backtop

Print E-mail del.icio.us 60 comment(s) - last by Pirks.. on Apr 9 at 3:48 PM
ASUS branches out with a new Windows XP Home variant of the Eee PC

DailyTech first reported in late March that a new, Windows XP-based version of the Eee PC would be in store during the opening days of April. Reports from around the web pegged the price of entry at $399 despite the fact that the hardware specs appeared to be identical to the similarly-priced Eee PC 4G which is available with Xandros Linux.

Today, the reports were confirmed when BestBuy.com launched a product page for the Eee PC 4G-X. As expected, the 4G-X includes a 4GB SSD, 900MHz Intel Celeron M processor, 512MB of DDR2 memory, 7" (800x480) display, and Windows XP Home.

Likewise, the price is listed at $399.99. With a price tag that is identical to its Xandros Linux-equipped counterpart, one wonders exactly how much Microsoft is subsidizing the cost of the operating system on the Eee PC.

News of the newly available Eee PC 4G-X on BestBuy.com comes just days after Microsoft announced that it would extend the sales of Windows XP Home until at least June 30, 2010 for what it calls ultra-low-cost PCs (ULPCs). Microsoft acknowledged that it just couldn't ignore the growing demand for low-cost notebooks and insisted that "Windows XP Home provides an effective solution on these devices from a performance and cost perspective."

According to the Best Buy website, the Eee PC 4G-X is currently in stock online and ships within one business days. In-store pickup for the 2-pound notebook is also available in select Best Buy brick-and-mortar stores.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Popular
By JoshuaBuss on 4/6/2008 7:16:44 PM , Rating: 5
I foresee this thing flying off the shelves pretty fast at Best Buy... what do you guys think?




RE: Popular
By nitrous9200 on 4/6/2008 7:39:58 PM , Rating: 2
Absolutely, parents can get these for their parents or kids as light email/web machines. Plus, they've got the built in webcams for some video chatting and the SSD for quick boot up. Throw in the familiar Windows XP user interface, and for just $400 you've got a winner (which only weighs 2 pounds!).


RE: Popular
By StevoLincolnite on 4/7/2008 11:30:20 AM , Rating: 2
They actually also have decent hardware to play allot of classic games, like:

- Dungeon Keeper 2
- Stupid Invaders
- StarCraft
- Diablo 2
- WarCraft 3 (Maybe, Although I did play it on a Pentium 3, with a Geforce 4 MX440)
- Popcap + Gamehouse!
- Homeworld 2
- Freelancer
- Freespace
- X-Com
- Settlers
- Heroes of might and Magic
- Unreal Tournament 1
- Quake 3 Arena
- Half Life 1

- Snes, Nes, Gameboy Emulation!

Only thing holding it back would be the HDD, but you could always whack the games on a USB Thumb-drive.
Perfect for a little, games machine for on the go!

Only thing I wouldn't mind in the future would be an upgrade to that 7" screen.


RE: Popular
By Generic Guy on 4/7/2008 3:08:59 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Only thing holding it back would be the HDD, but you could always whack the games on a USB Thumb-drive.


If you notice, the EEE has a SDHC card slot in the side. Those of us with EEE-PCs usually use a largish SD card for extra programs/games/documents. I'm personally using at this time a class-6 16GB SDHC which so far has been plenty. A bit slower than the SSD, but it works.

The EEE also has a nice ability to hold down ESC at boot time to change boot devices for other OSes and whatnot from SD cards or USB devices (including bootable thumbdrives).


RE: Popular
By StevoLincolnite on 4/7/2008 10:55:01 PM , Rating: 2
Is it Possible to take out the SSD drive, and whack in something like a 120gb 4200RPM Laptop Drive? Or is that a no go?


RE: Popular
By bjacobson on 4/8/2008 1:26:40 AM , Rating: 2
Um...just buy a cheap laptop.


RE: Popular
By StevoLincolnite on 4/9/2008 12:20:00 AM , Rating: 2
It is a cheap laptop?


