Saturday's Hardware Buys

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.

Singapore
Somehow, Cybermind.com.sg has the cheapest notebooks in Singapore. The A535 notebook for example is based on an AMD Mobile Athlon 2200+ with Powernow Technnology. Even though at S$ 1299 (less than £370+vat), it does have some corners cut (it has no Operating system or carrying case), it still is very good value for money. You still get 256Mb DDR memory, a 20GB hard disk, a Gigabyte Eterhnet Lan, 56K modem, four USB2.0 ports, a DVD+CDRW combo and a 14.1" XGA TFT LCD. Moreover, if you have a hotspot hearby, why not use the embedded Wireless LAN module. The Integrated chipset is believed to be a SIS740 one with SIS300 video module. Finally, although the design of the A535 ressembles closely ECS's desknote family, the former does come with a four-cell Li-Ion Battery built in and best of all a light weight of 2.7Kg. If you would like to own a tablet PC instead, try the EZ30D from ECS/Cymax at S$ 1999 (less than £570+vat). It is build around a Transmeta Crusoe 5800 energy saving CPU. It also has 256Mb DDR memory, 40GB hard disk drive, Wireless LAN and a multicard reader. On top of that, it also has a pressure sensitive SVGA 8.4" screen with a CMOS camera, en external USB detachable slim keyboard module. It weighs slightly over two pounds and comes with a removeable Li-Ion battery and with Windows XP home. µ

UK
Hmm... What can you get for slightly more than £300 in the UK.. In terms of computers. What about an AMD XP 2000+ with 512Mb Crucial DDR memory, a DVD writer, a Microstar nForce motherboard, a 30GB hard disk, speakers, keyboard and mouse and on top of that a 16" IBM TFT screen. With a 15" monitor costing around £200, this computer package is fantastic value for money. The place to find it? Gumbree.com of course. µ

Reunion (France)
The HP Netserver LH4 server might be old, but its four Xeon 400 processors still pack a lot of power for less than 600 euros. Back in 1999, when it was launched, you would have paid more than $30,000 for that same server. The LH4 is on sale on ebay.fr with 1GB memory ECC EDO DRAM, a 18GB Seagate Cheetah Ultra 2 LVD SCSI hard disk and a dual PSU system. Also included is a NetRAID Dual-channel Disk Array Controller and a 1Mb VGA video adapter. The server is physically a very large cubic casing with up to 12 hot-swappable hard disks bays available with a central lock. A LCD screen gives you system information in real-time on the server's performance. However at that price, don't expect to get a monitor or an operating system. Guess that you will be able to use that Windows 2003 Advanced Server now... µ

USA
Fancy a special power booster, For less than $450, get yourself two Intel Xeon 1.8GHz 400MHz 512KB Socket 603 processors and a Tyan Thunder i7500 S2720 Dual Xeon Socket 603 motherboard from computergeeks.com. Granted, they are no longer top of the range and do not have any overclocking options or the latest technology included (PCI X16 anyone?) It will sure give any decent top range rig a run for its money for a price equivalent to a single Xeon 3.0Ghz processor. The motherboard features the Intel E7500 chipset and allows up to 12GB DDR memory as well as five PCI slots, advanced management server system, twin LAN controllers and integrated video. Unfortunately, since it is an entry level server motherboard, you won't get SCSI or any RAID controllers. The Xeon processors are pulled chips and come bare. They run on Quadpumped FSB and therefore are equivalent to the first generation Pentium IV processors (without Hyperthreading for example). They however do show how price and performance have rocketed in the past years. µ