Vizio launches line of drool-worthy bargain-price PCs

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Grand Master

Hum

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NEW YORK ? Vizio Thursday unveiled a line of laptops and all-in-one desktop computers, marking the electronics maker's first push into the personal-computer market with pricing that starts at $898.

The Irvine, Calif., company, which ranks as one of the top sellers of televisions in the U.S., announced five different computers at a New York event. The products will be available this summer in time for the back-to-school selling season.

Vizio shook up the market with inexpensive high-definition televisions, and it is trying to do the same in the PC industry. The closely held company, which also produces Blu-ray players and a tablet, worked on the computer designs for a couple years in an attempt to offer an aesthetic that competes with Apple's popular products but at a lower price.

The new PCs announced Thursday will start at $898 for a 14-inch, thin-and-light laptop. That compares with $999 for the least-expensive, 11-inch Apple MacBook Air and the approximate $1,000 pricing for most new, thin-and-light notebooks, dubbed ultrabooks by chip company Intel Corp. A 27-inch, all-in-one desktop, Vizio's highest-end computer, starts at $1,098.

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Grand Master

RadishTM Veteran

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They made it a point to mention that they come with no bloatware at all.

Yep, they are part of the Microsoft "Signature" series. Really digging the design of all the models, just a bit unsure about the quality of the keyboards.

Grand Master

BajiRav

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The Verge has a nice article on Vizio as a company. One very important point about their PCs is that every single one of them is a Microsoft Signature PC. That's a solid A+ IMO.
Grand Master

BajiRav

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A 27-inch screen with a 1920 x 1080 max resolution. Hence they're a bargain...

I really like the design though. (Y) Bit lame they took the slogan Apple's using for their iMac.

I think they're essentially TV's with built-in computers. I think you can only do so much at the price and target market they're going for.

Grand Master

DirtyLarry Veteran

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Honestly pretty nice looking machines for the price, and I think Vizio has to know they are not going to convince people who were thinking about purchasing an Apple product to buy their product.

Now people considering a Dell or HP, well that is a whole other story, and I imagine they have a damn good chance of eating into their sales. Hell, I would absolutely get one of these over a Dell or HP after just checking out their site for the past 10-15 minutes, especially knowing they are part of the Signature series. No Bloatware = fantastic.

Grand Master

sanctified Veteran

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I don't know any computer that doesn't involve plastic.

Apple uses aluminum mostly.

Yeah, Im spoiled, but I would love if companies experiment with more materials, like carbon or glass fiber.

Grand Master

remixedcat

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It's wierd how Vizio kinda popped out of nowhere and got pretty known pretty quick for a consumer electronics company. They are kinda like how Amped Wireless!!!!! is.

Grand Master

capr

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good work vizio. I never approved of their televisions because of quality issues but for the price and for the market they were in, they were great products. After a few years they forced companies like samsung and sony to drop their prices and start producing higher quality budget TVs.

I hope these products have high quality so they can stay in this market and shake things up a bit...

Grand Master

PGHammer

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It's wierd how Vizio kinda popped out of nowhere and got pretty known pretty quick for a consumer electronics company. They are kinda like how Amped Wireless!!!!! is.

Actually, it's amazing what quality inexpensive labor will get you as a brand.

That was, in fact, how the original Japanese electronics firms (and their ROK/South Korean successors) built their reputations. (Examples - Sony, Mitsubishi, Samsung, the Hyundai Group.)

The latter three, in fact, are conglomerates in the *old RCA* sense. (RCA, for the younger Neowinians, stands for Radio Corporation of America, and was the *second* company forcibly broken up under the hammer of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act - the first was the *Standard Oil Trust*.) The forced breakup of RCA, in fact, predates World War II. Even after that, RCA still remained a mini-conglomerate - manufacturing everything from radios (and later telelvisions, including equipment used in their respective broadcasting) to carpets. (Carpets? Yes - Mohawk Carpets was at one point wholly-owned by RCA, as was - shockingly - Hertz Rent-a-Car.) Mitsubishi is basically RCA writ small - in North America alone, they are in fields as wide-ranging as electronics to food - for both pets and people. (In Japan, they are also in the banking and insurance businesses.) Samsung and the Hyundai Group are Korean versions of the same *keiretsu* as Mitsubishi; while they overlap in electronics, Hyundai was oddly enough chased *out* of the heavy-equipment business in the ROK over a corruption scandal involving rigged bids (the victim was, amusingly, US-based Caterpillar) and wound up selling that business to Volvo.

Vizio has indeed shook up the TV market (they are still around as a TV manufacturer; among private brands they build for are Best Buy's Insignia and Dynex). While ROK-based Acer Group has somewhat moved upmarket, there is still a need for a value-brand at the low end.

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