__/ [ B Gruff ] on Sunday 12 March 2006 22:22 \__
> On Saturday 11 March 2006 16:47 Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Such workstation would be highly suitable to people like my grandfather.
>> Computer-phoby's and seniors do not demand much from the system,
>> resource-wise. All they ever do is surf the Web, printing some stuff and
>> listening to music. Even 128 MB of RAM should suffice. For a computer that
>> will be used for at most 1 hour per day, this doesn't seem like a case of
>> becoming a cheapskate. It's good ROI.
>
> Imo, the only real problem with that machine (as is later stated in the
> article) is the amount of RAM that it comes with. Put the RAM up to 512MB,
> and you've got quite a machine - faster than about 90% of the machines with
> which I'm familiar at home, friends, family and work. That brings the
> total cost up to what - $200?
>
> Just refresh my memory (and pardon the pun!) - how long is it since 256MB
> became "standard" for new machines (across the board), and about when did
> the "bog-standard" offering get a processor faster than this one?
> Grief! NASA probably put men on the moon with less processing power than
> one of these! The only mistake they are making is to sell 128MB with a
> recent memory-hungry distro.
>
> As you say, it's good ROI - but for a *lot* of people, companies and
> applications, not just "seniors"!
Think of it as a *base* unit. Mind you, it doesn't come with a monitor. The
article ends with a "what you get - what you don't get" summary. What you
get is a base unit that you can extend. Firefox takes the same approach.
WordPress takes the same approach. You need never proactively include bits
that people will not use. In hardware this raises the cost and it software
it leads to bloat (the negligible factor) and user confusion.
So, all in all, buy your base unit, choose a monitor and get enough memory to
suit you, assuming you need it. Some people might buy such boxes merely to
test their Web pages under Linux or for the box to act as a server, router,
firewall, etc. RAM is not an issue. No need for a monitor either.
Best wishes,
Roy
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