Demand for sub £100 PC?

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:13

I was curious to see if anyone thinks there is a demand for a £99 PC in the United Kingdom? It would be brand new... Installed with the most "user friendly" version of Linux etc.

As far as components, they would be pretty much "entry level." For example a 2.8GHz processor, 256MB DDR memory, and 40GB hard drive.

I've checked around and no other retailer is doing this (which I find quite odd).

Maybe there is a good reason why not?

magick · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:15

yes there would be a demand for a £99 PC but you'd need a monitor with it for the sort of market that PC would be aimed at and i'm not to sure about linux. Could be nightmare for tech support.

ci_newman · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:16

This is strictly competitor talk so expect this thread to be closed shortly

90% of the household people buying a PC wouldn't be interested in running a computer on Linux

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:17

magick said:
yes there would be a demand for a £99 PC but you'd need a monitor with it for the sort of market that PC would be aimed at and i'm not to sure about linux. Could be nightmare for tech support.

Well for £99 it would just be the base unit (with software pre-installed). There's no way you could add a brand new monitor (and cover shipping) for that price.

I don't think Linux support would be terrible if you went about it the right way. Plus I think a lot of people buying the PC would only be using it for basic tasks anyway

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:18

ci_newman said:
This is strictly competitor talk so expect this thread to be closed shortly

90% of the household people buying a PC wouldn't be interested in running a computer on Linux

Who's to say the components wouldn't be bought from Overclockers UK?

Burnsy2023 · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:18

ci_newman said:
90% of the household people buying a PC wouldn't be interested in running a computer on Linux

Why not? If your just web browsing and a doing a bit of word processing, it's no harder than Windows.

Burnsy

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:19

burnsy2023 said:
Why not? If your just web browsing and a doing a bit of word processing, it's no harder than Windows.

Burnsy

Exactly.

There are some REALLY good versions of Linux out there now. I bet a lot of people wouldn't even be able to tell the difference

Danger Phoenix · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:20

ci_newman said:
This is strictly competitor talk so expect this thread to be closed shortly

I don't see any competitors in here :confused:

Danger Phoenix · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:21

There could be a demand if it was designed to play media on a TV

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:23

Danger Phoenix said:
There could be a demand if it was designed to play media on a TV

I like that idea.

Problem is, at £99 margin is EXTREMELY thin. Adding a graphics card capable of playing media effectively would completely kill profit

But you could definitely offer it as an upgrade option... A sort of "transformer" PC

ci_newman · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:24

burnsy2023 said:
Why not? If your just web browsing and a doing a bit of word processing, it's no harder than Windows.

Burnsy

Granted, (I'm not clued up on Linux any more) but can you buy Microsoft software off the shelf (i.e. the latest word processor) and install it on a Linux machine out of the box? One of the reasons that I still battle on with Windows is because it's the easiest way to do computers (file formats etc)

Danger Phoenix said:
I don't see any competitors in here

Not directly, but there's potential for this thread to be talking about personal gains selling computer hardware.. It's a mute point, the Mods will make it clear if it's not allowed

I couldn't care either way!

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:26

ci_newman said:
Granted, (I'm not clued up on Linux any more) but can you buy Microsoft software off the shelf (i.e. the latest word processor) and install it on a Linux machine out of the box? One of the reasons that I still battle on with Windows is because it's the easiest way to do computers (file formats etc)

I doubt someone who spent only £99 on a PC will be looking to pay £300 to Microsoft for their Office suite.

Surely they would be more attracted to the FREE OpenOffice?

JIM_BOB7813 · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:27

ci_newman said:
Granted, (I'm not clued up on Linux any more) but can you buy Microsoft software off the shelf (i.e. the latest word processor) and install it on a Linux machine out of the box? One of the reasons that I still battle on with Windows is because it's the easiest way to do computers (file formats etc)

Open office can read most formats, not sure about the latest .docx of whatever it is, but it happily reads .doc

For most software on windows, there is a Linux equivalent, apart from when it comes to games.

edit: found a link to a comparison table here

Abraham · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:28

AdladUK said:
I like that idea.

Problem is, at £99 margin is EXTREMELY thin. Adding a graphics card capable of playing media effectively would completely kill profit

But you could definitely offer it as an upgrade option... A sort of "transformer" PC

there are competitors who offer barebones systems for almost as low as £99
and the on board gfx on a modern system would be fine for the majority of media

i think to make it something special you'd have to be offering a monitor/keyboard/mouse with it
i can only see the niche really being there for a full system at such a low price
and yes linux would be detrimental for it, regardless of how user friendly it is
the people who'd be after an absolute budget system are those who have never heard of linux but heard plenty about windows/used it at work etc

Burnsy2023 · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:28

ci_newman said:
Granted, (I'm not clued up on Linux any more) but can you buy Microsoft software off the shelf (i.e. the latest word processor) and install it on a Linux machine out of the box? One of the reasons that I still battle on with Windows is because it's the easiest way to do computers (file formats etc)

Stick OpenOffice on there and it shouldn't be much of a problem. Although you are right about the compatibility of software off the shelf such as 'driving test' cds etc.

Burnsy

Burnsy2023 · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:29

JIM_BOB7813 said:
For most software on windows, there is a Linux equivalent, apart from when it comes to games.

Yes but the main problem is, the primary market won't be able to find the equivilents, therefore it's a bit pointless.

Burnsy

Abraham · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:29

burnsy2023 said:
Stick OpenOffice on there and it shouldn't be much of a problem. Although you are right about the compatibility of software off the shelf such as 'driving test' cds etc.

Burnsy

i cant see open office being any more of a problem than works which most budget pc's would ship with

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:30

Abraham said:
there are competitors who offer barebones systems for almost as low as £99
and the on board gfx on a modern system would be fine for the majority of media

i think to make it something special you'd have to be offering a monitor/keyboard/mouse with it
i can only see the niche really being there for a full system at such a low price
and yes linux would be detrimental for it, regardless of how user friendly it is
the people who'd be after an absolute budget system are those who have never heard of linux but heard plenty about windows/used it at work etc

By barebones I presume you mean just the case, motherboard, memory, and processor? Not a fully working PC base unit?

Because I've looked around quite a bit and can find nothing close to £99

And like I say... Including all the other stuff (monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers) for £99 would not be possible

AdladUK · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:32

burnsy2023 said:
Yes but the main problem is, the primary market won't be able to find the equivilents, therefore it's a bit pointless.

Burnsy

Then you educate them with an information pack.

List the top 10 things that people would be doing on Windows, and show them Linux equivalent

Abraham · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:32

AdladUK said:
By barebones I presume you mean just the case, motherboard, memory, and processor? Not a fully working PC base unit?

Because I've looked around quite a bit and can find nothing close to £99

And like I say... Including all the other stuff (monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers) for £99 would not be possible

no, i mean a full system with the exception of peripherals

case, cpu, mobo, ram, dvd drive, hd