Wal-Mart to Sell $300 PC with OpenOffice

Wal-Mart to Sell $300 PC with OpenOffice

Daniel Fleshbourne on 19 July 2007 - 09:44 · 16 comments & 8072 views

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Wal-Mart Inc. opened its campaign for the back-to-school PC sales season on Wednesday by unveiling a US$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 Corp.'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 Inc., 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 a Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) Compaq Presario, an Acer America Corp. AcerPower FH Minitower and a Dell Inc. Dimension desktop.

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(1 reply) #1 Atlonite on 19 Jul 2007 - 10:52

yeah right a c7-d is a piece of crap how on earth do they expext a decent version of nix to run on that god only knows and evan he'd laugh his pants wet at it

#1.1 ThoughtKrime on 19 Jul 2007 - 11:33

It runs Vista, rtfa. The "meat" of the article is that they're bundling OpenOffice; a direct competitor to MS' productivity software in order to appeal to the budget market. Oo beats Works though, what a POS that is, lol.

#2 markjensen on 19 Jul 2007 - 11:43

Nice to see some free (as in freedom to use and re-distribute) alternatives out there.

(1 reply) #3 Magallanes on 19 Jul 2007 - 13:07

US$298 desktop... with Vista

HOW?.

#3.1 Xenomorph on 19 Jul 2007 - 15:06

what is Vista Home oem? $150?

so its basically a $150 PC. it obviously doesnt include a monitor, but a system capable of running Vista put together for under $150 (they do need to make a profit) is a pretty neat trick.

(2 replies) #4 +Inertia on 19 Jul 2007 - 13:19

i bet if its available in the uk in asda it will be £300 not the £150 it should be

#4.1 roadwarrior on 19 Jul 2007 - 13:56

The sooner you learn to accept the fact that you live in a country where EVERYTHING is overpriced, the better.

#4.2 metalguy90 on 19 Jul 2007 - 14:31

yeah!.... same thing happens in canada..... now that the US dollar is almost at par with the CAN dollar.... things are still 1.4x or 1.5x what it should be.... :/

(1 reply) #5 eilegz on 19 Jul 2007 - 14:29

it wont run aero, son bundling it with vista its useless unless they are giving the crappier starter or home basic version

#5.1 roadwarrior on 19 Jul 2007 - 14:37

It would most likely have Home Basic since Starter isn't supposed to be sold in "first world" countries. And for a system designed simply to be inexpensive and be for basic home use, what more do they need?

(1 reply) #6 ShiZZa on 19 Jul 2007 - 15:39

There going to **** off alot of people with this one. When they find out they need Vista Biz, Vista Ultimate, XP Pro, or 2000 WKS. Most of the Big 10 now have you run the PRO type of version cause they require it for network security / SUS / Symantic Corp to get on there networks, unless you just want internet. But then you will be stuck using a lab PC to get stuff from your network shares etc. This is the first year we had in WI that most of the schools went from there old P3 500mhz / 128meg ram to saying Core 2 or Athlon 64 / 2gig of ram.

#6.1 roadwarrior on 19 Jul 2007 - 16:45

Someone going to a Big 10 college isn't likely to be shopping for a bargain-basement PC at Wal-Mart anyway. Their target market for this machine is most likely home users needing a PC for their kids to do homework on.

#7 Azmodan on 19 Jul 2007 - 16:20

"... open-source software, a power-efficient processor, and a lack of "bloatware." The Everex Impact GC3502 uses Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista OS"

Eh, I guess they forgot (put distro name here) and they kept the main bloatware?

#8 Croquant on 19 Jul 2007 - 21:38

This is aimed at the low end of the low end market. It's for people who just want to surf the web and maybe do some e-mail. Because that's about all you can do with a Via C7-D: It's bascily a Pentium III knock-off. It's amazing that you can run Vista on it!

#9 XerXis on 20 Jul 2007 - 08:17

that via processor kills it. piece of ****

#10 tripleXit on 21 Jul 2007 - 16:54

Buy the PC, take out the via cpu, stick in an amd dual core.

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Wal-Mart to Sell $300 PC with OpenOffice

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