LIDL 17'' Notebook 999.99, 19" LCD Flatscreen Monitor 199.99

briman1983

Hey guys. Lidl have thrown one into the works with the Aldi offer. Seems to be a good one. Here is the only specs I could find, no mention of processor.

17'' Notebook Traveller 1776x

* High Speed Processor
* 1024 MB
* Huge Hard Drive:120 GB SATA Hard Disk 5400 RPM
* Double +_ Layer DVD Burner
* Integrated 1.3 Megapixel Webcam
* Fast wireless connections
* Best in class graphics: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600

(of only I could afford one now)

Stark

Lidl typically have AMD Turion processors in their laptops.

Looks quite decent. It's a pity there aren't more laptops around with 2GB RAM but at least RAM is something that's generally easy to upgrade in a laptop.

Stark

Found the notebook on the Targa site. Looks pretty yummy.

http://www.targa.co.uk/index.jsp?SID=0&NAV=236&DOC=&PAGE=&PCAT=2&PROD=330&PTUBE=12&PARAMS=undefined&PARAMS2=undefined&SPCAREA=undefined

Johnny Storm

Anyone care to hazard an opinion as to whether the Lidl or Aldi one is better value? For general use?

because_I_can

Johnny Storm wrote:

Anyone care to hazard an opinion as to whether the Lidl or Aldi one is better value? For general use?

Good question which im wondering about myself!


Main Diffs
1 - Price - lidl €200 more expensive. is it worth it? im not so sure


2 - Processor - lidl - AMD Turion™ 64 X2 TL52 (Dual Core CPU) – 1MB Cache 1,6 GHz - Aldi - Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T2060 1.60GHz 533 MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache

http://www.xbitlabs.com/web/display/20050504231716.html

Much of a muchness here to me, both dual core, same speed, same cache. Turion is 64 bit so maybe slightly ahead here although the intel is sposed to be better on power. 64 bit is more future prroof. Even though the intel has the built in wireless. that means the lidl has to have an extra chip/card someplace on board for the wifi but that wont matter much

3 - graphics card - lidl - NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7600 - with 256 MB GDDR3-RAM - Aldi - Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 PCI–Express

advantage lidl by a clear mile here. the intel not great on newest games!! i dont really play games though so does this matter. for all else like dvds etc the intel is fine and prob easier on battery too.

4 - screen - lidl 17" vs aldi 15.4". advantage lidl here but this might mean you have a much more bulky laptop, im not sure about the size/weight of either of these yet

5 - ram - same 1 gig each, but lidl defo has another slot to upgrade. aldi might have too but it doenst say for sure

6 - same hard drive

7 - same burner

8 - connectivity - lidl is better with bluetooth and gigabit ethernet and a better card reader.
lidl has 1 more usb2 port
both have firewire


9 - webcam - the lidl has a built in webcam which is a real clincher for me as i use skype a lot

10 - speakers - the aldi one claims to have very good speakers which would be great but they'r prb sh!te anyway

11 - support - advantage aldi imo - definite 36 month warranty vs 15 month warranty on battery only for lidl?? not sure on this though

12 - size - unsure of aldi size but it must be smaller than the lidl anyway due to smaller screen size. the weight of the lidl is the only one i know for sure and at 3.7kg its nealry half the weight of my currnet laptop (6kg) so thats cool out


13 - tv - lboth have dvb-t which is moot as its not available in roi but lidl alos has a pcmia tv card so you can pick up rte1 and all aswell!! great - advantage lidl. this is worth prob €70

14 - OS - aldi has vista to lidls win xp . who cares though. does anyone still use windows?? lol



Now my own laptop here is shagged, buttons falling out and sometimes ive to start and restart 10 times to get into the os, so i think i might just go for the lidl one. although at a grand its an awful lot of money even if it is a good deal....

opinions anyone on that comparison??

opus

Johnny Storm wrote:

Anyone care to hazard an opinion as to whether the Lidl or Aldi one is better value? For general use?

Depends what you mean by general use, the cheaper would be fine for websurfing, email, music, watching video, docs etc. If you want to play the newer games then the Lidl one is a better bet.

