to be up to gaming specs in order to perform it's job well.
- cheztir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7CBTF you frankly sir are an idiot. It just shows how well Linux can scale. You can run it on a coffemaker or a super-computer. You have no idea what you are even talking about as Linux seems to do just about everything that windows does, yes even games. I admit it does lack a few such as HL2 and Far Cry. But let's see WoW, Unreal Series, Doom 3 and more run fine.
Also, yes Linux doesn't require you go out and buy an all new machine with "certified" components in order to use the entire OS. - elliotl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This is Elliot from Z-Tech, the company selling these machines. I have comments on some of the replies. First of all, thanks for those who ordered and have emailed us. You will be responded to ASAP! And thanks to diggers for commenting, I'll use the comments to make our offering better in the future!
1) "This won't bring down MS," or "This PC sucks."
-We've been selling these machines for almost 2 years now, this is nothing new. We make a very marginal markup as we don't (or haven't in the past) stocked up big on these units. We pay not only for the machines, but for the shipping of a 12lb/pc UPS box to US, and then the shipping to YOU - our margin rapidly decreases. They are primarily a "study" or "test" machine for people willing to try Linux but not risk their computers, or invest much in a new one. As such, it was never necessarily intended for "mass market" use, but more of an offer to that small user base of curious and money-conscience people.
2) "For $300 I could get a machine with X specs."
-Note that we offer 3 other (brand new) machines, from $299 to $499. They can be configured with extra RAM, etc. and the $499 Power64 comes with a gig of Kingston HyperX dual channel by default. We are not a big company, and try to meet the needs of a wide range of users with our small means.
3) "Ubuntu is too slow, Xubuntu would be a better choice."
-Remember, the web page says that any Linux OS can be installed, that's simply the arbitrary default if none other is specified. I've personally been using one of these machines configured with NetBSD for 2 years to do much of my company's printing, billing, and other basic uses.
4) "This PC is used, photo is not real, how do you know the hardware will work?"
-Yes, the machines are used as stated throughout the page and reminded at the Add to Cart section.
The photo shown is Compaq's shot of the actual unit. This IS the computer you will receive, however ours might have blemishes or other cosmetic markings and we cannot show an up-to-date image of every PC we ship.
The machines are tested inasmuch as we install and configure the OS, and ensure basics such as USB are working. The only clause is, "There is no guarantee that every function of the computer will work in your chosen distribution." If something is fatally broken, or even non-fatally, we won't ship your PC. We'll notify the customer of the problem and offer solutions. Also note, that this is rare - in fact I've never experienced a problem with any distribution.
If these measures fail, there is still a 30 day money back guarantee.
REPLY TO HsoKinees:
Yes, they do have a converter switch on the power supply. I suppose you'd just need the appropriate cable.
Regarding European (and other countries) shipping: We do ship to other countries, but the full shipping expense is payed by the buyer. Quotes will be emailed to those who have written us inquiring about this. - nTensify, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Looks like a salvage PC company; they're basically spinning old machines with Linux on them, which is perfectly fine, if you want to pay $75 for something that obsolete. At least you're doing the environment some good.
- yokat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7If you mean Vista, nothing does.
- towner, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Im running ubuntu on a celeron 400 laptop with 256 mb ram and xfce desktop. It works fine, The spec is only too low for Gnome and KDE to run properly. Whats more I got a 4 gb hard drive installed and still have 1Gb for my documents (no mp3, oggs or movies though!)
- IQ70, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5OfficeDepot has a Celeron D 380 + 512MB ram + DVD writer for $150 this weekend.
- stumpadoodle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'll buy one...right now I'm using a "broken" laptop my aunt gave me to surf the web when the other comps in the house are taken, and I just run DamnSmall Linux on Live disk for it. The thing doesn't even have a hard drive, has 128 mb of ram, and a pentium 3 processor, and you know what? It works fine. So anyone who says this thing is useless should most likely not be using linux in the first place. A computer is a computer guys, and $75 us a steal.
- prophase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Take out that hard drive and you have a perfect diskless client for LTSP or something.
- nTensify, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6"I WANT TO SEE WHAT I'M BUYING!"
You're buying an iPaq. They all look the same. Google Image Search them. - awhiteflame, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4> Gentoo on something under 1 GHz? What are you, sadomasochistic?