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 9:25:47 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, someone hacked up an Eee to have a harddrive placed into it.


RE: Popular
By StevoLincolnite on 4/9/2008 12:20:39 AM , Rating: 2
I might have to check it out, cheers.


RE: Popular
By dbauer2000 on 4/6/2008 7:41:31 PM , Rating: 4
I'm having trouble seeing the value proposition for these EEE PC's. In the current weekly add for both Best Buy and Circuit City, they have Toshiba dual-core Pentium laptops for $449. Walmart has an Acer on clearance for $398 with a Celeron M 540. Outside of the size factor of the smaller eee PC, why wouldn't you get the full 15.4" screen, much faster processor and more expandability of the similarly priced laptops? My thought is that most consumers are going to walk into Best Buy, see this 7" screen and ask the question "Where's the beef. I can get twice the screen size, two processors and a Toshiba name for $50 bucks more?".


RE: Popular
By jtemplin on 4/6/2008 7:55:11 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
Outside of the size factor of the smaller eee PC
You can't go outside that...theres nothing beyond that, it IS the selling point. I'm not so sure what "most consumers" will think, I agree with you that there will be people who think "what is this rinky dinky small underpowered machine, why get this when i can have something with a screen twice as big etc?" But there are also people who have a desktop and are just looking for something to take notes, surf, and just do basic portable non-entertainment computing. I think the EeePC will find a home at best buy...especially if it sits next to a 2 thousand dollar miniature sony.


RE: Popular
By See Spot Run on 4/6/2008 10:41:42 PM , Rating: 4
You hit it right on the mark. I have a desktop at home (P180) and would absolutely love the small size of the eee PC to take to class to just type up notes and surf the Internet during boring classes. I have no desire for a 15" laptop, as it would be too big and heavy to lug everywhere. 2lbs is perfect.


RE: Popular
By xSauronx on 4/7/2008 10:37:13 AM , Rating: 3
Personally, I have a T40 at 14.1" and while I like it...I don't take it with me as much as Id like to due to the shortish battery life and size. Its not as bad as a previous Inspiron I had, it's just not quite what I think now is ideal.

What I *want* is to sell this and get the 9" Eee model in a few months, and just use a 17" or 19" LCD with it when im at home.


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/7/2008 10:32:44 AM , Rating: 3
For $411 I made my Eee 4G Surf an 8G without the webcam and lesser battery life.

The chipset isn't great, but besides that I have been able to overclock the celly to 1Ghz using Eeectl.

I have also been able to get some games like Conquer Online and other games to work as well. It's not much of a gaming machine, though. But it works well for emulators.

I have gotten Photoshop to work on it which is great for simple editing.

I haven't exactly been nice to my Eee. It has fell off my bed, fell off a desk, tossed in my bag and it has been thrown around. I accidently got yogurt all over the right side.

It's a very robust laptop, and because of it's size, you're more likely to carry around with you more than any other laptop. I have found myself taking it with me every where I go.


RE: Popular
By Oregonian2 on 4/7/2008 2:35:20 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, my wife is begging for it already, it's been hard to hold her off waiting for the 9" version, let alone waiting for the Atom upgrades to get both speed up and battery life longer. She WANTS a tiny light laptop (for lightweight use)!


RE: Popular
By JoshuaBuss on 4/6/2008 8:31:27 PM , Rating: 2
You're right, a lot of people will think that way, especially if they're looking for a primary machine.

However, let's say someone comes in and says "Show me your ultra portables", "show me your lightest laptop", or just "I'm looking for another computer.."..

Then, they might end up comparing $1,200 fujitsu's and sony's to the EEE.. and suddenly they'll be like "wow.."

THIS is why I think it will fly off the shelves... a lot of people already have a decent primary machine, and $400 for a secondary, very light, compact PC might sound too good to resist..


RE: Popular
By JoshuaBuss on 4/6/2008 8:35:42 PM , Rating: 3
not to mention the hype of the macbook air is sure to have more of your average joe types asking about "ultraportables" in the first place.

