new laptop

johnjay

hi all

I'm looking to buy a new laptop, my budget max would be €1400

I know in that range I could get :-

- a P4 2.6 IQON, 15", 30gig, 512 (directly from Iqon)

- a P4 Toshiba thingy from PC World

- a Compaq P4 from one of a few websites

I'm tempted to go for the Iqon, anyone got any suggestions?

I know IBM are probably the best, but I work for an IBM reseller, and a basic Thinkpad would still cost me about twice that of an Iqon

Thanks

J:eek:

WizZard

Toshiba are great laptops, get that.:D

BigEejit

Tis true, Toshiba's are build like little brick shithouses ... but if the Iqon is a WAY better spec you may decide to go that way

johnjay

emmm


I donno about that.

I had a Toshiba for a while in the last company I worked for - it was a piece of s***, but then again it was an old thing - so it could be expected.

Stephen

I've seen a few engineers with Toshibas where I work, they take some amount of punishment but are still going strong!

zAbbo

What will the laptop be used for, are you going for a mobile or desktop CPU. Acer would be inline with your budget. Personally wouldn`t touch an IQON

johnjay

I'm a field service engineer - will be using it for data transfer, data recovery, database work, etc, etc

I had a celeron 800 Acer in my old job - it was an awful piece of crap, *spits on ground*

I seen a nice Toshiba p4 2.8 in PC world today for about 1400, was impressed - I'm sure I can get it cheaper from a supplier through my company - also I dont need an OS as I have a spare 2000 licence, so this might bring down the cost a bit

Rambo

I got the iqon laptop last December found it very good 2d/3d graphics eats up
unreal and halflife newer games you will run into problems but I did not buy it for games more as a learning tool if you or just using it for backup and browsing the
the internet it is a very good laptop DVD plays great on it

this was my encounter installing Fedora core 1 on the laptop

http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Etrevorodunne/Laptop.html

Placebo

is there laptops with dedicated graphics card, like not sharing RAM.
i need something for halflife 2 but i guess not really powerful.

Plus i showed pick P4 over centrino ? since i need it for games and converting video formats, although 2+ battery life would be nice on centrino.

Looking at and Advent in pc world.

Thanks

Capt'n Midnight

Toshiba ===> www.bms.ie

Señor Juárez

it is very, very difficult to get a laptop with an OS licence bundled.... in fact, i have yet to find a retailer in ireland which does sell em ex. OS.

elexes

get the tos its much better .

savemejebus

This sony (pcgfr415m) is a little over your budget but if you're getting a supplier discount you may be able to manage it, i'd definitely choose this over the iqon anyway

Rambo

I looked at the spec of sony laptop very good

just one thing I noticed it is missing a IR device
and if your doing data tranfers you will need this

this feature is great for you mobile phone or sending data to
another laptop.

wombat

the Vaio PCG FR 415B (I think it's B anyway) is 1400 euro, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HD, 2.8 GhZ processor and an ATI graphics card that draws a variable amount of memory from the system, between 32 and 128 MB.
My girlfriend has one and it seems like a nice bit of machinery, I have a lower spec on (PCG FR 315B with 256 MB RAM basically) and I was able to play battlefield 1942, Halo MP and a few others without any problems. I don't really use it for games but it seems to do the trick regardless.

They have a bit of a rep as the laptop of choice for the poser and I've yet to encounter their after sales service and support but I heard nothing negative about the overall quality of the machine itself in terms of being prone to breakdowns or anything.

Señor Juárez

i disagree there rambo, the lack of an IR device is no problem. use wifi for general networking, or even a fixed cable. if you really need to use a mobile phone as a modem, buy the data cable. IR is generally crappily unreliable

Placebo

i take it no laptops have dedicated graphic cards ?

Señor Juárez

they do. the graphics are usually on a daughterboard. tho generally speaking most laptops have rubbish cards, its expensive for a laptop with a decent one

palance

Get this one

Great graphics, great 16" screen all for under €1400 including delivery its £910 sterling

Sony Vaio GRT10014 Notebook:

---

Intel Pentium 4 2.2 GHz Processor
400 MHz Bus Speed
256 MB DDR Memory (Maximum Memory: 1 GB)
40 GB Hard Drive
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
Sony Memory Stick, Type I PC Card, Type II PC Card, Type III CardBus
16.1" TFT XGA Display ultra-high resolution
NVidia GeForce FX Go5600, 64MB(installed)
V.90/56K modem
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
US Keyboard
Dimensions: 358mm x 302mm x 48mm
Weight: 3.9 KG
Lithium-Ion battery
Electro-static touch pad
QWERTY, 86 keys with 3mm stroke and 19mm pitch Magnify button
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
16.1" TFT XGA Display ultra-high resolution

pencil

JohnJay,

I bought one of those 'Toshiba Satellite P10-304' out in Currys last week for €1479.
2.6 P4
256 MB DDR RAM
30GB 5400rpm HD
15" widescreen display
GEFORCE FX Go5100 video card.
lan
modem etc.


