Another Aldi Laptop

metalfest

hey boards,
just wondering if it's good for the price , and god in general?
clicky thanks

StopNotWorking

Not too bad, AMD are bringing out their new line of 'almost netbook' cpus. They are fairly new so there isn't much out about them atm. I think thats one of the new ones anyway. Seems fairly good for €400. I would buy it but I have my heart set on something else.

Alanstrainor

It depends on what you want it for really. It's essentially a big netbook, and is not going to be great at anything more than web browsing, videos, office etc. It does look very slick though.

metalfest

i'll just be usin it for net, watching videos, music, the odd low quality game if i can.
i don't think i could get anything else in the same style for the same price,
i like hp, acer, and vaio's but the price on this is brilliant i think

finishedart

I'd give this one a miss. PowerCity and others (Compuworld in Dun Laoghaire) are doing ACER's and other great laptops 15.4'' monitors for around the same price - some with 2GB on board. :cool:

metalfest

finishedart wrote: »

I'd give this one a miss. PowerCity and others (Compuworld in Dun Laoghaire) are doing ACER's and other great laptops 15.4'' monitors for around the same price - some with 2GB on board. :cool:

sounds like the script from a tv ad :pac::pac:

btw does anyone agree with finishedart?
i think i'd prefera compact laptop as opposed to a 15" one

Alanstrainor

finishedart wrote: »

I'd give this one a miss. PowerCity and others (Compuworld in Dun Laoghaire) are doing ACER's and other great laptops 15.4'' monitors for around the same price - some with 2GB on board. :cool:

The thing is, not everyone wants a big 3Kg laptop to lug around. The one posted above is very light and has a very small form factor. The 15.4" monsters you're referring to would not be as light, although they would be more powerful

mickoneill30

Alanstrainor wrote: »

The thing is, not everyone wants a big 3Kg laptop to lug around. The one posted above is very light and has a very small form factor. The 15.4" monsters you're referring to would not be as light, although they would be more powerful

Agree with this. We buy Netbooks for our guys in work. When they're at their desks they have a monitor, keybd & mouse but for travelling (they do loads of travelling) 11 out of the 12 laptop purchases this year have said they prefer the Netbooks. The odd one out works from home and wanted the bigger screen on a normal laptop.
I've a NC10 myself. They're not powerful by any means but for movies, surfing, MS Office and a couple of other work apps they're plenty.

Does anybody know how the AMD in the Aldi laptop compares to the Atom in most other Netbooks? I like the screen resolution on it too. Better than the 1024X600 of the NC10.

The warranty is pretty good on the Aldi one. The price isn't great for a lower brand though. The Samsungs can be gotten for the same price or cheaper (delivered and with XP) from Dabs & Elara. The Acer Aspire Ones (with Linux) are only €180 (+delivery) from Expansys.

metalfest

i'm looking at the laptops on DABS this and this are the same thing, it looks prety good..
looks good too

or does anyone have any advice??
i'm alowing myself to spend just under 500 delivered maximum..

or if i wait another few weeks till i get paid this looks tempting clicky

TerrorFirmer

Actually this is quite a good laptop. A netbook yes, but with HDMI, proper HD resolution unlike most netbooks, a 6-cell battery and ATi video.

Very good deal in my opinion.

metalfest

is it better than the ones i listed?

Ryath

Just picked it up and setting it up at the min. Quite pleased seems solid and well made. In comparison to a dell Mini 12 I installed xp for a relation the screen is much better mainly much wider viewing angles. Keyboard seems bigger definatly slightly easier to type on than mini 12 seems nearly same size as my XPS 13. Don't have with it me to compare. Slightly heavier than Mini 12 but it does have a 6 cell battery but feels considerably lighter than the XPS 13 which isn't exactly a heavyweight. May have got it just time wife rang to say 17 month old daughter had knocked our laptop onto the floor and it now wont boot up fully hopefully its fixable.:(

metalfest

Ryath wrote: »

Just picked it up and setting it up at the min. Quite pleased seems solid and well made. In comparison to a dell Mini 12 I installed xp for a relation the screen is much better mainly much wider viewing angles. Keyboard seems bigger definatly slightly easier to type on than mini 12 seems nearly same size as my XPS 13. Don't have with it me to compare. Slightly heavier than Mini 12 but it does have a 6 cell battery but feels considerably lighter than the XPS 13 which isn't exactly a heavyweight. May have got it just time wife rang to say 17 month old daughter had knocked our laptop onto the floor and it now wont boot up fully hopefully its fixable.:(

how are you finding it ??
think it'll run windows 7?

