Ice Storm pix

The cheapest notebooks I find go for EUR 450 here, but the comparison
is probably meaningless without statings features and peripherals. I
don't think the low market ones are anything to write home about, but
your 399 one probably isn't either. I bought myself a nice one last
week from a supermarket chain. It's an Intel dual core 1.66 GHz, with 2
Gig RAM, 250 Gig HD, non-shared graphics card, 15'' widescreen, multi
format DVD burner, digital TV tuner card with remote, web cam, mic,
fingerprint sensor, all peripherals that are considered standards these
days (network, WLAN, sound, video, SD card), Winderz and lots of
software preinstalled, and a notebook bag. All for 899, which I
consider a bargain, with all those features you'd pay more in regular
stores. Now compare

Here's what I got for $399 a few months ago here in the US:

Compaq Presario C563NR Notebook PC

# Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 520 with 533MHz frontside bus, 1MB L2
cache and 1.6GHz processor speed
# 512MB DDR2 memory for multitasking power (upgraded to 1526 MB for
another $80)
# Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
# 15.4" WXGA high-definition TFT-LCD widescreen display with
BrightView technology and 1280 x 800 resolution.
# 80GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
# Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with up to 64MB shared memory;
built-in Altec Lansing audio
# 3 high-speed USB 2.0 ports for fast digital video, audio and data
transfer; S-video TV-out
# Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g); built-in 10/100 Base-T
Ethernet LAN (with RJ-45 connector); high speed 56 Kbps modem
# Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic Edition operating system
preinstalled.

This little wonder has been marvelous, fast, connects wirelessly
automatically to any available network, and -- at less than $500 (with
the additional RAM I added later), it's almost unbelievably cheap. My
first laptop -- also a Presario -- was a Pentium III that cost nearly
$3,000, so the comparision beween the two is striking.

Sure, it's not the "latest greatest" -- but it does everything I want,
and is nearly disposable at that price...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"