First the rant:
PCworld wouldn't do a deal on the case - I wanted it half price - the little **** working there told me, when I asked for a discount (€25 off on €1500) on the bag that "he couldn't care if I walked out the shop, he can't give me discount" so I did. Currys is a sister company & I got my laptop bag for half price. Only for the fact that I needed the laptop the next day my money wouldn't have gone to the dixon-pcworld-currys group. You go out to Blanchardstown and with the 3 stores (dixon-pcworld-currys) out there you'd expect a bit of competition, but no, they all have the same stock and its all EXACTLY the same price!!!!! competition yeah right fu@k off - paddy.

Sorry about the rant ;-)

Anyway I am more than happy with the laptop, its fast, the dedicated 'NVIDIA GEFORCE FX Go5100' is pushing two monitors along one at 1600*1200 and the other at 1280*800 no probs. I haven't tried out any games yet. But it runs my director based multimedia with fullscreen QT no probs. Win XP home is on it and is a bit of a pain but not to bad.

All in all - I'd recommend :-)
(a happy punter with his new toy)

Placebo

might just get that palance, thanks, rams a bit low though ! need 512 !

savemejebus

that sony GRT10014 is a nice machine but i hear that the 16" really drains the battery, i know one lad that has one and considers himself lucky to get 45mins from the battery, and sony batteries are xpensive if you're thinking of having a backup. Having said that as a desktop replacement it's a lovely machine so if battery power isn't a concern it would be a cool option (not too sure about the 256ram though, is this cheap to upgrade (ddr) or is it vaio specific)

Placebo

45 min ? eeeeek ! i wanna take it into college and play some games in labs with friends but we are given electric sockets (many of em)
but then again in long term, 45.......... bit too less.

2.6 P4
256 MB DDR RAM
30GB 5400rpm HD
15" widescreen display
GEFORCE FX Go5100 video card.
lan
modem etc.

sounds good, but still RAM isnt what i want, V.card sounds nice, not shared is it ?

pencil

Originally posted by Placebo
45 min ? eeeeek ! i wanna take it into college and play some games in labs with friends but we are given electric sockets (many of em)
but then again in long term, 45.......... bit too less.



sounds good, but still RAM isnt what i want, V.card sounds nice, not shared is it ?

nope - its sweet

Placebo

tempted for sony, but ram hmmmm,
gonna check out yours pencil with 512 ram, thanks alot.

milltown

Out of interest Pencil, did you buy just the bag or the whole lot in Currys, and did you go back into PC world with your new laptop and bag and parade it in front of Mr. I don't care if you walk out of the shop? I'm sure all of these t1ts are trained in the english "sell or die" technique and the Currys guy you got was breaking the mould so I would have made a point of showing PC World's jobsworth sales peon how dropping €25 on a bag could have got him a €1450 sale (and guessing a €300 profit for the shop).

pencil

miltown

I did, Currys selection of USB mice was poor - so down I trotted big box and bag in hand to get one there - I walked up the back to make sure the git saw me!

I really had to push hard to get €25 discount on €1504 - unbelievable. I absolutley hate that mentallity - can't stand it. I just wish I had the time to take my custom away from the whole group. (dixons-currys-pcworld). But I needed it the next day.

gaui3d0pnbz86o

why do people feel intitled(sp?) for discount just cos they bought a laptop?more you buy better the chance for discount.

but anyway...

the tosh is nice, but some tosh's suffer from tight hinges which lead to cracking on the outside of the cases, meaning replacement screen IF it goes(only done through BMS by the way)ironicaly it used to be loose hinges on them a couple of years ago.

advent do stonking desktops but the laptops are are noisy buggers, and have odd failings(melting-kid you not)

iqon are weird things, personally i dont like them, they always seem to crash when most needed, and have to be remastered a lot-though a clean install with better os helps

all in all id say tosh are best, just watch the hinges, if they feel tight drop into BMS and they sort you out

pencil

Originally posted by flameboy
why do people feel intitled(sp?) for discount just cos they bought a laptop?more you buy better the chance for discount.

I'll tell you why - this whole "no we cannot give you a deal - even if your spending a grand and a half" is a recent occurrence. I know this because years ago I worked in a electrical store in Limerick and also in PEAT'S in Dublin. It was ALWAYS customary to "throw in a extra set of batteries" or to "do a deal on the accessories" just to get the sale, especially when the customer was spend a few hundred. The store makes a 200% mark up on accessories.

It left the customer feeling like he got a deal - this in turn only benefited the retailer as the customer kept coming back to that shop. I have witnessed this interaction on countless occasions - from both sides of the spectrum.

Its also cultural thing - the big impersonal stores came from the UK and changed the relationship between the salesperson and the customer for the worst on both sides.

They employ kids on minimum wage who haven't got a fu@king clue what they are talking about - the days of a knowledgeable sales man who helped people buy the optimum piece of technology are gone. Instead we have snotty kids who don't know what they are talking about and who "couldn't care less if I walked out of the store". All they are interested in is trying to achieve their almost obtainable sales target and also trying to reach that magic 4% of sales in insurance. They don't give a fu@k if the laptop I bought is suitable or not they just want to given them your money because it edges them closer to that extra €100 at the end of the month. Now while this doesn't effect me as i'm tech litterate - when my mum goes to the store she is taken for a ride!

Did I answer your question?