I have gentoo on a P3 @ 500 MHz with 192 MB RAM. Yeah, portage is obviously not very fast, but it's still reasonable. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'd rather go to Best Buy and buy one of those e-machines that sell for about $354 and have a much more productive PC that includes keyboard and monitor and mouse
- JoshHendo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I looked ontheir site, and it said US only, but when I went to order it, it had a option for worldwide shipping :)
- edzieba, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The worldwide shipping would probably cost nearly as much as the computer itself.
- cormster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If you were to buy on ebay, add $25 or so and you could get a more powerfull one (p3 1Ghz) with bigger Hard Drive... just with no preinstalled linux
- munkeyman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yeah, pics would be nice.
It seems that they're aiming this machine at people who'd want to use it as a server or router - limited upgrade space (no PCI) and HD space mean that you can't do much with it. Still, its great for email or word processing too, and for that price you can't go wrong. If you stick the full 512mb of RAM in there, I'm sure it would run at a pretty decent speed. - Pyrogen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have Gentoo on an K6-2 500, the compiles aren't terribly slow, and if you have a faster machine, you can use distcc. Granted, all this is already known, but it doesn't hurt repeating it. My Gentoo box is a console server, though. It serves my files to the windows systems.
- chipper3344, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3128MB (upgradable to 512MB) memory to power your most intensive applications such as OpenOffice.org. Who knew word processing was an intensive app to run.
- clandress, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3These are relatively new devices and were never meant to run as full fledged machines. These things are usually stuffed with Windows CE and a terminal server client to be connected to a beast that acts as a host. You can find these on the desks of most people in large companies.
That being said, it would make a sexy little X terminal. Problem is, by the time you buy an LCD (to match the form factor), a optical mouse and keyboard, your $80 machine has wound up costing you close to $300.
By a G3 iMac 400, get a PPC Ubuntu disk and an extra 256 meg ram. You'll be happier. - ironbear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yet another cost-effective alternative just over $100 new is the Asus VC3, which comes with a soldered in Via 800 mHz. CPU and CDR/floppy drives. Perfect if you happen to have an old hard drive and a stick or two of memory laying around. I use one as a media server, works great.
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=asus+TERMINATOR+C3V&hl=en&btnG=Search+Froogle - ThomS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Including shipping, its about £60 so still pretty damn cheap!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I would like to add; I worked in a M$ lab with literally thousands of these machines. The failure rate was high and they tend to over heat. A reason Compaq quit manufacturing these machines, they looked cool but were a failure.
- hypercube33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3From the specs I know it can, but beyond Windows 2000, you'd want OVER 384MB of ram, and response about needing more is true. I know for a fact that SDRAM (PC100/133) is cheap as dirt, being thrown away, etc.
- noGoodNamesLeft, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If "screwing you" means making an excessive profit, I call *****.
Even if we can assume they're getting the computers for a negligible cost (say, $25 each), they still have to take up the time to check them, ensure they're working (within reason), install Ubuntu, pay their business expenses and *the price includes shipping and handling*.
And yeah, it's okay for them to make a reasonable profit on top of the cost of the computer + (more importantly) the cost of their time. Unless you're a COMMUNIST. You're not a communist, are you boy?
(Okay, I'm joking, but you take my point...)
If you think you can buy a better specced PC elsewhere for cheaper then you may well be right; in which case, go ahead.... but I don't believe their prices include enough leeway to screw anyone over. - leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I actually have one of these machines. I run windows server 2003 on it and it performs as well as could be expected for $50, which is what I paid on ebay. I had to open it to temporally add an ide dvd to install windows.
- hypercube33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3About time, I remember when that Wal-Mart machine was out that ran Lindows or whatever the *****, but that cost $200 and I thought it was "amazingly cheap"
- hypercube33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Cant you share where?
- rkuchiki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't know. It is ok for the price, but if you try hard enough on eBay you can get an MSNTV2 for less, although I think internal storage is still an issue, and RAM cannot be upgraded, it comes with a Celeron 733 and 128mb ram.
Remember?
http://digg.com/linux_unix/The_MSN_TV_Linux_cluster - rkuchiki, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"These used machines are guaranteed to function properly."
And the comment kalleanka INCOMPLETELY quoted: "no guarantee that every function of the computer will work in your chosen distribution" means that the distro you choose may not have driver support for your hardware. - kingyubba, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2well, you can always get a more powerful used computer (and servers, monitors, etc) at Retrobox:
http://www.retrobox.com/rbwww/home/ - Pyrogen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2With all the wizards and stuff that's creeping into OOo Writer? Its getting there. Microsoft Way.
- IQ70, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Average user runs XP not Linux. The $150-$200 desktop comes with free XP home.
- yokat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5s/then/than
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