Webmonkey

Ryath wrote: »

Just picked it up and setting it up at the min. Quite pleased seems solid and well made. In comparison to a dell Mini 12 I installed xp for a relation the screen is much better mainly much wider viewing angles. Keyboard seems bigger definatly slightly easier to type on than mini 12 seems nearly same size as my XPS 13. Don't have with it me to compare. Slightly heavier than Mini 12 but it does have a 6 cell battery but feels considerably lighter than the XPS 13 which isn't exactly a heavyweight. May have got it just time wife rang to say 17 month old daughter had knocked our laptop onto the floor and it now wont boot up fully hopefully its fixable.:(

Is the keyboard easy to type on? I mean, is it as bad as the netbooks as I could not stand that.

Brian

metalfest wrote: »

how are you finding it ??
think it'll run windows 7?

Windows 7 will run on pretty much anything

If there is an option to upgrade to 2GB of RAM it will do it easily.

The last netbook I heard of from Aldi/Medion was a rebadge of the popular MSI Wind. I wonder if this is the same situation... I would certainly not be put off by the brand - it's the internals that matter.

This netbook really does look quite tempting. If I didn't already have a 1000H with a 1000HE keyboard on the way, not to mention saving for a desktop build hehe.

http://www.techfresh.net/11-6-inch-amd-powered-medion-akoya-mini-e1312/
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/hardware/2245431/medion-akoya-e1312

metalfest

Baza210 wrote: »

Windows 7 will run on pretty much anything

If there is an option to upgrade to 2GB of RAM it will do it easily.

The last netbook I heard of from Aldi/Medion was a rebadge of the popular MSI Wind. I wonder if this is the same situation... I would certainly not be put off by the brand - it's the internals that matter.

This netbook really does look quite tempting. If I didn't already have a 1000H with a 1000HE keyboard on the way, not to mention saving for a desktop build hehe.

http://www.techfresh.net/11-6-inch-amd-powered-medion-akoya-mini-e1312/
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/hardware/2245431/medion-akoya-e1312

how can you upgrade the RAM?? the expresscard slot?

Brian

RAM is upgraded by opening up the bottom of your laptop and putting in a new memory module.

mickoneill30

Baza210 wrote: »

RAM is upgraded by opening up the bottom of your laptop and putting in a new memory module.

Have you done that on the Aldi laptop? There's no RAM bay. There are 9 screws to take out. I tried that but I couldn't take the bottom off. I didn't want to force it too much.

Brian

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Have you done that on the Aldi laptop? There's no RAM bay. There are 9 screws to take out. I tried that but I couldn't take the bottom off. I didn't want to force it too much.

Nope, I'm afraid I don't know that much about the model in question but what I said is pretty much the standard procedure for netbooks.

You have this Aldi laptop, is that right? Is the RAM soldered to the motherboard or is it removable? In my Eee 1000H there is no auxiliary RAM slot; you have to remove the original one and replace it with a new 2GB card. Perhaps that is the case with this laptop too. It would be unfortunate if the RAM was not upgradeable.

Edit: Watching this video now, may have some hints http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvHpVfdHMY&feature=related

Edit 2 : Yep, at 4:06 it shows that you can remove the RAM. Opening the laptop appears to be quite a delicate procedure though.

Here's the RAM I used in my own laptop, should be fine in the Akoya - http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=325699

mickoneill30

Baza210 wrote: »

Edit 2 : Yep, at 4:06 it shows that you can remove the RAM. Opening the laptop appears to be quite a delicate procedure though.

Thanks for that link. Delicate procedure is one way of describing it. Pain in the ass is another.

I've just put in a 2GB module that I was using in an NC10 and it works fine. There's only one socket so you've got to replace your old module.

metalfest

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Thanks for that link. Delicate procedure is one way of describing it. Pain in the ass is another.

I've just put in a 2GB module that I was using in an NC10 and it works fine. There's only one socket so you've got to replace your old module.

you gonna keep xp or change it to another??
is it running significantly better with the 2GB module?

mickoneill30

Under XP it seems pretty much the same. Just messing about with it though at the moment. Will install Windows 7 on it during the week.

So far my observations on it are

Positives:
Screen is great. I like the bigger resolution than normal netbooks.
I've use Samsung NC10s in work. This is much snappier than those.
HDMI might be a positive. Not much use to me though.

Negatives:
Piles of crappy software installed as standard (not hard to fix and standard with many laptops and might be appreciated by some users).
No easy access to the RAM slot. You'll only need to access that once though.
Keyboard isn't as good as an NC10. It's big enough but the keys are all flat. Doesn't take much to get used to though. I'm typing this on it and I'm touch typing with no hassle.
The covers for the Express Card slot and the SD slot can't be removed without a small screwdriver to pry them open. Daft design.

On the Aldi site it says the laptop is ultra thin. It's not. It's pretty much the same as any other netbook I've seen.

Brian

Have you tried any 720/1080 playback? Wonder how the ATI chip fairs compared the netbook-standard Intel GMA950, which can barely handle 720P.

mickoneill30

Baza210 wrote: »

Have you tried any 720/1080 playback? Wonder how the ATI chip fairs compared the netbook-standard Intel GMA950, which can barely handle 720P.

