Tigerbook Z3: Bargain or Scam?

I chanced upon a local website calle OpenPinoy. This is the web presence of a computer store somewhere in Mandaluyong and it sells a supposed brand new laptop (called the Tigerbook Z3) for Php 11,000 (approximately $20) . At first glance, this may seem like a great bargain for a laptop but a close look at the specs will show that it has an AMD-K6 processor (350 MHz), memory is at 32 MB EDO RAM and the screen resolution is 800 x 600 DSTN VGA. This will definitely underwhelm even the novice computer user since the machine itself will not be able to run any of the newer software tools they may want to use. If those software do run, it would probably be really difficult to use due to the screen resolution constraint. Oh, did I mention that it can only run Windows 98 and it does not have a built-in Modem or network card?

Who would want to buy such a machine? Probably the clueless (which we are trying to eradicate through information in this blog) and/or the hobbyist. If the price goes down a bit, I'll probably get one and install a copy of Damn Small Linux (DSL) and use it as a backup portable PC to my iBook. But then again, it would be a rather crippled device since there's no way for it to connect to other computers unless I install add-on PCMCIA cards. Nah... I think I'll pass on this one for now.

technorati tags: bargain, scam