Refurb with an extra charge for a 1 yr. paltry warranty?
Really Woot you need some additional help in choosing products!
EMBARASSING?

Cool Soupy

Although the extras are nice the pcu's are a bit slow. Actually I have not seen Cpu's like this in several years.

Everybody is saying this is no good for gaming, it is slow...but can anybody also suggest a computer for about $300 that has the speed and graphics card necessary for gaming? I can't build my own, so it would have to be a complete system! Thanks

Thanks for the links! I've been looking for something inexpensive for my ten-year-old son to surf the web. One of these will be perfect.

theguruguys wrote:For those who are really on a tight budget and just can't spend more, and for for comparison... Here is a new Asus latptop with a processor that rates twice as fast (1510 at passmark) for the same price ($259).

Here is an E-machines desktop with the same E-300 processor for $179.

Here is an E-Machines desktop with a twice as fast processor, same ram and larger hard drive for $229.

Here is an Acer Aspire with the E-450 processor, larger hard drive and more ram for $10 less.

and so on... Unless you have a specific purpose for these netbook's in a desktop case there are better options out there.

P.S. Why am I am so against these? I simply can't stand having to work on them... I come across customers who buy these because they are cheap then call me out to speed them up which can't really be done. They are slow enough that even complex web pages will take noticeable time to load. When something goes wrong with them they take me twice as long to fix. Try downloading HP's massive bloatware All in One printer drivers and installing them on one of these (it has to decompress the files), there goes an hour... etc etc.

hobartlane wrote:Everybody is saying this is no good for gaming, it is slow...but can anybody also suggest a computer for about $300 that has the speed and graphics card necessary for gaming? I can't build my own, so it would have to be a complete system! Thanks

This videocard:
For $40
512MB HP / MSI Radeon HD4650 DDR2 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-Express 16x
http://www.compuvest.com/Desc.jsp?iid=1750609

+ this PC
Gateway - DX4200-09 AMD Phenom X4 DX4200-09 Phenom X4 QUAD CORE 9100e with 4GB Memory 640GB Hard Drive DVDRW Desktop Computer sys; ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics; DVD?R/RW Super Multi Drive Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit HDMI, Read More ...
Price:$252.99
Shipping: $19.99 - $9.99 ups / usps
$272.98

If you upgrade to windows 7 add $30

http://www.ascendtech.us/gateway-dx4200-09-phenom-x4-9100e-quad_i_pcgatdx420009x4.aspx?agent=pricewatch

Will get you a starter gaming rig for about $350, (assuming you spring for the Windows 7 64bit upgrade which I recommend.

I work for a big box office supply store that sells these. BEWARE! They have NO power supply (it uses a laptop style charger that plugs into the back) ZERO expansion bays on the inside, and a motherboard that looks like it belongs in a Laptop/netbook. You only get two total expansion slots for RAM. So basically if you want to add a video card, wi-fi card or more ram you are screwed/limited.
The only good thing I can say about this machine is it will probably never overheat as there is nothing inside it practically. Shame on you HP for making this and shame on Woot for carrying trash like this.

redmachined wrote:I bought one of these when it was on sale during Walmart's Black Friday sale. This makes an EXCELLENT server. It's very light on power usage, generates almost no heat at all, takes up to 8GB of DDR3 1333, and has enough ports and devices to make it perfect for a headless server. Put it in a place where it's got a bit of airflow and you'll be golden.

yeah, it makes a great hood ornament too! Put a cheap ssd card it in, and super glue it to the hood of your car. Unplug the fan, it's air cooled!

hobartlane wrote:Everybody is saying this is no good for gaming, it is slow...but can anybody also suggest a computer for about $300 that has the speed and graphics card necessary for gaming? I can't build my own, so it would have to be a complete system! Thanks

Not to be too snarky but $300 will not really buy you a gaming PC. If that is you budget for a complete system, then you should be considering an Xbox or Playstation. I mean a decent video card alone will run you $300. Building your own PC is not too difficult. Here's a Youtube video with instructions. Building a PC

greatsunjester wrote:How well does this processor encode - for PVR purposes?

It doesn't... I've got a problem right now with a computer I have now that is running the same speed chip in it. I can use it flawlessly for SD quality video, but if I try to use it for HD video it craps out. This is not a HTPC solution... this is a e-mail surfing solution.

revvian wrote:I work for a big box office supply store that sells these. BEWARE! They have NO power supply (it uses a laptop style charger that plugs into the back) ZERO expansion bays on the inside, and a motherboard that looks like it belongs in a Laptop/netbook. You only get two total expansion slots for RAM. So basically if you want to add a video card, wi-fi card or more ram you are screwed/limited.
The only good thing I can say about this machine is it will probably never overheat as there is nothing inside it practically. Shame on you HP for making this and shame on Woot for carrying trash like this.

Sadly after Amazon bought Woot I've notice that shame isn't a word they worry about anymore... the mantra to remember now is, "buyer beware."

I bought one of these the last time around. I regret nothing. It does exactly what I expected it to. I'm still planning to build a compact case for it. I put in an SSD and Ubuntu on it and I still have the 500G HD with Win7 on it if I want to revert. With the CPU maxed out it draws 30W. Posting with it now.

The E300 processor (passmark rated @ 598) is slightly faster than a computer I built with an Athlon 64 3000+ (passmark = 485). Oh, and that computer was built in 2004.

As a desktop computer, either of these processors are incredibly lethargic by today's standards. More typical low-end desktop processors will score around 4,000 passmarks. (For example, an Intel i3-2100 or an AMD Phenom II-x4 970.)

I'd spend just a few more bucks and pick up something (even a low end laptop) with a more powerful processor.

#Off-Topic

Hey, to discuss any Woot!Plus offerings- past or present- head on over to my new thread on World of Woot! in the Community section. If anyone else is tired of not having a discussion thread for the Plus items, contribute to this thread. There's an equivalent one for each other Woot! site. This will prevent us from relying on a motivated user from creating a new discussion thread for each Woot!Plus offer, which makes it difficult to keep any one thread toward the top of the board.

Join me! I will be posting in each of these threads shortly to spark conversation.

lemminghunter wrote:Looks like a nice piece of hardware, but if anyone is looking to buy keep in mind it is barebones. The SSD and RAM are not optional, unless you happen to have some already lying around. Don't forget you have to get an OS, if you use Windows $99 for system builders or $179 if you want support.

Today's deal is ready to go out of the box, may not go very fast but it will go

I figured hard drive and ram into into the 'about $50 more total' price. For a media center you can use XBMC live and for a file server there is ubuntu and many other free options.

Thank you Woot for sending me a product that does not work properly, wasting 1 and 1/2 hours of my time with HP tech support and paying for the return back to you. Another satisfied customer.

Aldoogie wrote:Thank you Woot for sending me a product that does not work properly, wasting 1 and 1/2 hours of my time with HP tech support and paying for the return back to you. Another satisfied customer.

Sorry about that. I don't show that you've emailed in regarding this issue yet. I'm sending you a PM with some options.

Mine does not work either. Screen freezes/computer locks up and must be turned off and back on. I have run HOURS of diagnostics (burned HP's diagnostic ISO onto CD) and ran every test - all passed. I disabled all sleep/hibernation/power save features - still no good. I bought for my children for web/school/light gaming but it freezes every few min.