Nope. All my stuff is SD. It streams SD stuff fine wirelessly but then every machine I've tried can do that.

There's another German review for 720p on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sxa-SjWyKw

Brian

I see he's installed W7. Clever fellow.

Ryath

metalfest wrote: »

how are you finding it ??
think it'll run windows 7?

Pretty good runs quickly enough not quite as brisk as what I'm used to but fast enough not to be annoying (years of dial up probably made me quite patient though) Can't see why see why it wouldn't run Windows 7 from what I've read Vista can run better than XP if configured corectly and windows 7 is meant to be improved in this regard.
Screen really is excellent very bright. Could probably easily be used as a main machine if you're not power hungary. Keyboard is good letter and number keys seem to be full sized no problems touchtyping which is not something I could do on other netbooks. Some of less used keys are reduced in size but still seem to be where you'ld expect them to be. Touch pad buttons are right on the curved edge though so I keep trying to press the touch pad to hit them. Sure I'll get used to it just strange after years of of using the traditional type.
Speakers are decent enough don't know why they put the speaker grills on the bottom edge sound much better when aimed at your ears and not at your crotch. Fine for watching the occasional youtube music video though. Definitily a big improvement on the mono speaker I've heard on some.
Must buy 2 gigs of ram might go to vista then ( I know disliked if it at first think I've just grown accustomed but it does have some nice features)

metalfest

mickoneill30 wrote: »

The covers for the Express Card slot and the SD slot can't be removed without a small screwdriver to pry them open. Daft design.
.

STOP,
i just took mine out, you just push it in and it pops out, you'l make bits of it usin a screwdriver :eek:


btw willl someone please telll me where to get W7

mickoneill30

metalfest wrote: »

STOP,
i just took mine out, you just push it in and it pops out, you'l make bits of it usin a screwdriver :eek:

Doesn't work for me. And it's a jewellers screwdriver. Tiny. Doesn't leave a mark. I've just left the SD card uncovered. Don't care about the Expresscard.

metalfest wrote: »

btw willl someone please telll me where to get W7

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx
It's a release candidate so remember you will have to reinstall your OS in a few months time.

Next question. Anybody got any good ideas for a slip case for this guy. I had a handy slip case for the 10". This is just about 1cm too big for it

metalfest

anyone got any apps that i should install? been a while since i've had a new comp

mickoneill30

metalfest wrote: »

anyone got any apps that i should install? been a while since i've had a new comp

For me

Essential:
KLite Mega Codec Pack - piles of codecs. You'll never have a problem with playing a video again. There are alternative packs if you've got a preference.
7zip.
Firefox + Adblock Plus + Xmarks.
Notepad ++
Cooliris - Cool app for viewing slideshows.
Gimp.
Truecrypt - you're not getting my data if you nick my laptop.
Filezilla FTP client.
Daemon Tools - Mount iso images as drive letters.
AVG Antivirus.

That's about it for me. The rest of it is boring work stuff, Office, VPN client etc.

Brian

+ Digsby
+ Launchy

melekalikimaka

hdmi out...

has anyone managed to play any hd content on this, looking for a cheap lappy for under the tv to stream hd content on the big screen, my 2gb core 2 duo sometimes struggles with 1080 stuff, cant see this being able to cope...

mickoneill30

Just for anybodys info that has this laptop.

I installed Windows 7 on it yesterday.

The screen drivers only seems to like 1024*768. Didn't look into that much.
because
The wireless card doesn't seem to have a W7 driver. The Aldi website only has XP drivers. Realteks site seems to have heard of the card but doesn't have a driver for it. After doing a Google I found some drivers for a Lenovo with the same card. I installed those and the card was detected and can see networks but it can't connect. No matter what setting I try it says the settings on my Netbook don't match the network settings. They do.

Which is a pain in the ass as I need the wireless card to work.

All of the other hardware seems to have been picked up OK.

Anybody else tried Windows 7.

Brian

What model is the card?

mickoneill30

Actually I was wrong about the wireless card.

The drivers from Medions site do work. Download them. Run the exe to uncompress and then in Device Manager point it at the Vista X86 folder.
If you run the Setup.exe in the Medion folder it'll just tell you that you're running an unsupported OS.

Now I'm looking for display drivers.
I tried this (which is the right chipset and even says Windows 7)
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Legacy/Pages/integrated_vista32.aspx?type=2.7&product=2.7.5.3.2.3.2&lang=English&rev=9.3.1&ostype=
But after installing it still thinks it's a Standard VGA Controller and won't give me > 1024 X 768

TerrorFirmer

You need mobile ones; Ati don't offer them, only the manufacturer does. You can use a mod application to add your card to the INF of any driver release, though be warned the latest catalyst might not be the best optimized for that card.

You won't get HD playback out of this laptop, the CPU isn't powerful enough and the card doesn't have full HD decoding.