Imagine how good that person might feel having seen his friend's new $1,800 macbook air, gone to best buy to ask if they have anything "like the macbook air", and being shown the $400 EEE.. he's going to think he's getting a bargain!


RE: Popular
By mmntech on 4/7/2008 8:53:58 AM , Rating: 2
You can't really compare the two since they have vastly different specs. The Celeron 900 is less than half the speed of a 1.6ghz C2D. The Air also has a higher res screen and 20x more storage.

Not bad though for the price if people are looking for something small and light. I'm still waiting for the 9'' with the HDD and the Atom platform.


RE: Popular
By rdeegvainl on 4/7/2008 9:57:16 AM , Rating: 3
Actually, I think Best Buy can and will mislead customers into thinking there is little to no difference between the two.


RE: Popular
By john3141 on 4/7/2008 12:52:15 PM , Rating: 2
I agree. Some kid with little or no knowledge of computers will sell one to some old lady...


RE: Popular
By JoshuaBuss on 4/7/2008 12:58:59 PM , Rating: 2
that's true, but let's be honest.. the kind of work MOST people will do (chatting, surfing, e-mailing) on their macbook air could be handled nearly as well by the EEE..


RE: Popular
By Pirks on 4/7/2008 7:21:23 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
the kind of work most people will do (chatting, surfing, e-mailing) on their macbook air could be handled nearly as well by the Eee PC
True enough, but the fact that most people are pretty okay with driving cheapo Chevy Aveo doesn't change the fact that premium little cars like BMW Mini also have their own slice of the market.

And the fact that turbo-charged fully-equipped Mini is much more expensive and upscale than basic cheapo Aveo changes nothing - these are just two incomparable and separate market segments.

Why you comparing premium segment with budget segment all the time when talking about Apple is a total mystery to me. Can't you see these two are very different?


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 10:11:05 AM , Rating: 2
The EeePC has a different architecture too. Most UMPCs come with the celly or Via processor and up to 1GB of RAM, SSD is also included into this scenario (Take a look at UMPC in wikipedia). The MBA is just a thin, flimsy 13 inch laptop. It can not be compared to the Eee, but people do because either side believes it to be more worth the money. Look at my response above. See what the Eee can do? It certainly can't play UT2k4, but it can run Photoshop and whatnot.

An Eee is an UMPC. A MBA is just a thin laptop. They are in different markets, but compete quite a bit.


RE: Popular
By Pirks on 4/8/2008 2:49:02 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
The MBA is just a thin, flimsy 13 inch laptop
This stupid fanatic just can't stop frothing, hissing and spitting, looks like she's a couple of grands short of the sum necessary to buy MBA so she just hisses in pain - poor fanatic, my condolences to you. Come back when you finish your high school and maybe, just maybe, realize that MBA's aluminum shell is no match to cheapo piece of plastic flimsy crap from Asus :P
quote:
They are in different markets, but compete quite a bit
Ha, they "compete"... just listen to that braindead idiot, hahahahaaa - they COMPETE!!! - so the Bugatti cars compete with cheapo Chevys and Kias? Jeez, Quiescent, do you REALLY want to earn the first prize in stupidity here? I thought teldar was number one idiot folowed by borismkv, but you quickly surpassed them both.

If you ever really WORKED on MBA and ever REALLY got PRACTICAL experience on both Asus Eee and MBA, THEN you wouldn't look like a braindead fanatic, you'd just look like a normal garden variety fanatic, which is still better than being absolutely braindead :-) Grow up please. Try both of them and then tell us something else beside your standard fanatical lies.


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 5:04:05 PM , Rating: 1
You idiot, you keep on spewing shit like a fucking 12 year old. Seriously, knock it off already. People don't want people your dumbass in this fucking website making smart ass remarks.

The EeePC is an UMPC. The MBA is just a regular laptop that is thinner. Get your facts straight. I think you're the fanboy here, because you keep trying troll others, and listen kid, if you think this is me being trolled, you must have a tiny ****.

