Wal-Mart unveils $498 laptop
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There&#39;s a new laptop available and it&#39;s cheap, really cheap. Walmart.com and Linspire on Monday introduced a Linux-based laptop priced at $498.
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Wal-Mart is offering other Balance laptops with higher configurations, including one priced at $548 that comes with a 1.1 GHz AMD Athlon 4, 40 GB hard drive and a DVD-ROM drive.
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NEW YORK: The world&#39;s biggest retailer Wal-Mart is offering price-conscious US consumers the cheapest laptop on the market, priced at just US$498, in a move described by some analysts as a &quot;significant milestone.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. said it has launched a 3,999 yuan ($483 in the US) computer in China. HP&#39;s new model, part of its Pavilion series, features a central processing unit (CPU) from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
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OCTOBER 19, 2004  - Apple Computer today added a new entry-level model to its Power Mac G5 line, unveiling a desktop machine with a single 1.8 GHz processor that sells for $1,499.
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A low-cost laptop, designed for children in developing countries, will go on sale in North America.
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MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte's much-touted $100 laptop is now officially on sale via the One Laptop per Child Foundation's Web site, with production cost now totaling $200. The organization previously said the laptop would cost $176 in April and raised that estimate to $188 last month.
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The so-called "$100 laptop" has moved one step closer to reality, with 2,500 units set to ship later this month to eight developing nations. If the small test proves successful, mass production of the units would begin.
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(InfoWorld) - Wal-Mart opened its campaign for the back-to-school PC sales season on Wednesday by unveiling a $298 desktop from Everex that combines three of the most popular industry trends -- open-source software, a power-efficient processor, and a lack of "bloatware." The Everex Impact GC3502 uses Microsoft's Windows Vista OS but substitutes the OpenOffice.org 2.2 version of word processing and spreadsheet tools for the traditional Microsoft Office variety. The computer runs on a 1.5GHz C7-D processor from Via Technologies, a chip that meets lead-free environmental regulations and saves energy with low wattage demands. The sales price does not include a monitor but is still lower than comparable packages sold on Wal-mart's Web site, such as an HP Compaq Presario, an Acer America AcerPower FH Minitower, and a Dell Dimension desktop. PC vendors usually compete for customers by slashing prices during the eight-week back-to-school season, stretching from mid-July to mid-September. But Everex also hopes to attract buyers by avoiding the free "trial software" that annoys many users, according to Eugene Chang, a product manager at Everex, of Fremont, California. Dell followed a similar strategy on July 10 when itÂ withheld bloatwareÂ from its newÂ Vostro line of PCsÂ for small business users after a long campaign by bloggers and Dell customers against common practice by PC vendors of loading unrequested software onto new computers. Software companies fund the effort as a way to find new users. Although those features are popular, they could backfire on Everex because most U.S. consumers are not yet familiar with Via processors or OpenOffice software, one analyst said. "It's not surprising that Wal-Mart, of all retailers, will sell the $298 Everex desktop; it's a good marriage with their biggest audience -- budget buyers," said Toni DuBoise, a senior analyst with Current Analysis West. "But it has a couple of problems; one is that it uses a Via processor, which is almost unknown to U.S. consumers. And it runs at just 1.5 GHz, so it's unknown how it will handle Microsoft Vista," she said. "And running OpenOffice is kind of a unique tactic. It's anti-Microsoft as Microsoft obviously owns the market for productivity software. So users may have some concerns about compatibility."
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Wal-Mart, through Walmart.com, its online vehicle, has charged into the Linux-based notebook market with its US$498 Balance laptop, which runs the Linspire operating system.
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched an online music store that works with Microsoft Corp.&#39;s Windows Media Player, the world&#39;s largest retailer said on Thursday.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. has moved aggressively into the PC market in China by introducing a $483 machine, a price point which is in the same ballpark as other lean PCs announced earlier in the year by Lenovo Group.
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Dell Inc.  plans to start  selling personal computers at 3,500 Wal-Mart  stores in  the United States and Canada as of June 10, launching a major  drive to sell through retailers, the companies said on  Thursday.
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Wal-Mart Stores Inc  posted better-than-expected fourth quarter profit on Tuesday as penny-pinching U.S. shoppers scoured its discount stores for low prices on necessities like food to offset tough economic conditions.
