Mayor goes viral with post 'revealing' computer prices

A system package of 16 old 11th generation Intel PCs priced at around $175,000 was uncovered after the mayoral handover ceremony.

The 16-PC package purchased by the former mayor. Photo: Sally Lopez .

On her personal page, Ms. Sally A. Lopez, mayor of San Dionisio city in the Philippines, shared photos and documents confirming that her predecessor had purchased a "server system package" worth 10 million pesos, equivalent to about 175,000 USD .

However, these 16 systems only use old 11th generation Intel processors, along with generic cases and power supplies, no different from cheap machines. According to Tom's Hardware 's calculations, the actual value of the systems has been increased by up to 13 times.

Earlier, Ukc Ibrahim, a political writer, said that Ms. Lopez had questioned the former mayor about this 10 million peso system package. The article was later reposted by the new mayor himself on his personal page.

Documentation of the purchased system package. Photo: Sally A. Lopez.

In it, she made her opinion clear. “The price was really too high. Former mayor Bajada immediately paid without even checking whether it worked or not,” she said.

Additionally, Ukc Ibrahim’s post incorrectly claimed that the huge expenditure was for a single PC. Ms. Lopez clarified the confusion, but some social media channels continued to spread the misinformation.

As noted, the pre-purchased market package includes 16 monitors, a keyboard/mouse set, and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), with no mention of software. Tom's Hardware conducted a price survey on a package of 16 similarly configured computers from Newegg (USA), based on the Intel Core i7-11700 CPU, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD as the main specifications.

Post by the new mayor. Photo: Mayor Sally A. Lopez.

Each set costs $775 , for a total of $12,400 . Some machines may use HDDs, or even SSDs, leading to a small error in calculation. However, to reach the figure of 175,000 is still quite far, showing that it has been inflated by approximately 14 times. Previous documents and books cannot convincingly prove the above price.

Intel's 11th-generation desktop processors are due in 2021. At the time of purchase of the system package, the hardware manufacturer even launched the new i7-12700 CPU. This shows that the price of the Intel i7-11700 CPU may have been cheaper than it actually is.

Source: https://znews.vn/thi-truong-gay-sot-nho-bai-dang-boc-gia-may-tinh-post1581626.html