Buy or not buy a laptop?

Life Technology
1

hello,

i’m currently a french student and i’d like to buy a laptop from taiwan.
i am not a specialist :blush: so i’d like to know:

  • what do i have to look at for a good computer ( caracteristics)
  • what kind of brands?! ( IBM, Dell, COmpaq? or Acer / Asus?!)
  • the approximately cost ( i’d like one laptop wih blutooth and wifi…)
  • how much for the international garanty?
  • i’d like to keep the chinese keyboard in order to practice but i’m gonna work mainly in french ( is is possible)…

thank u… :blush: :blush: :blush:

2

You should first use this forum’s search function! Most of your questions have been answered before, particularly ones about guarantees.

3

Buy one.
Don’t worry about keyboard layout. Is is set up by the OS, not by the letters printed on it.
Like always, the more you pay the nicer the system you get.

4

Laptops are anywhere from NTD35000 to 80000, depending on brand and model. I rekon for a good one you need to spend around 45000 - 50000. I use an older Asus laptop at work and I am very satisfied with it - no problems running WindowsXP and Linux on it.
At my former company I used IBM laptops, again no complains but made some bad experience with Compaq before (long time ago though).
If you want to be mobile then you should opt for a processor with reduced power consumption, typically a Pentium M. If mobility / battery time is not so much of a concern but rather performance you may want to chose a laptop with a standard Pentium processor.

Choice of processor, RAM and other features (CD or DVD, size of harddisk etc.) will influence the price. To get an overview go to TKEC (the yellow 3C computer store) and get their latest flyer which lists lot’s of laptops.
Bluetooth support is not really common yet but I remember I saw at least one model on the flyer that had it.

5

the basic IBM r40 or r40e is going for 27000-29000 at some of the chain stores rt mart, carrifore or tom net.
it seems that everyone want to go with the centrino drives so the celeron drive systemsa re going cheap.

if you get the chance get n r50 ibm for the same price. it has the same specs but with a 3 year warrenty and more bells and whistles. i wanted the smaller screen though. it was kind of a pain to switch it over to english becasue i had to fid all my drivers. ibm service was no help but i’m a computer dolt and i figured it out.

6

Celerons are pieces of junk. Avoid the temptation to save a few thousand that way.

7

Its not that bad. But the technology is already 3 years old. Or maybe even older??

8

Its not that bad. But the technology is already 3 years old. Or maybe even older??[/quote]

It IS that bad. I had a “fast” Celeron PC before. Junk! Go with Intel or AMD.

9

is it really thatbad? I mean it seems to do all the computer stufff I need to do
read email, download porn, word processing, watch porn.
is it ok for simple things ?
why ae they “that bad”
the savings was actually alot.
a comparable computer with a centrino drive was 17,000 more

10

[quote=“dix2111”]is it really thatbad? I mean it seems to do all the computer stufff I need to do
read email, download porn, word processing, watch porn.
is it ok for simple things ?
why ae they “that bad”
the savings was actually alot.
a comparable computer with a centrino drive was 17,000 more[/quote]

Yes, it will do all that. Get the best you can afford makes sense with laptops, though.

11

particularly for multi-media and graphics apps, which Celerons are notoriously bad at, given their skimpy L2 cache and processing power.

12

Acer Travelmate since 2 years. No problem so far, battery died a week ago and got replaced for free…=)

13

If you want a computer with a good international guarantee, go with IBM. They usually have a 3 yr international guarantee. The other companies (HP, Compaq, etc) give you a 3 yr Taiwan guarantee but only a 1 year international