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Tesco Laptops: Opinions ?

  • 27-07-2006 12:01pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10


    Just wondering what everyone makes of the latest tesco offers . Do the bellow look like a decent buy ? Can you go too far wrong with a laptop for E 299? I'm relatively clueless as regards specifications but to the very casual observer this looks like the a bargain. I've been looking for a laptop for awhile.I dont want to play games or do anything too heavy duty with it but I don't want to buy something that'll be obsolete in no time either . Any opinions or guidance would be greatfully appreciated.

    laptop - E599 but with E299.50 clubcard vouchers back
    Celeron M Processor 370
    256mb
    40gb hd
    15.4 screen
    dvdrw combo
    modem
    wireless card
    4usb ports

    Laptop - E799 but with E399.50 clubcard back
    Celeron M Processor 370
    512mb
    40gb hdd
    dvdrw combo
    printer
    wireless card
    mouse
    carry case

    The vouchers can only be redeemed in tesco but for anyone who shops there regularly this shouldnt be a problem.


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭majiktripp


    You get what you pay for! Iqon machines are cheapy cheap so be weary of build quality but having said that,if a bargain basement price laptop is what your after,then these are the ones! (Thats assuming you like shopping in Tesco too.....)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 425 ✭✭WillieDH


    yeah but what are the terms and conditions ?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    When you say you don't want anyting obsolete, what do you really mean? Because if you're only doing basic web tasks, processing, music, etc, even a five year old machine isn't "Obsolete". Basically they are fine for that sort of thing and will be for many years to come.

    However, from a tech perspective, they are already years out of date, let alone becoming obsolete anytime soon. Those iQon laptops have SiS integrated graphics, which are even worse then the infamously pathetic Intel Extreme 2 graphics: to summarise, you won't be able to play ANY games made in the last few years, let alone newish games.

    Added to that, iQon are dodgey at the best of times. I really wouldn't bother with either of those laptops to be honest, both are crap for the price (I don't bother considering the vouchers thing as actual money off) and for the same price you'd get something 10x more reliable and considerably more powerful from dell.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,689 ✭✭✭✭K.O.Kiki


    Would that machine even be able to play 16-bit (SNES/MegaDrive) emulators? :p(yeah I know the OP said he didn't want to play games...)
    Also: €100 for a measly 256mb RAM, a bag & a mouse? You've got to be sh!tting me...


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,121 ✭✭✭dajaffa


    K.O.Kiki wrote:
    Would that machine even be able to play 16-bit (SNES/MegaDrive) emulators? :p(yeah I know the OP said he didn't want to play games...)
    Also: €100 for a measly 256mb RAM, a bag & a mouse? You've got to be sh!tting me...


    Printer too.

    Basically if u want one just to surf the net, + use the basic apps (+ alot of ppl do) it'd do.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 18,689 ✭✭✭✭K.O.Kiki


    dajaffa wrote:
    Printer too.

    Basically if u want one just to surf the net, + use the basic apps (+ alot of ppl do) it'd do.
    They say that's what they want, but then they discover things other stuff they want to do...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1 gerrie1


    Like Casey who started this thread, I am also looking at this Tesco offer(see below). I understand there is a 1 year product warranty. The clubcard vouchers are valid for 2 years and can be used on any Tesco product.
    I want a laptop for home use:Internet , word processing and printing/basic editing of digital photos - no interest in games whatsoever and won't change my mind on that.
    Those of you with strong opinions/previous experience of iQon computers, can you tell me what exactly would not be satisfactory with them? When you say the quality is not good, how would that affect me in practical terms?
    Any advice welcome
    G

    Laptop - E799 but with E399.50 clubcard vouchers back

    Celeron M Processor 370
    512mb
    40gb hdd
    dvdrw combo
    printer
    wireless card
    mouse
    carry case


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 459 ✭✭b0bsquish


    I think tescos have 2 year warrenty on the iqons, at least they did at xmas there. There a cheap laptop, and that bag they "give" you is just plain nasty! But if you want something basic (and cheap) they're grand. Support for them is semi-decent, sent a couple of things rma to them, took around a month to get back, not sure what to make of this considering there in ireland.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,221 ✭✭✭abetarrush


    Ok, does anyone actually OWN one of these 'tops?


    I was thinkin of gettin one but im not sure, cos my PC is iQon and its in bits! the motherboard is made out of Paper


    But, the Cutomer Service are actually pretty good. They don't do everything they can to avoid having to take the comp back for repair [like Dell]

    Ah i dno, think ill just flip a coin


    Q: Do laptops only have one RAM slot?
    [If I buy the one with 512MB ram, could I add another 512 card, or wud I have to get 1 1GB card????]


