The WebPC was a short-lived

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tech ...

designed by Dell Computer for the consumer market. The computer was designed to make it easy for home users to connect to the Internet. A small form factor machine, the WebPC was an early system in a class known as legacy-free PCs.

Specifications and price

The system was originally introduced in 1999. Available in prices ranging from $999 through $2,399 USD.Michael Kanellos
Dell consumer PC shows focus on the Net
''C, Net News'', November 30, 1999. Its cheapest configuration was a 433-MHz Intel Celeron processor,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

Windows 98 Windows 98 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. The second operating system in the 9x line, it is the successor to Windows 95, and was released ...

, 64 MB of system RAM, a 4 GB

hard disk A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with mag ...

, a 15-inch

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monitor, a year's worth of

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

service and a Hewlett-Packard printer for $999 USD. In a move remotely mimicking the

iMac iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms. In i ...

, Dell also offered the WebPC in different colors, however the colors only were accents on the case; the majority of the case remained black. In 2000, Dell offered upgraded models of the WebPC, featuring processors up to a Pentium III at 600 MHz, 10/100

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in ...

built in (previous models included only a 56K modem), a bundled

flat panel display A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment. Flat-panel displays are thin, lightweight, provide better l ...

, and larger hard disks up to 20 GB.Dell Lowers Prices and Adds Features to WebPC
www.dell.com News, March 16, 2000 The system's case was extremely compact. The CD-ROM or

DVD-ROM The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any k ...

drive was a laptop-type unit with a custom bezel, but its internal IDE

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magn ...

was a standard 3.5" drive.The system also made use of Mini PCI, another standard typically found on laptop computers, for its communications card. It did however use standard

SDRAM Synchronous dynamic random-access memory (synchronous dynamic RAM or SDRAM) is any DRAM where the operation of its external pin interface is coordinated by an externally supplied clock signal. DRAM integrated circuits (ICs) produced from the ...

modules for memory. The case measured only 6 inches wide, 10.7 inches high, 10.1 inches deep and weighed a maximum of about 12 pounds.Dell WebPC Fact Sheet
www.dell.com, Press package for the Dell WebPC It also featured a unique "e-support" button that caused the computer to run diagnostic tests and also allowed quick access to online technical support.

Discontinuation

In July 2000, Dell discontinued production of the WebPC.Michael Kanellos and Joe Wilcox

''C, Net News'', July 10, 2000 WebPC computers are rarely seen today, however they have been known to appear on

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References

External links

Dell WebPC Press Kit at dell.com
{{Dell Dell personal computers