help me to pick between these 2 laptops

query · January 13, 2004, 20:34 hrs

I understand how auctions work - and I understand that there are bargains at times. Casual sellers often sell below-market.

However, I'd question the business sense (and long-term viability) of someone who, as a business, willingly prices a notebook computer at a horrendous ($200+) loss.

Even a used computer with a DVD-RW drive (which mostly come with higher-end machines, not entry-level ones) would sell for more than $1000.

davidng500 · January 14, 2004, 07:56 hrs

Hi!
Hmmm, I emailed and talked to him last night, but I haven't got responses from him yet!

The below is our recent correspondences via email:
Hi, (1/13/04 8pm)
I am disappointed to find out that the G733 notebook listing on Ebay that you sold me doesn't have a DVD-Write. This is different from what you described in your EBay listing and also from what you told me in our e-mail correspondences. I wanted to bid and buy that notebook mainly of its DVD-Write capability.

At Dell.com, an upgrade from DVD-Rom/CD-Write to DVD-Write/CD-Write costs an additional 150 dollars....

Please let me know how you would want to rectify this situation....

Thank you very much for your prompt response regarding this matter.

David
===============================================
1/7/04 (from seller)
I will provide warranty for notebook.
All information ob Ebay description is correct.
You can pay with one or two payment by PayPal.
Thanks.

1/7/04
oscar (David-the buyer) pham <oscar7243@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi,
you said that I have a 6 months warranty on the notebook ECS G733. So is
the warranty covered by you or by the manufacturer? I would like to have a
clear understanding on this important aspect (warranty)? And who do i
contact for any hardware problems or supports for this notebook? do you have
the address or phone number for such contact if something goes wrong with
the notebook during the first 6 months?

The brand new notebook system has a DVD burner and a 40 gig Hard drive as
listed on EBay auction, right?

If I wanted to upgrade the CPU, then I will have to make another separate
payment via paypal so that I have some protection by PayPal....

I will make my payment as soon as I hear from you regarding this
email...about the warranty/support and the DVD burner with 40gig Hard
drive....

Thanks.
David
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hmmmm, I give the seller another 24 hours to respond and/or to rectify the situation/mistake before I take it on full speed! :)

Honestly, I don't think this notebook is BRAND NEW as described in Ebay listing.
First, the carton box and the plastic wrapping of the notebook's battery do not have the appearance of brand new items!
Secondly, upon careful inspection, the tiny round logo (stick) on the front of the laptop's case is scratched off or gone!!! (could be due to drying up and dropping off by itself?????)
I realized these (discrepancies) yesterday but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it!!!
Finally, I think that this notebook was either refurbished or a displayed one(on the shelf for display) or could be a brand new notebook with a logo dropped/scrached off...(It is probably not a used one because the battery compartment still has the Warranty SEAL stick on it plus softwares are in SEALED plastic bags !!!

davidng500 · January 14, 2004, 12:49 hrs

The seller just returned my phone call and said he made a mistake and would agree to reimburse me 50 dollars (maximum) so to break even or only made 10 dollars on it....OR i could return the notebook and get a full refund.....

'cuz he said he can relist that on ebay and easily get that price!
he said the notebook is brand new w/out the logo stick!

Hmmm..... 620.00 - 50 = 570.00 plus 30.00 s/h = 600.00 for that "unknown" "small vender" laptop (not IBM or Dell).......... Is it a good price???????????
600 + 53 (512RAM upgrade) = 653.00

I was thinking of trying to get back 100 dollars from him and use that money to purchase a DVD-burner to use with my desktop computer.... 'cuz I want a DVD burner!!!!

I don't really think so if got it from Ebay auctions! What do you guys think?

Any comments or suggestions are welcomed!!! :)

Mark H · January 14, 2004, 13:56 hrs

You will end up paying a couple of hundred dollars or more for a DVD writer to go in that laptop. That will take you to $853 or more dollars if you also go the 512 megs of RAM. In my opinion, it is still a pretty good buy.

