AMD Offering Blueprint For $249 PC

22 Oct, 2004 at 5:22pm ET Article published in Tech

Advanced Micro Devices plans to unfurl next week a blueprint for building a low-price computer aimed at providing Internet access to people in so-called emerging markets.

Dubbed the Personal Internet Communicator, the machine is geared toward families who make the equivalent of between $1,000 and $6,000 annually. Three companies in India and Latin America will be among the first to market versions of the machine, an AMD representative said. The Personal Internet Communicator, or PIC as AMD calls it, will cost about $249 without a display. To reach that price, AMD selected several standard PC components, including one of its own Geode x86 processors, 128MB of Samsung RAM and a 10GB Seagate hard drive. The company also specifies a version of Microsoft’s Windows CE operating system, fitted with Windows XP-extensions, allowing it to provide consumers with a graphical interface, e-mail, Web browsing, instant messaging and word processing. The PIC machines will also be able to play multimedia files and show PDF and PowerPoint files, AMD said. “The performance (of a PIC machine) is very robust,” said Steve Howard, an AMD spokesman. “It boots in 25 seconds, and, once loaded, the browser performance is very snappy and word processing and spreadsheet is equivalent to what you’d see in a PC today.”

Source: ZD Net

Comments

22 Oct 2004 ~ 6:30pm RWB A PC that costs $249, WITHOUT a display....... for families who don't even make enough money to buy enough food?
22 Oct 2004 ~ 6:50pm primesuspect You can get a compaq with a sempron 2800+, 256mb of PC2700 DDR, and a 40gb HD for $349..... I don't see the big deal about this...

And like RWB said, I'm sure people in "developing markets" have more important concerns, like CLOTHES or fricking CLEAN WATER
22 Oct 2004 ~ 9:09pm Leonardo I think this is a very good idea. There are many parts of the world, yes, third world, where computer/internet communications are their ONLY link to other areas, except for human or animal transportation. There are communities, which pool their resources, or get government funds for just this type of thing. Another point - 6-10000 USD is some places is a princely sum.
22 Oct 2004 ~ 9:37pm PirateNinja Emerging markets does not necesairly mean outside of the united states. I think this is for the lower class citizens of the US.