€2000 wot should ibuy????

thewools

Any suggestions anyone???

I was thinking of just sticking to Dell for easyness and all that!!!

9300??? good/bad????

Nukem

What do you need it for

Nukem

thewools

General stuff.....not too bothered with gaming!!!

Well its gunna be used mainly for college so it could be running plenty of programs at the same time with an impending final year project on the way!!!
So RAM could be important!! Bluetooth? wireless network

Watch the odd dvd, film, burn dvd!!

Mainly looking for the best overall package available like!!

leeroybrown

My first thought is "Do you really need to spend 2K on a laptop for that?".

odie

Hi, One of these should do the trick. Only €1290 or €1380 depending which one you go for

HP Pavilion zd8155EA

HP Pavilion zd8010ea

http://www.jes-computer.de/index.php?cat=203_177

Nukem

2k is mad for that so mate. Huge money for nout. Spend a grand and go on a holiday,check the stickies for links

Nukem

thewools

well im just stating that i have 2000 (excluding tax) as max.....doesnt mean that i will need to spend all that!!!

I'd be quite happy to only spend half of it!! Like rite i was thinking....round 1.8 GHZ, 1GB RAM, 60GB HD, CD/DVd rw + the odd few extras!!!

So no recommendations....????

zAbbo

12" powerbook with superdrive

Nukem

I like the Vaio's myself

Cryos

odie wrote:

Hi, One of these should do the trick. Only €1290 or €1380 depending which one you go for

HP Pavilion zd8155EA

HP Pavilion zd8010ea

http://www.jes-computer.de/index.php?cat=203_177

I would Definatly sugest you that you for the HP Pavilion range, i hve both the ZV Series and a ZE series they are very reliable and are great for college type applications like (visual basic .net, visual C etc...)

Definatly worth checking out!

LukeSkywalker

Apple I book g4

maidhc

It depends what you are doing in college, I guess. If you want a laptop (i.e. something you can conceivably put on your lap) maybe a Dell latitude D610 would be a good idea. Maybe something equivalent from the Toshiba or HP camp?

I know its nice to have a small machine that doesnt fill up the entire desk when you are trying to do a project or an essay. Lots of screen space is handy for other applications.

And having a P4 laptop with a jet powered cooler can annoy people beside you in the library.

I have found having a Desktop with dual monitors and a small Dell latitude x300 has given me the best of both worlds, and with 2000 you could easily get something like that. But I think the latitude D610 would be a good compromise, and you should pick up a nice one from the outlet for about €1k.

LukeSkywalker

dell are the worst make of laptops there thick the apple ones and vaio ones are the best imo

maidhc

My own view is that since IBM are gone (Hello Lenovo?) the remainder are all on a par. Whether they are "thick" or not depends on the model you get. The latitude x300 is certainly thinner than anything made by Apple, (in fact the x300, like the Dell x1 is made by Samsung). The 9300 is probably thicker than the equivalent Powerbook, but its probably a lot cheaper than a 17" Pbk!

Sony, I boycott because they like making crippled hardware thanks to their recording division. I have often heard their stuff like TVs is nothing like it was. So I dont know!

rsynnott

If you're going to be using college wireless check up on the laptop before you buy. A lot of them use some form of hardware encryption (Trinity uses LEAP) and you'll get better results if you have it (most laptops do nowadays but a few don't still)

Fabritzo

Is anyone selling the Ferrari 4000 yet?

Kevin_rc_ie

leeroybrown wrote:

My first thought is "Do you really need to spend 2K on a laptop for that?".

i second this. for what you say you should get some thing for around 1200-1400 that will do the job for you. 1024 ram etc.

L1011

Nukem wrote:

I like the Vaio's myself

Argh, nooo! If you want a machine thats even supported by the end of its base warranty, let alone afterwards, DO NOT get a Sony.

My 2002 Sony hasn't had a BIOS update yet. Despite the fact that the ASUS machine with the same system board has had EIGHTEEN.... all of which fix quite bad issues with it, such as a borked PXE boot rom, etc...

For 2000 quid - keep at least 800. You don't need any more than 1,200 quid to get an extremely good machine these days, especially if you're getting the VAT off as you seem to be suggesting. Dell is the route of least resistance, but not nessacerily the best

rsynnott

Hmm, my 2001 at-the-time-entry-level Sony is still working perfectly, with never a problem, despite very heavy use and being carted around the place in a backpack all the time. Whether this is pure fluke or not, I'm not sure, of course.

L1011

rsynnott wrote:

Hmm, my 2001 at-the-time-entry-level Sony is still working perfectly, with never a problem, despite very heavy use and being carted around the place in a backpack all the time. Whether this is pure fluke or not, I'm not sure, of course.

