‘Antiquated PC’ Sells Out
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While many were quick to criticize the very inexpensive Everex PC sold at WalMart as a dinosaur in the land of tomorrow, it seems that Joe and Jane Average Citizen have voted with their pocketbooks and made the little PC that could a sell out.
The units will continue to be made, so don’t fret.
WalMart didn’t bet against the popularity of this little gem, and you are the benefactor!
The very strange thing about this is that so many were quick to dismiss the unit as not being able to effectively run Vista, while those same people were speaking of the eventual rise of the completely utilitarian PC. Were they caught not looking both ways at the corner?
The motherboard that is the heart of the system is not CPU upgradeable, but has room for up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, and has 2 PCI slots for expansion. It also has a floppy interface, 2 ATA 133 interfaces, and 2 SATA interfaces (ATA7). The southbridge is an 8237R, so compatibility should not be a problem for many peripherals - which is one criticism I saw leveled at the system when it was first spoken about.
Another thing that WalMart gets, and apparently the pundits don’t give buyers credit for, it that this PC is GREEN, with maximum CPU draw of 20W. This is very good for those who wish to keep the PC on all the time - you don’t have to feel bad about liking that convenience.
The motherboard should see a life unlike its mini-ITX brethren, as it is not exorbitantly priced. This has, in my opinion, been the straw that breaks the camel’s back for many wanting a really small PC.
I will not be surprised to see this in a DTX case used as a firewall, firewall router, file server, or print server.
For those not minding the larger Everex case, the system will be great for small children, as a bedroom system, or for a PC for older adults wanting a use-it-and-not-worry system. Those with an eye on specs will realize that this will run Windows Home Server just fine thank you - a memory upgrade, which is extremely cheap right now, and a couple of terabyte SATA drives, and you’re all set for the long term.
Cheers to WalMart, for knowing the mind of the larger public, and cheers to VIA, for knowing that megawatt CPUs are not needed for every task.
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[tags] Microsoft Windows Home Server, Everex PC, WalMart, VIA processor, green PC [/tags]
2 Comments
linuxiac
November 15th, 2007
at 5:24am
Initial stocking of the Everex PCs at 10,000 meant there were only 2.5 per store. That is easy. Give each store 10 or 15 and let us see the result.
Do we even have the chutzpa to suggest that the buyers even can afford the Broadband Internet that is necessary for these to actually function?
I would say that most will try dial up, and use a $5 CRT monitor from the Salvation Army, and will then complain about their “bargain” being a rip-off.
I know them well, these Walmart shoppers, for I help provide used Dells, Compaqs, and et cetera of higher speed, better capabilities, with Vixta (Fedora Core 8), Mepis, Edubuntu to their households, so that their children have at least some shot at scholastic acheivement.
Some pawn them for the cigarette and beer fund, others destroy in rage, and others decide to instead become indebted to the ‘company store’ because they believe the Microsoft snake oil ads.
Found one unit in Florida, at a Walmart, about 40 miles distant. I did want to test, but, it is overpriced compared to my current stable.
I will say the VIA C3 Gigapro 733mhz unit I acquired in 2004, salvaged, runs all the *BSDs and GNU/Linux distros I can throw at it.
GNU/Linux has 800 native games, in the mix of 20,000 applications, and also, the 1400+ Win32 games run in WINE.
Microsoft is only scared enough by this, and Dells and Lenovos sold with GNU/Linux, plus the Vista fiasco, that the noise from that quarter about ‘patents’ can only be the cry of the banshee predicting a death. Not today, perhaps, but, it’s imminent.
the oracle
November 15th, 2007
at 8:13am
linuxiac, more are coming - it was reported on Ars Technica and IW. So the unit is a hit. I know that not everyone has broadband available, but unless you are trying to change the OS, 56k should be enough for some. And I’d think it would whet the appetite. But - I think these are mainly going into houses that already have broadband, and one or two computers already. Microsoft is worried, but not enough. We need to see large corporate adoption before the beads of sweat are visible on Darth Ballmer’s face - and more chairs go flying!
Thanks for the comment.