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Re: [LUG] Cheap desktops - good value???

 

On 21/05/11 13:54, Roland Tarver wrote:
On Sat, May 21, 2011 at 1:31 PM, Gordon Henderson
<gordon+dcglug@xxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
On Sat, 21 May 2011, Roland Tarver wrote:

http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/pcs-home-office.asp?idcategory=95

Hi Folks,

I am not sure if the systems above are good value or not?

But they are cheap. (<£150 for a new desktop system). They give you
back £69 if you choose to install your own OS (click "customise and
buy"). Some units come with Ubuntu installed too.

Might be of interest to some...?
The cheap ones are Atom based... And I have to say, putting a full-on Linux
distro on an Atom board, while it's usable, it is a bit clunky and slow at
times.

The only comparison I can make is with my atom net book, with stock
ubuntu (sorry lol) 9.04. Firefox does not perform too badly. Video
works ok, but with a just acceptable delay whilst it is initially
loading.

If FF is really on a go-slow, I flip to epiphany which always seems
zippy. Incidently this is FF3.6. I have not tried 4 yet.

It remains heaps faster than my girlfriends identical netbook with a
windows on it. I guess that's a given though.


My own desktop is Atom based - and it's as optimised as I can be boterhed to
make it - I don't run anything that's not strictly needed - I have a very
simple window manager (not a desktop manager!) no hot-plug, udev, etc. and
while for the most part it's fine, something just drag. Mostly complex web
sites.

Gordon, I'm shocked and appauled that you even have a window manager
:-p ;-) haha


It's possible that if you get all the hardware accelleration going in X (or
  Unity) that it might be better though, but pop-out BBC iPlayer is rubbish on
my own Atom desktop under Firefox. Angry Birds in Chrome is not playable on
some of the more complex levels too.

iPlayer is satisfactory on mine. Slow to start, as mentioned.


So while the Atom has it's place for low-power stuff, it's probably OK for
most home office stuff, but anything else really is a bit slow.

Gordon
Best wishes
roly :-)

I just purchased this little nettop from Ebuyer

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236579

The reviews are quite helpful and informative too.


Immediately got rid of the pre-installed Linpus OS and installed Ubuntu 11.04 which works a treat.

Flash and BBC iPlayer also work great, mainly due to the onboard nVidia ION graphics hardware.

It's so quiet that it is almost silent.

In fact, I am so happy with the performance that I have adopted it is my main desktop at home.

Can thoroughly recommend as a cheap yet still-powerful alternative.

regards,

Steve

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