Well, the machines are excellently engineered, but they have some -weird- issues sometimes, and the support is not terrible. Its non-existant. Unfortunately, if you're a non-techie, you generally call tech support quite a lot.

E35 for them to answer the phone one day after the base warranty ends. No web support to speak of. No BIOS updates. No driver updates. The bloody Sony PIC chip that controls a lot of minor but damn important features like screen brightness; and which only has drivers in the Sony restore images...

This is a 2002 at-the-time extremely high end Vaio, and its been battered to death, and is still running fine, albeit with doubled RAM, a newer, far faster IBM HDD, and a better range wireless card (came with an onboard in 2002, which only Apple and this one Vaio did at the time)

As goes hardware weirdnesses - this machine is the nearest they had then to the X-series ultraslim, so it has no optical drive/floppy./legacy ports. Bought the dock. The DVD/CD-RW is FIREWIRE. In a dock... Why the hell? The machine has a second IDE controller on the motherboard, which Linux and BeOS will attest to...

rsynnott

Ah, right, have never called technical support on anything, that I remember. Is support for the PIC bad on Windows? It's built into all recent Linux kernels, tho you do need to download a little utility from somewhere if you want to use the more interesting features...

Mine was WiFi free; I use a Belkin thing. It has built-in CD, so no problems there. The hard-disk is my only complaint about this thing; it clicks, disturbingly, every now and again, like it's about to fail. From day 1. This is a known issue, apparently.

Presumably the drive is firewire so that you can hot-plug into the dock; exciting things happen when you try to hot-plug PATA

L1011

rsynnott wrote:

Ah, right, have never called technical support on anything, that I remember. Is support for the PIC bad on Windows? It's built into all recent Linux kernels, tho you do need to download a little utility from somewhere if you want to use the more interesting features...

Mine was WiFi free; I use a Belkin thing. It has built-in CD, so no problems there. The hard-disk is my only complaint about this thing; it clicks, disturbingly, every now and again, like it's about to fail. From day 1. This is a known issue, apparently.

Presumably the drive is firewire so that you can hot-plug into the dock; exciting things happen when you try to hot-plug PATA

The HDD noise is the controllers fault. IBM's had it for years, then provided a controller firmware flash that fixed it. Its even more worrying with my new HDD, as its a lot louder than the one it came with...

The onboard Wifi still works fine, its just never had great range. Supported by everything, though - Prism chipset.

Hotplugging IDE has been supported by Windows natively since 2000, and since 1995 with Agate Tioman.... Sony just didn't want the risk of someone not hitting the bloody huge UNDOCK COMPUTER in the start menu in XP

Its Windows that has no drivers for it. Linux supports it, and BeOS does the most important bit of it (the backlight)

smemon

Fabritzo wrote:

Is anyone selling the Ferrari 4000 yet?

no, not in europe anyway. the US get them on the 15th i think so hopefully we'll see them over here soon after. by the end of the month im hoping. this laptop will be around 2k, im pretty certain under 2k now as the amd turion kicks the pentium m's ass in terms of pricing and the ferrari 4000 is basically a 8104 with a different shell.

you can get the 8104 for just over 2k so i reckon the ferrari will be just under 2k.

Wannes acer

Maybe u should take a look at Acer , www.acer.com
they have allot of laptops, good work with it , 4hours battery-life
No problems with it , my friends have dell , but there are always troubles
with dell , at least what i think
c ya
good luck with it !

smemon

im delighted to report the ferrari 4k is at last on a british website @ a modest €1820 (£1229) here

happy days

ButtermilkJack

I've spent weeks researching laptops and have narrowed it down to the following 4 machines (UK Ex-VAT Prices);

Acer Aspire 1694 (A4405.057) - GB£900.00 / EUR 1332.00 (laptopsdirect.co.uk)
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M1425 (Enhanced) - GB£698.00 / EUR 1033.00 (laptopsdirect.co.uk)
HP Compaq nx8220 (PG804ET) -GB£920.00 / EUR 1362.00 (laptopsdirect.co.uk)
Samsung X20 HVM 740 - GB£950.00 / EUR 1406.00 (digiuk.com)

All these machines are hi-spec. Inc Bluetooth, Infrared, S-Video Out, DVDRW-/+, WLAN 802.11b/g, lightweight, thin (ish!), etc...

The reason I give UK Ex-Vat prices is cos if you give an Irish VAT number they wont charge you VAT at all!! And delivery usually works out at roughly GB£30.

