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Wal-Mart prepping sub-$300 'back to school' PC for sale?

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I wrote on Dell Inc.'s (NASDAQ: DELL) position as computer maker in search of a new image a few days ago, as its brand nameplate with the desktop PC segment is being left behind by other fast-moving competitors. With the "back to school" marketing season set to ramp into full mode (or wait, it's already there!), retailers and computer hardware makers are in advertising mode galore. Everyone is seeking to court parents buying PCs for all those millions of kids. Count Wal-Mart in, as the retailer is set to launch an ultra-cheap desktop PC soon, hopefully catching this in-progress buying wave.

Is the desktop PC really dead, then? That depends on how you look at the PC breakdown by age and use, I think. Kids under 15 still living at home are generally just fine (well, most anyway) with a desktop PC. As kids reach the junior and senior years of high school, portable laptops become all-important for computing use. Of course, most college students these days would not be seen near a desktop PC unless it was in a university computer lab.

Although Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) states that it does not want to be known as just a "low price leader," the retailing giant is going for the low-price jugular by offering a sub-$300 desktop PC this shopping season. I'm confused on the timing though, as the unit needs to be on store shelves now or be relegated to the boring fall "normal" shopping season instead of the red-hot "back to school" shopping season.
Generally, a sub-$300 price like this precludes having Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Vista pre-installed (due to cost), but the Everex GC3502 desktop PC comes with Windows Vista Basic and the freely available OpenOffice productivity software already pre-installed. The technical specs are entry level, but entry-level computing horsepower is just fine these days for the tasks demanded by most home users. This PC system should suffice nicely. During a research mission this week, I actually spotted an Everex unit very similar to the GC3502 in a local Wal-Mart for $298, so perhaps Wal-Mart already has them available (or will soon).

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Last updated: November 26, 2009: 03:48 AM

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