BudgetPc
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eMachines kicks out new desktop lineup for Vista
There's a good chance your dealing with some eMachines boxes when the "high-end" boasts a hefty $530 pricetag. The Gateway-owned budget PC builder has a new lineup of desktops out today to support Windows Vista, ranging from the Celeron-based T3604 to the Pentium D T5224. In the low-end, the T3604 sports a Celeron D 356 3.33GHz processor, with 512MB (hardly adequate for blazing Vista performance) of RAM, a 120GB HDD, CD-RW/DVD combo drive, Intel 950 graphics, Vista Home Basic and a $350 pricetag after a $50 instant rebate. Next up is the T5082, which runs a Pentium 4 631 3GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, a super-multi DVD drive, 15-in-1 card reader, ATI Radeon X300-based integrated graphics, Vista Home Basic and a $400 pricetag after the $50 rebate. Finally, the T5224 really does it up fancy for an eMachines box, including a Pentium D 820 proc running at 2.8GHz, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, super-multi DVD drive, card reader, Intel 950 graphics (bleh), and Vista Home Premium. The box is Viiv compatible, and will run you $530 after the $50 rebate. All of the PCs have 5.1 surround sound, DirectX 9.0 graphics, and a PCI Express x16 slot for upgrading the graphics -- which seems highly advisable. You should be able to find these things at retail outlets before too terribly long.
Apple, 50 Cent to develop budget PC?
Many people know that Steve Jobs is a Beatles fan, and his affinity for Irish rock group U2 is also no secret, but how many of you were aware that his Steveness is seemingly down with G-Unit? Well, maybe the Foolish Genius (thanks, Wu-Tang Name Generator) isn't exactly bumping "In Da Club" or "Candy Shop" on his many iPods, but Forbes is reporting that Apple is indeed in talks with G-Unit founder and multiple gunshot survivor 50 Cent about manufacturing a co-branded line of affordable computers targeted at inner-city families. Although there's been no word from Cupertino on such a project (big surprise), 50's manager Chris Lighty confirmed to Forbes (free online subscription required) that the two camps are in the midst of negotiations, complimenting the Apple founder on his business savvy and adding that the two men "get each other." When we contacted him about this story, Mr. Jobs had little to say about the company's future plans, but his suggestion that we "step off" or risk having a "cap busted" somewhere unpleasant makes us think that Forbes might just be on to something here.[Via The Raw Feed and AllHipHop]
Details on YellowSheepRiver's $150 Municator
We first heard about the Municator / YSR-639 from our Chinese bureau a couple weeks ago; now it looks like we've got somemore solid info on the $146 Linux PC by Chinese firm YellowSheepRiver. It's not exactly a device we imagine is going to run amok in the state-driven market before the impending worldwide release of the OLPC (or to a lesser extent, the Edu-wise), but the BYOKVM angle will definitely put the hurt on Intel's Community PC. The specs ain't too shabby either: the Municator features a 400 or 800mhz 64-bit Godson-2 CPU, 40GB drive, 256MB of RAM, four USB 2.0 ports, IrDA, S-video, VGA, Ethernet, PS/2, and runs a Linux variant called Thinix OS. YellowSheepRiver also supposedly has a lithium-ion battery, WiFi, and modem options lined up; we'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.[Via LinuxDevices, thanks Kim L]
