Laptop or not?

[xanctus]

I've just got my first Apple ibook G4.

Carol, congrats on your new compie...wow I have seen that new ibook G4, it's amazing machine...

[Pakeha Boy]

OK, here is a 1000 quid.
I want to buy a laptop. It must have a centrino, or M processor, don't want it to run hot, or noisy. CD/DVD combo, and say around about 40 gig.
Primary use will be internet video conferencing, secondary use, games (ofcourse!) so a good graphics card will be required.

Theres a whole bunch of IT gurus here, and seeing as theres about 10 zillions of different brands and configurations out there, what you buy if you had a grand in your hipper, and why?

I'll probably be buying sooner rather than later due to "she who must be obeyed" banning me from this forum for the next 28 days come Tuesday!!

Thanks in advance.....................

[Diny]

So you're going to get one on the way home duty free eh?

Well ok - you can have this PC in the nice warm comfy office .... I'll have the new laptop !!!

Diny xx

[Iain & Liz]

Hi,

I read some where (can't remember where) that NZ telephone connections are the same as British ones!

True or False?

Iain & Liz

[dphillview]

Hi Pakeha Boy

Well this weekend we went to PC world and bought a Toshiba satellite A50-542, mainly because I've done some ersearch in the Net and the reviews for Toshiba's seem quite good. the only thing with this model is 'Techie@ wise it could be a bit outdated, but here's the spec
1.5 GHZ
Centrino Pentium M 715
512 MB Memory
40 GB Harddisk Drive (4200 RPM)
64 MB Intel 855 GM
2 Mb Cache
15 XGA TFT Screen
DVD-R/-RW Drive
56k Modem / Lan
Wireless Lan 802.11B/G
MS Windowa XP Home Edition
Up to 4 hrs Battery life
weight = 2.6 kg

This was £899.98 from PC world / Currys or Dixons. Searched other shops on the internet for a cheaper price but no can do, so have a feeling this model has been superceeded (sp) with possibly the Tecra range or something else.

Anyway have only got it Saturday and am very pleased with it.

Hope that may help a bit!! :hopeso

[aroundtheworld]

We are moving to Auckland around december/jan..I bought this laptop here in US..its a toshiba A55-S326...It supports 110-240V..so i guess i'll be needing just the Socket converter for NZ...

BTW what are the charges for cable internet..I was paying like 40$ per month here..

[jhsay]

Things are actually cheaper in HongKong than in Singapore so why not try it out. One thing you should consider is the availability of warranty/post-sales services of that brand in NZ.

-jinkee

[Robert]

To confirm - UK and NZ phone jacks are the same so your UK laptop/modem lead will work here without modification or adaptor.

The easiest way to convert your laptop to NZ plugs is to buy a plug from a hardware store ($3.50 in Bunnings or Warehouse, $7 in some other places). Simply cut off the UK plug and fix on the NZ one. (! they call the Live wire Active here and it is marked, logically, A in plugs)

[Woz]

Things are actually cheaper in HongKong than in Singapore so why not try it out. One thing you should consider is the availability of warranty/post-sales services of that brand in NZ.

-jinkee

Also one other thing to thing about is regonalisation.

If you want a UK keyboard layout or an English version of Windows then buy BEFORE you leave.

The HK/Singapore versions will have a different keyboard layout than you are normally used to and you might end up with a version of Windows that you cant actually read.

From my experience of Singapore duty free I could actually get cheaper a PDA cheaper in the UK.

Do your research

[art]

Yes, I believe the Singapore versions would use a US layout - e.g. without the pound sign. As for Windows versions, though, it would most likely be the English (International?) version.