India launches its first cheap PC
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:-) Point conceded :-)
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It's not just developers that need speed. Why should someone using a word processor have to wait a minute while it loads? Why shouldn't their children be able to play one of those cool new games that need a lot of CPU and memory? And what if they want to play a DVD (well, they can't by default as it doesn't come with a DVD drive, but assume they add one later). 1 GHz is too slow! And I am wondering what kinda motherboad they'd be using - probably some cheap slow thing that's been banned in other countries.
I agree with Marc. It's only been 2 months since I finally said goodbye to my PII 450 (albeit it has 768 Mb RAM). I've used it for many things, even playing games like Counter Strike, Warcraft 3, The Sims2 not to mention e-mailing and word processing and it gave a decent performance. However, I do think they should use at least 256 Mb RAM, especially when running Windows XP. And I feel the price is a tad expensive ($225) for such specs. Edbert
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4735927.stm[^] Designed by IT firm HCL Infosystems, it is priced at 9,990 rupees ($225) and includes all the basic features required for a first-time user. SPECIFICATIONS Processor - 1 GHz Memory - 128 MB RAM Hard disk memory - 40 GB Monitor - 15-inch colour At present, India has 15 million computers and five million net connections. The government wants to increase the number to 75 million computers and 45 million net connections by 2010. 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. And 128 MB Ram????????? Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. The PC comes with Linux installed and XP starter edition ia available for an extra amount (not mentioned at all as you can see)! I think this totally sucks. I would love India to have more computer users, but when the rest of the world is trying to break the 4 Ghz mark, it totally sucks that we are trying to sell cheap 1 GHz PCs. The manufacturer bastards probably intend to clean up in a big way through mass sales. To call this "IT development" is dumb and inaccurate! :mad:
Nishant Sivakumar wrote: 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. Well my computer runs at 1.6 GHz, so to me that isn't so slow I guess. Nishant Sivakumar wrote: And 128 MB Ram????????? With XP Pro, that's just enough to run - and not something you want to live with for very long - but I'm guessing XP Starter Edition needs a fair bit less to run, making it tolerable for the non-power-user. Nishant Sivakumar wrote: Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. I've got half that, but I'm not into gaming so I don't really need that much - and many people may feel the same. I used the money saved to get more RAM - have 1GB right now. The difference between 512MB and 1GB is worlds! :-D Nishant Sivakumar wrote: 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. 10 GB for the system and 10 for the programs leaves 20 for files - seems good enough for those who don't need to do a lot of dev work (and a lot of people won't be doing any). Nishant Sivakumar wrote: And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. :sigh:
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4735927.stm[^] Designed by IT firm HCL Infosystems, it is priced at 9,990 rupees ($225) and includes all the basic features required for a first-time user. SPECIFICATIONS Processor - 1 GHz Memory - 128 MB RAM Hard disk memory - 40 GB Monitor - 15-inch colour At present, India has 15 million computers and five million net connections. The government wants to increase the number to 75 million computers and 45 million net connections by 2010. 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. And 128 MB Ram????????? Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. The PC comes with Linux installed and XP starter edition ia available for an extra amount (not mentioned at all as you can see)! I think this totally sucks. I would love India to have more computer users, but when the rest of the world is trying to break the 4 Ghz mark, it totally sucks that we are trying to sell cheap 1 GHz PCs. The manufacturer bastards probably intend to clean up in a big way through mass sales. To call this "IT development" is dumb and inaccurate! :mad:
It is Perfect for Redhat Linux 8.0. I certainly like the price and Features. Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 ww.keencomputer.com
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It is Perfect for Redhat Linux 8.0. I certainly like the price and Features. Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 ww.keencomputer.com
keencomputer wrote: It is Perfect for Redhat Linux 8.0. I bet Gnome/KDE are not going to run all that fast on such specs.
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Nishant Sivakumar wrote: 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. Well my computer runs at 1.6 GHz, so to me that isn't so slow I guess. Nishant Sivakumar wrote: And 128 MB Ram????????? With XP Pro, that's just enough to run - and not something you want to live with for very long - but I'm guessing XP Starter Edition needs a fair bit less to run, making it tolerable for the non-power-user. Nishant Sivakumar wrote: Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. I've got half that, but I'm not into gaming so I don't really need that much - and many people may feel the same. I used the money saved to get more RAM - have 1GB right now. The difference between 512MB and 1GB is worlds! :-D Nishant Sivakumar wrote: 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. 10 GB for the system and 10 for the programs leaves 20 for files - seems good enough for those who don't need to do a lot of dev work (and a lot of people won't be doing any). Nishant Sivakumar wrote: And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. :sigh:
It's probably an okay config, but buying obsolete computers as a part of IT development is not something I'd consider smart.