Look at the Dell you were thinking about. It doesn't have a DVD RW drive either and it was over $800 after the rebate.

The only thing is that I would want a P4 instead of a Celeron processor, but you can't look past the good price overall.

In the end, it is really your decision.

Mark H

Chandler · January 14, 2004, 14:15 hrs

I'd still go for it. You can get USB 2.0 based DVD Writers pretty cheap now anyway, or make your own as I am doing (~?110).

davidng500 · January 15, 2004, 09:00 hrs

Hi~

I am quite glad that the notebook arrived and it was in excellent or (almost) brand new condition...I was lil afraid I might get a lemon deal from Ebay!!!!! so why now waste time & energy sending it back....and he admitted his mistake and agreed to give me back 50 bucks!!! Though I wish I could get the DVD burner :) then it would be a real bargain :)

yeah, i am going to stick with this g733 notebook 'cuz of all the time i put in it (and with all your help) and of the overall reasonably low price, plus a few other reasons (a few more/better options with this notebook than to the low end Dell laptops such as this notebook has TV out, infare port, 15in screen, 40 HHD, 512RAM) and a free sealed Windows XP Home Edition (50-90dollars worth)........ and plus i already spent my time installing Windows XP PRO, and CD/DVD creator and a few other softwares into it...and finally i think ECS ) is a good computer/tech company!!! G733 is a good nice model...ECS maybe is not popular in the USA but doing quite well in other countries and in Europe and Japan!

Chandler,
how do you make your own DVD burner? you meant buying an external DVD burner driver USB 2.0 ???? how much does it cost in USA dollars?

Chandler · January 15, 2004, 09:17 hrs

Get a low-cost IDE burner (NEC ND-1300, LG GSA-4040B) and a 5.25" USB 2.0 external enclosure.

Tranquility_Base · January 15, 2004, 13:41 hrs

I actually have tht for the external hard drive im using.

davidng500 · January 16, 2004, 16:02 hrs

ok, i'll look into that DVD burner..but i'm not sure what you;re talking about....
you meant like buying one of these DVD/CD burners and put a case around it then use a USB 2.0 cable to connect to laptop and desktop USB port???
Staples
(Fixed link, pat)

oh, also, does this memory stick work with the G733 laptop that i just bought ??? K-Byte 256MB DDR PC2100/PC2700 memory
Staples
(fixed link, pat)

i guess i could/should ask the ebay seller this memory question upgrade ..... OR does that memory stick work only with desktop comp ? or both laptop and desktop?
I thought that g733 needs a SODIMM memory stick??

anyhow, so far, the g733 is pretty nice! i brought it to work last night to install sws & play with it..... :) and again this w/k !

i gonna leave + feedback for that seller !!

Thanks ya'all...have a great w/k!

Mark H · January 16, 2004, 16:51 hrs

Here is a link to some external USB enclosures. You would need a 5.25" one. The CD ROM connects to an IDE interface in the enclosure and then the enclosure attaches to a PC through a USB 2.0 port.

As to the memory, desktop memory generally doesn't fit a laptop.

Mark H

Chandler · January 16, 2004, 16:59 hrs

I know that this is a UK site, but this is what I use:

ME-320

It uses an ADI chipset and performs pretty well, so I'd expect those ones on newegg to be similar (in fact I think that those are the newer models, I had to get the 320 because I already have 1 and want to stack them)

The main thing to check is that it has a cooling fan.

davidng500 · January 19, 2004, 16:26 hrs

Hi Mark,
is this external enclosure is pretty much the same thing as the one from Newegg.com..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41911&item=2781270160

I like the looks of this converter than the one from newegg...

i think i can bid and win this thing about the same price with s/h as from Newegg!
so does this serve same function?

