Walmart's $498 Laptop

Does anyone know who makes this? Is it possible to purchase one without an OS (I have a low opinion of Lindows)?

Good luck with Wallmart selling it without the os that they are not able to get in bulk orders, which is sad. If they did sell it without the os, I don't see it being too much cheaper then that.

Were you not planning on just formating it and starting over?

I did some digging. The company that makes it is Balance Digital Technology (or "balance" for short). Balance sells other laptop models, and sells some spiffy looking low end desktops as well.

You can check out there stuff at http://balance-digital.com.

If you want to call them and ask if they sell stuff direct, or what other businesses they verdor to, you can give them a call at (800) 242-1922 or email them at [email protected].

But you won't be able to get any type of customized laptop from Wal-Mart, because they buy stuff bulk and sell it as-is.

dont buy from wallmart, period.

The oem edition of Lindows is about 10 dollars, so it wouldn't really lower the cost of it. I was looking at it earlier today and thought it looked sort of good, until I got confused. It says it has 512MB of RAM and a 40GB hard drive. Read further down on the page, and it says it has 128MB of RAM and a 30GB hard drive. I am guessing it is the lower specs, so it wouldn't be that great. It also only has a Via C3, which is slow except for some things.

Edit:
I checked Balance's web site and it is the lower of the specs. It still looks decent though for basic use.

There are other versions of the laptops made with AMD Athlon 4's that walmart carries.

diggingforgold said:

I did some digging. The company that makes it is Balance Digital Technology (or "balance" for short). Balance sells other laptop models, and sells some spiffy looking low end desktops as well.

You can check out there stuff at http://balance-digital.com.

If you want to call them and ask if they sell stuff direct, or what other businesses they verdor to, you can give them a call at (800) 242-1922 or email them at [email protected].

But you won't be able to get any type of customized laptop from Wal-Mart, because they buy stuff bulk and sell it as-is.

Click to expand...

I don't believe Balance actually makes these. The other 'Balance' laptops are made by ECS, I believe. ANyway, I wnat a cheap laptop with good battery live, this one looks to have fairly short battery life. I wouldn't mind something C3 based at all.

ps2cho said:

dont buy from wallmart, period.

Click to expand...

Ah, yes wallmart is evil. I was hoping that finding the ODM would mean finding another place to buy it (and more detailled specs).

Frys sells a GQ brand (stands for Great Quality) for $499. My parents bought one. It came with Windows XP home edition, 128mb of sd ram, and a 1ghz athlon 4 processor. Also had built in WiFi. Not a bad deal at all.

-Collin-

Why don't you just go here: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&DGVCode=IR

And get a refurb Dell, that has a lot better specs for about the same price. If you don't mind a C3, then a Celery 2.2 or so wouldn't be that bad. Plus you can get up to a 12 cell battery in those, and they come with the same original warranty that the others come with.

Heres one I found on that site:

SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
Inspiron 1150 (System Identifier FXBAACM7)
Inspiron 1150 Notebook: Intel Celeron 2.60GHz, 14.1 inch XGA, Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics, NIC & Modem
Microsoft Windows XP Home
System Price $520.00
Promotion Discount ($25.00)
Discounted Price $495.00

Dell recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home
Memory: 256 MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz (1 DIMM)
Hard Disk Drive: 30 GB EIDE Hard Drive (4200 RPM)
NoteBook Screen: 14.1 inch XGA Notebook Screen
Modem: Internal Modem
Network Interface Card: Internal NIC
Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless b/g
DVD Drive: 8X DVD ROM Drive
Software: Software
Software
WordPerfect Productivity Suite 12.0
Microsoft Encyclopedia 2004
DVD Software
PAINT SHOP PRO 4.0 STANDARD
Software
Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Reader
Dell/My Way Home Page
Dell Support Software
Image Restore Software
Misc: AOL Sofware Documentation
90W AC Adapter
Shipping Material
Shipping Material
Keyboard on Notebook
8 Cell Battery

NinjaZX6R said:

Frys sells a GQ brand (stands for Great Quality) for $499. My parents bought one. It came with Windows XP home edition, 128mb of sd ram, and a 1ghz athlon 4 processor. Also had built in WiFi. Not a bad deal at all.

-Collin-

Click to expand...

In my opinion, Fry's is not that much (if any) better than Wally World. In fact, I'd rather buy electronics from Wally World. (Given a choice of only these 2.)

steve

Ah, I don't mind a C3, but I do mind a celeron (better linux cpu frequency scaling).

kinda a neato laptop but i wont buy it from walmart

I don't think there's anything wrong with Fry's
Maybe that's because I go to school with the son of one of the founders of Fry's...

When they re-package MOST of the things on the shelves, without testing them, when they come back, I tend to shy away from them.

I have based my decision, not on the voices of others, but on my PERSONAL experiences. I have PERSONALLY gotten re-packaged boxes, with NO sticker on them. I once got a cheap PCI modem card, or so I thought. When I got it home, there was a cheap NIC inside. While the NIC was at a good price, it was completely usless to me, since, at the time, I had NO network at all. What I needed, was what I paid for.

I have had numerous BAD experiences, similar to that one. Why don't you tell your friend, that Fry's is RAPIDLY getting a bad reputation.

I, personally, will NOT buy ANY electronic part from them. At all! However, they are a great place to buy CDs, DVDs, computer cables, some hand tools, and blank optical media.

steve

I once bought a CD player from Wal-Mart. Got it home, plugged it in, didn't work.. opened the CD drawer, hmm.. a CD.. took the player back to walmart and told them what happened.. they said that it must have come from the factory with it in there from 'testing'...

You'd think if they had "tested" it and it didn't work that they wouldn't have sold it...

I'm glad I'm not the only one with that type of thinking.. The girl at the counter didn't seem to see it that way.. lol

One would think that if Walmart is selling a Laptop that it would be so far down the scale as in performance????????

ew celeron? 4200rpm drive? YUCK my G3 wallstreet out performs my friends dell with a celeron...IMO, terrible CPUs.

i can boot mac os9 in less than half he can xp pro, and mines a 300mhz, 256mb lappy..im not sure of the hdd, its default, but its the rare mac scsi lappy

IMO i cant see how you guys can use lappys as your main rig. I couldnt, not with what i do (video) to me if its about 200mhz and will run word so you can get skool work done on break, hey tahts awsome...about all i can see using the lappy for is on the road homework, AIM, hooking it up as a DVD/Divx player, stuff like that.