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I agree with Marc. It's only been 2 months since I finally said goodbye to my PII 450 (albeit it has 768 Mb RAM). I've used it for many things, even playing games like Counter Strike, Warcraft 3, The Sims2 not to mention e-mailing and word processing and it gave a decent performance. However, I do think they should use at least 256 Mb RAM, especially when running Windows XP. And I feel the price is a tad expensive ($225) for such specs. Edbert
Looks like the Govt. and this specific company have a deal. They'll probably be selling 10,000 to 30,000 computers and that'd give them a really good profit. Hmmm! :suss:
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keencomputer wrote: It is Perfect for Redhat Linux 8.0. I bet Gnome/KDE are not going to run all that fast on such specs.
Actually I do development on such system. Right Here in Canada with KDE and Genome. with 700 MHz PIII- 15 inch Monitor and 256 MB RAM. I run Redhat 8.0 as the production system/ development system. Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 ww.keencomputer.com
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4735927.stm[^] Designed by IT firm HCL Infosystems, it is priced at 9,990 rupees ($225) and includes all the basic features required for a first-time user. SPECIFICATIONS Processor - 1 GHz Memory - 128 MB RAM Hard disk memory - 40 GB Monitor - 15-inch colour At present, India has 15 million computers and five million net connections. The government wants to increase the number to 75 million computers and 45 million net connections by 2010. 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. And 128 MB Ram????????? Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. The PC comes with Linux installed and XP starter edition ia available for an extra amount (not mentioned at all as you can see)! I think this totally sucks. I would love India to have more computer users, but when the rest of the world is trying to break the 4 Ghz mark, it totally sucks that we are trying to sell cheap 1 GHz PCs. The manufacturer bastards probably intend to clean up in a big way through mass sales. To call this "IT development" is dumb and inaccurate! :mad:
Nishant Sivakumar wrote: To call this "IT development" is dumb and inaccurate! I wont go that far Nish.. Its a start and as far as starts go it is damn good as well... My old PC the one i use at home is PIII at 933 Mhz but its 256 MB and mainly i use for surfing the net and basic word processing ..its good for that.. Heavy graphics intensive gaming..its not designed for that.. I know many many people who do not have a Home PC yet. For them its a perfect start.Remember that Home PC was a novelty or a rich only phenomenon as recently as 3 or 4 years ago..That is a short time frame for people who do not do software development :-) Regards,
Agni -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4735927.stm[^] Designed by IT firm HCL Infosystems, it is priced at 9,990 rupees ($225) and includes all the basic features required for a first-time user. SPECIFICATIONS Processor - 1 GHz Memory - 128 MB RAM Hard disk memory - 40 GB Monitor - 15-inch colour At present, India has 15 million computers and five million net connections. The government wants to increase the number to 75 million computers and 45 million net connections by 2010. 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. And 128 MB Ram????????? Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. The PC comes with Linux installed and XP starter edition ia available for an extra amount (not mentioned at all as you can see)! I think this totally sucks. I would love India to have more computer users, but when the rest of the world is trying to break the 4 Ghz mark, it totally sucks that we are trying to sell cheap 1 GHz PCs. The manufacturer bastards probably intend to clean up in a big way through mass sales. To call this "IT development" is dumb and inaccurate! :mad:
I am going to guess that this is also a *public reaction* and demand = supply test. If the public says, "Hey cool, just what I needed I'll take 10,000,000." Then they did a very good job on the spec and hats off to them. I certainly think that it's a very solid configuration. I'm running a couple of 750's here with 256 megs of RAM and they are runnning servers with ease {Okay, maybe not ease. Certainly not any problems though.} On the other hand it's a great entry point. It will give them a chance to see how many people want upgrades right off and it allows quite a bit of flexibility. I think this was a wise choice to come in low and get a reaction. If they sell em' fast and need 1,000,000 more in a week then they did a good job. If people want lots of upgrades then they have a business case for diversity. They can then offer low-mid-high configurations to meet everyones needs. Give this some time Nish. It will stir into the pot on it's own and in the end the recipe should be satisfying. If they screw it up royally better to do it with cheap stuff than boxes that are going for $2500 ($US) a pop. I should mention that I have 7 mini-pc's that are 1.2 gig boxes running 384 megs of RAM. They have no trouble doing 95% of what I ask them. This will be a good thing for your people and your country. Give it a chance. Also, what manufacture would not comply when hearing, "Hey, I'll give you more money for a higher end configuration." This will all work out. Thank God they didn't decide to MAC's instead of PC's. The entry point price would be about $3500 ($US) and no software at all. :omg:
