The mother of all portables

Floater

Came across a new Toshiba laptop today. 17” screen, 3.0 MHz Pentium IV processor, 512k RAM, 80 Gb HD, 4 x USB, DVD RW, serious sound quality, nicest looking portable I have come across. Brilliant DVD viewing environment. Price €2999. Can’t find it on any Toshiba website for some reason. The only downside 4.5kgs.

The Japanese are doing a far better job on portables than Dell / HP etc of late AFAICS.

Floater

Eurorunner

Nice but a bit steep pricewise. I know someone who got something similar to that for a lot less:

Manufacturer: Gericom
P4 3.06GHz
60 Gig HDD
512MB ram
Panasonic DVD burner DVD-R/-RW
Wireless LAN card
15" TFT
Radeon 9600 Graphics card
All the usual card readers, usb slots, modem etc.
Front panel controls for MP3


Price: €1799
(purchased in Germany)


Ok, you get the larger screen but theres a massive difference in pricetags.

CyberGhost

Eurorunner... Wow, even Dell can't beat that price

Floater

Originally posted by Eurorunner
Nice but a bit steep pricewise. I know someone who got something similar to that for a lot less:

Price: €1799
(purchased in Germany)

You are surely comparing apples and bananas here! A 17 inch screen has to be seen in the flesh. It is bleeding edge stuff on a laptop. I also have never come across a laptop with 4 USBs either, which are essential in my books.

If you want rock bottom prices you can hop on a plane and buy a “no-name” computer from an Aldi type computer shop in some backstreet around a hauptbahnhof in Germany. They are working on very thin margins and may not be around next year. Where do you get support in the case of malfunction after that?

Repairing a laptop yourself with generic components that may not slot into place like the originals could be a bit challenging.

Floater

Eurorunner

First of all, at ease Floater!:)

I'm not trying to be a smart ass or suggest that what you are putting forward is crap. The whole idea of the boards IMO is to exchange info - thats all that was intended here:cool:

You are surely comparing apples and bananas here! A 17 inch screen has to be seen in the flesh.

I did say that the screen size would account for a big chunk of the price difference - so we're in agreement here.

I also have never come across a laptop with 4 USBs either,

I dont know how many usb ports this guy got with his laptop - next time i'm talking to him, i'll find out.

If you want rock bottom prices you can hop on a plane and buy a “no-name” computer from an Aldi type computer shop in some backstreet around a hauptbahnhof in Germany.

Ok, the laptop would have been bought in MediaMarkt - which is far from backstreet - they are the German equivalent to Dixons - as seen on every German main shopping area. As regard the brand thing, brand doesnt concern me overly these days although personally i would be looking for reviews of the product if i was purchasing cos i certainly have never heard of Gericom.

Warranty would be another issue - and i dont know what the deal is with regard to warranty on his machine or on yours? Yes, support would be a problem - Agreed (although not for him as hes based over there).

The other issue is that the keyboard is german - which he didnt want.

There are a couple of things here that go some extent to accounting for the price difference. Nevertheless, im sure you can see that this is a sizeable price difference.

<Edit> Cant find this particular model on either Gericoms' or MediaMarkts' site at the moment but all of the lower spec'ed models have 4xusb.

Paddyo

I have seen this Toshiba Portable. It is really a brilliant machine. The only thing I would have against it is that it should have a TV tuner as standard - to compliment the wide screen.

I have head that Toshiba are in fact going to ship the tuner with the machine.

It is really a toy for people with money to spare.

I could give a site with more details - but I could be accused of 'pimping'.


Paddyo

Floater

Originally posted by Paddyo
I have seen this Toshiba Portable. It is really a brilliant machine. The only thing I would have against it is that it should have a TV tuner as standard - to compliment the wide screen.

I have head that Toshiba are in fact going to ship the tuner with the machine.

It is really a toy for people with money to spare.

I could give a site with more details - but I could be accused of 'pimping'.

Why isn't the detail easily visible on their websites? I have tried several european and US toshiba websites to no avail. It is very unusual to see a PC in a shop available for sale and no mention of it in the manufacturer's website. It's normally the other way around. Feel free to pimp us with the website URL!

I don't think the price (2999) is OTT for the configuration. I have been checking high spec configurations on dell (with smaller screens) and they can easily run to over five grand. I'm getting pissed off with Dell's laptop product quality and so called support.

