What is Digg?121 Comments
- MadKennyP, on 10/12/2007, -12/+64What planet does PC Mag exist on? This article is entitled "Your Next PC Will Cost $159." Then they proceed to say you'll need to buy a monitor and add memory. This is the same magazine that, two weeks earlier, stated that the new Intel-based iMac--because it couldn't run Adobe Photoshop as fast as the PowerPC versions--occupied a "niche market." I guess the niche for the iMac was people who want a fast home PC for surfing the web and reading e-mail and are OK without Photoshop (arguably, a large niche). While, on the other hand, a $159 PC with 128MB of RAM and Linspire will be "your next PC."
I'm glad I cancelled my PC Mag subscription. Jugheads. - sgatling, on 10/12/2007, -2/+37This computer will help those families that haven't seen a computer in their immediate future until now. Access is what levels the playing field for students, parents, anyone who has a desire to learn and improve. This new computer will help a lot of people. Hip, hip hooray!
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Of course Linspire's not going to make Linux purists happy, and like the article says, you shouldn't compare this machine to a $1,400 gaming machine.
For a family on a small budget that needs a computer at home, though, this is awesome. And of course, don't forget the added bonus of being relatively spyware- and virus-free compared to the Windows alternative.
Nearly every Windows PC that I've seen a non-geek use has been filled with bloatware, adware and spyware. Forget viruses, just the standard experience on a Windows box for the technically disadvantaged user is terrible. If this machine lets them do all they need to for under $200, then I'm a fan. - chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -7/+25"Not bad. Of course I'd just get more memory and install XP on it."
Or get more memory and install Kubuntu on it.
Last time I checked, Linspire was still running regular users as Root or Power Users.
Linux isn't secure in code (it has to deal with security issues just like Windows does). The reason it, and Mac, is more secure than Windows is because of better design and defaults. Such as forcing regular users to run as regular users, and use either their password (sudo) or the Root password to make any system-wide change.
Any distro that deviates from very basic security designs is asking to be hacked as easily as Windows. Sure I could lock it down and make it secure... but that is one of the main reasons I use Linux - because I don't have to waste very much time making the system secure.
Linspire is probably not the best choice for a family. What happens when little Johny decides to delete this strangely named folder? Linespire would share some of the same stability issues as Windows. Any user-error translates into a major system problem. - felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24I dugg your comment just for calling someone a jughead. Nice.
- Anchoret, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I bought one of these locally at Fry's last year for $99.99 on a one-day sale. Identical package, but with a slightly slower Sempron CPU than currently. They sold hundreds of them.
I added a 512M module of memory for $19 after rebate, an nVidia 5500 card for $19 after rebate and a 120G WD HD for $18 after rebate (yes, I got the checks). The only gripe with the computer is that it is the noisiest box ever, a complaint that others have pointed out...and it has no front-mounted USB ports. Otherwise a fine "trailing edge" value box.
Oh, and it has the worst riser modem in Christendom, that works about as well as you'd expect it to under Linux.
I can't say enough bad things about Linspire (v4.5), which I regard as nothing more than a scam, pure and simple.
You get an _extremely_ stripped-down OS and are expected to "subscribe" to Linspire for more than that to get at repositories after a brief trial. I was told on their site that if I didn't want to pay them, I shouldn't be using the OS!
So much for the canard of providing a ready-to-go system for low-income users. That's part is just a total ripoff, far worse than the usual trash bundleware one normally gets for "free!" on new systems. You don't get a real OS in the deal. You get a stripped demo. Linspire is a burn, especially for a new user unfamiliar with real Linux. Don't be fooled!
Linspire being a Debian Linux, however, you can just blow off the whole mess and install Ubuntu for free and have relatively good functionality on the hardware. - freelance24, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I used linspire and it works in almost any machine. my parents us it becuse i know that they won't beable to mess it up. i have had them using it for a couple of years. with auto updates no major issues. the click and run allows them to buy something and install it on any machine that i send them. right now they are on an emachine with a gig of ram. the don't miss any thing that winows or mac because they have never seen it.
it works well for
an word processer
internet
email and
some small games.
FLC - Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Still, not too bad of a deal if you've got a monitor and some compatible ram laying around.
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I fully agree that Linspire sucks for people who know what they're doing with Linux. For the average mom & dad, though, I'd leave Linspire on.
- sandig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7If they sold a PC like this in the UK for under £100 (~$175), I would buy 10 straight away. Servers, test boxes, media centre type things, the possibilitys are endless.
- 1337geek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6definitly a nice secondary pc.
- airship, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If this is a $159 computer, how come the Fry's web store at outpost.com lists this machine at $269.99?