I get by with a 6 year old HP laptop that does the trick for most things, don't play games so no issue there. The only time it's let me down is watching HD video clips as it's not quite fast enough to keep up.

because_I_can

the best dell i can get with a similiar spec minus all the tv and remote webcam extras is coming in at about €850. id prob get a dell over the aldi but the lidl seems to be a step above again. its a fair bit more expensive though

Stark

so i think i might just go for the lidl one. although at a grand its an awful lot of money even if it is a good deal....

opinions anyone on that comparison??

Well the last time I got a high end laptop, it cost me €1700, so €1000 for a high end one seems good to me. The only thing that would put me off is the crappy warranty.

The ALDI one: What would worry me is trying to run Vista in 1GB of RAM. It'll run, but personally I wouldn't install Vista on anything with less than 2GB.

If I was buying a laptop myself right now, I'd go for the Lidl one because of the graphics card (dedicated memory,mmmm. Most of the Dell laptops seem to have Hypermemory) and the 64-bit processor.

SuperSean11

I wouldnt worry about the graphics card . Theyre dirt cheap now

valor

is it easy to buy and install new ram yourself if you are a computer novice? where would you buy such?

Stark

SuperSean11 wrote:

I wouldnt worry about the graphics card . Theyre dirt cheap now

You can't upgrade the graphics card on a notebook, you're stuck with whatever one comes with the machine.

valor wrote:

is it easy to buy and install new ram yourself if you are a computer novice? where would you buy such?

Assuming the laptop has a free slot then it's a piece of piss.

www.komplett.ie is one site to get it off but you have to know what you want.

I'd recommend www.crucial.com and www.corsairmemory.com as they can tell you exactly what RAM you need based on the system you own, and you can order directly from www.crucial.com at a reasonable price.

BostonB

SuperSean11 wrote:

I wouldnt worry about the graphics card . Theyre dirt cheap now

Did you think it was a desktop?

murphaph

The Targa only has 15 months warranty for the battery, it's 3 years for the rest of the machine. I'm gonna get the lidl one. My old laptop is knackered.

Nuttzz

The flyer in todays indo says its €1299, although the web says 999, i wonder what gives

Clover

Nuttzz wrote:

The flyer in todays indo says its €1299, although the web says 999, i wonder what gives

just about to post the same thing , which price is right ? as i was leaning towards picking one up but only at the €999 price , plus in the flyer it has windows xp mce and not vista .

murphaph

999 will be right I reckon. It'll be a reaction to the Aldi laptop next thursday at 799, albeit at a much lower spec. Remember they did the same with the 32" LCD TVs a while back, 777 advertised in print media, cut to 649 to match Aldi. It comes with MCE preinstalled but with free express upgrade to Vista (premium I think). You can apply immediately for your Vista pack and you just pay for postage on it.

jamesjoyce

It isn't the greatest value ever if you consider this:
http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Toshiba_Satellite_P100-240_PSPA3E-04K026EN/version.asp

Pretty similar spec minus a few things but cheaper all the same!

godtabh

Stark wrote:

You can't upgrade the graphics card on a notebook, you're stuck with whatever one comes with the machine.

Thats not true. Laptops that dont have integrated graphic cards can be changed.

I can swap out the graphics card that is in my laptop now

BostonB

kearnsr wrote:

Thats not true. Laptops that dont have integrated graphic cards can be changed.

I can swap out the graphics card that is in my laptop now

Very few of them can do that. Usually its so expensive its not worth doing. The only machines I've seen people do it with are the larger laptops like the 9400, XPS1710 machines. Maybe these ones can. can you be sure with opening it up?

Stark

jamesjoyce wrote:

It isn't the greatest value ever if you consider this:
http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Toshiba_Satellite_P100-240_PSPA3E-04K026EN/version.asp

Pretty similar spec minus a few things but cheaper all the same!

It's €1035 excluding delivery for me. The 160GB hard drive looks nice but it would be worth checking the rpm on it. When shopping around for a new hard drive for my laptop, the only 160GB drives I could find were all 4800rpm as opposed to the norm of 5400rpm.

godtabh

BostonB wrote:

Very few of them can do that. Usually its so expensive its not worth doing. The only machines I've seen people do it with are the larger laptops like the 9400, XPS1710 machines. Maybe these ones can. can you be sure with opening it up?