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,300 ✭✭✭CiaranC


    K.O.Kiki wrote:
    Would that machine even be able to play 16-bit (SNES/MegaDrive) emulators?
    :eek:

    A ten year old PII desktop with 32MB of RAM could do this without breaking a sweat, of course these could.

    Do people really still buy into the constant upgrade cycle marketing drivel surrounding PCs?

    My folks have been using the same PIII 500 for 7 years and it does exactly what it did 7 years ago. Their needs havent changed, so why should their hardware?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    CiaranC wrote:
    :eek:

    A ten year old PII desktop with 32MB of RAM could do this without breaking a sweat, of course these could.

    Do people really still buy into the constant upgrade cycle marketing drivel surrounding PCs?

    My folks have been using the same PIII 500 for 7 years and it does exactly what it did 7 years ago. Their needs havent changed, so why should their hardware?

    I think he was joking :D

    Obviously this laptop would be 100% fine for net browsing and processing, music etc, I still do that on an old 350mhz laptop. But the integrated graphics are crap to such an extent that its 100% useless for this purpose, at least with DELLs similar offer price you get the GMA900, crap as it is, runs rings around the SiS in the iQon.

    Anyway, yeah, these laptops are perfect for casual use.
    They say that's what they want, but then they discover things other stuff they want to do...

    Thats the danger though. At least, as above, the GMA900 in the cheapest DELLs can run some newish games on low settings and is quite good at playing older games. Should you suddenly decide you want to play an anyway remotely modern game made in the past few years, you might as well throw the iQon in the bin, cos it really ain't gonna happen...:D

    I would really avoid the iQon for the reasons that:

    1)Rubbish build quality
    2)Hopelessly obsolete for anything but the most basic of tasks


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,689 ✭✭✭✭K.O.Kiki


    Hehe.. cheap PC's remind me of the aul' thing downstairs.
    Athlon XP (1.8Ghz), 768mb PC2100, 40Gig 5400rpm HDD, 32mb VIA integrated graphics :p
    I still can't believe I was able to enjoy Deus Ex on that thing.
    Then I bought a cheap 9600pro and... well, let's just say I'm never going back to integrated graphics ever again...


  • Registered Users Posts: 23,532 ✭✭✭✭phog


    My sister is considering buying one of these and her main usage would be viewing/checking the security videos of her business while traveling, photo editing and storage, emailing and surfing the net. What are your views? Is 256RAM ok for this?


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,396 ✭✭✭✭Karoma


    phog wrote:
    My sister is considering buying one of these and her main usage would be viewing/checking the security videos of her business while traveling, photo editing and storage, emailing and surfing the net. What are your views? Is 256RAM ok for this?
    It's not a good buy for these tasks - no.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,710 ✭✭✭podgeandrodge


    Karoma wrote:
    It's not a good buy for these tasks - no.

    How can you say that? I have the laptop and have viewed videos, stored photos, emailed and surfed the net on it? Any basic laptop, including this one, would do these jobs.


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,396 ✭✭✭✭Karoma


    Photo editing - with Celeron M Processor 370, 256MB... I wouldn't have the patience. Laptop for "storage" (i.e. Keeping an archived copy of data for business purposes?)?!
    Dunno about battery life, so won't comment.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,710 ✭✭✭podgeandrodge


    Karoma wrote:
    Photo editing - with Celeron M Processor 370, 256MB... I wouldn't have the patience.

    How much power do you think you need to edit a photo?


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,689 ✭✭✭✭K.O.Kiki


    How much power do you think you need to edit a photo?
    Well, you'd want 512mb RAM, or (even better) 1Gb to start...
    A Pentium M/CoreDuo/Core2Duo would be great too (check Dell, they should have cheap Pentium M machines)


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,710 ✭✭✭podgeandrodge


    K.O.Kiki wrote:
    Well, you'd want 512mb RAM, or (even better) 1Gb to start...
    A Pentium M/CoreDuo/Core2Duo would be great too (check Dell, they should have cheap Pentium M machines)

    Sorry, I don't accept that. Any application such as Paint Shop Pro etc will run fine on a machine with 256 RAM. Maybe if you want to open multiple copies of photos at the same time but there is no memory problem with opening up a standard digital photograph and editing it - I've done it plenty of times on an old 128mb 1ghz Celeron pc from 5 years ago.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,400 ✭✭✭Nonoperational


    My girlfriend got one of these for college work. 599 with 300 back in november. Build quality isnt bad, keyboard a bit spongey and button on the trackpad isnt to my personal liking but overall its not bad. Dont know where the notion of sis graphics came from. Integrated intel 900 graphics. Not great but perfect for general computer use. For 299 its really really good value.


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