Mark H · January 19, 2004, 16:38 hrs

That will work, but it is only an enclosure for 2.5 inch hard drives. It will not enclose your CD ROM. It will simply plug into the back of it, but your CD ROM will be on the desk as it came out of the box - no enclosure around it. See the picture on the right of the CD ROM and that is how your setup will look.

The ones at Newegg will actually enclose your CD ROM so that it is not "naked."

Mark H

davidng500 · January 19, 2004, 16:49 hrs

yeah, you're right! I realized that after i poasted! (from the photos on ebay).
thanks!

newegg has great prices on these stuffs...about same or better than ebay!

davidng500 · January 31, 2004, 12:47 hrs

Hello!
I just sold my CD windows XP Home Edition on EBay !!! WoW!

anyway, I purchased a I/o Magic DVD+/- RW/+- Dual Format 8X DVD burner last week for 99.99 dollars from Staples and still in sealed plastic wrapping... the minimum system requirements to install this drive:

http://instorespecials.staples.com/staples/circular_browse_listing_detail.asp?storeid=2278406&pagenumber=1&rapid=45608&listingid=-2098314873&
(sorry, don't know how to shorten the above link) :)

Pent 3 800mhz
128Ram, one enhanced IDE port,
Directx 8.0 compatible graphics and sound card
(Graphic card with 32MB or more of RAM recommended)
650MB of disk space to install software
(10GB or more of hard disk space recommended for video project)

I am planning to install this burner into my desktop system to check it out (if not working or whatever problems, I should try to return before the 2 weeks is up from date of purchase)....but I don't know if my kinda outdated system (1.19mhz AMD Athelon, 512RAM, 20gig,) handles or compatible with this DVD burner!!!! if it works fine then I am going to order an external enclosure to use for both my laptop and desktop systems.

I know my system should meet all the above min. requirements (and I will clear more space in my 20gig HDD 'cuz currenly about 19gig is being used up) but I am not sure about the sound/graphic card of my desktop system...
From my system/device manager (sound/video/game controller), it says:
audio codec
legacy audio driver
legacy video caputure driver
MPU-401 compatible MIDI device
standard game port
VIA AC '97 enhanced audio controller (WDM)
video codec

so should my desktop system meet the min. requirements to install and run this burner??? (shouldn't the 97 enhanced audio controller be good enough for this)...

About the DirectX 8.0 compatible graphic and sound card, I searched in my C drive and found that there are 2 folders for DirectX....

Please enlighten and help me out, comp. experts!
thanks!

(Link fixed by Mark H)

Mark H · January 31, 2004, 12:59 hrs

I would think it will work on your desktop fine. The requirements for the video card and sound card are more for playing movies on the player. For burning DVD's, it shouldn't matter what video card or sound card you have unless you are burning video.

Mark H

davidng500 · January 31, 2004, 13:11 hrs

<<<For burning DVD's, it shouldn't matter what video card or sound card you have unless you are burning video.>>>>

What do you mean 'unless you're buring video?" I will also try to make copies of a few movies and DVD music types.....
Sorry, I don't get it.

Mark H · January 31, 2004, 13:13 hrs

You can burn ordinary files or video to a DVD. I was referring to the fact that you can burn the files no problem, but without proper hardware you might have a problem with video.

The best thing is to install it and see what happens.

Mark H

davidng500 · January 31, 2004, 13:21 hrs

yeah, i agree and i will do it right now :)
i didn't have time during the whole week, and i was hesitant to install because the Staple cashier said i could return it w/in 2 weeks if not open...but if i don't open how da heck i know it works or not!
thanks!!!!

Mark H · January 31, 2004, 13:24 hrs

If it doesn't work with your desktop, it will most likely work with your laptop with it being newer.

Mark H

Chandler · January 31, 2004, 14:04 hrs

The requirements for DVD writers are no different than for CD writers.

