$25 computers are in our near future!

[BondiBlue]

USB stick-sized computer runs web, email, costs $25 - Yahoo! News

[chromal]

For $25, I'd buy one just to play with. You do get what you pay for, but computing power, video, and solid state storage have become so cheap, I'll bet that would make a handy Internet "terminal."

[xargos]

I, too, would want one to play with. For day to day computing, though, I would still need something more powerful.

[Norm201]

Intersting, but you still need a monitor. Why not just get a iPad or even a smart phone?

[BondiBlue]

Originally Posted by Norm201

Intersting, but you still need a monitor. Why not just get a iPad or even a smart phone?

Because even with the cost of a small flat panel, USB hub, generic keyboard and mouse it is half the cost of either of those.

$25 computer
$75 smaller flat panel
$20 keyboard/mouse combo
$5 USB hub

For $125 you have all your basic computing and online needs met.

[Norm201]

Originally Posted by BondiBlue

Because even with the cost of a small flat panel, USB hub, generic keyboard and mouse it is half the cost of either of those.

$25 computer
$75 smaller flat panel
$20 keyboard/mouse combo
$5 USB hub

For $125 you have all your basic computing and online needs met.

Can't argue with that!

[Marc]

Originally Posted by BondiBlue

$25 computer
$75 smaller flat panel
$20 keyboard/mouse combo
$5 USB hub

You forgot a USB Ethernet (Wifi) stick!

[xargos]

The thing only has 128MB of RAM and a 700MHz ARM processor. For word processing it would be fine, but for the way people use the Internet these days, it wouldn't cut it.

I say increase the price a little and give it a 1GHz ARM with 512MB of RAM. This puts it on par with the HTC Droid Incredible which is at least half way decent for basic modern computing.

[BondiBlue]

Originally Posted by xargos

The thing only has 128MB of RAM and a 700MHz ARM processor. For word processing it would be fine, but for the way people use the Internet these days, it wouldn't cut it.

I put up around 5,000 posts on a Dodge Intrepid forum with 75mhz and a 14.4k modem. Upgraded to 233mhz 256mb RAM and 56k for another 7,000 posts plus using Photoshop. Basically everything I do now aside from broadband downloads and silly Facebook games.

Of course it's not going to be much for gaming, flash, etc. but it will work fine for forum cruising, email, word and the like.

[xargos]

Originally Posted by BondiBlue

I put up around 5,000 posts on a Dodge Intrepid forum with 75mhz and a 14.4k modem. Upgraded to 233mhz 256mb RAM and 56k for another 7,000 posts plus using Photoshop. Basically everything I do now aside from broadband downloads and silly Facebook games.

Of course it's not going to be much for gaming, flash, etc. but it will work fine for forum cruising, email, word and the like.

There was a time just a few years ago when that would have been easy. Now that most applications and websites are so bloated, though, it seems like using something with so little RAM and processing power would just result in a bogged down system.

I did fine in the mid 1990s with a 486 DX/2 80MHz (hooray for more than 66MHz!) and 16MB of RAM when sites were still simple, but it seemed like no time at all before that was too little. By 2001 I was running at over 1GHz on an Athlon, and within a few years even that seemed slow with a fresh Windows install.

Of course all of this still beats the Texas Instruments 99/4A that I started with, but back then I saved to and loaded from cassette tapes.