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4714029?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG - Radscott, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7You know, not all digg frequenters make enough money to get the latest tech. My family is making do with a 500mhz Athlon with less than 512mb of ram, USB 1.1 only, CRT monitor, no DVD burner, etc. So, this sounds pretty good to me. I thought the point of the article is that this isn't the latest tech, but it's a good value.
- Bluezdood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yeah, this PC won't be breaking any records but, as a few have said before, it will open up computer use to those who might not have had the option before. One thing to note though is that the $159 price tag does not include a monitor. Still, I think it's a great idea. If this had come out when I was in elementary/middle school and didn't have a computer, I would have saved up and bought one.
- WickedDrag0oN, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I love frys electronics. They always have fantastic deals, just dont talk to the employees they're retards they never know where anything is.
- Bullsnot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Amen brother. I have a system that was pretty nice 5 years ago, but my 1g system is pretty slow by today's standard. This is great for me to add a second system since mine likes to have some issue at least every other month. This way I could have a second and my kids wont need to take turns.
I can also go back to two separate systems to play warcraft2 with my son :). - domusvita, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I'm on Outpost.com and see a GQ computer for $269 with the same specs.
- TGMD, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Linspire isn't all that great, I would buy this and put suse, or debian or something better on it right away... but still one hell of a deal the hardware alone is worth it....
- CheeseheadDave, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5How does your network know or care what OS you're running? Will they really kick you off the network for running Linux?
- Anchoret, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4> Had some issue formatting and installing XP onto it.
Sure -- the HD was formatted with Linux partitions. You have to reformat. - ZachPruckowski, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The impressive thing about this is that it's not subsidized. My understanding is that the $100 laptop that the UN is planning to give to poorer countries or whatever (not clear on details) is subsidized cost-wise.
$200 would buy the computer, with Firefox, Thunderbird, and Open Office, as well as a RAM upgrade (to 512 MB). All one would need is a monitor (from an older computer, ideally), and for $200 a pop, a lot of offices I know could be upgraded to faster than they are now. I love it. I want one (but my University network doesn't support Linux) - zakharm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4who is the real murph head, deek.
SSL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer
SSE2 (required to run OS X on Intel)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE2
i think this is a valid question... can you run OS X Intel version on this $159 pc? - w3b4ddict, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I bought one last year from Fry's Electronics for my mom. Its pretty decent. Just did memory upgrades, installed Windows XP Home, put a dvd player.
- clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You are comparing P4 to AMD. Everyone knows AMD's 1.67 GHZ cpu can out perform a 2.2GHZ P4.
- prophet6, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6"Still, not too bad of a deal if you've got a monitor and some compatible ram laying around."
True, but I expect that excludes the target market of a machine like this. - Wolfman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Can anybody say "linux video rendering farm"? Buy 15 of those little crappers, upgrade the ram, switch the OS, and you'll have 24ghz at your disposal for 2 grand less than a G5.... Ofcourse power consumption will be outrageous.
- theblooms, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I actually bought one of these Microtel computers about 2 years ago. It was still $159 then, too. Duron 800 on and MSI motherboard. MSI! Everything is totally generic, and I am STILL using the case on the kid's computer. They really are a good value. I couldn't build it for as cheap as I bought it.
- prophet6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Onboard video is not a sin. It's fine for everything but games, really, and nobody's going to be playing many games on a $160 PC.
- clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Did some "looking up" huh? As in you read the article? Cause it pretty plainly states that it uses onboard graphics AND has an avaliable AGP slot.
- orb_nsc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I bought a couple of these, they are great second machines or web servers for mom and dad. It's definitely worthwhile to upgrade the ram immediately, and put a better OS on them (Ubuntu), but for a total of $200 with the extra ram, you can't beat the price.
- desiv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Fry's is weird that way. Their website is Outpost.com, not really Fry's. They share some deals, but not all.
Here at work, on our break we get the paper every Friday just for the Fry's ad (Frysday we call it.. yeah, we're serious nerds) and they usually have that $159 deal. I've been thinking it would make great (not second) another computer for home. As others have said tho, I'd up the memory and put a different Linux distro on it. - synae, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Most distros of linux (and I dare say all the good ones) are free to download. So its pretty simple to put something else on this thing.
- Toloran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Um....
As much as I am all for buying cheap computers, don't buy those.
For those not in the know, the Fry's Electronics brand is called "Great Quality" (or GQ for short).
These are the most horrible pieces of trash computers you'll ever see.
I used to work at at frys and I would see 200 go out and then 50 come back the next day with problems of fried mother boards, not booting, faulty CD drives, etc. And those were the windows boxes AND the linux ones.
