Pixmania/Ankermann Quad Core PC (€529 delivered)

sdanseo

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/2993521/art/ankermann/quad-hd-special-intel-cor.html?tag=mail_ie_uk_2009-10-03_38007&srcid=3666

Saw this, for those that are lazy:

Intel® Core 2 Quad Q9400 4x2.67GHz 'Yorkfield' |
FSB 1333 - 6MB L2 cache - Intel 64 XD bit - 45nm - Thermal Monitor 2 |
ATI Radeon® HD 4850 1024MB ver.2.0 (System Builder) |
4GB DDR2 1066 Kingston® System Builder RAM |
Mainboard ASUS® P5Q SE2 Intel P45 |
500GB SATA-2 HDD 7200/32MB |
20x DL DVD±RW Lightscribe |
Gigabit Ethernet LAN - DSL Ready |
8 Channel High-Definition Audio |
XILENCE Frozen Fighter CPU cooler |
600 Watt Ultra X-Pro 120mm Low Noise |
Ankermann® 905 BlackLine Case 7x USB 2.0

Delivery €39.90, even then not a bad bargain, all you need is an OS (none included) and keuboard/mouse/monitor and that's the bones of a decent system.

the_syco

sdonn wrote: »

Delivery €39.90, even then not a bad bargain, all you need is an OS (none included) and keuboard/mouse/monitor and that's the bones of a decent system.

Add another hundred onto the price for an OS, if you plan to buy one (as opposed to using Unix on it).

Still wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Although I've heard of a few success stories recently, I've heard more stories from friends of how they have expensive paperweights due to pixmania's sh|t service!

TheDriver

ankermann has got some very bad press lately too so I would say avoid. Spec looks simlar to aldi's offering last week

sdanseo

TheDriver wrote: »

Spec looks simlar to aldi's offering last week

Yeah I reckoned that too, had heard good things about ankermann myself and have used pixmania a few times as well with no complaints. I'm aware of bad press but have never had a problem with ~5 purchases of all sizes.

Effluo

eh not a bargain alert.....

This should be more like a don't buy from ankermann alert!!!

Although the prices they show seem good if you go onto a website like hardwareversand.de you can actually find that the same components that they use in the Ankermann builds are cheaper when buying separately! Not to mention the fact that sometimes the builds actually come with lesser parts than advertised!

Ankermann are notorious for putting the worst mobo's, ram and psu's into the pc's which they can get away with! If you're looking for value in the pc market and are just getting something for your media and general use then the bottom of the range Dells are hard to beat....

If you want anything more than something to watch films on/word processing/ browse the internet, then self building is the only option which will actually give exactly what you need and want for a reasonable price....

Learn more on the Building and Upgrading Forums

jayteecork

I bought an Ankermann PC last Jan and definitely amoung the best money I've spent.

Everything runs amazing.
And you don't need to spend "100 euro" on an OS.
I just bunged in the Vista disc that came with my laptop - all perfectly legal.
If not you can get windows 7 for free in lot of places, or get someone to burn you an XP CD. Jesus, "another hundred" my ass.

That said, order from Ankermann directly, Pixmania are a complete shower of ****ing ***** and I'm surprised Lars(Ankermann) has teamed up with them.

TerrorFirmer

jayteecork wrote: »

And you don't need to spend "100 euro" on an OS.

Well, at least 65-70.

I just bunged in the Vista disc that came with my laptop - all perfectly legal.

No, completely illegal.

If not you can get windows 7 for free in lot of places, or get someone to burn you an XP CD. Jesus, "another hundred" my ass.

Win7 expires in March, option 2, again, is completely illegal. Not everyone considers pirate or cracked OS an option.

This is a much better machine than the Aldi one.

jayteecork

I'm pretty sure the disc you get with your laptop is good for 1 or 2 other computers.
Hell, it passed Microsft's own verification procedure without any hitch.

If I'm wrong and putting my own disc of Vista on my desktop is illegal, then you better send for the firing squad.

AlmightyCushion

jayteecork wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the disc you get with your laptop is good for 1 or 2 other computers.
Hell, it passed Microsft's own verification procedure without any hitch.

If I'm wrong and putting my own disc of Vista on my desktop is illegal, then you better send for the firing squad.

That version of vista you got with your laptop is licensed to that laptop and only that laptop. You don't get any extra licenses. So putting it on another machine isn't legal. Saying that, microsoft seem pretty lax on enforcing this.

jayteecork

Well it passed the online verification process.
I simply put the code on my laptop when prompted and hey presto!

Effluo

I'm am suprised... And also sceptical

fletch

Its just illegal to have the same product code used on two different machines at the same time.

Redisle

jayteecork wrote: »

Well it passed the online verification process.
I simply put the code on my laptop when prompted and hey presto!

Strange that this worked tbh..
Normally the licence codes on the outside of machines like yours are not accepted by the online activation system.. They are not even used in the installation process. OEM discs all use the same OEM product key, If you ran a keyfinder on any factory dell for example it would show the same key on each one..
The one on the outside of the case is just for licencing/show purposes, it's not actually used to install the os. A few years ago it was possible to activate unused xp keys from the outside of cases but microsoft blacklisted all those keys after a while.
I actually tried to use a key from the outside of a laptop to reinstall xp on that laptop without the oem disc a few years ago and I had to ring microsoft and answer a load of questions regarding where it was bought etc.. before they would give me the activation code.

And actually OT: Ankermann do have some great deals but I have a friend who had big problems with them.. if something goes wrong they are far from easy to deal with.

jayteecork

Just stick the code from underneath your laptop on your desktop.

It worked for XP too, my OOOOOOOOLLLLLLD laptop still had the XP key visible and that worked, but I had to stick on Vista instead as I had a problem with internet connection sharing.