Parts can be got to do the job.

Then its down to whether you can actually do the job or not (or would you have to get some one to do it for you)

If you want to know if your laptop can do it google it but if it says shared memory I wouldnt think you could.

Soarer

Would this Lidl machine be any good for HD movie making/editing?

I'm in the process of purchasing a HD camcorder for our honeymoon, and I'll obviously be looking to edit when we get home.

If it wouldn't suit, what minimum specs in a machine should I be looking for to make things as easy as possible? I'd like to have a 17" monitor, and firewire 400/800 if possible.:rolleyes:

murphaph

I like Toshiba but the Targa has some nice little nic nacs, built in 1.3m pixel camera, wireless mouse, bag, free upgrade to vista, much longer warranty etc. have swung it for me. It's also 64bit capable, I don't think that Toshiba is.

Stark

murphaph wrote:

I don't think that Toshiba is.

Nope. Intel mobile CPUs didn't become 64-bit capable until the Core 2 Duo. The CPU in the Toshiba is a Core Duo.

jmorrisey

Just wonderin. Thinkin of headin to the store in Togher. My own laptops knackered....it never forgave me for the glass of milk i spilt on it bout a year ago:o what time would i need to be there on Thursay mornin to get one?

TerrorFirmer

You can't change most laptops gpu's. It's only a small minority that can be physically changed, and even at that, to the average user it just isn't possible, so you can't really use it as a point.

Also Dell use the X1400 in their notebooks, and Hypermemory isn't that bad. These cards also have dedicated memory too, using hypermemory to make up the rest. As far as performance goes they're obviously worse then the Go7600 due to the lower pipelines and core speed but thats mostly it, the Hypermemory doesn't play as big a part as people make out sometimes.

For general use there's no point getting the Aldi one. Sure the Go7600 is alot nicer but if you're not playing games theres no real point, the GMA in the Lidl one even runs Vista Premium perfectly fine. The added bits like the cam are nice though.

Although if you just want a basic machine Dell have better offers on somewhat better rounded up machines then Lidl, not that that'll stop people flocking to buy the Lidl machine convinced they got an unbelieveable bargin! (Dell - Turion X2 cpu, 120gb HD, 1Gb Ram, X1150 - for 699)

thefinalstage

If anybody is throwing out a relatively clean laptop for this one send it my way. Anything that I can surf the web on would be fine :P

If you don't ask you don't receive

dubtom

Anyone got an opinion on the 19'' flatscreen.I assume they have been sold before, good value at €199?

opus

jmorrisey wrote:

Just wonderin. Thinkin of headin to the store in Togher. My own laptops knackered....it never forgave me for the glass of milk i spilt on it bout a year ago:o what time would i need to be there on Thursay mornin to get one?

Last time I tried to buy something there (Sat system) there was a queue round the corner 30 mins before it opened. So we hopped in the car & drove to Fermoy where there was no queue at all and just walked in and picked up the bits.

because_I_can

HavoK wrote:

not that that'll stop people flocking to buy the Lidl machine convinced they got an unbelieveable bargin! (Dell - Turion X2 cpu, 120gb HD, 1Gb Ram, X1150 - for 699)

what do you mean 699? dont you mean 999 for the lidl one?

edit
i see what you mean now - 699 is for a dell

TerrorFirmer

I mean exactly what I say - 699 for that spec from Dell!

Nalz

HavoK wrote:

I mean exactly what I say - 699 for that spec from Dell!

have you a link for that spec?

TerrorFirmer

It's the 1501 with the X2 instead of the Sempron 3500

Actually it's 708 now. But still a good deal.

Here

Change the warranty to get it to 708

thefinalstage

It doesn't have the 3 year warranty and its Vista home edition.

Nalz

HavoK wrote:

It's the 1501 with the X2 instead of the Sempron 3500

Actually it's 708 now. But still a good deal.

Here

Change the warranty to get it to 708

push up the battery to 9 and RAM to 2gb you get a decent lappy for €968

because_I_can

2 gig of memory to make a decent laptop??? i must be getting old. my own one had buckets of ram at 512 back in the day. i remember when 32 was loads.

its getting to the stage where OS are so bloated with eye candy that they're almost matching requirements for simulation machines in industry. our fastest machine has 16gig ram here in work

why doenst everyone just use scripts and cshell?

