Gericom Lappie in aldi this thursday

clint_silver

its that time again. check out www.aldi.ie for the laptop they have on sale this thursday. Can someone who knows what theyre talking about (or even not) give me an esteemed opinion on whether the below spec is worth the princely sum of 1499.99e because Im sorely tempted? ta

2 yrs warranty, 4hrs battery and a helpline.


Intel® CentrinoTM Mobile Technology Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 Processor speed 1.73GHz

* 533MHz FrontSideBus
* 2MB L2 cache
* 90nm
* Intel® PRO/Wireless LAN 2915ABG
* Intel® Chipset 915PM

nVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 6600 with 128MB DDR3 PCI-Express

nVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 6600 is the superior notebook GPU with hardware acceleration for Microsoft DirectX 9.0. Shader Model 3.0, powering higher performance and extraordinary visual effects on today's hottest games.

15.4" WXGA Display 16:10 Widescreen

Resolution up to 1280 x 800 pixels

Multi Format DVD Burner 8xDVD±R/RW Double Layer^

For watching and burning DVDs/CDs. Write speed: 8xDVD+R/8xDVD-R/ 4xDVD+RW/4xDVD-RW/5xDVD-RAM/2, 4xDVD+R DL/24xCD-R/10xCD-RW, Read speed: 8xDVD/24xCD.

1024 MB DDR 2 RAM 533MHz

Fastest laptop memory currently available on the market. Up to 30% faster than DDR 1-400, 2 sockets.

Fast 100GB Hard Disk Drive

With 5,400rpm. Made by Seagate.

Digital TV Tuner***

Discover the new digital television of the future with first class image and sound quality. Future proof.

Analogue Stereo TV

Analogue stereo TV & FM Radio Tuner Card. Watch and record TV on your laptop! With Power Cinema and the built-in analogue/digital stereo TV and FM tuner, you can watch and record TV programs right on your laptop! The included IR remote control works with the TV, DVD, CD, radio and digital photo functions of the Power Cinema software.

Intel®PRO/Wireless LAN 2915ABG

The notebook can be linked to a wireless LAN network or in an ad hoc mode, with another wireless LAN compatible notebook. Integrated wireless LAN enables this notebook to be linked to a wireless network i.e. hotspots.

5 in 1 Card Reader

Supports Memory Stick, Smart Media Card, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital and XD Card.

Soundsystem

High definition audio system, SB-Pro-compatible +AC 97 CODEC, 2 internal speakers, internal microphone.

Bluetooth Mini USB Adaptor Class 1

Up to 100m indoor and outdoor.

High Speed Interfaces

4 x USB 2.0, 1 x Firewire IEEE1394.

Audio & Video Interfaces

Analog and digital audio-out, Mic-In, VGA-Out, TV-Out (S-Video).

1x PCMCIA Type II Card Bus supported Modem and LAN

56k V.90/V.92 modem and fast ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbit LAN (includes telephone cable).

Battery: Smart LI-ION Battery

8 cells, 4400mAh, Runtime: up to 4h. Charging time: approx. 2.5hr (power off)/ approx 3.5hr (power on).

Dimensions & Weight: 363(W) x 366(D) x 34.2(H)mm, approx 2.75kg.

Huge Software Package!**

Microsoft® Windows®XP Home SP2, Microsoft® Works Suite 2005, Microsoft® Flight Simulator 2004, Cyberlink DVD Solution (PowerStarter, PowerDVD, PowerProducer, PowerDirector, Power2Go, PowerDVD Copy, PowerBackup, PhotoNow!, MediaShow), Cyberlink Power Cinema 4.0, Skype Software incl. Headset and 120 minutes free telephony, Wanadoo Preload

Fenster

Looks okay. I just know, though, that half those features won't work under Linux due to crappy driver support by the manafacturers

astec123

On paper its set to be fast as hell, price is keen for the spec too, but beware it is an import so they keyboard my be azerty layout etc, nothing to stop you moving keys to their normal position by removing them but this is how some machines arrive here so cheap. They are often bad imports, and not usable to most here because of the keyboard layout.

Superman

astec123 wrote:

On paper its set to be fast as hell, price is keen for the spec too, but beware it is an import so they keyboard my be azerty layout etc, nothing to stop you moving keys to their normal position by removing them but this is how some machines arrive here so cheap. They are often bad imports, and not usable to most here because of the keyboard layout.

doubt it ,
azerty is french , gericom are german and they use normal qwerty keyboards

Stephen

The stuff Aldi sell here is always localised for use here - i.e. the keyboard should be standard UK/Irish layout.

astec123

No I just said it could be azerty ETC, as just one example. It could be imported from elsewhere, just because its a gericom machine does not mean that its been sourced in poland etc. My g3 was imported one but had been brought from frances base with a cyrilic keyboard, just pointng out something to look out for.

dubdvd

From the specs above it seems like a nice peice of kit ...ive seen something not far of those specs in one of the bigger retail shops here in Dublin and the price was about a 1000 euro dearer ...but as with most things you wont know till you have it at home working ...but my two pence worth is it looks like a fast and fairly future proof laptop if there is such a thing as future proof ..but the 915 chipset is the way to go at the moment ..;)

The keyboard thing i dont think you will have to worry about it ...but i do remember a guy talking about this brand before, He had bought from the site in germany or was try to ???and the key board was'nt the standard qwerty keyboard but as it has been said i cant see lidl or aldi selling them without the the right keyboard for each different country they sell in..

conical

So do I buy this ALDI monster or a 12inch Powerbook(can't remember specs) for E1399 from o2shop in Dundrum centre!?!

