Emmet Ryan killing a laptop
This is good stuff from ENN -- a live laptop destruction demo. Kudos to Lenovo for being good sports about providing the kit.
New EEE PC
Asus's follow-up to its massively successful Eee PC 701, the cheap 7 inch Linux laptop with few frills, is the 900 model. Interestingly, it can't resist adding more features (see below). Which brings it much closer to a normal laptop price. Will this dilute its appeal? Here are the specs available on the laptopsdirect.ie model (€417 plus delivery):
Dell's €7,700 laptop
Ever wondered how much a Dell laptop would cost if you took all of its accessories? €7,694. That's based on picking its Inspiron XPS M1710 model, which, unadorned, costs €880. Throw in the warranties, protection plans, security software, memory upgrades, external doohdahs (printer, keyboard, mouse, speakers etc) and you increase the price by 850 per cent.
Are you happy with your laptop?
Is it crap? Does it breakdown? Or is it damn reliable?
I'm writing a piece about 'home' (consumer) laptops this week...
More laptops for under €500
Harvey Norman has reduced the price of its Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li7105 (Intel Celeron M440 1.8GHz, 512MB Ram, 80GB hard disk, DVD re-writer, Vista Home Basic) to €497. (Or you can get a 1GB version of the same laptop from Dabs.ie for €545 including delivery.)
(Decent) laptops for €450
Did I say sub-€500 laptops? And how! Check out this decent Lenovo 3000 C200 for an astonishing €455 (including delivery). Is this the cheapest mainstream laptop on the Irish market? Are we nearing the €400 laptop?
This Toshiba Satellite L30 for €509 (including delivery) is also pretty decent, though it only has a 60GB hard drive.
Welcome to the era of the €500 laptop
One of the predictions I humbly made at the beginning of the year (in Computers In Business magazine, link unavailable) was that a standard laptop would cost no more than €500 by the end of 2007.
Looks like this has now happened, with Dell's latest Inspiron pricing. Note that this machine is no slouch on performance either, with Vista, 1GB of Ram and an 120GB hard drive. So what do you get for the extra €275 you're likely to spend in a shop for, say, a HP Pavilion? Is it worth spending the extra money? The main difference seems to be the presence of a dual core chip (the Inspiron has a single-core chip), slightly better graphics card and a 1 year service guarantee (versus Dell's 90 days service warranty). The screen, too, is probably a little better on the HP model (I haven't actually seen Dell's Inspiron yet).
But another €50 gets a dual core chip on Dell. So are the remaining extras worth a 50 per cent extra outlay? It's up to you.
Laptop Shop to open two new Dublin outlets
The Laptop Shop is to open two new Dublin-based outlets in the next four weeks. The first will be in Drogheda's Lawrencetown shopping centre while it will also open a store in Santry's Omni Park shopping centre. It currently has outlets in the Stephens Green Centre and the Dundrum Town Centre. Robert Brennan, the company's founder, also said that its website is (finally) due to go live in the coming weeks.
The pink tech market
Speaking of Sony, what's with its latest colour schemes for laptops and PSP consoles? Pink is the new black, apparently.
How to save €200 on a Sony Vaio laptop
Looking for an elegant new Sony Vaio laptop? Do NOT buy one until you've checked prices online: the difference is staggering. The current Vaio VGN-N11M/W model retails at €1,090 in Sony Centres, Peats and other Irish shops. On Play.com, however, it costs €900 (including delivery). Unbelievable.