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Hewlett-Packard Wednesday introduced a business desktop with a slim form factor that packs a flash-based solid-state drive, giving the system faster boot times than PCs with hard drives.The HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra-Slim Business Desktop, dubbed by HP as its smallest enterprise desktop model, provides improved power efficiency and support for tools, including Intel&#39;s vPro, that makes it easier to manage PCs.Measuring 2.60 by 9.90 by 10.0 inches (6.6 by 25.15 by 25.4 centimeters), HP said this desktop is 46 percent smaller than previous models. The PC is loaded with power-efficient features, including solid-state drives (SSDs) that consume less power than hard drives, said an HP spokeswoman.The SSD can replace a hard disk as the PC&#39;s primary storage drive and delivers performance and durability improvements, including quicker access to data, durability, the spokeswoman said.Random reads require the head to continuously seek the exact location of data on a hard drive. SSDs have no moving parts or rotating platters, which results in instantaneous seek times, leading to faster boot times and quicker data access.A 16GB SSD will be available with the system, although users can select hard drives with storage capacities of up to 160GB when buying the product.The system includes support for TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2, a hardware-based authentication technology for system security.The Compaq dc7800 Ultra-Slim Business Desktop runs Intel&#39;s Core 2 Duo, Celeron D or Pentium processors, and supports Intel&#39;s vPro technology, a platform that helps service and manage PCs. It comes with Gigabit Ethernet and an integrated Intel graphics media accelerator. Users can select between the Windows Vista, Windows XP or FreeDos operating systems.Pricing for the desktop, which is available now, starts at $1,258 with the solid-state drive.There are already a few vendors that include SSDs in their hardware. Dell&#39;s Alienware, a gaming systems manufacturer, includes them in its gaming desktop PCs and Toshiba includes SSDs in its laptops. Intel is providing SSD storage as an option to put on motherboards for its upcoming ultramobile Menlow platform, and Lexar Media is offering SSD storage under the Crucial brand.HP also announced the HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC. The business desktop will be powered by Intel&#39;s Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Pentium dual-core or Celeron D processors. It will include up to 500GB of hard-drive storage, Gigabit Ethernet networking, integrated Intel graphics, a DVD drive and a 16-in-1 media card reader.Priced at $579, the desktop will be available starting next month.
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A new wafer-thin laptop and a movie rental service for iTunes starred in this year&#39;s keynote from Apple CEO Steve Jobs at Macworld Tuesday.The notebook, called the MacBook Air, wasn&#39;t the ultraportable that pundits had predicted, but it is &quot;the world&#39;s thinnest notebook,&quot; according to Jobs, who produced it from a manilla office envelope to make his point.Priced from $1,799, the notebook has a 13.3-inch widescreen display and a full-sized backlit keyboard. To keep the MacBook Air compact, it uses the same 1.8-inch hard drive found in the iPod and a smaller version of Intel&#39;s Core 2 Duo processor built especially for Apple, Jobs said.The model shown at Macworld was in brushed silver. It is three quarters of an inch thick at its thickest part and just 0.16 inch along the front edge, Jobs said. He compared it to another popular thin laptop, the Sony TZ series. At 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms), it is about the same weight, he said, but the new Apple notebook is about half its thickness.&quot;To fit an entire Mac in this thing was a major feat of engineering,&quot; Jobs said.The MacBook Air will ship in about two weeks. It lacks an optical disk drive, which could make it tricky to load software. To get around that, Apple developed a program called Remote Disk, which allows users to download software from the optical drive of a nearby computer using its built in 802.11n wireless connection.The standard configuration comes with an 80GB hard drive, 2GB of main memory, and a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo. Options include a 64GB solid-state drive and a faster 1.8GHz processor.Intel developed a Core 2 Duo chip package for Apple that is 60 percent smaller than the standard version, according to Jobs. &quot;It&#39;s the width of a dime and as thick as a nickel, with 400 million transistors,&quot; said Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who joined Jobs onstage.Apple will sell an optional portable optical drive for $99, Jobs said. He promised a battery life of 5 hours while surfing the Web and with Wi-Fi enabled.Many had expected Apple to announce an ultraportable notebook, which would have filled a gap in Apple&#39;s notebook product line, noted Robbie Laughlin, an assistant retail manager with Apple reseller Carbon Computing in Toronto.