AMD’s $249 PC
p2pnet.net News:- On the heels of Microsoft ceo Steve Ballmer’s statement that a cheapo PC might solve some of the company’s piracy problems comes the announcement of a not-quite-so-cheap PIC from AMD – aimed at the same emerging countries.
‘Emerging’ means the inhabitants are about to come out as consumers – that’s to say, people worthy of serious attention from the corporate world.
AMD is thinking Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) at $249 all-in while Microsoft believes a $100 PC would probably do the job.
There’s another difference. And it’s a big one.
It would appear Bill and the Boyz are still at the ruminative stage while AMD, “will unveil the PIC next week as part of its ‘50×15′ initiative, in which it hopes to bring Internet connectivity to 50 percent of the world’s population by 2015,” says an InfoWorld story, continuing:
“Local service providers will be responsible for the maintenance of the system, AMD said. Those local telecommunication companies or Internet service providers will actually brand, market, sell and support each PIC.”
InfoWorld says the PIC is a small form factor desktop with a customized Microsoft Windows OS and basic application software.
“Most of the software settings are locked in before the system ships in the hopes that users won’t break any applications, and service calls can be kept to a minimum,” it says, adding:
“AMD’s Geode GX500 embedded processor powers the bare-bones system. It also comes with 128M bytes of DDR (double data rate) SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 10G-byte hard drive, four USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports for the USB keyboard and mouse and a monitor.”
Stay tuned to see who’ll be next.
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See:-
cheapo PC – Microsoft $100 PC, p2pnet, October 21, 2004
50×15′ initiative – AMD targets developing world with low-cost PC, InfoWorld, October 21, 2004
October 21st, 2004 at 10:17 pm
“not-quite-so-cheap PIC from AMD”
PC you mean? Stop talking to females online.