PC Mag Slams Cheap Wal-Mart Linux Desktop 671
An anonymous reader writes "PC Magazine reviews the $200 Linux desktop wonder sold by Wal-Mart. This desktop sold out quickly and has been cited as proof that consumers are tired of the Windows tax and ready for Linux. Not so according to PC Magazine, which gave the gPC a 1.5 star rating." Previous discussions we've had about system reviews were realistic but not quite so harsh; is this just nitpicking or is the 'shiny' starting to wear off of the cheap Linux PC concept?
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:3, Informative)
All stop! This is the point where "follow the money" entered my head.
This isn't a review. It's an attack on a competing OS where PC Mag can affect the mind of their readers. Put linux in a negative light to thier readership and the readership won't move to it (and, thusly, continue to pay for PC Magazine). "Reviews" like this one serve to keep the people in doubt about switching to linux in the Microsoft world.
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:5, Informative)
Re:crap review is what it is (Score:3, Informative)
Bias? (Score:4, Informative)
Some Valid Points (Score:3, Informative)
1. Lack of flash plugin. Yes, they totally side-stepped the legal problems, but how about a script to do the job on startup??
2. Lack of polish. I backported everex's e17 gui onto an older kubuntu and I found the same issues the reviewer did. Plug a flash drive in and watch what doesn't happen. No system tray and none was ever planned. I discovered pulseaudio though and that was worth the effort.
3. It's under-powered. Until Microsoft sells PC Magazine's editors on a "new low-power market" PC Mag will call low-power anything bad.
It should go without saying that a $299 PC is the worst possible thing to happen to PC Magazine. Everex certainly isn't going to spend money on PC Magazine's editors or buy adverts with the tiny profit margins.
As an FYI: Everex's one or two of the e17 source packages are very broken. They aren't even ubuntu quality and they would never make it into a Debian repo. I took careful notes during the whole build and I'll forward them to anyone who is interested in building the desktop.
Attention KDE developers! Add native pulseaudio support to the kde desktop ASAP!
Re:My Review of the Stupid Review (Score:3, Informative)
Welcome to the entire raison d' etre of PC Magazine. Take a peek at their 'best' rated stuff sometime... none of it costs less than four figures, and often you can buy a dual-quad PowerMac for what some of these systems cost (yet strangely enough, I bet half the mag's fanboys would whine about Macs being too pricey...)
I am SO tired of Linux always being cheapified! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:4, Informative)
Been installing Linux on various types of PC's for over 10 years. Been installing Linux on PC's since before grub even existed. Some have been randomly selected laptops. Some have had poor support for "multimedia devices". None have ever choked on installing the bootloader.
Sure I might end up with the Linux equivalent of a overpowered cablemodem router but I never ended up with a brick.
My most recent "Dirt-Cheap Vista PC" purchase installed Ubuntu without a hitch.
So did my Mac Mini.
What the hay? (Score:1, Informative)
*slams cheap PC Mag uneducated revluser*
Re:Why do people expect a $5000.00 PC for $200.00 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:4, Informative)
...sure, 'cause it's a LOT harder to move the mouse 'n' click icons in Linux than it is in Windows...
Yeah, that MS-Paint has GIMP beat somethin' fierce. If you're thinking Adobe, enjoy paying $649 for functionality the average Ubuntu user has built-in.
Hint: An Apache server is NOT a web server run by Native Americans. It's used by many providers for a reason. Guess what that reason is?
Installed Ubuntu 6.10/XP dual-boot on my work and one of my home PCs. XP needed me to hunt down drivers for my video card, TV card, NIC, and sound card. Ubuntu recognized 'em all and I was watching TV on it 20 minutes later. Yay, TVtime!
Still not convinced? Friend of mine asked me to get their PC to recognize their digital camera. Took a driver disk before Windows would recognize the cam. I plugged it into my Ubuntu box....
...and lo and behold, pics!
Linux is starting to get device drivers down better than Windows, if you're willing to look.
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:3, Informative)
Re:My Kids Like It (Score:3, Informative)
What the System Really Lacks (Score:3, Informative)
For the specs I've seen Abi or Koffice might be a better choice than Open Office, the specs for the machine are minimal. If I had one of these machines the first thing I'd do is add memory. It's still slow, but would at least run some interesting stuff.
Still, it is a nice first stab at a decent low end home machine. I can remember being happy with my old K6 300. This thing has better specs than that. You just have to be choosy in what you run.
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:3, Informative)
Honestly, Ubuntu is much easier for any new computer user to use. Someone that has used Windows and then tried to switch to another OS will expect that OS to operate like Windows. The first thing to keep in mind is that Linux isn't Windows and you should not view it as Windows. View it as something else. Maybe you'll conclude it is more or maybe you'll conclude less, but they are not the same animal, so please treat them differently.
One thing that most people forget about Windows is that it has taken the route of privacy violation. From the 47 programs that monitor what you do and report back to Microsoft to the WGA/WGN that operates as if it were Walmart knocking on your door some Sunday morning wanting to rifle through your belongings in order to determine if what you have that is from Walmart was actually legitimately paid for. You wouldn't let Walmart enter your home and search your belongings, hence you should not allow Microsoft to do the same thing. So Microsoft is doing it with a hidden camera. You wouldn't let Walmart monitor you with a hidden camera. So, if you want to ensure your privacy and the security of your computer Linux and open source is there to help you. It's not just the open community and the good support. It is about the privacy, security, and peace of mind in knowing that someone, some entity, isn't violating your rights.
Linux is growing wildly. Almost magically. People are trying it and liking it. But you get more. That peace of mind is unbeatable.
I have one of those $200 computers from Walmart (Score:3, Informative)
Here are my comments on the Walmart computer.
Good
- Cheap! $200.
- Very Quiet!
- Seems stable.
- Comes with lots of installed software: Word Processor, Photo Editing, Spreadsheet, a PDF viewer, FireFox,
Bad
- Somewhat slow (which I had expected.)
- I think that it will take me a long time to get used to GOS (Linux?), but my kids are doing fine with it. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to change the screen resolution. There are icons that I can't seem to get rid of, but I haven't tried too much.
- The little documentation that came with the machine was not 100% correct.
Overall: Seems like a great cheap computer for the kids and it may even be good for surfing the Web and learning about computers in general.
Re:Accurate, considering the caveats (Score:3, Informative)