BTW, anybody get one of these recently? I haven't bought yet and would appreciate reviews.

smemon

ButtermilkJack wrote:

The reason I give UK Ex-Vat prices is cos if you give an Irish VAT number they wont charge you VAT at all!! And delivery usually works out at roughly GB£30.

how does that work? so if i buy a laptop from the uk, give an irish vat number i'll get the laptop ex-vat & wont have to worry again about the tax being added on?

hmm... now all i need is a vat num!

odie

Lidl are offering this baby from Monday 13-06

Notebook Traveller 826 T

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20050613.p.Notebook

Lord Oz

Fabritzo wrote:

Is anyone selling the Ferrari 4000 yet?

I second the Ferrari - great laptops!

Nukem

odie wrote:

Notebook Traveller 826 T

Think this is the full spec. Aint bad at all. Its got an x700 not really for someone who doesnt play games though

ButtermilkJack

smemon wrote:

how does that work? so if i buy a laptop from the uk, give an irish vat number i'll get the laptop ex-vat & wont have to worry again about the tax being added on?

hmm... now all i need is a vat num!

Not sure exactly who picks up the tab for the VAT. I've emailed the revenue to find out how it works but no joy yet. Will try them again tomorrow and let you know.

jayneemac

smemon wrote:

im delighted to report the ferrari 4k is at last on a british website @ a modest €1820 (£1229) here

happy days

This looks so sweet!
only concern i'd have is heat issues, is there any?
how does the amd 64 compare with the penium-m, they both have speed stepping, correct?

odie

The Targa Traveller that Lidl are selling has same specs as the ferrari
Check it out
http://www.targa.co.uk/cms/targa_2_459.php?produkt_id=383

And it is over €300 cheaper in Lidl

jayneemac

odie wrote:

The Targa Traveller that Lidl are selling has same specs as the ferrari
Check it out
http://www.targa.co.uk/cms/targa_2_459.php?produkt_id=383

And it is over €300 cheaper in Lidl

yes, but Targa are notorious for their cracked hinges! :eek:

elexes

jayneemac wrote:

yes, but Targa are notorious for their cracked hinges! :eek:

reely maby its down to the user ive had targa laptops for last 3 years and i still have to get that problom


i also have just bought the companion 826

odie

I have mine 9 months, and no issue with cracked hinges. I reckon it's how it used or abused.

Also most of these Laptops are manufactured in the far east and rebranded. So the manufacturer of the Targa and the Ferrari could be the same. They seem to have the same specs, just different colour cases.

smemon

odie wrote:

The Targa Traveller that Lidl are selling has same specs as the ferrari

not quite, the ferrari has an extra 20gb of HD and and a 2ghz turion compared to targa's 1.8. plus it's a WSXGA+. imo it looks better too, more bold and classy but thats just imo.

overall im happy with this deal from lidl as it has just occured to me the ferrari isnt all that dearer (€300) plus it does hold a few advantages, not just in the ferrari paint and logos.

as for heat issues with the new ferrari, the turion takes care of major heat, it wont be anything unbearable. probably wont even notice if it's only in use for a few hours at a time.

pclancy

quite true far east build lots of differnt branded laptops but they wouldnt put the quality into them that higher cost brands would. Also what kind of support are Lidl gonna provide if you have a problem? Not knocking the laptop, great price and spec but what is the support?

rsynnott

pclancy wrote:

quite true far east build lots of differnt branded laptops but they wouldnt put the quality into them that higher cost brands would. Also what kind of support are Lidl gonna provide if you have a problem? Not knocking the laptop, great price and spec but what is the support?

Erm, show me a laptop that isn't built in the Far East, or, with the exception of the Apples, one that isn't designed there.

odie

pclancy wrote:

Not knocking the laptop, great price and spec but what is the support?

As quoted on the Targa website

Warranty 2 years incl. pick-up and return service (6 months on the rechargeable battery)

thewools

D810 looking tempting now.....not as big and bulky as the 9300!!!! Better value alround i think!!!

Kali

wooly69 wrote:

D810 looking tempting now.....not as big and bulky as the 9300!!!! Better value alround i think!!!

I have the older model .. the C810, very good machine, incredibly solid and with 2 batteries will touch 5 1/2 hours runtime, obviously depends on porcessor usage but I've watched 3 episodes of 24 back to back on batterys a fair few times.. with added bluetooth I'd say you've everything you'll need, pretty solid machine as well (I've given it a fair few knocks) yet still pretty light compared to new wider-screen models.

L1011

rsynnott wrote:

Erm, show me a laptop that isn't built in the Far East, or, with the exception of the Apples, one that isn't designed there.

As goes not built OR designed there:

High end Dells. Designed in Texas, built in Limerick

Sony Vaio - Designed in France, built in, eh, France. By a Japanese firm, none the less, but....