I know you can't become if you only say what you would have done and you'll miss a million miles of fun." - Len Work hard, play hard. Don't forget who you are and don't forget where you're from. Do all these things well and you won't have to wonder where you are going.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4735927.stm[^] Designed by IT firm HCL Infosystems, it is priced at 9,990 rupees ($225) and includes all the basic features required for a first-time user. SPECIFICATIONS Processor - 1 GHz Memory - 128 MB RAM Hard disk memory - 40 GB Monitor - 15-inch colour At present, India has 15 million computers and five million net connections. The government wants to increase the number to 75 million computers and 45 million net connections by 2010. 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. And 128 MB Ram????????? Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. The PC comes with Linux installed and XP starter edition ia available for an extra amount (not mentioned at all as you can see)! I think this totally sucks. I would love India to have more computer users, but when the rest of the world is trying to break the 4 Ghz mark, it totally sucks that we are trying to sell cheap 1 GHz PCs. The manufacturer bastards probably intend to clean up in a big way through mass sales. To call this "IT development" is dumb and inaccurate! :mad:
And I feel proud!! :cool: -- LuisR
Luis Alonso Ramos Intelectix - Chihuahua, Mexico Not much here: My CP Blog!
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Actually I do development on such system. Right Here in Canada with KDE and Genome. with 700 MHz PIII- 15 inch Monitor and 256 MB RAM. I run Redhat 8.0 as the production system/ development system. Tapas Shome System Software Engineer Keen Computer Solutions 1408 Erin Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3E 2S8 ww.keencomputer.com
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And I feel proud!! :cool: -- LuisR
Luis Alonso Ramos Intelectix - Chihuahua, Mexico Not much here: My CP Blog!
Luis Alonso Ramos wrote: And I feel proud!! -- LuisR :confused:
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I am going to guess that this is also a *public reaction* and demand = supply test. If the public says, "Hey cool, just what I needed I'll take 10,000,000." Then they did a very good job on the spec and hats off to them. I certainly think that it's a very solid configuration. I'm running a couple of 750's here with 256 megs of RAM and they are runnning servers with ease {Okay, maybe not ease. Certainly not any problems though.} On the other hand it's a great entry point. It will give them a chance to see how many people want upgrades right off and it allows quite a bit of flexibility. I think this was a wise choice to come in low and get a reaction. If they sell em' fast and need 1,000,000 more in a week then they did a good job. If people want lots of upgrades then they have a business case for diversity. They can then offer low-mid-high configurations to meet everyones needs. Give this some time Nish. It will stir into the pot on it's own and in the end the recipe should be satisfying. If they screw it up royally better to do it with cheap stuff than boxes that are going for $2500 ($US) a pop. I should mention that I have 7 mini-pc's that are 1.2 gig boxes running 384 megs of RAM. They have no trouble doing 95% of what I ask them. This will be a good thing for your people and your country. Give it a chance. Also, what manufacture would not comply when hearing, "Hey, I'll give you more money for a higher end configuration." This will all work out. Thank God they didn't decide to MAC's instead of PC's. The entry point price would be about $3500 ($US) and no software at all. :omg:
I know you can't become if you only say what you would have done and you'll miss a million miles of fun." - Len Work hard, play hard. Don't forget who you are and don't forget where you're from. Do all these things well and you won't have to wonder where you are going.
code-frog wrote: Thank God they didn't decide to MAC's instead of PC's. The entry point price would be about $3500 ($US) and no software at all. :-D
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And I feel proud!! :cool: -- LuisR
Luis Alonso Ramos Intelectix - Chihuahua, Mexico Not much here: My CP Blog!
