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49 Comments
- lazarusbitmap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As the reviewers noted, throw a cheap 512mb memory stick into one of these and you have a pretty darn capable web/e-mail/office machine. Not bad...
- Tufriast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I bought this computer from Fry's and quite frankly - I'm impressed!
I set it up at my folks house, and they love it. Cheap, easy, does the job, and is VERY user friendly.
Screw paying 2G for a box...if all you need is web, and typing stuff - this is it. End of story. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think soon enough we'll even be seeing $150.00 laptops. Will they be gaming-type? No, but I beleive proprietary software companies and hardware makers will try to satisfy a micro market one day.
"OpenOffice Word Processor took about 30 seconds to a minute to load"
This is nothing new. Open office sadly is often referred to by picky people as a performance hog and a slow loading app. If you want to get a bit more of where I'm coming from, http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/27/1425232&from=rss. Feh, Honestly, it's free, but at the same time, if your going to put in all that time into a program, performance should be something to consider at the end fo the day, as opposed to trying to mimmick features while keeping portability. - chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Open office sadly is often referred to by picky people as a performance hog and a slow loading app."
No, Java is a bloated son of a B no matter what these Java lovers say. Azureus? No thanks, UTorrent for me. Open Office? It IS fast, just gotta cut the Java strings:
Open Open Office, Tools / Options / +OpenOffice.org / Java / De-select "Use a Java runtime enviro".
Presto, 300% faster, with all the same functionality (I've heard Base uses some Java... test for yourself to see if you need it... most people don't).
-C - ahmerhussain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why is it always Linspire? Why not a decent distro like SuSe
- sdenike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MisterKen, OSx86 runs on intel, that machine at fry's is an AMD with a SIS chipset.... I dont think it would run. Also the $200 OSx86 PC its faster I think.
- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I hope you get hit by a truck."
Wow. You hope I die because I have a misconseption of a programing language?
Well, I hope you don't die. I hope you are successful and less angry. You'll make more friends that way.
Being friendly and helpful can often be more important than being right.
I'll conceed then, that perhaps it isn't Java slowing down OO.
It might be a bug in OO. Perhaps a simular bug in Azureus causes its massive memory use. I was wrong for blaming it on Java. I take it back.
Also see: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27292 ("How to speed up Open Office: Readers tips for a blistering pace").
From the story:
"...go to Java options and disable them. Apparently in the time it takes Open Office to open Java, you can go and make a cup off coffee, go to the loo, read the online newspaper on your thin and light and return to your desktop."
Recomended reading for any programer considering writting in Java: http://www.jelovic.com/articles/why_java_is_slow.htm which details, among other things, Java benchmarks.
Oh, 12_CHARS, just to show that I am really trying to be nice and helpful - if you want your Open Office to run three times as fast, open it and disable Java : )
See, now your Open Office is running faster. Don't worry, you don't have to thank me. - MisterKen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
"Building the $200 OSx86 Mac"
http://digg.com/apple/Building_the_$200_OSx86_Mac
So you could buy this and save $40 and install OS X.
Oh sweeeeeet.... - cjhowe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My family has purchased two of the GQ brand computers from Fry's (Outpost)in the past. After about 6 months both of their mother boards went out. After replacing the motherboard and power supply everything has worked fine since (the processor and components were unharmed). Since then I've read poor reviews on the motherboard and power supply separately.
- blhack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1uhm, i'm on the phone with Fry's right NOW and the guy told me that that particular comp is no longer that price....it now costs $269, sorry guys.
- ChadPage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Didn't know GQ was Fry's house brand. It explains why their CD and DVD blanks are so cheesy! (I think they've actually had the gall to sell fake Taiyo Yuden disks, for instance)
- catullus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"not the slick men's magazine with the same initials (Gentleman's Quarterly—oddly enough, a monthly publication)." -- wait, this seems to suggest you've never heard of GQ magazine before...
- johnamus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Quarterly = Every three months, seems odd to me.
- kdavidson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Too bad it shows up as $269.99 on-line. Guess you have to be able to walk into the store to get it.
- vishnu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm thinking of switching over to Linux from. Would you guys recommend a cheapo PC like this (with 512MB or 1GB RAM) as a good way to explore Linux? Thinking of using the Ubuntu or SuSE distro.
- zenghost, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is truly an el-cheapo pc...lol
- LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@Chrono13: That's awesome! OO is running so much faster for me now!
- EmmEff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, I am so surprised to read about general acceptance of this low priced machine.
When PCs are priced like other (low-cost) consumer electronics, people might see them as that instead of pointing out it's obvious deficiencies. Nobody needs a Pentium 4 system to do email. Nobody! - TGMD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Cool, Think I may buy one, to overclock, almost kill, then perhapes if I am bored give to someone as a gift.....
- B111, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Most people just use thier comps to do light office work and internet. For them this, (and a monitor and some RAM), is just perfect.
Who cares if its not cutting edge, doesn't have to be? - pimpdaddysurfer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0anybody have a link to this computer, because i thought this deal had died?
