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Wal-Mart offers sub-$600 notebook

it's actually not that bad for the money: athlon 1600+, ieee 802.11b, 128mb ram, 40gb harddrive, all in a laptop form factor. i'd get one, except i have to pay rent sometime this month.
 
No, its not bad. I know that we're all picky about the details, the OS, the fact that you can't burn CDs with it, but some people, even in their 20s, who don't use computers because they don't have one and can't afford it, and don't really care about the details like you or I do. Being on a computer and on the internet is already amazing for them.

And since most people on this board make a decent living, or attend university and such, its hard to say this is a bad deal for those people either made dumb mistakes, or have parents who can't buy or help their kid buy a desktop/laptop for school.
 
Yeah, it seems that way - I wonder if that's a mistake. That would be a strange and useless thing to have on a budget laptop.
 
the laptop im typing this on is comparable that and cost 500 dollars at best buy (after rebates of course) it has a 14" screen, 40gb hard drive, 256mb ram, 2.4ghz celeron, and a combo drive and i added a linksys wireless g card which brought it to 540. plus it's toshiba, not walmart brand. id say that's not much of a value because you can very often get better computers for the same or less. for example best buy has a notebook for back to school for 550 (at least here) that has a pentium 4.
 
It will sell well...

Yes, it will, why, because the average Joe who still works with a PII/PIII even P4, < 1GHz Celeron, <1GHz Duron, would like to look computer savvy for the rest of the people, saying "it does all what I need" ...
 
AmigoMac said:
Yes, it will, why, because the average Joe who still works with a PII/PIII even P4, < 1GHz Celeron, <1GHz Duron, would like to look computer savvy for the rest of the people, saying "it does all what I need" ...
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for 95% of people, it will do all that they would need. most people only really need a computer for word processing and internet, and so they don't even really need anything beyond 800mhz. i certainly don't.
 
It's a loss leader. People will buy other stuff along with it. I know this one woman that bought a $1,100 PC and it cost her $2,600 when she left the store with all the extras. After 4 months, a lot of those extras are still in the box and she really didn't need them. It's a great move by Walmart to bring in traffic.

It would be cool if future Apple could design a Mac the size of an iPod that is inexpensive. Plug in your monitor and use a wireless keyboard and mouse. It doesn't have to be more than a G3.
 
Heck even put usb plugs on it for the mouse and keyboard. Sell if for about $300, andi I'd consider buying one. :D
 
BornAgainMac said:
It's a loss leader. People will buy other stuff along with it. I know this one woman that bought a $1,100 PC and it cost her $2,600 when she left the store with all the extras. After 4 months, a lot of those extras are still in the box and she really didn't need them. It's a great move by Walmart to bring in traffic.

It would be cool if future Apple could design a Mac the size of an iPod that is inexpensive. Plug in your monitor and use a wireless keyboard and mouse. It doesn't have to be more than a G3.
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their cheap computers are on-line only.
 
virividox said:
OMG how much do you want to bet thats going to break in 6 motnhs
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I was in the Hammond, LA Wal-Mart yesterday, when I saw a lone Laptop down the computer aisle. I didn't look at the price, and it may have been a simple "model", but the entire trackpad button was missing, keys were missing, and the whole thing just felt cheap as hell.
 
Wal-Mart is one of the world's most despicable organizations and they will sell any piece of crap to unsuspecting pigeons just to get them in the door. Their objective is to lower the buying public's expectations to a point where legitimate businesses can no longer compete - forcing them out of business.

Their employee relation practices are shameful and anyone who shops at Wal-Mart is simply contributing to the company's dreadful treatment of nearly everyone on their payroll.

Oh what a wonderful world it will be when everyone has been brought down to the lowest common denominator - the Wal-Martization of America is nearly complete and they are moving across the globe like some sort of virus.

Anyone who buys a bargain basement laptop for these people is in for the disappointment of their life. Sure, it will "do the basics" - but what happened to man's reach reach EXCEEDING his grasp?
 
I don't know, for some reason I have a feeling those computers are pretty low quality. Just a strange feeling I have. :p
 
Their warranty policy is simple. If it breaks, take it to your local WalMart retailer and they give you a new one. Its not even worth the time to fix a computer like that for WalMart, it would cost them more to fix then to give u a new one. I bet they ordered these in a huge quantity so they only paid $400 a pop.
 
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