Buy them if you feel lucky. - Broadband, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10Looks like their giving Dell a bit of a run for their money.
- XStatic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Funny how Lindows got so much bad press for charging for what was already available for free and Linspire (same company) gets good reviews yet nothing has really changed.
- BlueBlade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I bought 2 of them in the past 2 months. They are decent systems. Like a few posters said, it needs a ram upgrade and XP installed (or some other linux distro.) This is not a power house system. You can get the $269 system for the $159 price if you call.
The speakers are junk, as the article pointed out, though the keyboard is pretty nice.
Had some issue formatting and installing XP onto it. The partition table is kinda messed up and had to fdisk the MBR. After that it was a piece of cake. - Haplo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"The reason it, and Mac, is more secure than Windows is because of better design and defaults."
I think that should be just the defaults, or maybe more: the ignorance of Windows users and of some developers. I have set up my box with an Administrator and work as a Limited User. Problem is, there is quite some software out there that suffers from the so called LUA-bug. They only work flawless if you run them with Admin rights even when they really don't need such rights. Other applications are crippled out of the box, but can be fixed. A "nice" example is IrfanView, see: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2005/11/09/irfanview-ini-fix.html
The author is aware of the issue, but thinks that because it's in the FAQ, it's fixed.
And reality is that quite some buyers of the LinSpire computer are going to put XP on it. So all those kids that voted nay for bluehouse, get a life. - Anchoret, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2> The bottom line is that more people than ever before will be talking about
> and using Linux as a result of this rig being sold at Fry's. And in theory,
> that is a great thing.
Unfortunately, they're not going to be saying nice things.
In any case, this is nothing new; Linspire [spit!] has been palmed off on buyers of cheap computers at Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other lowball national chains for some time now, I understand, and nothing earthshaking has ever come of it.
I'd bet 98%+ of the buyers blow off Linspire and put on ripped XP. Maybe a few use a different Linux distro. I can't imagine anyone being clueless enough to stick with Linspire, much less pay for it. - serion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3just because they don't "support" it doesn't mean that it won't work...
- mythril, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I bought a $159 (two day special) about a month ago it had a geode processor in it, I wiped Linspire off the drive and installed Kubuntu, everything is working great so far
- SDNick484, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2For those who own one, how quiet is this machine? I'm considering one for home server purposes, and this is my only concern.
- CubeFarmDrone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The one in your link is using the AMD® Geode® NX1750 Processor
- Anchoret, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A year or two back, GQ stuff was usually pretty dismal -- but after enough comebacks, Fry's had a pretty broad tightening up of QC on their house brand stuff.
It's much better now. No-frills, certainly, but functional. - Xentertainment, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think the sale is for in-store pickup only, and the higher price is for online. Sucks, because there is no Fry's in my state.
- srodolff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Outpost.com does not have the PC listed.
The closest one is this:
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4714029#detailed
For $269.
I guess I'll have to wait for a Weekly Special. - brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I think "doesn't support linux" means they won't offer trouble shooting or setup tips for Linux. Like the previous comment said, the physical network doesn't know or care what OS you're running.
- oboreruhito, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"True, but I expect that excludes the target market of a machine like this."
Not sure about that. Someone gave me their old computer and monitor when they got an iMac around Christmas. The old computer was a Motorola PowerPC desktop; their "new" iMac was a G3 they picked up for $25.
Lots of people have old P1s and Macs with working monitors, and still use them for word processing and such. This is a great, Internet-ready replacement. - Anchoret, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3> I was very impressed myself with Linspire.
> Very nice OS. Makes it easy to install software (pay).
As far as I know, it doesn't have anything Ubuntu doesn't install painlessly via Synaptic from its huge, 100% free repositories.
A real Linspire distribution CD may have far more stuff on it than comes on these machines, however -- but what comes on these machines is nearly zilch. - clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No, if you look at the specs, it's not exactly the same. It's got some GEODE cpu, not an AMD Sempron.
- DWatch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Replace the power supply fan and the CPU fan (and maybe the chip set fan) with higher quality, lower noise fans, and use rubber mounts for the hard drive. That usually drops loud boxes down by a few decibels. If you still have problems with sound, try some dynamat in strategic places on the inside of the case. Large flat metal panels sometimes act as a big speaker for internal noise. Some strips of dynamat will help. Don't go crazy with it, though, or you could over insulate the case, causing heat build up.
Your comments on the Linspire 'OS' were enlightening. Anyone thinking about purchasing one of these for a newbie family member, plan on replacing the OS before you give it to them. -
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