&quot;They had a 12-inch PowerBook a few years ago, and I&#39;d like to see something small like that reintroduced,&quot; he said before Jobs began his speech.Still, Apple&#39;s computer business is riding high from the popularity of its iPods and iPhone, Laughlin said. &quot;They&#39;re still on an upswing. We&#39;ve seen a huge uptick in switchers the last six months, people who wouldn&#39;t normally walk into an Apple store.&quot;The other big focus of Jobs&#39; speech was movies, including a movie rental service for iTunes and a new version of Apple TV that allows renting and downloading movies directly to a TV without using a PC.Apple signed major film studios -- Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony, Universal, and Paramount -- to sell movies through the store. Rentals are $3.99 for a new release and $2.99 for older films, or a dollar more for high-definition versions.The movie rentals are available in the United States from Tuesday, and later this year internationally, Jobs said. Apple pledged to have 1,000 films available by the end of February, and films will come to iTunes 30 days after their DVD release, he said. Users will have 30 days to watch a film after renting it, and 24 hours to finish watching it after they have started.Apple TV wasn&#39;t more successful because it was sold as &quot;an accessory for your computer,&quot; Jobs said. &quot;That&#39;s not what people wanted. ... So we&#39;re back with Apple TV 2. It still syncs with your computer [if you want it to], but no computer is required.&quot;Apple TV also received a price cut to $229 from $299. The new version will be available in two weeks, Jobs said, and existing customers will be able to update to the new software.He didn&#39;t show a 3G iPhone as some had expected, but he did announce software updates available from Tuesday, including the ability to map an iPhone user&#39;s location with Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers. The iPhone update also lets people send a text message to multiple users.The iPhone shipped 200 days ago and 4 million have been sold since, Jobs said. The software developer kit for the iPhone will ship in February, he said.Jobs also introduced a wireless backup product called Time Capsule, a companion to the&#160;Leopard operating system&#39;s Time Machine, which constantly backs up work to a desktop hard drive. Time Capsule will ship in February and is basically an Airport Extreme base station plus a hard drive, Jobs said, &quot;so you can back up your notebook wirelessly.&quot;Time Capsule will come in two models, with a 500GB offering for $299 and a 1TB version for $499.
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For the second time since October, a sub-$200, fully equipped Linux desktop PC is available for sale to U.S. consumers.Starting Thursday, Sears.com is selling a Mirus Innovations desktop machine that runs Linux from Linspire for $299, minus a $100 mail-in rebate, Linspire said in a statement. Another $15 discount is available through this Saturday, for a final price of $184.99. Shipping is an additional $16.50.The new Linspire/Mirus PC includes an Intel Celeron 420 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, a 56K modem, a CD-RW burner, a media card reader, keyboard, speakers, mouse and Linspire&#39;s Freespire 2.0 Linux operating system. The machine also comes with CNR Basic Service, which gives users one-click online access to free and commercial Linux software to fit their needs. It does not include a monitor.San Diego-based Linspire said it teamed with Walnut, Calif.-based Mirus to build a machine that would provide low-cost computing capabilities and open source-software for consumer and business customers.&quot;Our system builders have been forging new ground in the low-end Linux PC market for over 5 years now,&quot; Larry Kettler, president and CEO of Linspire, said in a statement. &quot;This latest system from Mirus Innovations is the most robust hardware and software configuration, and offers the best value for under $200 to date.&quot;The new PC has Freespire Linux 2.0 pre-installed and offers improved out-of-the-box file format and multimedia support, including MP3, Windows Media, Real Networks, Java, Flash, ATI, nVidia, Wi-Fi and others. Freespire 2.0 also includes legally licensed proprietary drivers, codecs, and applications in its core distribution for an improved user experience. Freespire is a community-influenced, Ubuntu-based Linux distribution designed for all users.Last October, an Ubuntu Linux-equipped PC went on sale in selected Wal-mart stores for $200, built by Fremont, Calif.-based&#160;Everex.Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.&#160;