Seriously. I can't even imagine why you even signed up to comment onto these articles. Nobody wants to hear your crap.

I just stated that the Eee and MBA competes because of people who are fanboys and fangirls. They are in entirely separate markets. Maybe you should learn to read, because you repeated what I just said.

And your crap about me being a fanatic about the EeePC and hating the MBA. Who frickin' cares? Lots of people like me know the damn truth about Apple. Your variety just happens to like to trash products and *Look* like you have an idea. And I can bet you made up the crap about using an Eee. I still say you're spewing shit again on that one.


RE: Popular
By Pirks on 4/8/08, Rating: 0
RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 5:21:37 PM , Rating: 2
Hey, kid. Listen to this: I haven't touched an MBA, and at least I have admitted that. I already stated: "Why would I?"

I wouldn't waste $3k on a laptop when I can get a quad core with 8GB of RAM, a decent case, 320GB of space, 8800GT graphics card, and some addons for half the price. Let's say that as different markets, huh?

Oh and as for laptops, I'd rather spew money out like that for something that actually is more practical than looks, if we're talking laptops.

Once upon a time, Daily Tech was just fine. Then you came along, and hell broke lose. ANY arguments on this site is not filled with crap like you fill your comments with crap. AT LEAST the arguments are made by well mannered people (I certain am to those who are well mannered in their own comments of disagreement, I have a whole IRC channel who I still hang out with even though they disagree with me about Apple.) and they actually make more sense than you.

Even the people here who question the pricing of the Eee and it's portability are more well mannered in their post than you. Just look at all the posts you made. I am sure just as many others as I am are quite tired of your posts.


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 5:32:48 PM , Rating: 2
Oh I must add to my reply to emphasize:

In the market range of performance of where the MBA is, most people are looking to have as a desktop replacement. Though thin and "ultraportable", it's not really a high end laptop. Thus why overpriced.

As for laptops, there are nicer laptops out there that are desktop replacements and would do half to 3/4ths as well as the desktop I stated. They would make a great desktop replacement.

My setup: The said stated desktop computer for music production, and the Eee to carry around with me to play old games, emulated games, a little bit of photoshop, IRC, Firefox, watching movies, and anything else I might do routinely or find I might like better than turning on a desktop, and be forced to sit in a chair.

The Eee is great for all of this, and right for the price to do so well with all of this basic things. It's why I got it.


RE: Popular
By Pirks on 4/9/2008 3:48:21 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Though thin and "ultraportable", it's not really a high end laptop. Thus why overpriced
This stupid woman doesn't know that people pay serious extra for less weight and size ALL THE TIME. This is why those uberexpensive Sonys and Toshibas and Lenovo X300 and such are called ULTRA portables. NOT because of their performance, but because of their SIZE, THICKNESS AND WEIGHT!!!

She's a hopeless and stubborn moron, I doubt that she EVER learns something in her real life.


RE: Popular
By Pirks on 4/8/2008 6:05:56 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
I haven't touched an MBA
If you haven't touched an MBA then why are you spewing bullcrap here about MBA being "flimsy"?
quote:
I can get a quad core with 8GB of RAM, a decent case, 320GB of space, 8800GT graphics card, and some addons for half the price
When you learn to compare _size_ and _weight_ of computers, then we'll talk normal, for now you act like a clown. Your desire to compare huge desktop quad-core gaming box with ultraportable 13" notebook borders on insanity.

Once upon a time, Daily Tech was just fine. Then you came along with your moronic remarks about MBA which you never even TOUCHED, and hell broke loose. ANY argument on this site besides teldar's and borismkv's is not filled with crap like you fill your comments with crap. AT LEAST the arguments about Apple hardware from robinthakur, for example, are well mannered and they actually make MUCH more sense than yours.

Just look at all the stupid MBA bashing posts you made. I am sure just as many others as I am are quite tired of your crazy attitude of bashing something you never even touched.


