hp

Installing internal media readers in old Compaqs

Dave Farquhar Hardware ,

I had a Compaq Presario S5140WM case that I wanted to reuse for a new system build. There’s nothing really wrong with the case, but in the 8 years since the S5140WM was a mainstream PC, we’ve started putting things like card readers and audio jacks on the front of the PC. This machine only had USB in front.

Rather than replace the case, I installed an internal card reader that includes audio jacks, an eSATA port, a Firewire port, and three more USB ports, bringing it right up to 2011 standards. It fit in a 5.25″ bay, which is fine. The system has two bays, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever want to put another 5.25″ device in the second one.

But installation wasn’t as straightforward as it could be. Wouldn’t you know it?
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Kindle Fire in perspective

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , ,

Amazon’s Kindle Fire sold 95,000 units in its first day of pre-orders, which pales next to the Ipad’s 300,000 on its first day. But the Kindle Fire looks to be a slower burn. It’s sold 250,000 units now. By comparison, the Ipad sold 1 million units in its first month, which the Kindle Fire hasn’t matched yet, but it’s only been five days. Some people are reporting it’s on pace to sell 2.5 million units in its first month. Realistically, I think the number should be lower–more on that in a second. But I think the naysayers should learn really fast that this war isn’t over.
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Amazon’s new Kindles look like rising stars

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , ,

I’m a couple of days late and for that I apologize (I’ve been on the road), but this week Amazon released its anticipated Kindle tablet and snuck out a couple of new e-readers.

The tablet–7 inches, a faster-than-rumored 1 GHz dual-core CPU, priced at $199, and dubbed the Kindle Fire–seems to be an immediate hit, with 95,000 pre-orders in its first day. Amazon is selling each tablet at about a $10 loss, which it should easily make up by selling digital content.

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15 years ago, at the home of the blue shirts

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , ,

Consumerist had some fun today at the expense of a Best Buy ad from September 15, 1996.

Here’s the kind of price deflation we’ve seen in 15 years.
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Intel isn’t interested in buying HP’s PC business

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , ,

This week, Paul Otellini told journalists he isn’t interested in buying HP’s PC business, elaborating by saying he doesn’t want to compete with his customers.

It makes sense.
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Someone needs to make a good $100 tablet

Dave Farquhar Hardware

Gizmodo writes: Someone needs to make a good $100 tablet.
I feel that pain, but it’s not going to happen this year. Or necessarily next year.

When you read the reviews of sub-$200 tablets, the biggest complaints are about the tablet being DOA, having difficulty getting one particular thing to run on it, the tablet just overall feeling cheap, or the screen. Better quality control can fix the first two things. But a good-quality capacitive touchscreen costs $63.50. For the tablet to retail for $100, it needs to cost less than $63 to make the whole tablet.
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Why Amazon can’t make a Kindle in the USA

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , , ,

Dan Bowman sent over this ongoing series at Forbes. I’d seen the first couple of parts of it, but didn’t realize it was still ongoing. In light of new Amazon tablet rumors, it takes on new relevance.

It’s a thought-provoking look at the state of U.S. manufacturing today, and the state of management. I don’t know if the author thinks it’s too late to reverse this decline, but presumably no. Otherwise he wouldn’t be writing it, probably.
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So Amazon’s tablet is a go

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , , , ,

Reports of Amazon’s tablet plans are trickling out. Basically, it’s going to be a 7-inch tablet running a very customized version of Android, tweaked to play media purchased from Amazon, and priced at $250, half the price of an entry-level Apple Ipad. (In English, we capitalize the first letter of proper nouns, and my native language is English, not C++, if you’re wondering.) Techcrunch and The Register have some of the details. The name: Amazon Kindle. The release date: end of November.

I wouldn’t call it a can’t-miss, but it’s clear Amazon’s thought a lot of things through here.

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Lessons of the HP Touchpad

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

At full price ($499 for the 16 GB model and $599 for the 32 GB model) the HP Touchpad was a colossal flop. Like AT&T’s first PC clones of the mid 1980s, it was a me-too product at a me-too price that wasn’t quite as good as the product it was imitating. So, basically, there was no reason to buy it.

At closeout prices, it became an Internet sensation. The few web sites that have it in stock can’t handle the traffic they’re getting. At $99 and $149, it’s selling like the Nintendo Wii in its glory days.

And I think there’s a significant parallel there that highlights the missed opportunity.
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Oracle’s bombshell: We might buy HP

Dave Farquhar Hardware , , , , ,

And if the HP situation couldn’t get any weirder, Forbes speculates that Larry Ellison and Mark Hurd might attempt a takeover of HP if its share price drops far enough. HP and Oracle once were close partners, but now they hate each other.

I think it might be a little more complicated.

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