Your Monday hardware bargains

UK
For those looking for the ultimate bargain (happy you), what about a branded IBM Thinkpad T20 Pentium III mobile 700 with Windows 200 Pro, 128Mb memory, a 12Gb hard disk, a 14.1" monitor and a DVD for only £293.74. The catch? None except perhaps that the models on sale have screen flaws caused by the plastic case mouldings or keyboard rubbing agains the screen. Mind you, the panel is not punctured but a number of lighter areas appear up to six about the size of a penny coin. This was enough to make the retailer, sterlingsx.co.uk, reduce the price by £105. The T20 is a nice laptop, quite thin at 33 mm and having a whole set of connection including 2 PCMCIA II slots and USB ports. It might not be the newest most chic laptop around but it apparently has got the best pointing device around and even a little keyboard light for late-sleepers like me. µ

USA
PCMall.com is giving away a Syntax 7-in-1 card reader with USB connectivity. Perfect for all your media storage needs. It is only USB 1.1 and does not support the xD formate but you can't fault it much at this price, $0. It doesn't need any external power supply and no drivers for Windows XP. Finally, its size 10x10x2cm makes it ideal for transport. For your information, Syntax also produces motherboard and appears to be close to the PC Chips group. More or less the same thing, ecost.com is giving away through the rebate structure a Syntax Wireless Lan Adaptor. It is USB 1.1 compliant, uses an Intersil Prism 3.0 and operates using 128-bit WEP encryption. Outdoor range goes up to 300m while indoor is limited to 100m. More importantly for laptop, power consumption is only 1.03w. Both offers are limited in time and to one item per customer. µ

France
From ldlc.fr comes a very peculiar video card, a rarity. The Sapphire The beast All in Wonder 9800SE (light version - no game or software). It is an ATI Radeon 9800SE from the famous AIW family. It has only a 128bit memory bus but this can be apparently soft-modded to a 256bit one using information present on ocfaq.com and on omegadrivers.com. From the photo on the LDLC website, you can guess the L-shaped memory banks. At €229 (£153), it is almost 40% less than what you would pay for a full Radeon 9800 Pro AIW and in UK, they are as rare as chicken's teeth. The Sapphire BAIW also includes a TV Tuner, S Video, DVI and composite connections. Try this though. Evesham has a Radeon 9800SE AIW on sale at £129.99. Could this be the one? If you have bought one of these and got good results at soft-modding, then why not let us know? Thanks for Juha Tus for the clue. µ

Singapore
It might not get a price for the most gracious casing ever but i terms of sheer value for money and mightiness, it is very difficult to beat. You want to impress your friend, then cybermind.com.sg is offering a YeongYang B0221 black cube casing with a 420w PSU for S$399 (around £135), roughly the same in UK where it is sold without PSU though. It is a massive professional-looking black server cube casing with plenty of space in it. At 13"x13"x17", it offers nine 3.5" bays (two external, seven internal) and six 5.25" bays. Unfortunately it is made of steel not aluminium so, it is very heavy. But to move it around, you are provided with four castor wheels. µ

If you do know about any special offers in any country listed above, please let me know.