Centrino Laptop, Best Place To Buy?

[2010]

Hello all,

I am looking to buy a Centrino (Sonoma) laptop, I am thinking about Acer because they have good spec for the money.

I would appreciate it if anyone can recommend a good place to buy in Bangkok, I have been to Pantip & Fortune City but the prices are basically RRP (maybe a small discount).

Any tips are suggestions are welcome.

Mark (2010)

[Firefoxx]

Don't forget that most shops will print the price, without VAT, on their brochures, but insist on VAT. They might give a small discount, but once you include VAT it will still be more than the printed price.

One shop in Fortune that will allow non-vat is CA Mobile, room 4P64, 4th floor. I've also asked for and gotten a discount from the MSRP. The more expensive the model, the more the discount.

Of course, people here on tourist visas can get a VAT refund. But if you're an expat living here, I don't think you can get a refund.

Remember to get as much RAM as you reasonably can... it makes a big difference in notebooks. Most shops (including CA) will only offer kingston brand notebook memory. It's pretty expensive... sometimes really expensive, depending on the shop. I was able to get Apacer notebook memory for half the price of kingston memory, at Fortune, the Hardware House notebook store next to the main exhibition hall (next to a normal Hardware House computer shop).

[RDN]

I've just got an Acer 4600 (4603 WLMI) with 768 MB RAM from Data IT at Pantip for nearly 75,000 baht. The extra 256 MB RAM (take out 256, put in 512) was 5,800 baht for the 512 MB stick - they would only give me 1,000 back for the 256 stick, so I've kept it as a "spare" - unless you know someone who wants 256 MB DDR2 RAM?

The spec. is:

Intel Pentium M processor 750 (1.86 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB)

15.4" WXGA wide TFT LCD screen

ATI Mobility Radeon X700 (128 MB RAM)

512 MB DDR2 RAM (upgraded to 768 MB)

80 GB HDD

DVD-Dual (DVD+R Double layer/DVD+/-RW)

802.11b/g wireless LAN

Bluetooth

3 year local, 1 year international warranty

The 512 MB RAM (Kingston) they sold me, I was going to install myself until I saw the "Warranty Void" stickers all over the bottom of the PC. So I went back and explained that I wanted them to do it and put on a new sticker.

They tried to fit the RAM and then discovered it was DDR1 - so it didn't fit because the slot was in a different place on the edge connector. Whether this was a genuine mistake or a case of "sell the stupid farang cheap RAM at an expensive price", I just don't know. Anyway they got the right RAM, installed it, and I got the guy to sign the receipt saying that he installed it. Hopefully I won't get any warranty problems.

I'm sure you can get a similar spec machine in the UK for a lot less (7,000 -15,000 baht?), but not less than the cost of an air ticket, so it's the best deal I could get. All the shops at Pantip have the same machines for roughly the same price.

Anyway, compared to my old Dell it's sh1t hot with a huge screen and I'm still finding out what I can do with it! I hope it lasts as long as my Dell - 4 years - because I don't want to spend this kind of money too often!

P.S. It's nice to have a legal copy of XP Pro installed, too.

[Jeff Jarvis]

Global Solutions in Pantip was recommended to me and they seem to be a reliable business with good after sale service.

[The Coder]

Note Centrino is an aging technology. Its aim when it first came out years ago was long battery life, wifi, good performance, and small form factor. Back then, you couldn't take those things for granted in a notebook, especially all of thse in one laptop so it was a good technology to aim for. Fast forward to 2005 and Centrino may no longer provide the best of any of these things and it definitely is not a 64-bit processor which means you won't be running a 64-bit OS or games, but this may not matter to you. I would take a peek at some Turion laptops (AMD's even lower power chip that is also 64-bit) as at this stage it has leapfrogged Intel's mobile Pentium. Intel will eventually try to battle back with code name Yonah (next rev of Centrino), but that may not be until next year. If the badge is all important, go Centrino. But generally speaking a better thing is just compare laptops on their specs that matter to you; may or may not wind up with Centrino at the top of the list.

[Norrad]

And the price of the Turions is not bad. Check out the Acer Ferrari here: http://www.acer.co.th/product/travelmate/f...000/index_p.htm

[Firefoxx]

Well, Centrino has had improvements to its line, such as the 2mb cache and the new Sonoma chipset with its desktop-like improvements (SATA, DDR2, etc). Centrino also means a tried and true platform, which means compatibility/stability, so it's still a good choice. We're also talking about a notebook, which is not the platform of choice for the speed/power user or the bleeding-edge enthusiast.

64 bit still hasn't caught on, which is not surprising, since nearly all the user base are still using 32-bit machines, and even 64-bit windows is not available for retail sale. There is no other major 64-bit software, and so nobody's in a rush to get a 64-bit processor. The only tangible improvement would be access to more then 4gbytes of RAM, while most people don't even have half a gigabyte on their systems.

Having said that, Acer has a very interesting Turion notebook, the 5021nwlci, which has nearly all the bells and whistles (no dvd writer, a pity), and sells for less than 40k.

[lingling]

Hello all,

I am looking to buy a Centrino (Sonoma) laptop, I am thinking about Acer because they have good spec for the money. 

I would appreciate it if anyone can recommend a good place to buy in Bangkok, I have been to Pantip & Fortune City but the prices are basically RRP (maybe a small discount).

Any tips are suggestions are welcome.

Mark (2010)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My advice would be against Acer. I got a TravelMate 8100 from "Global Solutions" in Pantip plaza a while ago. On the surface a nice machine with 2.0GHz centrino, 2Mb L2 cache, 1GB ram, 80Gb disk, 1600x1050 pixel display etc. Total price B100k.

However, when I got home, I discovered that:

1) the HDD is a really slow 4200RPM crap drive

2) HDD, RAM etc can't be upgraded without voiding the warranty ("warranty void" stickers placed over the lids). This goes against the "upgradeable to 2Gb" sticker on the front.

3) The machine is unstable and bluescreens at least once per day. More frequently in the beginning but the main culprit turned out to be the acer supplied sound card drivers so when I replaced it with the MSFT driver I got less bluescreens but with the new driver I can no longer use the 3.5mm microphone input.

4) I can't get a spare power supply for it in Thailand. I have tried with both the shop where I bought the machine and Acer's service center. I guess I will have to fly to taiwan just to get another power supply...

Pay a bit extra for a toshiba, dell or something...

[The Coder]

Certainly Centrino is improving and has good fundamentals, but it will not necessarily give a demonstrable edge in any particular way over other laptops. It is surprising you downplay 64-bit due to its embryonic state and yet at the same time drum up SATA which won't be exploited until Longhorn. There are 64-bit apps already and you get benefits other than breaking the 4GB memory barrier (that's just Intel's line because they don't have 64-bit laptops yet). Check here for a review of the 64-bit Far Cry. Somewhat mixed review, but interesting none the less. Is cpu/chipset compatibility really a problem these days? While Centrino is sure to be solid, I haven't seen any evidence others combos pose any problems. Seems getting a nice long warranty is of more importance. While it could be a Centrino solution is optimal for one's needs, I still think the best thing to do is on paper compare side by side the things that matter (gaming performance, battery life, 9gb dvd burner, form factor, service, etc) rather than just the label.

[Firefoxx]

Well, I don't want to get into another discussion of "mine is better than yours", since they typically go on and on. I've stated what I feel is the current situation, and I think my statements are valid, and so are yours. Different people value different things and have different opinions... it's ok to disagree, you know.

SATA is only one of the things I mentioned, there's also dual DDR2, PCI-express, and some other things I don't remember. I mentioned them as a whole, not specifically SATA, yes? These features are in use as of today, with the current 32-bit OS. My machine has an advanced SATA controller, psuedo SATA-II, in that it supports NCQ and hot swapping. I can use both these things in my current windows XP SP1 setup, so why do I have to use longhorn? I counter only this point since I'm really curious as to why longhorn is required.

[2010]

Thanks for all your comments, they're appreciated.

The main reason I am interested in a Sonoma Centrino is because when I left the UK, the Turion was just released & there was no real opinions formed about whether its a better cpu or not (compared to centrino). I can understand future proofing benefits but how does it compare in everyday tasks, battery....?

I'm looking for an Acer is becasue, you get all the kit with them, good graphics, screen etc, which you do't get from the like of IBM & Toshiba without paying through the nose.

Also, I have been told that Singapore is a good place to buy electronics (eg laptops), does anyone know if this is the case (would also mean that I could get a VAT refund being a tourist?)

Mark

[2010]

And the price of the Turions is not bad. Check out the Acer Ferrari here: http://www.acer.co.th/product/travelmate/f...000/index_p.htm

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I couldn't have a Ferrari badged laptop, it would remind me of Jean Todt too much & I'd probably end up smashing it

[The Coder]

My machine has an advanced SATA controller, psuedo SATA-II, in that it supports NCQ and hot swapping.  I can use both these things in my current windows XP SP1 setup, so why do I have to use longhorn?  I counter only this point since I'm really curious as to why longhorn is required.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Microsoft is not going to implement NCQ in their drivers until Longhorn. They are rewriting their drivers and will have a SATA specific driver that does NCQ and a PATA (parallel ATA) driver that will not. This is a shame for PATA owners because firmware in every IDE hard drive has support for NCQ since the 1990's. It goes back to a religious thing that Microsoft wanted SCSI to be the interface of choice for NT systems and publicly claimed they would never add SCSI like features to IDE such as command queuing or disconnect/reconnect.

So until SATA NCQ is implemented, there still will just be a slight performance edge over PATA. This is because hard drives can transfer data from their cache at higher transfer speeds.

I couldn't have a Ferrari badged laptop, it would remind me of Jean Todt too much & I'd probably end up smashing it

LOL! How true.

[Firefoxx]

Well, like I said, I'm using NCQ enabled drives (and the performance boost is obvious), on WinXP SP1. You can also check out Toms Hardware and Anandtech, where they test NCQ drives with NCQ enabled on plain old 32 bit WinXP. So no, I don't require Longhorn to utilize NCQ, and I do get a rather obvious performance boost over PATA. WindowsXP doesn't natively support it (it's in manufacturer drivers), but what OS natively supports hardware that didn't exist when it was released? Hmm, this has certainly gone way off topic. As to PATA drives having always had NCQ, if that's really the case then why don't other OS's, like linux, have support for PATA NCQ?

As for lingling's comments on bad experiences with an Acer, you can easily find similar comments for every make and model out there. There's bound to be bad experiences, but that doesn't mean that everything the company makes is bad. For particular grievances, most notebooks come with 4200 rpm drives, it's normal, unless you pay a premium (my friend's uber-expensive Sony came with a 4200rpm drive). The Acers I got for friends/family didn't have any stickers, I could upgrade RAM as I wished. Bluescreens can be fixed with a good install. I can find an Acer powersupply in chinatown or Fortune, they're not hard to find.

[The Coder]

Yeah, sorry for the off topic bit, but found your info interesting. Theoretically XP could natively support NCQ in a service pack (much like they did adding the firewall feature in SP2), but last I heard from MS is NCQ is going to be longhorn because the drivers are brand new and they will not back port it to XP. But 3rd party drivers nicely work around that. Several years ago Linux was working on adding NCQ support for PATA; not sure if they followed through or not. Command queuing was added to the ATA standard in 1998 and showed up in hard drive firmware almost immediately ever since then, just waiting for operating systems to exploit it. It's been part of SCSI for 20 years or so and exploited since day 1 in NT, but never in Win9x for comparison.

[Firefoxx]

NCQ/TCQ support is also a matter of hardware... the original SATA spec didn't require it, and so most SATA drives don't have it. Only some drives (like the new SATA Barracuda 8's and the Diamondmax 10's) have it, and only some controllers (as in the newer Intel 9xx chipsets) can utilize it. You need both to be able to utilize it (along with drivers, of course). The newer SATA II spec also doesn't require TCQ/NCQ. But I think it will be a common thing soon enough, what with dual processors and SMP becoming all the rage. It's really nice for your computer to be capable of doing work while churning some big file.