Luis Alonso Ramos wrote: And I feel proud!! -- LuisR LOL - you replied to the wrong thread. Got me confused intially as I hadn't seen the geek-test thread :-)
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4735927.stm[^] Designed by IT firm HCL Infosystems, it is priced at 9,990 rupees ($225) and includes all the basic features required for a first-time user. SPECIFICATIONS Processor - 1 GHz Memory - 128 MB RAM Hard disk memory - 40 GB Monitor - 15-inch colour At present, India has 15 million computers and five million net connections. The government wants to increase the number to 75 million computers and 45 million net connections by 2010. 1 GHz???? WTF! It's probably an obsolete P-2 or a P-3. And 128 MB Ram????????? Most people have graphics cards with double that much memory. 40 GB is probably ok for a low-end PC. And yeah 15" monitor goes well with the rest of the config. The PC comes with Linux installed and XP starter edition ia available for an extra amount (not mentioned at all as you can see)! I think this totally sucks. I would love India to have more computer users, but when the rest of the world is trying to break the 4 Ghz mark, it totally sucks that we are trying to sell cheap 1 GHz PCs. The manufacturer bastards probably intend to clean up in a big way through mass sales. To call this "IT development" is dumb and inaccurate! :mad:
Nishant Sivakumar wrote: I think this totally sucks. I disagree. In the first place, Aam aadmi doesn't have enough money to dole out for dual core processors with gigabytes of memory and oodles of disk space and powerful graphics cards. Secondly, he doesn't have to. The average user is not going to compile a .net project with a bajillion lines of code. He's not going to play the latest FPS game. He just wants to get that document printed, and to email his friends. Heck, he might even be *reluctant* to do that. Don't assume everybody is a techie as you or I. :) Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "You still have the coolest name on CodeProject." — David Wulff to me.
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Looks like the Govt. and this specific company have a deal. They'll probably be selling 10,000 to 30,000 computers and that'd give them a really good profit. Hmmm! :suss:
WTF? No, I mean, WTF? :wtf: Of course they have a deal! How else would they be able to sell them? Of course they will make a profit. That's what they're there for! Or am I missing the point? :~ Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "You still have the coolest name on CodeProject." — David Wulff to me.
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Touche! 5. :-D Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "You still have the coolest name on CodeProject." — David Wulff to me.
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Nishant Sivakumar wrote: I think this totally sucks. I disagree. In the first place, Aam aadmi doesn't have enough money to dole out for dual core processors with gigabytes of memory and oodles of disk space and powerful graphics cards. Secondly, he doesn't have to. The average user is not going to compile a .net project with a bajillion lines of code. He's not going to play the latest FPS game. He just wants to get that document printed, and to email his friends. Heck, he might even be *reluctant* to do that. Don't assume everybody is a techie as you or I. :) Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "You still have the coolest name on CodeProject." — David Wulff to me.
Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: Aam aadmi :confused: Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: The average user is not going to compile a .net project with a bajillion lines of code. He's not going to play the latest FPS game. He just wants to get that document printed, and to email his friends. My dad (non-techie) uses Word and Excel, IE and Outlook, and also a custom StockMarket software which requires that he is VPN'd to a server in Bombay. He has a P-4 2.4 GHz laptop with 512 MB Ram now and he is very happy. Until 6 months ago, he had a P-3 1.6 laptop with 128 MB Ram and used to complain that everything took ages to load. I assume that the majority of non-techie home-users would have requirements similar to my dad. So why start them off with a slow PC? It'd be a bad investment in the long run and only serves to make HCL richer in a big way. Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: Don't assume everybody is a techie as you or I. I never did! :-)
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: Aam aadmi :confused: Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: The average user is not going to compile a .net project with a bajillion lines of code. He's not going to play the latest FPS game. He just wants to get that document printed, and to email his friends. My dad (non-techie) uses Word and Excel, IE and Outlook, and also a custom StockMarket software which requires that he is VPN'd to a server in Bombay. He has a P-4 2.4 GHz laptop with 512 MB Ram now and he is very happy. Until 6 months ago, he had a P-3 1.6 laptop with 128 MB Ram and used to complain that everything took ages to load. I assume that the majority of non-techie home-users would have requirements similar to my dad. So why start them off with a slow PC? It'd be a bad investment in the long run and only serves to make HCL richer in a big way. Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: Don't assume everybody is a techie as you or I. I never did! :-)
Aam aadmi is a Hindi term meaning 'common man'. Like the Americans say Joe Sixpack, I think. Or is that Regular Joe? I did some thinking since I posted that message and I have to concede 128 MB is a tad too less. 256 should do the job. :) Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "You still have the coolest name on CodeProject." — David Wulff to me.