Have read the mac vs pc thread (doesn't help) can't make up my mind and thursday fast approaches!

-C

clint_silver

my minds made up, Im going to go for it( he said taking off his sock to run down the beach). I went on to dells config site for laptops and took the inspiron 9300 and tried to add everything which was as close to that spec in aldi as I could to get a comparable price.
Without the tv add-ons and card reader the dell was at 2435e. The dell has a wider screen but also has the standard support package.

Im now standing on the edge of the sea...

Is it worth it????? I need as much RAM as possible and as much disk space as possible, are all the other addins worth the price of going for an unknown brand name? Do I need digital TV? I do need a case, that at least another 50 squid. I also need a decent external sound card, theres another 200e. oooo someone convince me.

WillieDH

There will be a 699 deal next week from an Irish supermarket !!!!!

Not Centrino but hey !

Would you buy a high spec lappy from a supermarket ?

What would you see as the problems ?

Stephen

I'm going to pick one of these up on Thursday too. Anyone have any idea how many they get in to each store? I got one of the widescreen TVs from Aldi in Carlow a few weeks back and they had loads of those.

WillieDH

Normally 10 per store max

dearg_doom

clint_silver wrote:

Is it worth it????? I need as much RAM as possible and as much disk space as possible, are all the other addins worth the price of going for an unknown brand name?

Yep, that's a savage price(even if the same lappy was 1300e in Germany a few weeks ago; for Eire, ye'll not do better!

You're getting 1Gb RAM and 100Gb HD, that's about as good as it gets for a laptop no matter who ye go for, and again at this price, you'd be lucky to get half that of Dell/PCWorld.

All the other addons are an amazing perk, when ye take into account how much this is selling for, again ye won't get them off anyone else. And even if ye don't use the BT or TV tuner, just sell them!! Don't forget the massive warranty.



Gericom aren't a no-name brand at all, they are Europe's biggest laptop seller! And this is top-of-the-range stuff, its got the latest Sonoma flavor of the Centrino chipset, and has the 2915 Wifi chip, with ad-hoc connections.

I got the one last year(do a search of boards.ie to see what I thought:)), and if I had the cash, or a few spare kidneys, I'd go for this, it's a class package.

dearg_doom

conical wrote:

So do I buy this ALDI monster or a 12inch Powerbook(can't remember specs) for E1399 from o2shop in Dundrum centre!?!

Have read the mac vs pc thread (doesn't help) can't make up my mind and thursday fast approaches!

-C

Don't buy a small Apple lappy until the next upgrade(which is due imminently); also the current small Apple's(or at least the iBooks, someone might correct me wrt the small PB's) can't handle the new Tiger version of OS-X(like the graphical interface and other goodies), they are due a GFX card upgrade and a minimum of 512Mb of RAM; maybe faster processors too:)

cosgrove80

Wasn't going to get it but after reading this thread I feel like rushing to the bank dammit!

Could someone clear a few things up for me please?

Resolution up to 1280 x 800 pixels

Is that not a bit low? The nVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 6600 is able to do higher resolutions to that isn't it? Also, aren't 17" screens becoming standard?

Supports Memory Stick, Smart Media Card, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital and XD Card.

This might be a very thick question but I assume this can read Compact Flash cards too? Have two cameras with CF and would need the feature.

Dimensions & Weight: 363(W) x 366(D) x 34.2(H)mm, approx 2.75kg.

This sounds stupid but how heavy is 2.75kg? Is it very heavy for a laptop if you were carry it on buses to and from meetings etc?

Thanks, it'd my first laptop and it's quite a bit of money.

DingChavez

Yea, the screen is sorta average, but it's still better than the LCD on my Desktop! And I wouldn't say 17' is standard, unless your getting a Desktop replacment like an XPS or something, which would weigh alot more than this. 1024x768 is what I usually keep my desktop at anyway. Given the choice I would prob cut the WSXGA to save money too.

I don't know about the card reader.

=2.75kg

cosgrove80

Ok, thanks. Just wasn't sure if thought the screen wasn't taking full advantage of the graphics card

DingChavez wrote:

=2.75kg

Must go on a field test to Tesco before Aldi tomorrow.

Rew

My Acer is 3Kg its grand, not too heavy and average for similar machines. They keep the card reader thin by making the slot for the cards multifuctional. It dosn't support CF but a CF to PCMCIA adapter costs next to nothing these days.

Superman

Acer's look nice alright i like the new-ish 8100 model - its a biffter, good big HD and a gig of ram, can't find the link now.
Although money being no object it wouldf be an IBM

conical

dearg_doom wrote:

Don't buy a small Apple lappy until the next upgrade(which is due imminently); also the current small Apple's(or at least the iBooks, someone might correct me wrt the small PB's) can't handle the new Tiger version of OS-X(like the graphical interface and other goodies), they are due a GFX card upgrade and a minimum of 512Mb of RAM; maybe faster processors too:)

Thanks for the info ... if the powerbook has Tiger I will assume its the newly upgraded version (feel free anyone to correct me on that!)

-C