- robunck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The Fry's ad in my paper this morning (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) had this for $129.
- Quickstrike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Damn.. wish I could get a deal like this in Canada. Buy a couple for grandparents and siblings. All they do is write e-mails, surf the web, and listen to music.. be perfect for them if I upgraded the ram!
- philmunt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'd like to see these benchmarks chars
- joseph_burt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Its GQ and not the Fry's PC... they are two different things... I work for Fry's
- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@12_CHARS (0)
Statistics? That is the best you can do? What about real-world application?
"Lies, damn lies, and statistics."
Azureus (6.7mb not counting Java Runtime) was boiled down into a 86 KB file (UTurrent) with almost identical features and abilities. And measures 5mb of ram usage compared to Azureus (java)'s 5000% (five THOUSAND percent) more (500mb).
Java's loading can take forever, and its ram usage in most major applications is atrocious.
Now lets talk Open Office. When I want to launch OO, it is usually Calc or Writer. I find that for the majority of folks, this is true for them as well.
Why do I need Java for OO? Why do I need to wait THREE TIMES as long? I don't. And others don't either. If they need Java (Base), then sure, they need it. But if they don't, they don't.
The decision to load Java at startup for OO is giving it a bad name as a slow and bloated app. Which, while it very well could be faster - Java does slow it down considerably. I hope this doesn't stay true for long.
You stick with your benchmarks, but I'll go ahead and stick with what is faster in real-world usage and applications.
I didn't mean to offend you. You seem upset. I hope you have no troubles getting over it – I already have. - vishnu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0from windows*
- Wasted, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Are there any european stores/webshops that offer these prices?
- Klisk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@12_CHARS $200 is a big wad of cash? Maybe to you but when I look at my paycheck, $200 is nothing. *****, I'll drop $200 without a second thought.
--
Well I'm happy you got it so good. Not everyone is so lucky. I'd argue I make less than 1000 dollars a year. And this is considering I had to 'pass on' the privilidge of driving because of how big an expense it is. Insurance is nearly 6000 a year in NJ. - sfx2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They have it back on sale again in San Diego, this time, it's $179. It's not a _bad_ box, just a bit dated. Drop some more RAM in it, add a video card if you're into faster graphics, and remove linspire and add either a better distribution (debian, fedora, etc...) or OEM copy of WinXP, and it's not a bad machine. Tip - if you buy the RAM at Fry's at the same time, you can get a copy of WinXP Home OEM for $89.00... the RAM may qualify.
- mattwilson247, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just buy an off-lease Dell.
- heavygravity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I really like seeing great PC deals. It somehow makes me feel better about all the money I spent on technology that barely compares to low-end calculators. Hard to believe that you can get a very capable computer for $150, $200, or $300 now a days.
- jonesin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The only really bad thing about these pcs is that they use a SiS embedded video accelerator, and as many folks know, sis sucks when used with Linux. No opengl, no DRI.
- grendel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"We're not seriously gonna have to put up with a series of articles on every integer value between $150 and $250 are we?"
the choice is yours.
when you say we, you speak in the "collective" sense as if we, meaning your opinion is that of the board.
But logic dictates that what you "put" up with, in that ever so daunting moment of sighing pain you must endure while clicking on a link to comment is just that, what you put up with. In this case, undo your click and opt out.
Thanks.
GREN - Klisk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Funny that a second grader has a better PC than me, and I actually do gaming on my 1ghz PIII. ":3 512MB ram, and a Radeon 9600XT card. Should last me another 4-5 years as far as I'm concerned, I mostly play FFXI/WoW/Quake3.
- n3tfury, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@Chrono13. great tip man, thx!
- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"@Chrono13: That's awesome! OO is running so much faster for me now!
LycoLoco posted by LycoLoco at 03:38 PM 11/02/05"
Yea, isn't it much faster without Java slowing it down? And most people won't even miss it, as the most major features don't rely on Java. Thank goodness they don't!
-C - shortstick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I wish I could read a review without being called a potential tightwad like 15 times.
No thanks I'll build my own, on my terms. - Klisk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0What baffles me is that you people actually talk about 200 dollars as if it's cheap. It's still a big wad of cash.
- rewritable, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"why dont you walk outside and play hide & go ***** yourself"
- belgar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Trademark lawsuit launched in 5, 4, 3.....
- vperez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Yeah I think most the people here can make or acquire a crap pc pretty cheaply.
- philmunt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0We're not seriously gonna have to put up with a series of articles on every integer value between $150 and $250 are we?
- iskatebad914, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0sweet
- k3n85, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Probably not a dupe, but I know there has been atleast 4 topics for PC's under $200. Get one for a $1 on eBay...next best thing is free...
- Tricky, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Kewl
- hardkoretom, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0what this story doesnt tell u is that this computers hardware is at least 5 years old. i saw one of these a Fry's and the processor was only like 1.2g and it was really stupid looking. also it is that cheap because it comes without a monitor. this is not a good deal unless u dont care about running a more recent pc
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