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 6:22:47 PM , Rating: 2
Actually I have been here longer than you have. The MBA is bigger than the EeePC too. AND, oh AND, the good part and creme feeling of this post is that you completely skip all the things that you know I'm right about and focus on the things that isn't right.

Hmm... I wonder. That's really terrible posting practices, especially for DT. People don't do that here. But you certainly do.


RE: Popular
By Pirks on 4/8/2008 6:31:17 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
and focus on the things that isn't right
Why don't you stop posting things that you know are not right? Do you find some sort of perverted pleasure when people kick you for posting obvious lies here or what?


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 6:34:46 PM , Rating: 2
See. You keep avoiding the good parts of a post. Whose to say I am right?

This crap is nothing but opinion. Your crap is nothing but opinion. The Eee being an ultraportable laptop which is great for practically everything except what I use my desktop for: It's fact.

Learn your facts and opinions, boy. You thinking the MBA is great is an opinion. I don't see you posting any articles for DT for a long, long time. Facts and Opinions are things you learn in elementary.


RE: Popular
By Pirks on 4/8/2008 7:31:15 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
You thinking the MBA is great is an opinion
Mine is an opinion, while yours about MBA being "flimsy" is a fanatical bullcrap, which is much worse than just "an opinion". Learn to stop posting stupid unresearched and non-provable bullcrap about MBA, and start posting real sound opinions instead. What's hard to get here, little girl?

I'm trying to be as clear as possible for you. In fact it's a good thing for everyone if you just continue posting opinions about how great your Eee is, this is nobody cares about, calling something great is nothing wrong if you like it, but you have to grow up and stop being hysterical about things you have no experience with, like MBA, for example. You look like a clown when you post your annoying bull about MBA, why don't you focus on posting just things about Eee and stop spewing stink about things you know nothing about? Sounds like a reasonable advice, no?


RE: Popular
By DeepBlue1975 on 4/6/2008 8:49:53 PM , Rating: 2
I'm growing tired of reading this same flawed argument over and over and over.
Before asking what you ask, think about places you could take and use a 9" framed laptop that weights less than a kilogram versus where you could take a 2.5 kilos, 15" body one.

If you don't need portability then the EEE is not for you, as neither would be any UMPC, specially because every single one of them except the EEE cost above $1000.

My wife got herself a beatiful 17" dual core compaq for $600, and I am sure the EEE with 12gb and windows XP will cost about the same.

Guess what I'll be buying? The EEE, because I need "extreme" portability much more than screen size while on the go.

Hell, I payed more than what my wife payed for her 17" notebook, for my unlocked nokia N95, and even more for my HP2790b Ipaq. Compared to these two things, an EEE PC is dirt cheap and powerful in excess, and has a really huge screen.


RE: Popular
By PrinceGaz on 4/6/2008 10:36:35 PM , Rating: 2
Size is absolutely key.

Most people don't need dual-core processors or super high resolution screens on the move, they want something which is easy to carry and does the job. Since most tasks required on the move can be done with a 500MHz Pentium II on a fairly low resolution screen, the Eee PC will be fine.

It rather reminds me of how my old Psion 3a organiser could perform pretty much everything I did in the office while on the move, except that the 3a was even more portable as it could fit in a trouser pocket. And could run for several days on a pair of AA batteries. Hopefully it won't be too long before we get something as truly portable and powerful as that again, because compared with current similar sized offerings, the old 3a was incredible.


RE: Popular
By p3ngwin on 4/6/2008 11:26:50 PM , Rating: 2
ask Asus about how they sold 1/2 million of these things and then you'll find the "...VALUE PROPOSITION... you're talking about.


RE: Popular
By shabby on 4/6/2008 7:44:58 PM , Rating: 1
If the average bestbuy costumer see's a 7" laptop for $400 and a 15" for $500 right beside it i think they'll skip it.
Heck everyone should skip it, the linux version is only $300. Im sure you can find a copy of xp for less than $100.


RE: Popular
By randomlinh on 4/6/2008 8:14:32 PM , Rating: 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

I failed to see the $100 savings. Match specs, then compare.

