Comments on: Via readies $250 PC

Can the sum of old parts add up to less than a quarter grand? The Taiwanese company says yes.

[Tex Murphy PI]

Guaranteed to fail...

Moving the OS into ROM is stupid - be it Windows or Linux.

The amount of patches required to keep these systems secure is going to quickly swallow up any remaining disk space!

[SNiemiec]

Simple update subscriptions.

These types of computer will be aimed at those not on the bleeding edge of technology. A simple subscription service that offers a CD each month/quarter which is then loaded into ROM would do the job very nicely.

[bobby_brady]

The old Cyrex CPU comes to life

This pc will never make it. People don't want to throw $200 down the toilet...Better to spend a little more and get something that actually works and runs programs.

[Michael Grogan]

Actually, this could work for some people...

...who don't play heavy games and such. Putting the OS on a ROM chip will make it more secure (viruses can't write to the chip so they can't integrate with or corrupt the OS)and will make many operations much faster because ROM access is much faster than hard drive access. Many people these days use their PC primarily for an email/internet client and you don't need massive power for that.

[Stating]

Dell Dimension For $298

Includes printer and monitor. Sales ends today.
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_2400?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

But $200 PC already exists

Via is trying to trumpet a forthcoming 1GHz PC. Of course,
Wal Mart already sells PCs with Sempron 2200+ processors
for $50 less and they are available now. Via is trying to
make headlines for a project that won't get off the ground.
No one is going to buy a PC with a 1GHz Via processor over
one with a Sempron 2200+ from AMD - and by the time
the Via gets out, the processor speed on the AMD box will
likely have increased.