Sneak Peek at the Zonbu PC

Iria · May 27, 2007, 05:17 AM

Source: ExtremeTech
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A $99 PC with up to 100GB of storage, a small footprint, and the ability to play your multimedia files? That's pretty hard to believe, but the Zonbu PC pulls it off.

This system, meant to be purchased as a second PC for the home, comes with a 1.2GHz Via C7 ULV processor, integrated graphics, 512MB of DDR2 memory, and a customized Linux OS based on Gentoo. The OS is loaded onto a 4GB CompactFlash card. Interestingly enough, the system has no hard drive. Rather, the company offers online storage: You can either rent out 25GB of space for $12.95 a month or 100GB for $19.95 a month on the Amazon S3 online service. You can also access the files you save online from another PC and upload files from other systems using a Windows importer provided by Zonbu.

Zelig · May 27, 2007, 05:25 AM

Darn, here I was thinking it was an awesome deal for $100, I could just get a hard drive, and have the whole thing with 500 GB of space for maybe $250.

Then I clicked the link, and see that it's actually $250, if you don't subscribe to the online storage plan.

To put the price in perspective, if you sign up to the 2 year 25GB storage deal, it costs $409.8, if you sign up for the 100GB deal, it costs $577.8. 1 year deals are $354.4 and $438.4 for the 25GB and 100GB, respectively.

If you just buy the system and a 500GB drive separately, it totals around $370. Not a bad deal, if it's possible to add drives, I don't see why anyone would want to get the subscription.

Jitter · May 27, 2007, 08:58 PM

I think this is pretty lame. You can buy an emachine for a couple hundred dollars. While not the greatest by any means they are not bad for people just wanting something to surf around on or whatever.

May 27, 2007, 05:17 AM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 87	Sneak Peek at the Zonbu PC Source: ExtremeTech __________ A $99 PC with up to 100GB of storage, a small footprint, and the ability to play your multimedia files? That's pretty hard to believe, but the Zonbu PC pulls it off. This system, meant to be purchased as a second PC for the home, comes with a 1.2GHz Via C7 ULV processor, integrated graphics, 512MB of DDR2 memory, and a customized Linux OS based on Gentoo. The OS is loaded onto a 4GB CompactFlash card. Interestingly enough, the system has no hard drive. Rather, the company offers online storage: You can either rent out 25GB of space for $12.95 a month or 100GB for $19.95 a month on the Amazon S3 online service. You can also access the files you save online from another PC and upload files from other systems using a Windows importer provided by Zonbu.

May 27, 2007, 05:25 AM	#2
Zelig HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 3,187 Rep Power: 69 System Specs	Darn, here I was thinking it was an awesome deal for $100, I could just get a hard drive, and have the whole thing with 500 GB of space for maybe $250. Then I clicked the link, and see that it's actually $250, if you don't subscribe to the online storage plan. To put the price in perspective, if you sign up to the 2 year 25GB storage deal, it costs $409.8, if you sign up for the 100GB deal, it costs $577.8. 1 year deals are $354.4 and $438.4 for the 25GB and 100GB, respectively. If you just buy the system and a 500GB drive separately, it totals around $370. Not a bad deal, if it's possible to add drives, I don't see why anyone would want to get the subscription. __________________ --

May 27, 2007, 08:58 PM	#3
Jitter HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 533 Rep Power: 0	I think this is pretty lame. You can buy an emachine for a couple hundred dollars. While not the greatest by any means they are not bad for people just wanting something to surf around on or whatever. __________________ Sony Vaio PCV-RX670 P4 1.8ghz XP Pro SP2 1 GB PC2100 RAM ATI All in Wonder 9700 pro Audigy 2 ZS Aquamark ~29,500 3dMark03 ~ 5,000