Computers

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Woot: Got a Problem? It’s Your Fault!

Woot.com was likely the first site to only sell a single item per day at rockbottom prices. Every night at midnight, they discontinue offering that day’s product and introduce a new one.

How do they survive only selling one product per day?  For one, they can sell a lot of them. On a recent day, they sold 2500 Logitech mice. Even Amazon does not sell that many a day. Another way they save money is through customer service (or lack there of). The following is not an April Fool’s joke:

*MOUSE PRINT:

woot

At least they have a sense of humor about their (almost) all sales final policy.Whether customers find it funny may be a different story.

Woot will try to make good on defective goods if all else fails.

[For many stories about Woot from happy customers, please read the comments section below.] 

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Microsoft Windows “Vista Capable”: Good for Booting Only

Vista largeWindows Vista is the much touted and latest operating system from Microsoft. Like most software, the publisher establishes minimum hardware requirements of your computer for the program to operate normally.

Microsoft says that a “Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least a modern processor (at least 800 MHz), 512 MB system memory, a graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.”  [See website.]  They do indicate that the nifty new Windows Aero interface only comes in the premium versions of the software and that advanced or additional hardware may be required.

Many computer makers have been marketing their computers as “Windows Vista Capable.”  The trouble is your idea of a “capable” computer may differ from that of manufacturers and Microsoft.

According to Dell, if you buy their minimum configuration for a “Windows Vista Capable” computer, here is what you can expect:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Dell Vista capable

Translation: The computer will turn on, but you can’t do too much with it.

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AOL: High Speed*, Low Price

AOL high speedHistorically, people have complained that AOL is slow and expensive. Now they have formed a partnership with Verizon [disclosure: Verizon is a financial contributor to Mouse Print’s parent, Consumer World] to offer a combination package including Verizon DSL and AOL for $25.90 a month. That price is marginally more than AOL charges for dial-up service. (Unbundling that price, $17.99 is the Verizon DSL charge, and $7.91 goes to AOL. That is a real bargain for unlimited AOL.)

AOL also promises “high speed” and “true broadband” with this package, but what they consider “high speed” may not be what you consider fast.

*MOUSE PRINT: “Fast high-speed DSL: Up to 768 Kbps connection speed.” [Insert in SuperCoups envelope, newspaper supplement, April 2006.]

Standard dial-up speed is 56Kbps, so 768Kbps is about 14 times faster. But that is not a fast broadband connection compared to other DSL speeds offered by Verizon, competitors, and by cable companies. It is actually one of the slowest broadband speeds offered to home consumers. Verizon’s “regular” speed is 3000Kbps (or 3Mbps), by comparison, for $29.95.  AT&T just announced it was raising its DSL Internet speed to 6000Kbps (or 6Mbps), and Comcast is already at that speed. RCN (a regional provider) even offers 20000Kbps (or 20Mbps).

So, what you consider fast, what competitors consider fast, and what AOL considers fast may be very different things.