The only time that you need a fast processor is if you are making DVD videos, in which you have to encode MPEG2. Even then it's not "needed" its a matter of whether you want to wait 5 hours for films to encode or not. ;)

For pre-encoded MPEG2 (such as that from a DVB-t or DVB-s device) then you can get by with making DVDs on an old Pentium since no re-encoding is nescessary.

Put it this way, I have a DVD writer in a Pentium III 1GHz (this system in my sig) and with that I can write DVDs at full speed (I have an 8x burner too). I can also encode MPEG2 in real time, so if my system can do it, an Athlon of higher clock speed definately will.

davidng500 · January 31, 2004, 16:20 hrs

i tried to install the dvd burner but when booted up, the screen said, "Sec Slave Drive ATAPI incompatible ....Press F1 to continue"
I pressed F1 but nothing happened!

I originally had 2 CD-R/RW drives in the desktops (one is 8x the other is 52x)...I removed the top drive 8x and inserted the DVD burner using the same plugs)
and i got the above message...
then I switched the 52x CD burner to the top slot and the DVD burner to the second top slot....and
then after a while it gave the same message above....

yes, the dvd burner powers on! and eject in and out...

then i thought it must mess up the master and slave jumper setting....I am not familiar with this stuff...i have had no problems whatsoever when i installed the CD-Write...

but anyway, when I reinstalled the 2 CD-Write drives as I had before and everything finally reconfigured and worked....I tested a music CD in both cd burners drive and it worked fine (audio too)!

so what has happened? did i do something wrong?
hmmm, do you guys think it would be much easier to get an external enclosure with 2.0 usb for this dvd burner????

i bet i confused all of you folks :lol:

thanks....have a good w/k

ps. what is the cable (audio???) from the back of these drives??? because one cable got loose and came off from the 8x CD burner and I wasn't sure how or where to insert it back ......i know where one end of the cable goes but not the other end; so i just left it out hanging looose)

but everything now works at before with 2 CD-R/Write (8x and 52x)

i will try again Monday and/or stop by at CompUSA to check out & buy an external enclosure to test out the dvd burner this approach...

bye!

trav · January 31, 2004, 17:55 hrs

Quote from: Mark H on January 06, 2004, 18:46 hrs
What about warranties? If it has no warranty, I would go with the Dell. As Query stated, laptops are expensive to repair and need repaired more than desktops.

Mark H

Unless you handle them veeery veeeeeery carefully ;)

Chandler · January 31, 2004, 18:19 hrs

Quote from: davidng500 on January 31, 2004, 16:20 hrs
i tried to install the dvd burner but when booted up, the screen said, "Sec Slave Drive ATAPI incompatible ....Press F1 to continue"
I pressed F1 but nothing happened!

Disable it in the BIOS and it will still work in Windows.

davidng005 · January 31, 2004, 21:23 hrs

chandler,
if you could, would you please explain exactly how to disable it it the BIOS ??? step by step :) 'cuz i don't know very much about this stuff :(
i guess i will try reinstall the DVD burner again on Monday when i get home from work....after stopping by CompUSA ....and try to do what you advised.....thanks..

Travis,
because of the low price, i couldn't turn down this laptop....it only cost me less than 500 dollars!!!! and this notebook has much more features than that of the low end Dell!!! anyway, i already bought the laptop weeks ago and i am using it at work right now :)
this should protect my baby :) :lol
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38285&item=3454498837&ssPageName=STRK:MEBWA:IT
yup, i will be verrrrrrrrry careful w/ this thing :)
check out the leather notebook bag i got on Ebay..... i already got it and it's GREAT :)

davidng500 · February 02, 2004, 10:57 hrs

i am gonna get one of these external enclosures.....so i can use this for the external HDD if i want to (though the dvd burner will be naked but that's all right 'cuz i will not burn much dvd anyway..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41911&item=2784281813
hope i can win this item less than 30.00
it will be over in 15min

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help me to pick between these 2 laptops