In a very interesting move, Wal-Mart has decided to target value and tech-oriented buyers by selling their new line of computers sans operating system and software. The result is a powerful system for a very affordable price. If this trend were to catch on, it could be a very serious problem for MS, since they receive no royalties from either the manufacturer or from co-branding/licencing deals with AOL, etc. My guess is that many (read "most") of the users who buy these systems will end up putting Windows on them, but won't bother with the "hassle" of purchasing an individually licenced copy. Check out the systems here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product_listing.gsp?dept=3944&cat=86798&sb=61&bti=0 x34
The Athlon 1.4 Ghz isn't a bad deal - they're doing it right with the 40 gig hard drives. They do screw people over a little bit - like the 1.8 pentium with 128 megs being 599 and the 1.8 with 256 megs being 699. Interesting that they are saying the Intels have SDRam - I thought they only took RDRam?
I'm actually surprised about some of the systems with only 128MBs too, but no biggie, really. Memory's cheap. I think P4s can utilize Rambus, standard PC133, or DDR memory. The question is, I guess: Would you buy a PC from Wal-Mart?
The thing is though . . . how many power users (people who know how to install an OS) will buy a PC from Wal-Mart . . . Even further, how many Linux users will buy a pre-fab PC anyhow? All the Linux users I know are knowledgable enough about hardware to build their own computer.
I know for a fact that the P4 can use SDRAM because I worked on the SDRAM interface for one of their chipsets.
How to install Win98 and newer. -Turn on the Computer -Put In Windows CD -If asked boot from CD -Follow On Screen Instructions from MS It's a piece of cake.
That's called Intel saying "oops!" for riding the RAMBUS-only bandwagon and introducing the i845 chipset...
