AMD's "PIC" = The Personal Internet Communicator

[3WAYsplit]

The Personal Internet Communicator
Affordable, Versatile Internet Connectivity for the Masses

http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_12264_12262,00.html

The Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) is a new category of affordable consumer devices designed to provide managed Internet access for people in global, high-growth markets to enhance communications, entertainment, and education opportunities. The PIC is driven by world-class AMD processor technology. It is an empowering connecting device – a simple and accessible platform designed to work with existing service provider dial-up or broadband infrastructure – that can deliver basic Internet functions such as e-mail, downloads, Web browsing, and more.

The PIC is designed to be a high-quality, affordable, easy-to-use, robust consumer device suitable for first-time technology users. It provides a consumer-friendly user experience and is developed to be highly reliable – with a fully integrated, low-power computing sub-system. ....

Looks cool, but how well will it perform??

 

[AMD T-type]

:) Looks cool, but how well wil...rform just fast enough to use the internet ;)

 

[coffee33]

I smell an OC!
I think thats a GREAT idea for retired folks that only want email and net access!

 

[FreiDOg]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_12264_12262,00.html






Looks cool, but how well will it perform??

it's a 300 - 400 mhz stripped down x86 CPU (32kib L1, single instruction issue)
You ain't playing HL2 that's for sure.
But hey, what do you want for a lousy 1.5 Watts.

 

[Andrew_Carr]

Saw this awhile ago in some magazine, maybe MaximumPC. I like the idea anyway. It'd be nice to have something that's not horribly bulky, and still does a good chunk of what I use my gaming comp for(e-mail, forums, things like that)

 

[bizzz111]

didn't some companies sell internet/email only boxes a few years ago, and failed miserably?

Seems like deja vu all over again.

 

[MartinX]

Last I heard this thing was pitched as a budget unit for developing world/poor markets, not at us western /first world types.

 

[Add 'em]

MartinX, you are right. I was at an AMD job recruiting session, and they passed one of these things around.

 

[MD_Willington]

"powered by an AMD Geode™ GX processor"

look at the Geode GX specs...

http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_9863,00.html

http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_9863_9864,00.html

 

[Othersider]

Last I heard this thing was pitched as a budget unit for developing world/poor markets, not at us western /first world types.

Yeah, the phone companies in places like Haiti have been selling these for a few months already.

Hmm... I wonder if I'll be able to pick one up in Tijuana anytime soon...

 

[InorganicMatter]

That's pretty cool! When can we in the US get this thing? I know you guys said it's aimed at 3rd world/underdeveloped countries, but surely they won't just pass up the US market. This thing is exactly what someone like my granparents need. Cheap yet functional. I wonder how spyware/viruses will relate to this? I'm guessing that since it runs Windows CE, that it won't be too big an issue, but there is always going to be at least one person that gives it a go.

 

[Othersider]

http://pair.offshore.ai/pic/

Another thing that causes computer failures on tropical islands is bugs or geckos getting inside. Since the PIC does not have a fan it does not have big openings for things to crawl inside. So it should last very well.