I'm surprised to see this w/o a premium over the linux version... is Asus taking a hit or is MS buying a chunk of space?


RE: Popular
By eye smite on 4/6/2008 7:57:34 PM , Rating: 3
Probably the best decision MS has made in the last year or so, and I hate giving credit to MS for doing something right. lol


RE: Popular
By Das Capitolin on 4/7/2008 12:23:16 PM , Rating: 2
I have seen a few reviews where the Eee didn't exactly glow. Here's one: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_c...


RE: Popular
By Oregonian2 on 4/7/2008 2:44:55 PM , Rating: 2
That person was comparing it to a Nokia 810 which I think is a bit bizarre. That person also axes the idea of writing one's next novel on the thing. That's the very thing my wife wants to use it for (when away from home computer).


RE: Popular
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 10:16:29 AM , Rating: 2
I wouldn't recommend an 8G Eee anyways. I said it's more worth it to just get an Eee 4G or Eee 4G Surf and do the upgrades yourself.


Much much space for the OS
By kmmatney on 4/6/2008 10:29:42 PM , Rating: 2
I wonder how much soace the OS takes, and I wonder if they took any steps to reduce it. it Microsoft is going to keep windows XP Home around just for portable devices, they might as well make it easy for vendors to reduce its size.




RE: Much much space for the OS
By Manch on 4/6/2008 11:21:33 PM , Rating: 2
I don't know how much they strip it down but I know you can strip it down quite a bit. I used to keep a copy on my 512thumb drive and still had plenty of space on it.


RE: Much much space for the OS
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 10:18:07 AM , Rating: 2
Someone showed me a full, working 300mb nLited XP install that he used on his Eee. It's really amazing. It even included SP2.


soon, but not yet
By Oroka on 4/7/2008 1:20:30 AM , Rating: 2
After just getting a 17" beast in Sept, I want a eee PC too! But I dont think I will touch it till the 8" display is more available with XP.




RE: soon, but not yet
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 10:21:24 AM , Rating: 2
I would wait until they place the atom processors in them. I heard the first 900 generation will have the original celly.

However, I'm not so sure about overclocking for the atom processor, and I hope they don't use the silverstone processor, because of the benchmarks I've seen of it.

If you've kept up to date, one version will have 12GB and one version will have 20GB. However, will be introduced slowly. Also what will be introduced is perhaps having a harddrive. They have also talked about having 8 hours of battery life as well...

I can only imagine how high the price will be by then...


Predictions
By XHUMAN on 4/7/2008 1:25:34 AM , Rating: 2
About two weeks ago I was debating whether to purchase a refurbished Dell ultamobile laptop (the D410) for around $329 or the $399 eeePC. After a long and agonizing decision, which included a trip to take a look at the eeePC for myself (and its horrible touchpad implementation, the display unit's touchpad wouldn't work unless the clerk was holding the unit) I went with the refurb Dell. It has proven to be a much better choice in terms of screen size, hard drive space and cpu power. Don't get me wrong, the eeePC is a great niche product, especially with a full retail install of XP, but it is still a niche product, which probably wont be a problem for those who purchase this device. I see this thing turning into the next iPOD...




RE: Predictions
By Quiescent on 4/8/2008 10:24:08 AM , Rating: 2
That has been a problem that SOME Eee users have had. It's such a rare problem that it can only be a manufactured defect. Not all products are perfect. Defects can happen.
The touch is normally better than that, but I have seen two threads on eeeuser about this specific problem. I think it's a connection issue or a defect problem.


By jpeyton on 4/7/2008 12:16:45 AM , Rating: 2
...then I realized this was the 7" model. *yawn*

They should really be pricing this at $299 if they want to make people put up with a 7" screen in this form-factor.




By JustTom on 4/7/2008 1:15:51 AM , Rating: 2
The first report promised this
quote:
Luckily for potential 4G-X customers, ASUS throws in a 4GB A-DATA SDHC card in the box to alleviate some of the storage woes.


I don't see them anywhere on the Best Buy site. Was this a false rumor?