(While I'm probably sounding like a pimp now, I can assure you that I am "only" a dissatisfied customer).


Floater

Floater

Originally posted by Eurorunner

The biggest problem I have found in buying big ticket items online from German suppliers is credit card acceptance. When you order online they end up wanting a SWIFT payment to their IBAN before they ship. I don't do business that way. Here's my credit card number and if the goods don't show up I have lost nothing.

I have no problem paying their retailer's credit card fees if they offer a low price. It doesn't seem to be the issue with them.

Bureaucracy is killing countries like Germany. I notice that mediamarkt.de even want your date of birth when ordering online (and have no place for your credit card details in the website form). One suspects that after ordering you will get an e-mail with more bureaucratic demands. I was in a hotel there a few months ago and the restaurant staff were so busy fiddling with paperwork they had almost no time left to serve their customers. In another airport hotel I waited an hour and twenty minutes for my main course at dinner at which point I gave up and left - complaining to the duty manager on the way out.

While I like many German cars and Miele washing machines and Villeroy & Boch stuff, unfortunately when it comes to any form of service business I remain uninspired with DE.

Floater

Paddyo

Floater

The website in qustion is

http://www.bms.ie/Toshiba.htm

Paddyo

SoundWave

they have that laptop in pc world in blanch.. its a feckin monster... too big IMHO and its hardly portable. for that money id buy a serious desptop... two even...

Floater

Originally posted by SoundWave
they have that laptop in pc world in blanch.. its a feckin monster... too big IMHO and its hardly portable. for that money id buy a serious desptop... two even...

While it is not your normal laptop it does fill a slot where one wants something tidy and small (relative to the collection of wires and other stuff that comes with a desktop machine) that can be moved easily when required.

Floater

Eurorunner

ureaucracy is killing countries like Germany. I notice that mediamarkt.de even want your date of birth when ordering online (and have no place for your credit card details in the website form). One suspects that after ordering you will get an e-mail with more bureaucratic demands. I was in a hotel there a few months ago and the restaurant staff were so busy fiddling with paperwork they had almost no time left to serve their customers. In another airport hotel I waited an hour and twenty minutes for my main course at dinner at which point I gave up and left - complaining to the duty manager on the way out.

Your absolutely right. However, in the case of MediaMarkt, their geared towards sales within Germany so the hassles with regard to payment systems are what people locally are used to.

I have spent quite a while living and working in various parts of Germany and i can tell you that they ARE the kings of bureaucracy! - I know only too well the point your making from personal experience:mad:
Different mentality - they couldnt function without paperwork and order - whereas the irish run the opposite direction:).
Anyway, getting back on topic, there are service issues if you buy anything like this outside the country - but the other thing i find here is that we get stung pricewise every which way we turn....so to me, its still worth chasing down a good deal if theres cash to be saved.

Floater

Originally posted by Eurorunner

The unfortunate problem is that this bureaucracy is like a virus. It is spreading through companies and through the EU structure into member states like wildfire. It’s increasingly a technology issue as electrons replace paper.

I rented a car a few months ago from Germany’s Sixt (rental location not in Germany). Prior to renting I applied for the Sixt express card so they had my details online in the hope that it would speed things up. At the rental counter, it took the guy 25 minutes of playing about with his keyboard before I got the keys of the car. An ordinary cheapo thing – not a Buggati or anything like it. I asked if it would be as slow if I rented again and he replied in the affirmative without batting an eyelid.

If you rent from Hertz or Avis with the equivalent card (#1 Club Gold or Avis Preferred) they usually just give you the keys immediately on arrival – or in North America you walk straight to the car from the aircraft and drive away. The keys are already in the vehicle and a security guard at the exit barrier compares the name on your license with that on the agreement and you are off.

While you say it is a German obsession with order I increasingly wonder. A Hertz location at the average American airport for example is far more organised, orderly and efficient than any one might find in Germany.

It seems to me to be am obsession with paperwork for its own sake. In my view that is handicapping Europe in general and worse it is being spread to traditionally non bureaucratic areas by the EU by the EU.

To make matters worse, new EU bureaucracy measures are even more bureaucratically implemented in Ireland than anywhere else because the elected politicians are so clueless in many cases that the most draconian draft measures end up in the final regulations without any serious consideration of the consequences!

Floater