"Misery, heartbreak, sorrow, and despair. No, I'm not talking about adolescence; I'm referring to what happens when you're stuck with a PC from Hell. Systems that were overpriced and underpowered, parts that failed two days after the warranty expired, marathon phone calls with brain-dead tech support staff - over the years we've suffered more than our share of ills, and so have millions of other innocent PC users. But picking these 10 Worst PCs of All Time wasn't as easy as it sounds."
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-11-10
Of course, I was just presenting it from their angle, given the work they had recently achieved.
The original Mac could have been cheaper, but there was perceived value in the technological advantages of the Mac. Apple didn't understand that the user wasn't technical enough to be aware of these differences, and was driven greatly by price.
Member since:2005-07-24
Well, things have worked out pretty well for Apple. You don't have to be the most popular to make a ton of money.
But the battle for popularity was really lost when regular folks started going out and buying computers... and they didn't know anything about RAM or hard drives or resolution, or any of that technical stuff. But they did know one thing. And they new it because they had been told by one or more people... their spouse, a friend, a loved one, or perhaps that weird kid down the block that "knew about computers". They knew that they wanted a machine that was "IBM PC Compatible".
How do you compete with that?
Edited 2007-03-24 00:21
Member since:2005-11-16
It's perennial enough to be cliche. But it is usually better to be good enough at the right price than to be the best at the wrong one.
Except the IBM PC was significantly more expensive than many superior competitors. If you want to know why the PC was such a success, the price definitely isn't the answer.
Member since:2006-10-08
"If you want to know why the PC was such a success, the price definitely isn't the answer."
Note that the IBM PC and his (more or less) compatible successors had a serial port, which made him capable to be used with the already existing RS-232 communication standard. So it could be used by industry. Home consumers were not the customers the original PC was aiming at primarily, but industry was. So PCs could be easily programmable devices to communicate with other computers (i. e. mainframes) and to control electronic devices (machines). So industry bought them in masses. And because of a phenomenon we all know well, people wanted to have at home what they knew from their work. :-)
Member since:
2005-07-24
"""
and here was their successor, a bunch of underpowered bits thrown together in a box.
"""
It's perennial enough to be cliche. But it is usually better to be good enough at the right price than to be the best at the wrong one.