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Jaguar Computers - Just Bought a PC
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24-11-2003 5:16pm#1I recently bought a pc from Jaguar Computers - having got a link off boards.ie . If your wondering how it all went, read on!
(by the way, I was advised that if it happend that I actually SAID something that spoke highly of a company on boards, it could be seen as advertising. Fortunately I work with some of the moderators of this site, so there's multiple testaments to the authenticity of this post, and no evil corporate plot involved at all. Now that we've got all that out of the way.....)
PC Specs
Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz
Gigabyte GA8SIMLHP
E-Star Deluxe ATX case w/300W PSU
512MB DDR
80GB 7200rpm
52X CD-ROM
COMBO DVD+CDRW
Creative Labs SB 5.1 Digital
Neto Dragon 56k v.92 Internal Modem
Realtek 100mbps RJ-45
Keyboard/Mouse/Floppy
Total Price: €847 (inc VAT)
Firstly, a BIG PLUS goes out to this company in regard to ordering. I don't own a credit card, but decided to call them anyway. They were completely fine with this, and told me just to go ahead and tell them what I wanted over the phone, and they'd put it all together for me. I placed the order on a Tuesday, and was told that at the latest it would be ready on Friday at the latest. He told me to ring back during the week incase they had it finished earlier, and sure enough! - by Thursday lunchtime the whole thing was ready. Not too shabby!
Location wise, it's a bit hard to find without good directions (incase your wondering, across the road from the Red Cow Inn, behind the tile factory. But then again I didn't ask). Upon arrival, I had the whole thing in 2 minutes, cash paid, ready to rumble. Everything was neatly boxed, and I caught a cab back into town for 16 euro. Sweet as.
BUT NOW!.. to the actual goods. The system I ordered above are with upgrades, eg. what was originally a 40gb 7200, for an additional €19 you get a 80GB 7200rpm... not bad! I got a few other upgrades aswell, equally as good as price. The system doesn't come with a monitor as standard, but they'll throw in a 17inch SVGA monitor for €99. It isn't great, but you get what you pay for.
Also, I didn't bother upgrading my video card to the ATI Radeon 7000 64mb for an extra €49, I intend to buy a better one seperately. However, owing to the powerful nature of the system, it crunches the graphics of most recent games very well with the onboard S3 Savage4 - so Max Payne 2/GTA III are indeed playable. You mightn't be able to to tell if an enemy had shaved that morning from fifty feet, but for an onboard graphics card, it absolutely canes.
The system comes with all the latest drivers and some bundled software, but NOT with an operating system however (that would add to the price significantly). But hey, how hard is it to grab a copy of XP off one of your friends, not that.. I recommend .. that..
All in all, extremely happy with the outcome. The people there are champions, very friendly, and even the girl on the front desk is dead sexy. So I absolutely recommend them.
http://www.jaguarcompsys.ie/systems/index.htm (not the funkiest of websites, but hey, it gets the job done)
Any other queries, leave a post. *nod* Happy hunting!0
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I bought a PC for a customer too, good price - havent had any complaints so far (Fingers crossed) One gripe was that it was ment to be sent on a wednesday, to be delivered on thurs, waited till friday as it still hadnt arrived (it was going to donegal so thought id give them another day) so rang up - she said it had been sent and must be in some depot so she would look in to it, rang back and said it would be there on sat. In the mean time I rang the courier who told me it hadnt been send wed or thurs.
Didnt lke the fact they were lying to me - hope this isnt a policy for them.
Prices are good though
Pitty about the website :eek: 0 -
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I've always kept QT about this, because when I noticed it was too late and it was a long time ago. So if you people are getting good stuff off Jaguar that's cool. But I'm peppering reading this.
The first and last machine I got off Jaguar was in 1997. Basically it was a p2-266, 32mb RAM, 4GB disk, 1MB PCI video and 15" monitor. I went 15" monitor so to get a p2-266 instead of a p2-233 (and 17") because the jump was expensive and I couldn't afford both together.
[The good]
4GB IDE disk was IBM, and it was so fast, it well out lasted its time. Great choice.
The case used rails to attach 5 1/4" drives. They didn't include anymore than what was holding the CDROM in, so about 18 months later when I rang them looking for more, they knew what case I was talking about and posted more out to me for free - and I offered to pay.
[The bad]
The machine was 3 weeks late, firstly because they had problems getting a p2-266 (as apposed to p2-233s) and also ATX was new, so they had to get bits specifically made for the case. Of course it was always just a couple of days and at one point I actually went and called in because it was getting silly.
The case wasn't great, so after a couple of years I moved the machine to another (better) case. A while later after getting new gear I went to put it back. I've no idea how they got it all to fit with the custom bits, I've never been able to fit it all back together. Seriously.
The RAM was FP, not EDO as ordered.
Wrong drivers - I rang and complained about this but they just wouldn't have any of it - "they're on the CD", "its the wrong CD", "no its not". I just got tired arguing and got them off the Internet, but thats not the point.
Monitor failed after 13 months. That was a p1sser. Not necessarily their fault, but its still bad.
[The inexcusable]
The p2-266 was actually a p2-233 overclocked and the f**kers charged me the difference. I just wish I'd noticed soon enough, I could have sued their ass. This in general became a serious problem at the time and Intel clamped on it with locked multipliers.
Anyway, it was all a long time ago, however I have and will never buy a machine, or anything else off them again - ever.
I feel better now
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The machine worked out about £1700 (inc VAT) at the time, I don't remember the exact details of individual prices of each component, but it was a toss up between a 15" monitor and a p2-266 and or a 17" and a p2-233, so that was at-least somewhere between £100-£150 at the time - you'd get a xp2500+ or better for that now, but the P2 was the fastest range then, no Xeon or Athlon.
There is a chance they were sold on a overclocked cpu or stuck the wrong one in..
Was the speed marked on the Plastic shell ?? - ie. how obvious was it.
The speed, serial and manufacturing location are on the top of each P2 shell. Its not that hard to see if you look because the speed rating is quoted, but it doesn't jump out unless you specifically look.
There is a twist to this. When I got the machine of course I opened it, and underneath the cover was a sticker quoting something like "P2-233, 32mb, 4GB, 1MB VGA, 24x CDROM". The machine booted at 266, which I'd ordered, but because of the lack of drivers (and cables BTW), I rang them and this was one of the things I queried. Notably if the machine failed and they then claimed it was a 233 - I didn't know the p2's were overclockable, and it wasn't easy to see the top of the shell once everything was installed and cables etc. They just said it was a mistake and to ignore it.
You know, it could have been a mistake, but frankly once I'd got the machine they didn't care ("oh its cables now - sigh" - I only rang them once FFS), but IMO they're in the job of building these things, so they should know what they're doing.
But beyond all that, because I would never buy for them again, doesn't mean you guys shouldn't because it was a long time ago. Just make sure first you know what you're getting and when you get it, make sure you get what you paid for.
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