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Dude, You Got A QTech: Cubans Now Can Buy PCs

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The Associated Press

Published: May 3, 2008

HAVANA - Cubans are getting wired.

The island's communist government put desktop computers on sale to the public for the first time Friday, ending a ban on PC sales as another despised restriction on daily life fell away under new President Raul Castro.

A tower-style QTech PC and monitor costs nearly $780. Although few Cubans can afford that, dozens still gawked outside a tiny Havana electronics store, crowding every inch of its large glass windows and leaving nose- and fingerprints behind.

Inside, four clerks tore open boxes, hastily assembling display computers. By the time a sign went up listing the PC specifications, more than a dozen shoppers were lined up to get in.

"Look at that!" murmured Armando Batista as he pressed against the window. Although he can't afford to buy one, he said, "these are good for a start."

The gray and black QTech, complete with DVD player, bulky CRT monitor and standard-issue black mouse and keyboard, is the only model available.

The Cuban PCs have Intel Celeron processors with 80 gigabyte hard drives and 512 megabytes of memory and are equipped with Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. Both could be violations of a U.S. trade embargo, but not something Washington can do anything about in the absence of diplomatic relations with Havana.
Clerks said the PCs were assembled by Cuban companies using parts imported from China. For about $80 less, buyers in the U.S. can get a desktop with more than twice the memory, a 80GB SATA hard drive and 22-inch LCD flat screen monitor.

The crowded store in central Havana's Carlos III shopping center is the only outlet in the country now selling the PCs. Clerks at a few other government-run stores, where Cubans must buy everything, said they expect to receive deliveries sometime after next week.

Some people buy limited e-mail access on the black market, usually sharing an account with the authorized holder, who usually works for the state. Even if they could access the Web, Cubans can't shop online because they don't have credit cards.
Raul Castro promised to eliminate many of these prohibitions when he assumed the presidency on Feb. 24, after his ailing 81-year-old brother Fidel resigned. Besides consumer goods, he has ended bans that kept most Cubans from having cell phones, staying in luxury hotels or renting cars.

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