Cheap things you can buy in Blighty

RETEK IS currently stocking what is probably the best value for money S-ATA drive in the UK. The Maxtor DimamondMax Plus 9 is a 120GB hard disk drive with a S-ATA interface. It has a spindle speed of 7200 RPM and a buffer size of 8MB which should be more than enough to power even the most demanding home applications. The drive comes with a 30 day warranty and at £40+VAT - 33 pennies per gigabyte - is not heavy on your pocket.

The DiamondMax Plus comes with fluid dynamic bearning motors - to reduce sound output to their minimum and incorporates such life-saving technology as the Shock protection SYStem and data protection SYStem to safeguard your data in all situations. Bjorn3d has this to say "Maxtor has produced a strong series of drives in the DiamondMax Plus 9 line. After using the 120GB DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA drive for over two weeks now, I'm very pleased with the drive and its performance. The 120GB SATA drive scores 15-19% better in some of the tests compared to PATA. That's enough for me to be convinced to spend a little extra for SATA versus PATA. SATA drives really shine in a RAID configuration, so if you really want to use your new motherboard to its full potential, grab a couple SATA drives if you can afford it. Maxtor drives are quite affordable, and as this review shows, they perform pretty well too."

Get it from here.

Morgan Computers also holds auctions from time to time at their dedicated website. But you need to have a valid debit/credit card to be able to use it. Obviously not many people know about tthis site which is a good thing as it means that you might get many stuff for cheap, very cheap - there is no minumum bid or reserve price for example. They currently have a Dell A940 multifunction inkjet on auction. It was a cancelled order stock - like new as they say.

This AIO - All in One is particularly suited for home/small office use. It combines a colour inkjet printer with a flatbed scanner and a digital photocopier. At 17 pages per minute for black print and 12 pages per minute for colour, both in draft mode, it is no slouch as well. The A940 is a Dell version of Lexmark's X5150. The maximum print resolution of the A940 is 4800x1200dpi while the colour scanner attaines 600x2400 dpi at 48 bit colour depth.

Photocopying can be done without the assitance of the computer and for both cartridges are included. The printer is compatible with XP and Windows 2000 only and comes with a one year return to base warranty. One thing however that you should be aware that only Dell can provide compatible consummables at a price. Although general performance can be gratifying especially if you get the printer at a good price, consummables cost will very quickly outweigh any advantages except if you can get hold of cheap Lexmark/Dell consummables.

Another excellent deal brought by morgancomputers is this £9.99 CDRW drive - a fairly performing 40x12x48x CD Writer from Acer, a CRW4048. It is a pulled OEM drive with no software or whatsover and carry a 90 days warranty. The drive comes with a 2MB buffer and will prove to be an essential component in any entry level system, displacing a readonly CDROM drive to oblivion. Get yours here.

However, this is eclipsed by the DVRW2412 which can claim the title of cheapest DVD writer in UK at only £19.99+VAT - its launch price some times back was £205+VAT. It is also a bare drive, a system pulled as they call it but for the price, it is an excellent deal. Granted it is only 2.4x DVD+R/RW, but if you are only an occasional DVD burner and want to enjoy playing DVDs and recording normal CDROMs then this is a most tempting option. It also comes with a 2MB cache and improves on previous generations with lossless linking, Justlink anti-buffer under-run technology as well as a new dust-proof design. As for the other speeds - 12xCDR, 10xCDRW, 32x CDROM, 8X DVDROM, they are low by todays standard but in reality adds only five minutes or so to every burning that you might do. µ