BostonB

kearnsr wrote:

Parts can be got to do the job.

Then its down to whether you can actually do the job or not (or would you have to get some one to do it for you)

If you want to know if your laptop can do it google it but if it says shared memory I wouldnt think you could.

Funny then that a place that specialised in Notebook repairs couldn't find a replacement gfx last time I tried. After 4 weeks I told them to stop looking. If its a standard part for a high end Dell XPS or 9400 etc, you might have some hope. Anything else very remote you'll get it.

godtabh

BostonB wrote:

Funny then that a place that specialised in Notebook repairs couldn't find a replacement gfx last time I tried. After 4 weeks I told them to stop looking. If its a standard part for a high end Dell XPS or 9400 etc, you might have some hope. Anything else very remote you'll get it.

I've sourced 2 replacement graphics cards fro my 9300 of eBay.

Neither would guarantee delivery to Ireland so didn’t get one.

A member on boards was going to sell one a while ago but I think he changed his mind about upgrading.

Was the compnay "really"" trying?

Quick search of boards
Link

jesus_thats_gre was thinking off selling his.

Johnny Storm

See y'all down at Lidl's tomorrow

Timans

Is the 19" monitor good? There is a few on komplett.ie for like €210.

I can't see this being better is it?

BostonB

kearnsr wrote:

I've sourced 2 replacement graphics cards fro my 9300 of eBay.

Neither would guarantee delivery to Ireland so didn’t get one.

A member on boards was going to sell one a while ago but I think he changed his mind about upgrading.

Was the compnay "really"" trying?

Quick search of boards
Link

jesus_thats_gre was thinking off selling his.

Well done for repeating the point I already made about Dell XPS or 9400 etc. :rolleyes: The problem is if you have anything else. I was looking for a Aldi brand machine and a fx5600. Couldn't be got. Even for the Dell you need to mod the machine, hack the bios, uprate the cooling and get a more powerful AC adapter. Risky even if you know what you are doing. Just buy the right machine to begin with. Its a false economy to try and do it afterwards, and most of the time you can't anyway. Why make it sound likes its a walk in the park and its a feature of most laptops? It isn't.

godtabh

BostonB wrote:

Why make it sound likes its a walk in the park and its a feature of most laptops? It isn't.

I never said it was easy. I said it was possible. I piked dell note books as thats what I have experience with but you can do it with other laptops

BostonB

You didn't say a lot of significant things about it. :rolleyes:

Johnny Storm

I bought one of these this morning. FYI they were not out on display, you have to ask for them at the till or from the manager. Seems to work OK but I'm still getting to grips with it. Downside: seems flimsily made. Hinges for the screen are very stiff and the lid is thin so the screen seems in danger when you open/close. DVD drawer is flimsy

TerrorFirmer

kearnsr wrote:

I've sourced 2 replacement graphics cards fro my 9300 of eBay.

Neither would guarantee delivery to Ireland so didn’t get one.

A member on boards was going to sell one a while ago but I think he changed his mind about upgrading.

Was the compnay "really"" trying?

Quick search of boards
Link

jesus_thats_gre was thinking off selling his.

it's possible to replace the card in the 9300 because its mxm, most laptops are not. The link you posted there actually, you'd need to actually mod your laptop to get that working - in summary it would probably be pretty safe to say 99% of purchased laptops cannot have their video cards upgraded, so for all practical purposes it's best left at 'No, you cannot upgrade your laptops graphics'

murphaph

If anyone's interested, there's a handful of laptops left in grange road

Yellow Dog

Went to the Sligo store yesterday on the off chance I might get one as I could not be there before opening.

Was told that they only had a total of two available at opening and yes they were sold.

Tazz T

Nothing left in Parnell St Aldi or Lidl at noon yesterday.

murphaph

right now there's 3 left in grange road, Rathfarnham. I think they're a great yoke!

Johnny Storm

FWIW this laptop is made by MSI, model number L735.

murphaph

FYI, all gone in Grange Road now Still a few 17" monitors.