I know the $199US price was good the day the story was posted, because I checked it out myself.
But as of 2002-12-17, the lowest price I can find on the Wal-Mart site is $299, for what appears to be a similar system, though it has been upgraded, I believe. F'rinstance, there's a modem, 256MB. Were there speakers with the $199 system? And of course, there's still no monitor. But all the upgrades I mention don't add up to $100 (for a
very low end system nowadays, though it's still faster than anything I have at home
).
- VIA C3 800 MHz processor offers comparable performance to the 800 MHz Celeron processor
- 133 MHz frontside bus
- 256 MB SDRAM, expandable to 1 GB
- 133 MHz memory speed
- 40 GB Ultra-ATA 100 hard drive, 5400 rpm (total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment)
- 52x CD-ROM drive
- 3.5-inch floppy disk drive
- Integrated AGP 4x graphics
- Up to 8 MB shared video memory
- Integrated AC '97 sound
- 56 Kbps modem
- Integrated 10/100 Ethernet connection
- Micro ATX tower case (14"D x 7"W x 14"H)
- Available drive bays: one 5.25-inch external, one 3.5-inch external
- Total Slots: 1 PCI
- Available PCI Slots: None
- High-speed serial port
- Parallel port
- 2 front and 2 rear USB ports
- Game port
- 104-key keyboard
- 2-button mouse with wheel
- Audio port (line-in, line-out, mic-in)
- Stereo speakers
- Operating system not included
- 1 year warranty, return to manufacturer