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An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

symplepc.com

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Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#31

Post by proveanegative »

zerohm wrote: post #20
proveanegative wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Amazing price point. Is it really? It seems in line with eBay/Craigslist prices for similar hardware, expect for the "remanufactured" part.

Try getting all those old parts to a facility, test them, assemble a consistent product, and get it out the door. Their efficiency in doing that is their value proposition.

Just to be clear, I didn't mean the price point of the parts if you bought them separately and assembled them yourself. (My bet is they'd cost you more that way, if only because of the shipping/gas expenses.) What I meant was the price you'd pay when buying a P4-era PC whole when it is sold as working by the previous owner or a small reseller.

I agree with you on the testing; if it's rigorous enough that will likely the biggest sale point.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#32

Post by dorfsmay »

egd wrote: post #24

They're cheap enough that my first thought was to pick up a couple and figure out what I'd do with them later, but the disadvantage here is that they're older boxes, which means they're going to be energy hogs (for the performance point, at least). That's what makes the eco pitch interesting - they're reducing e-waste, which is good, but energy efficiency on newer boxes (especially if you just need minimal performanc…

I agree, I love the concept, but you also have to add the cost of a monitor + keyboard + mouse AND the fact that everybody wants (needs?) a laptop these days.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#33

Post by jiggy2011 »

egd wrote: post #24

They're cheap enough that my first thought was to pick up a couple and figure out what I'd do with them later, but the disadvantage here is that they're older boxes, which means they're going to be energy hogs (for the performance point, at least). That's what makes the eco pitch interesting - they're reducing e-waste, which is good, but energy efficiency on newer boxes (especially if you just need minimal performanc…

That depends on how much time it spends powered up. Someone in the market for a PC this cheap is probably not a heavy computer user.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#34

Post by smhenderson »

Sanddancer wrote: post #12
smhenderson wrote: post #4

All the specs say "or faster", "or more", etc. but I can't see a way to change the specs on purchase. Their common questions does have this question: "Can I upgrade the hardware in it?" with the answer being "Absolutely, hack away! We have had folks put solid state drives in, or take the drives out all together..." So maybe they just mean it's capable of being upgraded but they don't do it for you at point of sale.

They're a remanufacturer, and probably work with a lot of off-lease computers and the like. The $89 price point suggests they're taking 7-8 year old dells and the like, testing them to make sure they work, and putting them in a snazzy new case. So, some machines may be loaded with new ram, some may have faster processors, etc. It's a bit of a lottery, but with a nicer warranty than the 90 days you get with most off-l…

Thanks, to you and jonrx both. I did not get that from my quick perusal of thier site.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#35

Post by cubano »

While I like the direction they are taking, I am still kinda scratching my head at the use cases.

Seniors who need a basic websurfer with malware proctection?

[edit] I guess third-world users too, but like others have remarked, the power consumption is pretty brutal.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#36

Post by gtk40 »

listic wrote: post #26

I wonder how anyone makes use of Ubuntu for even just 'web work' with just 2GB RAM. The browsers are becoming ever more bloated; I know I had swap issues on my non-SSD laptop before I upgraded from 4 to 8. Right now it uses 3.3 with 9 Chrome tabs open, an IM client, gedit and terminal. It's unfortunate, of course, because 4GB of older DDR1/DDR2 memory would be much more tough to find/expensive than 2.

I regularly use a netbook with 1GB of RAM (Dell Mini 9). It's on #! (I know, I might need to look for an alternative), which uses Openbox, but I have no problems with web surfing as long as I max at about 5 tabs. I also don't use a lot of web apps. With HTML5 video, videos work well enough. I can even run Eclipse if nothing else is open without too many problems, although for development work on it I'm usually using RDP.

Edit: I'll add I use Firefox on it. I find on Windows and Linux that Chrome takes up quite a bit more RAM than the alternatives. I use IE11 on my Windows machine with 4GB which I am using now, because Chrome would eat away my memory with the same usage.

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#37

Post by midnightclubbed »

jkot wrote: post #27

I am concerned with energy consumption of this device. Pentium 4 class computer consumes 40 watts while idle. ARM cpu would work just as fine (Ubuntu). I think this devices should not be called green, unless they disclose power efficiency rating.

I was thinking the same thing. The increased power usage (over something like an ARM based Chromebook) is probably easily offset by the power needed to manufacture new but from a cost perspective to the user it may be a false-economy (assuming the machines are in use 24/7).

You also have the power consumption of the VGA monitor to contend with.

Are they remanufacturing in the USA?

Re: An $89 remanufactured Ubuntu workstation

#39

Post by [deleted] »

listic wrote: post #26

I wonder how anyone makes use of Ubuntu for even just 'web work' with just 2GB RAM. The browsers are becoming ever more bloated; I know I had swap issues on my non-SSD laptop before I upgraded from 4 to 8. Right now it uses 3.3 with 9 Chrome tabs open, an IM client, gedit and terminal. It's unfortunate, of course, because 4GB of older DDR1/DDR2 memory would be much more tough to find/expensive than 2.

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