4 gigs....
By Geek Squad Greg on 4/6/08, Rating: -1
RE: 4 gigs....
By tanishalfelven on 4/6/2008 9:30:39 PM , Rating: 5
i was wondering what sort of moron you were.
then i saw "geek squad" and realized your the worst kind.


RE: 4 gigs....
By PrinceGaz on 4/6/2008 9:59:19 PM , Rating: 2
I've never used the Geek Squad (I don't need to because I'm a geek and can fix everything myself), but I recall some adverts which suggest they are capable of diagnosing and fixing pretty much any typical problem. Which is what any true geek would be able to do, if given access to a large storeroom of replacement products (or their own cupboard full of various old parts which will most likely have something suitable for fixing the fault).

Is that not what they are like? If they are nothing more than a typical clueless high-street store employee who has been sent on a training course or two and have been taught enough to swap basic computer parts, then the name "geek" is totally wrong. A true geek adores technology, it isn't just a job. I doubt true geeks will ever be employed by "Geek Squad" as they don't pay anywhere close to what we are worth.


RE: 4 gigs....
By Inkjammer on 4/6/2008 11:00:46 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
...but I recall some adverts which suggest they are capable of diagnosing and fixing pretty much any typical problem

That's the problem with advertising. With the right delivery, with the right marketing, you can make even the biggest piece o' crap seem appealing. Works for everything except Uwe Boll. Even the dirtiest advertisers know better.


RE: 4 gigs....
By Darkskypoet on 4/7/2008 9:04:12 AM , Rating: 2
Exactly... I took a job at a Best Buy around Christmas a few years back for some extra cash, and stable hours. After facing a few weeks of cringing at the SOPs, fixing brain dead sales peoples mistakes, and talking customers down from killing someone, I just quit and grabbed a sales job at a small shop down the street. It just wasn't worth it.

I figured the discount would be nice, and I could help people there.. but damn it, only way to help them is to tell them to go away and bring their machine somewhere decent. Having to explain to a customer that of course their super expensive laptop extended warranty only guarantees they'll see their system again within two months, not being able to swap for in stock components, etc... Just got to be too much of a PITA!

F$%@! Best Buy. and F$%@! their lame geek squad, and their 9$ an hour. I went down the street and rode the Christmas gravy train of commission and bonuses until my normal freelancing picked up again. Sigh.

In my middle tech saturated town, the people there were great, the corporate limitations, processes, and procedures however hamstrung us all.


RE: 4 gigs....
By FITCamaro on 4/7/2008 9:28:32 AM , Rating: 2
Whats really sad is now they expect you to have a certification to be on the geek squad. Yes I'm going to spend a few grand to get a $9-10/hour job. I used to work for Best Buy in high school and the start of college. I eventually got tired of it and went to work for Sprint as a phone rep making $10/hr + commissions. Course after that I started doing internships.


RE: 4 gigs....
By blckgrffn on 4/7/2008 5:11:03 PM , Rating: 3
An A+ cert costs about $300 for the test and about $50 for a good book. You don't need to take a class.

What other certs do they expect? An MCSE? :-P


RE: 4 gigs....
By PrinceGaz on 4/6/2008 9:43:50 PM , Rating: 2
4 gigs can go a long way if used wisely. Do you remember how much you could fit on your 4GB HD in 1998, how large it seemed? A typical installation today has grown from the days of Office 97 running on Windows 98.

The Eee PC comes with an SDHC slot so you can add a memory card of up to whatever the largest SDHC cards available are now. 8GB cards are dirt cheap these days so you'll be easily able to install all the software you'd be likely to want to use, and have plenty of space to spare for the files you'd want to manipulate on it. No one would be using it for manipulating large video video files and the like, that is a task for your home machine with much more CPU power and drive space. As such it has plenty of storage space, and is easily upgraded.


"I f***ing cannot play Halo 2 multiplayer. I cannot do it." -- Bungie Technical Lead Chris Butcher











botimage
Copyright 2009 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki