Benq Laptop

[chang35baht]

Whilst in BigC the other day I saw a BENQ laptop for sale that was Extraordinarily cheap. It was 30,900 baht. Spec. 1.8MHz, 768 meg ram(256 free on top of 512), ATI graphics up to 256meg, 60GB hard drive. I think the processor was AMD Athlon.

Does this sound like a good deal to you or are BENQ laptops not that good?

[h90]

Whilst in BigC the other day I saw a BENQ laptop for sale that was Extraordinarily cheap. It was 30,900 baht. Spec. 1.8MHz, 768 meg ram(256 free on top of 512), ATI graphics up to 256meg, 60GB hard drive. I think the processor was AMD Athlon.

Does this sound like a good deal to you or are BENQ laptops not that good?

attention the graphiccard has no memory, it shares the ram (usually when they write up to 256meg).

I don´t know for Thailand but my acer was at the same price in europe.

[tom yum goong]

Its comparable in price to Acer in Thailand too.

[chang35baht]

Whilst in BigC the other day I saw a BENQ laptop for sale that was Extraordinarily cheap. It was 30,900 baht. Spec. 1.8MHz, 768 meg ram(256 free on top of 512), ATI graphics up to 256meg, 60GB hard drive. I think the processor was AMD Athlon.

Does this sound like a good deal to you or are BENQ laptops not that good?

attention the graphiccard has no memory, it shares the ram (usually when they write up to 256meg).

I don´t know for Thailand but my acer was at the same price in europe.

Cheers for that h90.

My main concern is that I want more graphics than have now with my present laptop, 64Meg.

Most of the other new models that I`ve seen that have 128 Meg shared graphics were more expensive than this. I like to play FPS games and the graphic requirements now are very high and my 64Meg is not enough for the latest games.

Do you think this Benq model would be good enough for my needs?

Edited August 23, 2006 by chang35baht

[GoodHeart]

It may have been a 'good price' because the price didn't include an Operating System.

Just last month, I was helping a Thai friend shop for a new laptop, at Panthip Plaza and the four or five most desireable models at IT City came without.

If you opt for a legit copy of Windoze XP Pro running on your new bargain that'll set you back another 8,000 Baht.

Edited August 23, 2006 by GoodHeart

[Guest Reimar]

Hi,

BenQ is a ACER "daugther" and came from the same production line. So, The prices nearly same!

The Laptops from BenQ are ok! Even the service in Thailand is good! But check the CPU. If it s a AMD you realy should check it is a Atlohn or a Turion or a Sempron. The mobile Atlohn with 1.8 GHz is a Atlohn 3000!

There are a lot Laptop's in a range from 20,000.00 to 35,000.00 THB but mostly use shared memory for graphics.

If you look araound in Pantip, you will find that the price fro Windws XP starts by around 3,500.00 for Home and 4,500.00 for Pro. The retail price from MS in Thaailand is a little above THB 6,000.00 and not 8,000.00 or so. The difference between wth or without OS will be not mor than THB 3,000.00 because the shops using OEM editions and the cost for them is below THB 3,000.00

[Guest Reimar]

Hi,

BenQ is a ACER "daugther" and came from the same production line. So, The prices nearly same!

The Laptops from BenQ are ok! Even the service in Thailand is good! But check the CPU. If it s a AMD you realy should check it is a Atlohn or a Turion or a Sempron. The mobile Atlohn with 1.8 GHz is a Atlohn 3000!

There are a lot Laptop's in a range from 20,000.00 to 35,000.00 THB but mostly use shared memory for graphics.

If you look araound in Pantip, you will find that the price fro Windws XP starts by around 3,500.00 for Home and 4,500.00 for Pro. The retail price from MS in Thaailand is a little above THB 6,000.00 and not 8,000.00 or so. The difference between wth or without OS will be not more than THB 3,000.00 because the shops using OEM editions and the cost for them is below THB 3,000.00

[chang35baht]

Hi,

BenQ is a ACER "daugther" and came from the same production line. So, The prices nearly same!

The Laptops from BenQ are ok! Even the service in Thailand is good! But check the CPU. If it s a AMD you realy should check it is a Atlohn or a Turion or a Sempron. The mobile Atlohn with 1.8 GHz is a Atlohn 3000!

There are a lot Laptop's in a range from 20,000.00 to 35,000.00 THB but mostly use shared memory for graphics.

If you look araound in Pantip, you will find that the price fro Windws XP starts by around 3,500.00 for Home and 4,500.00 for Pro. The retail price from MS in Thaailand is a little above THB 6,000.00 and not 8,000.00 or so. The difference between wth or without OS will be not more than THB 3,000.00 because the shops using OEM editions and the cost for them is below THB 3,000.00

Thanks 2wice Reimar.

Are you saying that I should check if it is an Athlon3000? Or are you saying that AMD Turions and Semprons are also ok.

Also if you don`t mind helping me with my other question. Will the 256MB, albeit shared, be enough for my gaming needs?

Thanx again.

[Guest Reimar]

Hi,

BenQ is a ACER "daugther" and came from the same production line. So, The prices nearly same!

The Laptops from BenQ are ok! Even the service in Thailand is good! But check the CPU. If it s a AMD you realy should check it is a Atlohn or a Turion or a Sempron. The mobile Atlohn with 1.8 GHz is a Atlohn 3000!

There are a lot Laptop's in a range from 20,000.00 to 35,000.00 THB but mostly use shared memory for graphics.

If you look araound in Pantip, you will find that the price fro Windws XP starts by around 3,500.00 for Home and 4,500.00 for Pro. The retail price from MS in Thaailand is a little above THB 6,000.00 and not 8,000.00 or so. The difference between wth or without OS will be not more than THB 3,000.00 because the shops using OEM editions and the cost for them is below THB 3,000.00

Thanks 2wice Reimar.

Are you saying that I should check if it is an Athlon3000? Or are you saying that AMD Turions and Semprons are also ok.

Also if you don`t mind helping me with my other question. Will the 256MB, albeit shared, be enough for my gaming needs?

Thanx again.

Hi change35baht

all of the AMD mobile CPU's are 64 Bit or compatible as the Sempron. The Atlohn is the most best one at all. But if you want use for gaming, you should really look for the memory. I suggest 1 GByte or more with the lowest CL.

An example: I have a Compaq Presario 2500 with Celleron 2.8 GHz. The memory are 768 MB PC 2100 CL 2, which can get from Apacer or Infineon only. Last week one, the 512 MB down and I replaced that one temporaly with a Kingston 512 PC 2700 CL2.5 and my speed drops by nearly 50%. Yesterday I got a new apacer 512 PC 2100 CL2 back from claim, insert it and my speed caame back to the normal, much higher one! So even the faster, from frequency, Memory with lower Case Latency is slower than the slower, from frequency, Memory with higher Case Latency.

Anyway, if you use the comp for gaming, you need to check all times the real requierements of the game you use. Also keep in mind that you allways need the latest and best Graphic Drivers. The best droivers you will find at http://www.guru3d.com because this site is the best one for gaming drivers at all.

[h90]

It may have been a 'good price' because the price didn't include an Operating System.

Just last month, I was helping a Thai friend shop for a new laptop, at Panthip Plaza and the four or five most desireable models at IT City came without.

If you opt for a legit copy of Windoze XP Pro running on your new bargain that'll set you back another 8,000 Baht.

normaly they install you for 100-200 baht a windoze xp pro. It is working perfect , but it is NOT a legal copy, so don´t use it.....

[Guest Reimar]

It may have been a 'good price' because the price didn't include an Operating System.

Just last month, I was helping a Thai friend shop for a new laptop, at Panthip Plaza and the four or five most desireable models at IT City came without.

If you opt for a legit copy of Windoze XP Pro running on your new bargain that'll set you back another 8,000 Baht.

normaly they install you for 100-200 baht a windoze xp pro. It is working perfect , but it is NOT a legal copy, so don´t use it.....

Hi h90,

what is Windoze XP Pro?? A ne OS??

[Firefoxx]

That price isn't extraordinary for specs. If you want good gaming, you need a decent CPU (Core Duo, Anthlon, etc), lots of RAM (I have 2GB), a decently fast harddrive (most are 4200rpm, you need at least 5400rpm), and a good graphics card with dedicated memory (X1400 or above, Nvidia 7400 or above). A setup like this would cost around 40k up, more realistically 50k.

It's normal for laptops sold in Thailand to not come with a legit copy of windows. What sells here is *price* and you can't keep price down if you have to factor in the cost of a windows license ($$$$$). Anyways, you can just go to most stores and buy a legit OEM copy for 7-8k baht. I'd rather have the option, and not be forced to buy it... in the US a couple years back there was a lot of publicity over users wanting a choice of having no OS on their computer.

[Lannig]

I've had bad experiences with two Acer notebooks and Acer = BenQ so I'd be wary of this brand either, but that's just my impression.

If you want to get into serious gaming on this notebook, you probably want to go with a model that has dedicated video RAM and not shared video RAM like this one. Shared VRAM will always (to my knowledge) give you poor graphics performance compared to any desktop.

--Lannig

[h90]

It may have been a 'good price' because the price didn't include an Operating System.

Just last month, I was helping a Thai friend shop for a new laptop, at Panthip Plaza and the four or five most desireable models at IT City came without.

If you opt for a legit copy of Windoze XP Pro running on your new bargain that'll set you back another 8,000 Baht.

normaly they install you for 100-200 baht a windoze xp pro. It is working perfect , but it is NOT a legal copy, so don´t use it.....

Hi h90,

what is Windoze XP Pro?? A ne OS??

never heard that? Many people are using it. I guess doze means something like half sleeping in english.

In german they call it windoof (doof means something like stupid), there are many other names from people who really hate the idea to have a PC like a racing car and an OS which slows it down to the speed of their computer at 1995.

So they give funny names for it.....

[BlimeyCharlie]

It may have been a 'good price' because the price didn't include an Operating System.

Just last month, I was helping a Thai friend shop for a new laptop, at Panthip Plaza and the four or five most desireable models at IT City came without.

If you opt for a legit copy of Windoze XP Pro running on your new bargain that'll set you back another 8,000 Baht.

normaly they install you for 100-200 baht a windoze xp pro. It is working perfect , but it is NOT a legal copy, so don´t use it.....

Hi h90,

what is Windoze XP Pro?? A ne OS??

never heard that? Many people are using it. I guess doze means something like half sleeping in english.

In german they call it windoof (doof means something like stupid), there are many other names from people who really hate the idea to have a PC like a racing car and an OS which slows it down to the speed of their computer at 1995.

So they give funny names for it.....

500 ram is not much when you have added an anti virus on such as norton. Although it's easy to change i would go for no less than 700+ of ram.

[Firefoxx]

As they say, once bitten, twice shy. No matter what brand there is out there, there will always be people who have had bad expriences with it, and swear to never ever on my dead body buy another one again. Same goes for people who are loyal to certain brands. Thing is, you can't generalize the brand from experiences with certain products. The brand is not the product.

Look at Dell, with its stellar track record, now ruined by exploding notebooks and recalled batteries. Look at Apple, *the* brand of brands. They have smoking computers, bad iPod batteries, overheating laptops, etc.

[chang35baht]

As it turns out it is an AMD Turion 64x2.

I am not a serious gamer but like to play FPS games.

Could someone please, please tell me if they think that this model with the up to 256MB ATI graphics card will be enough for me to play the latest games.

Thanks all.

[Firefoxx]

Nope. At this price, and especially for this high-end CPU, there is *no* way that you're getting a dedicated graphics processor. It's probably an ATI chipset mainboard with built-in graphics, and those are not even close enough to play the latest games. I have a pretty darn good dedicated graphics card on my notebook, and even that one can get bogged down in the latest games.

Like I said before, look to pay around 50k-60k for a decent gaming notebook. Otherwise, it's just an office notebook.

[chang35baht]

Nope. At this price, and especially for this high-end CPU, there is *no* way that you're getting a dedicated graphics processor. It's probably an ATI chipset mainboard with built-in graphics, and those are not even close enough to play the latest games. I have a pretty darn good dedicated graphics card on my notebook, and even that one can get bogged down in the latest games.

Like I said before, look to pay around 50k-60k for a decent gaming notebook. Otherwise, it's just an office notebook.

Thanx Firefox.