Other computing options for 250 quid

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Here's a question... let's assume a budget of 250 quid. Is the Eee the only option out there for a brand new machine capable of running a full OS?

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[Guest pupton]

Dell SOMETIMES offer laptops at crazy prices. A guy in my office managed to get a 15" laptop with Vista home from dell for £199. And no, it wasn't from their outlet store....

Very rare though

Edited December 20, 2007 by pupton

[Guest fantom4]

Here's a question... let's assume a budget of 250 quid. Is the Eee the only option out there for a brand new machine capable of running a full OS?

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http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/deta...;SubCategoryID=

for a factory rework

Or wait till next year as I guess everyones going to get on the 7" laptop band wagon. and as they use full size parts for the cpu etc its going to be very nice profit on them.

but take note.

I have spent £219 on eee pc then another £16.00 on 1gb ram ddr2 667mhz plus £15.00 for 2gb fujifilm sd card. plus £20 for case total £270

so for that money i could have had a real size laptop.

Its all about size yes it does matter

I will say this about the EEE PC I was not expecting it to play youtube videos at full screen. as I have a old emac 700mhz 768mb ram and 32mb geforce 2mx 160gb hd@7200rpm and this cannot play youtube vids full screen.

Edited December 20, 2007 by fantom4

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

So I have a UBiQUiO 711 (http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?partner=modaco&i=153923, 590 quid inc) on loan atm. I'm not saying it's a bad device or anything per se, but it DOES make you appreciate what you get for your money in an Eee!

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[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Not fullly comparable of course, but a N800 for 129 quid is a steal!

http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4-/3299981/-/Product.html

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[Guest Dr Who]

This is why I am not convinced by the model with upgraded drive, or the possible upcoming models with bigger screen, etc. At £200 its an easy purchase but as you edge up to £300 one starts to think of a full laptop.

[Guest fantom4]

This is why I am not convinced by the model with upgraded drive, or the possible upcoming models with bigger screen, etc. At £200 its an easy purchase but as you edge up to £300 one starts to think of a full laptop.

You say its starts to get upto £300.

at ebuyer they are doing a 60gb 2.5" sata hd for only £32.49 if you take into account it would cost alot less to a OEM, I think I would be willing to pay an extra £30.00 to get something i could make full use of and I would still use the default OS install.

I understand that adding a harddrive kind of defeats the whole idea. but until the price of flash drops loads more it might be the only option.

I said above I have spent £16 on a 2gb sd card for the EEE PC so the extra £16.00 would be nothing.

Then maybe we could all install stuff on this tiny machine. So it is a laptop at the end of the day and the Xandros does seem quick on it.

I would never put Windows on a device like this as thats just stupid. I know people want to and thats them but even if the hardware can take it. linux is not that bad.

I think i would put the full Xandros on this and that only cost me £20.00 and for some reason still only takes up 1.4gb plus swap.

Also it would not matter if this Device hits £300-£400 with better spec due to the simple fact it would still be less than half the price of Big brand sub-notebooks and at its currents price its around a 1/5 of the price.

I would like a screen that fits the full width of the case as thats only to do with the fact my eyes start to hurt after so long and My glasses are upto-date too.

Edited December 21, 2007 by fantom4

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I'm running XP on mine, and it's great.

A 16GB flash / 1GB RAM / 10" screen Eee for 250 quid would be heaven, and likely achievable in 2008!

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[Guest mwright]

Not fullly comparable of course, but a N800 for 129 quid is a steal!

http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4-/3299981/-/Product.html

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Bums!

I paid 249 for mine two months ago :-(

[Guest Phil Lee]

I'm running XP on mine too and am more than happy with it. I can't believe how well it runs considering the spec of the EEE. As for other options, the Dell Vostro 1000 currently costs £199 ex VAT (the same as I paid for my EEE) but with a staggering £50 ex VAT delivery charge bringing the total cost to £293.82.

Edited December 21, 2007 by Phil Lee

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Yeah, dell are a bit naighty for that!

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[Guest Monolithix]

The raw cost of the EEE isn't the key thing about it really, its more the fact you're getting a compact, full x86 PC for 250 notes. Compare that to the equivalents from Sony, Samsung or OQO and you start to realise why its such a popular device!

[Guest fantom4]

The raw cost of the EEE isn't the key thing about it really, its more the fact you're getting a compact, full x86 PC for 250 notes. Compare that to the equivalents from Sony, Samsung or OQO and you start to realise why its such a popular device!

HI

Just a silly question how come people keep saying the EEE PC is £250 as mine was £219 and most are?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I just chose 250 as an arbitrary price point TBH, the point at which a fully fledged computer becomes a real bargain :(

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[Guest Dr Who]

I would never put Windows on a device like this as thats just stupid. I know people want to and thats them but even if the hardware can take it. linux is not that bad.

I love K/Ubuntu but getting it to sync a calendar/email/tasks with my phone is beyond my patience. I am thinking Win2K is the way forward for this, and it runs everything that would be essential for the use I need and the overheads are so low. Having said that if the SP3 patch for XP works I might be tempted to try XP first and see how well it runs.

£250 would be acceptable but if the price went any higher it would rapidly start looking less and less attractive to me - I would rather spend a couple of hundred more and get a serviceable 12", like an Acer 3043 for instance.

Edited December 22, 2007 by Dr Who

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

XP runs SWEET!

:(

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[Guest Paul (MVP)]

What's the cheapest 12" laptop then?

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[Guest Dr Who]

What's the cheapest 12" laptop then?

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The aforementioned Acer comes in at £530, without shopping too hard. Can sometimes pick up a cheap Dell Latitude for about that figure - bargain of 2006 was a Latitude 420 for the £400 mark. For a while you could pick up a Philips X56 or X59 from PCWorld for the £450 mark. It can be done with a bit of patience and if the price hits £300+ for the EEE an old Celeron processor and very limited drive size start making it feel less interesting. £200, now that is one sweet price.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

That's a big price jump.

If I could get a 12" laptop for 300 quid, that'd be interesting.

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[Guest ajcend]

Well I haven't lived in the UK for awhile (from Scotland), but over here across the pond 250 quid is about $500. You can usually get a really nice 15.4" widescreen laptop around holidays such as now. But really it depends on your own budget and what you need. I have a nice $2000 laptop, but carrying it around is not easy when it comes to size and wieght. Also it's kind of scary because if it gets broken or stolen, you're pretty much out of luck. So that's why I think the Asus Eee is a good thing.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Laptops are a lot cheaper in the US than here :(

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[Guest Monolithix]

And to be honest, is it really that nice? Whats the battery like? Will it still be anything like that good in 12 months? Does it feel like it'll fall apart?

The EEE isn't applicable to any of those imho :(