Can't believe the poor specs, poor choices for these prebuilts...

[Rigoletto]

I was looking at Tiny (English big computer seller) computers through the window. You know, cheap Celerons and cheapest printers and scanners they can find to bundle with them.
First of all, they're using Celerons. Huh.
What really got me was the poor RAM they were offering for £900 (exchange rate is $1.5 to £1 I think but England has 17.5% sales tax). They were offering 64Mb. This is way behind the times, folks. That kind of memory costs the maker say £25 right now! New computer games are that much in EB. And I think they were bundling a TNT2 (M64) with it. Ha!

Also, these bundles can contain a hell of a lot of undesirable stuff. They seem to be selling the bundles as a fuss free complete what-you-might-like-to-do-with-your-computer-bundle solution. But folks, these printers are kind of naff, if you try printing in colour you will soon see their shortcomings... do you really want this cheapest stuff if you're really set on using it?- if you're not then might as well look somewhere else. They were also bundling a swivel chair or something with it.
I don't know many families with children that would be satisfied right now with 64Mb and a TNT2:Q

 

[Oyeve]

Caveat Emptor.

 

[Lalakai]

there are still many people that wish to buy a system for less then $1000, take it home, plug it in and be able to see something on the the screen. "You have to walk before you can run". If you've never eatten steak, a hotdog tastes good. Once they see what they have and compare it to a solid midlevel system, they'll be more tempted to part with the bucks that will purchase a decent system. Unfortunately they're getting raped during the educational process. somethings you have to learn for yourself.

 

[noxipoo]

they do the same thing in the US. nothing new, how else can it cost sub $1000

 

[Noriaki]

<< Unfortunately they're getting raped during the educational process. somethings you have to learn for yourself. >>

Damn where can I get that? It would make school alot more interesting


As for the Tiny computers...well I think Oyeve said it all: Caveat Emptor.

That's why I don't buy pre-builts. Not becuase making my own will save me money, in fact I think it costs me more, but because I don't trust what prebuilts put into it.

 

[Noriaki]

damn double post.

 

[Bignate603]

It took me some time to believe it, but my dad was right. People like us our the technology &quot;haves.&quot; Most people don't know what the hell we mean when we talk about ram and even less know what an irq is. People want simple machines. They don't want the killer machines we do. Instead, they want something that plugs in, does the net, types and prints. And they want it cheap. My dad doesn't know much about computers, he has a sweet company laptop, 700 mhz p3 i think, and he admits it. The only time he EVER notices speed difference is during boot up. He refuses to touch any system settings besides changing the keyboard (he learned to type on dvorak because he started learning a few years ago and the tech department convinced him it was better). This goes far beyond what most people EVER do. They don't get the control panel to show all the options because windows doesn't reccomend it. They don't open the windows file folder because windows warns against it. People are SCARED of computers. Getting anything to learn on is a great start. My first machine was a 386 that i had when 486s were being phased out, it was slow, but i didn't care. I could fool with it all i wanted. People need to build confidence on a $600 POS before they get the $2000 machine.

 

[ApacheXMD]

we got Tiny Computers here in the states (sf bay area)
real nice stores, but crapass computers.

-patchy

 

[Dulanic]

Sounds like another eMachines.

 

[Taz4158]

Anything that gets new users in and whets there appetite for better is good for the industry as a whole.

 

[Oyeve]

Funny how we consider 800 bucks for a celeron system a ripoff. I was just glancing at an old PC mag from 1990 and an ALR Systems (remember them?) with an intel 386 33mhz PC with 4 megs of ram and an 84 meg HD cost 10,000. This didnt come with monitor, printer, or an OS!

 

[Rigoletto]

I wasn't saying that the systems were at a rip-off price for what you were getting. They've bulk bought and overall it compares well to normal &quot;RRP&quot;. But I have to ask myself, if I really want to print, don't I want a good printer? Do I want to scan? Do I want a swivel chair? Would kiddie gamers be satisfied with integrated graphics? And what about so little memory in these times?