Bill Jonas on Tue, 9 Jul 2002 14:19:44 -0400


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Re: [PLUG] Memory hardware questions


On Mon, Jul 08, 2002 at 08:35:15PM -0400, Paul wrote:
> Why does the one with Linux cost less?  Why do they leave out something 
> as cheap as a floppy drive?

I don't know since I don't plan their business strategy or product
lines.  I'll offer some speculation, though.

Floppy drive: Well, they're selling the machine for $300, and floppy
drives cost money.  With the razor-thin profit margins on hardware out
there, I imagine that in a machine that cheap, the wholesale price of a
floppy drive takes up a not-insignificant percentage of the $300 retail
-- maybe a couple percent, which plays havoc with 5-10% margins.  This
way, they get to offer a machine under $300 and therefore some measure
of bragging rights.  Besides, hasn't Apple shown us that, in the days of
bootable CD-ROMs, floppy drives aren't strictly necessary?  Somebody
that wants one can go buy one for $15-20 or get a USB floppy drive for
(guessing) $50 anyway.

Price difference: This won't be a shocker.  The low-end OS-less machine
is more powerful than the low-end Lindows machine:

Microtel SYSMAR701 (Lindows machine, $299):
850 MHz Duron
128 MB memory
10 GB hard drive
56 Kbps V.92 modem (this is a softmodem[1])
LindowsOS operating system (preinstalled)
Monitor and floppy disk drive are not included.

Microtel SYSMAR517 (OS-less machine, $399):
1.3 GHz Duron (or 1.3GHz Celeron in the SYSMAR518)
128 MB memory
40 GB hard drive
CD-ROM drive
56 Kbps modem (this is a hardware modem[2])
3.5-inch floppy disk drive
Windows and monitor are not included

And, interestingly enough, it looks like this second machine is the same
price with or without Lindows, but $99 cheaper than the same model with
XP.[3]

[1] For the life of me, I can't find a reference, but I know I saw it
somewhere.  It's a softmodem with a Linux driver according to what I
(allegedly) read.
[2] http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/05/02/1514240
[3] http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1870924
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1870915
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1881658

-- 
Bill Jonas    *    bill@billjonas.com    *    http://www.billjonas.com/
"They that can give up  essential  liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."        -- Benjamin Franklin

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