MicroCenter Systems

[Brian Densmore]

Think this was meant for the list. Didn't know the Wal-Mart PC's were
this cheap now.

> 
> We just purchased one of Wal-Mart's Microtel machines at work 
> to see what
> you could get for $199, and to test the Lindows OS.. I don't 
> have exact
> specs but it is like an 800 MHz machine, 256meg ram I don't 
> remember hd
> size, no monitor.. Came packaged with Lindows all for 
> $199.00... The PC
> isn't too bad, thought I'd like Lindows...Took all of 10 
> minutes to install
> on my various test machines... Has a chopped up version of 
> the KDE desktop
> that I could live without, they tried to make it like windoze and they
> somewhat succeeded.. I like Lindows only a little more than I 
> like Windoze
> (actually I think I like win2k better). Mandrake 8.1 and KDE 
> are much better
> and only take a little more time and effort to install.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Densmore [mailto:DensmoreB at ctbsonline.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 1:53 PM
> To: kclug at kclug.org
> Subject: RE: MicroCenter Systems
> 
> 
> Yes, he is definitely seeing the bottom line machines here. 
> Paying $20-$25
> for the Pc and $75-$80 for the monitor. Could probably get 
> something better
> for another $20-$80. The HD is really the sticking point. But 
> you have a
> very good point with the CD. I would go one step further. 
> Make sure you can
> boot from a CDRW disc or homebrew CD. You really want more 
> than this today,
> but if it is a good monitor, and you can use the PC for a 
> backroom server,
> or you want an entry level DTP/office PC and can spring $25 
> for a bigger HD,
> get these. You can probably find similar/equivalent PCs 
> elsewhere in the
> Metro though for the same price. Nothing exceptional value 
> wise here. Just
> the state of the market.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Charles Steinkuehler [mailto:charles at steinkuehler.net]
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 1:01 PM
> > To: kclug at kclug.org
> > Subject: Re: MicroCenter Systems
> > 
> > 
> > > MicroCenter is selling OS'less systems for $99. The package
> > includes a
> > > monitor and PC, spec'ed at:
> > >
> > >  - Pentium 100mhz
> > >  - 35mb RAM
> > >  - 1.7gb HDD
> > >  - FDD
> > >  - No CD-ROM
> > >  - NIC
> > >
> > > Assuming I have a CD-ROM drive, can this system run a
> > modern distro of
> > > Linux? I'm looking for either:
> > >
> > > A) a home/office machine with StarOffice and a GUI, or
> > > B) a command-line-only httpd/ftp server with all the bells and
> > whistles
> > > (php, mySQL, Perl, etc).
> > >
> > > These machines worth $100?
> > 
> > It depends a lot on the monitor.  A year or so ago, I paid $20 for 
> > several HP Pentium-75 systems with FDD and 16 Meg of RAM 
> (No CD-ROM, 
> > no HDD).  I've also typically paid $70-80 for a working, 
> used 15" svga
> > monitor (1024x768 capable, but illegible at anything over 800x600).
> > 
> > These days, you can probably get much faster hardware for 
> $20-30 used, 
> > and you can probably pick up the monitors separately, if required.  
> > With the CPU unit being apx 1/4 of the price of the system by my
> > estimation,
> > you're definitely at the point in the price-curve where 
> > spending another
> > $20, or carefully shopping around, could get you a system many times
> > more powerful.
> > 
> > Also, I'd make sure the systems can boot from CD-ROM before 
> you buy. 
> > I've found this *WAY* too useful to be without, especially 
> on hardware 
> > that I'm typically using for test systems, and/or doing frequent 
> > experimental re-installs.  Of course, if you just want to let the 
> > systems run for ages w/o upgrading, you might not care, but it's 
> > something to consider.
> > 
> > Charles Steinkuehler
> > charles at steinkuehler.net
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > majordomo at kclug.org
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> majordomo at kclug.org
>