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So Where's WEBzter? (5/14/99)
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Despite that a third of all iMac purchases are going to new computer users and a healthy chunk are being bought to replace Wintel systems, the overall attitude on the PC side of the fence remains hostile to the whole iMac phenomenon. The biggest argument we keep hearing for why the iMac will fail is that it simply can't compete price-wise with the new wave of super-cheap PCs. Granted, to people who understand the importance of design, style, and simplicity, $1199 may seem like a ridiculously low price for a complete system with a blazingly fast 333 MHz G3 at its core, but the idea here is that the vast majority of the feebs out there in the real world would rather skimp and shell out, say, $299 for a WEBzter Jr.
That's right-- a company called Microworkz in Seattle is selling a bottom-of-the-barrel PC for $299. Well, okay, last month, when the systems first started shipping, a CNNfn article noted that it's not exactly bottom-of-the-barrel. Call it lower-middle-of-the-barrel, instead. It's got a Cyrix 300 MII processor, 32 MB of RAM, a 3.2 GB hard drive, a 56k modem, 2 MB of video RAM, and USB, serial, and parallel ports. Of course, you'll have to pay extra for a monitor. Oh, and for a CD-ROM drive. (And the WEBzter even lacks a floppy drive in its default configuration-- can you believe that a computer company would actually sell a machine without a floppy drive? Outrageous...) But still, it's a very inexpensive system and people who don't have a lot of cash (or people who don't do their homework) could consider the WEBzter a very attractive purchase.
But what's this? MacTimes notes that Microworkz may be having some problems getting their supposed 50,000 orders for el-cheapo systems out the door and into customers' hands. A reader wrote in to note that not only hasn't he received the Microworkz system he ordered last month, but he hasn't received the refund he requested on April 23rd, either. And while it may be just a coincidence, we're unable to connect to Microworkz' web site at the time of this broadcast. Trouble in bargain basement paradise, perhaps?
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SceneLink (1534)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/14/99 episode: May 14, 1999: Start warming up those brains, because in the future you'll need them to control your Macs. Meanwhile, Apple prepares to turn Sherlock II into the ultimate price comparison e-shopping tool, and Microworkz, the self-proclaimed kings of the cheapo PC, may be having some problems meeting their obligations...
Other scenes from that episode: 1532: Now THAT'S Mind Control (5/14/99) Twenty-first century, here we come. A few days ago, AtAT's collective "wow alert" got tripped by the upcoming advances in voice technology-- not so much the announcement that Dragon Systems was finally planning to release a decent continuous speech dictation system for the Mac, mind you; while that's nice, that's more of a catch-up for the Mac side than a cool futuristic advance... 1533: Sherlock For Hire (5/14/99) Remember when Mac OS 8.5 first came out, and Apple went into hype overdrive? Steve Jobs went so far as to say that installing 8.5 was "like getting a brand new Mac for $99." Now, don't get us wrong-- we love Mac OS 8.5, and after having used it all this time we find using an 8.1 system a little confining...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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