Cheap hardware o' the day

IF YOU know of any good value IT sales (auctions, rebates, one-off, clearance, surplus, classified ads) going around in the United Kingdom, France, USA or Singapore, don't hesitate to contact me, at least 24 hours before the sales end.

USA
This might be a typo, but you never know. Just try your luck. PChardware4U is apparently selling an Asus V9999 Ultra for only $139. The card has a 16-pipeline Geforce 6800 GPU and 256MB DDR3 memory as well as two DVI ports convertible to two VGA ports via provided adaptors. The next nearest price for this hot card is $554 at ajump.com. The GPU is clocked at 425MHz while the memory runs at 550MHz DDR. Thanks to a 35.2GB/s peak memory bandwidth at stock speed, you will be able to play the latest games, including DOOM III at their highest resolution in the best graphical conditions, At 16x12 4xAA+8xAniso, the V9999 reaches 40 frames per second leaving the X800XT PE more than 10 frames behind.

Other Asus only features include Asus Gamefacelive which allow you to have an online avatar with your face glued on it to chat with other compatible avatars around the world. It is coined as the world's first multiplayer audio and video chatting solution for PC game. Note that it is a single slot design that should allow you to get a lilttle more space in your already crammed casing. The card is wonderfully designed with a well thought heat sink fan which slots just between a PCI and an AGP one. The HSF covers both the memory and the GPU and its blue lights will illuminate your modded case. A 480W PSU with dual ATX power sources are required. Asus provide with a special tool called Smartdoctor which basically is a core and memory clock analysis tool which allows you to overclock your card on the fly. Overclocking the card will bring it to its physical limits.

Hothardware has reached 455MHz and 1.16GHz at this game, a tad below the Geforce 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition. As for the software bundle, it includes classics like Deus Ex: Invisible War, Battle Engine Aquila, Gun Metal as well as a 6 in 1 Game Pack, ASUS DVD XP, and Media Show. Hothardware gave it deservedly the Editor's choice award and says of it that "it is obvious that ASUS has tried to position this GeForce 6800 Ultra as a breakout product in a sea of reference designs". The bargain of the century.

This Sony sub laptop used to cost $1499 at launch back in September 1999. Now thanks to ebay, you can get one for only $199 - you can get it for less as it is an auction. The VAIO PCG-N505VE might be powered by a sloooowwwly Intel Celeron 333MHz, it is not what should attract you. As for any Sony product, sheer beauty oozes from this laptop. It is thinnner than a VHS tape when closed and weighs less than many laptop batteries at just over 1Kg. You get 128MB memory and a 6.5GB hard disk. The rest is still diminutive.

You do have scratches on the body - it is a second hand lappy for those who were still wondering.

The LCD and laptop work great bu the DC connector on the laptop was removed and the DC jack on the power cord cut - the AC adapter is provided. So you would probably have to fix it or buy another one. Operating system is included as are speaker ports, USB and most interestingly, Firewire ports. The 10.5in 1024x768pixel TFT screen is a pure pleasure in itself, featuring Sony's Xbrite technology. Graphics is handled by an onlboard 1.5MB Neomagic chipset. You do have a built in v.90 modem, headphones jack handled by a AC97 Yamaha module as well as two speakers.

Note however that the laptop does not come with a floppy disk drive or even with a CDROM. Note that you also get one PCMCIA Type II slot, which forms part of the list of features being dropped to make the laptop as slim as possible.

The battery provided is a double Sony battery so it should provide you with more than the usual 90 minutes autonony. As for input devices, you get a touchpad as well as a rather large keyboard - especially for a ultraportable. Ars Technica gave it a good 4.25 out of 10. Now nothing prevents you from trying at least to upgrade the laptop to something better. Get yourself a PCMCIA network card to start with, then a USB hub, probably 4-in-1, a USB CDROM Drive Reader and most importantly, some memory - 128MB memory or more - and a larger and smarter hard disk - why not a 20GB one. Moreover, sidestep the floppy for a more common USB drive. If you are lucky enough, you might even upgrade the processor to a Pentium III for example.

UK
A colour laser printer used to cost thousands of pounds some time back. Now, they are on the verge of going through the floor, tinkering the £199 price barrier. The OKI C3100 colour printer might just be the one. With a £75 cash back available until end of november, you might get it for a final price of £224.33+VAT, the cheapest colour laser printer by some measure, excluding of course Ebay.

What makes it so special is the fact that it is the only laser printer at this price capable of performing single colour pass prints, therefore being substantially faster than its competitors. It has a resolution of 1200x600dpi and comes with a 32MB buffer. Also unlike others, it is a LED printer rather than a pure laser printer. Although it lacks other connectors apart from its USB port as well as a standard duplexer, its rock bottom price as well as its superb printing colour speed - 10 ppm - will leave competitors and potential customers alike, gasping for their breath.

This is partly due to the fact that it is a Windows Host-based printer - which also means that if you upgrade your PC, your printing performance might go though the roof as well. Moreover, its flat paper path allow printing on media up to 203gsm and up to 102cm long. Print quality is nothing short of superb, as described by Computer Shopper back in August and for once, this is a printer than can be safely handled by one person only rather than a small basketball team. Don't expect it to be very expandable however unless you also want to invest in a print server or something similar. Anyway, a good buy for sensible minds.

You want a free printer and you live near Kent? So contact Richard Clark for a free inkless-but-still-good Epson Stylus Photo 750. To begin with, at £0, any printer would be a real bargain, the ESP 750 is still much much better.

It boasts a 1440 dpi resolution which though not matching the latest generation is more than enough for most tasks. At that time, it introduced professional photo printing with 6 picoliter ink dropletsIt is a fast printer capable of churning a 1440 dpi photo in less than 4 minutes. Its default printing resolution though is 720x720 dpi - the printer came out back in 1999 but can use ink cartridges widely available in the commerce. Its launch price, five years ago, back was at £273. The ESP 750 is ideally suited for a budding photographer who wants the flexibility of having a cheap and yet quality inhouse printer without having to go to photohouse every day.

Worry about the cartridge? Don't have to. Choicestationery, my preferred supplier is having an offer on some cartridges, incidentally including this one. What about 20 cartridges for £25, including VAT and delivery? 10 colour and 10 black cartridges should get you printing like mad. µ