New AMD CE 5.0 Device

Check this out http://www.amdboard.com/pic.html

Its a new AMD CE 5.0 small, enclosed PC for Internet use. High quality, high reliability, inexpensive, mostly with third world in mind. Just released here in USA by Radio Shack for $299 without monitor. It should appear soon for $250 with 15" monitor through other retailers.

AMD planned to make it a Linux machine to decrease cost & make it more user non-upgradable. Gates found out about the AMD PIC (Personal Internet Communicator) and provided an offer AMD couldn't refuse.

It is shoebox sized, comes pre-loaded with CE 5.0. Get this the CE 5.0 is specially programmed with Windows XP extensions for Windows XP application compatibility. It boots and is ready to roll in 25 seconds, 10gig hard drive, low power (DC powered),
IE 6.0, MS Explorer 6.0, MM Flash Player 6, MS CE 2D game pack, Spread sheet, zip/unzip utility, Keyboard, Mouse, USB, Win Media Player, Presentation Viewer, Win messenger chat, AMD GX Processor (366MHz). "Very easy to use". "High quality",
"very reliable", "nearly virus, malware, etc proof" [that claim will lure the hackers out of the wood work!]

Technically this is nothing new. This has been bumped from 4.2 to CE5, but the device was referenced this time last year - SoftMaker even compiled PlanMaker specifically for it's CPU, and I believe I even posted it in the news section.

Originally it was tro be $185 US without and $250 with display... inflation?

It's a neat idea, but it has a problem from the likes of Windows XP Starter Edition which gives full range x86 support in the same price range. Although Microsoft don't take it anywhere as near as seriously as they do CE5.

The real difficulty here is that it is aimed at a thin client niche, there is ground in the real PC world in other areas to target this as a thin client. I can get a Dell 2GHz Celron with CRT for £150 ($270 US) with XP home. That places this in a dangerous position.
You also have the issue of the fall out from the European WEEE directive which will see a hell of a lot of surplus IT hardware / systems floating about, and generally heading towards the third world complete with refurb arrangements. This will pressure this market considerably.

Alternativly there is the established second hand market, you can get a low GHz PC on eBay for £50 ($90 US). Why spash out on a thin client when you can have a fully customisable box and run anything you like on it.

Ultimatly the argument will be settled on the merits of CE itself - just as the H/PC appeals to many over a laptop for work, those same attributes are accurate here. The question is will AMD market that.

Yes, we talked about this or one very much like it in this thread. http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1124&pos...

I think it's cool, but you can get a Dell, as C:Amie mentioned for about 20 dollars USD less, but with 40 gb hard drive instead of AMD's 10, a better OS, and a better processor, and a monitor. I do not think it could sell well, just one of those things you would find on eBay that says it is very rare and get it for cheap (hopefully ) that is when I will get it for cheaper then.

Yes, C:Amie was talking about the CE .net based AMD device that was $185 USD

edit: wrong quote code


Edited by tenjeangosi 2005-09-28 5:37 PM

My grandfather almost bought the $300 Dell PC, he ordered it and they added over $100 for shipping. He lives in Austin TX; Dell is located in Round Rock TX 5 miles away. They did not give him an option for pick up. Needless to say he said no and went to Fry's and bought a Compaq AMD 3200, with all of the bells and whistles for $300. I like AMD, it is a great company, and was a great company to work for.
Question, what if you bought the computer (AMD CE 5.0) and somehow crammed it into a small laptop?

Gosh, $100 USD for shipping, that's nuts! .

Oh, back on topic . What is the AMD 3200 like? Does it have the LCD in it?

edit: spell error

Edited by tenjeangosi 2005-09-29 12:09 AM

Of course, I was not recommending the AMD Internet 'puter. I would never buy one. I had a laugh at the Microsoft & AMD hype about the PIC. The word is Gates got very excited about the device. The plan is to sell it or something like it to get 50% of the third world online. I can just see Don Juan, Columbian coffee picker or Masabe, the Subsahara tribesman, clicking away online! Maybe the dirth of electricity outlets in villages explains the DC power. Then there is the phone line problem...and the illiteracy. Maybe that is why Gates fuels 500 million a year into his ethnic education program. Wonder if Gates has the white man's hots for the idea that there be a billion people in China, a billion in India. Selling just half of them a pair of machine made socks or a box of condoms has been an Anglo fantasy for 170 years. eBay failed big time in Japan, shutting down eBay Japan in June. They couldn't figure out that Japanese are not Anglo Westerners. Their idea of a used products market place is prices go down with haggling- not up. Mexicans, Chinese, Indians, most Asians think the same way. Japan's Haraku market is kicking butt and moving into SE Asia. Their version of selling online is sellers sets a price and buyers make lower offers.

The word is Gates & MS are running scared for the first time. It is interesting whom they are convinced will eat them, Google! MS has been focusing big time on MSN lately. The concern is that Google will dominate over Windows with Internet services. Maybe I am missing something here but I just do not see everyone doing their computing online this end of the century.

As for the low end Dell systems, low end Compaq, HP & eMachines, I would buy a used higher end PC first. All the low end systems seem to be what I call "cripple ware", with graphics cards, modems, sound cards being system integrated and sucking ("shared" system resources. To top it off, most come with just 128 or 256MB RAM.

A friend's relative just bought a $300 Compaq at Meijer. My friend was amazed at how much slower the system works compared to his four year old PIII. Most of the inexpensive systems do not have a math co-processor, which puts the brake on graphics, games & photo editing and makes programs like adobe photoshop stand still, or they save bucks by using an outdated motherboard with a throughput speed that slows down the entire system.

I buy several desktops a year. I buy higher end Dell systems from the Dell refurbished online store. For under $450, I get some nice systems. $100 is normal for shipping a full desktop PC. If you watch the Dell specials, a few times a year, they wave shipping. They usually run "no shipping" deals about now on 2005 models and during Christmas shopping season.

By the way, I have purchased about 15 refurbished Dell systems over the last few years. They all looked brand new and I have had no failures. I buy factory refurbished & manufacturer direct brand name items as a policy. Whatever could have gone wrong, probably already did, and it was fixed. 12 years and so far I have had no defective products.