Refurbished Intel.Dot Stations Sold As New PCs
Written by admin on January 24th, 2008 in Information, News, Technology.
Scraped Intel.Dot Stations are being sold in India as brand new Intel PC systems, after refurbishment, to unsuspecting buyers at low rates.
Intel.Dot Station, a web appliance developed and sold by the erstwhile Intel Home Products Group (HPG), was launched in the European and Latin American markets in June 2000, and has now outlived its lifecycle and been scraped.
ChannelTimes probe led to a reseller in Hyderabad, named Big Apple, who is selling Intel.Dot Stations in India on a regular basis for over six months now. This reseller is selling the machine for Rs 6,995 (excluding taxes), along with a free Intel telephone. The reseller is marketing the product in India through its own offices and dealer network. It claims to be the only company holding the model’s rights now and claims to provide a one-year warranty on the machine.
In Bangalore, the model is available through the reseller’s branch office located at Austin Town. According to market sources, a few Bangalore-based dealers have evinced interest in the Intel.Dot Station.
When spoke to Rajesh Gupta, director-sales, channel (South Asia), Intel, he said he had heard of such instances, but there was not much the company can do in the matter apart from advicing those who approach the company.
“This is not a standard PC design. It was developed and sold by HPG in year 2000 and was called a Web Appliance. As the name suggests, Intel HPG made this as an internet appliance that was sold as a part of a usage model wherein the system was sold by service providers to their customers,” Gupta said.
According to Gupta, the product has faced end of life and the service providers have sold these boxes as scrap. “The scrapped systems have been imported into India by many dealers and are being currently refurbished and sold as a new system. The Hyderabad reseller is doing the same. He is not an Intel reseller nor does Intel have any understanding with them,” Gupta clarified.
“Intel’s advice to potential buyers and even the sellers is that they should be aware of the fact that they are dealing with second-hand systems that have run through a complete lifecycle of four-five years and now being sold after refurbishing. Also, since it is not a standard PC design, in case of failures, it would be very difficult for anyone to provide service on the same,” Gupta added.
Intel® Dot Station Computers
Intel® Dot Station is a low cost, all-in-one, compact, easy to
install and use, PC (Personal Computer). Its design allows a
minimum use of space. This is all in one compact, envious, cute
design with colour monitor integrated with 1 Year Warranty.
Can be used for
downloading files
sending and receiving emails
instant messaging
MS Office®
Tally®
All s/w that run on Windows® XP
Intel® Dot Station – Standard Configuration
Celeron 300 CPU
810 E motherboard.
64 MB / 128MB SD RAM, DIMM’s, expandable to 256 MB.
10 GB HDD expandable to 80 GB and above.
10 / 100, ethernet / lan card for connecting to server, broadband
connectivity etc.
56 Kbps fax modem voice V 90.
Sound card.
Compact keyboard.
2 stereo speakers in built.
Touchpad mouse in built in the keyboard (like laptop computers).
3 USB 1.1 ports.
14″ colour monitor, 0.28 DP, 1024 x 768 integrated.
Linux operating system. (Installation cost extra for Windows® XP)
All manuals, cables, original Intel sealed box packing.
