Hi I am looking for a cheap new laptop without O/S (£300-400) just for my Ham Radio
I have found Novatech, does anyone know of, or have used any other company please?
Kind Regards -Nick Daniels
Nick Daniels wrote:
Hi I am looking for a cheap new laptop without O/S (£300-400) just for my Ham Radio
I have found Novatech, does anyone know of, or have used any other company please?
Kind Regards -Nick Daniels
We've got some novatech laptops here at work and at least one conked out when somebody took it on a work trip. Other than that they are just a bit plasticy (if that is how you might spell it) in build.
Simon
On Wed, 2007-09-26 at 14:26 +0100, Nick Daniels wrote:
Hi I am looking for a cheap new laptop without O/S (£300-400) just for my Ham Radio
I have found Novatech, does anyone know of, or have used any other company please?
You have to be a bit careful. A lot of the provided with Linux or no OS installed Laptops I have seen are built on some generic OEM chassis (most frequently a clevo) and while there is not anything specifically wrong with that, the OEM machines tend to lag behind the mainstream brands in terms of things like thermal/battery management, robustness, design and reliability. Some even have desktop processors which if the thermal design isn't tip top is going to cause problems.
It may seem illogical but at the moment I think probably buying a mainstream machine and binning the Windows Licence gets the best value.
When dealing with mainstream manufacturers Microsoft charge nothing like the "official" price for OEM licences and the tiny amount they do charge gets covered by handouts from people like Norton for installing their crudware trials on the default image. So actually cost to the manufacturer for including Windows is pretty much nil. Therefore it is not like £75 or whatever of the machines price has gone towards a licence you don't need.
On Fri, Sep 28, 2007 at 12:40:42AM +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
installed Laptops I have seen are built on some generic OEM chassis (most frequently a clevo) and while there is not anything specifically wrong with that, the OEM machines tend to lag behind the mainstream
There is something wrong with it being a clevo! and that's that the machine is a clevo! I'd rather have an Apple laptop than a clevo!...
Adam
Hi Many thanks for the replies. I was not aware the Laptops from Novatech were a generic type. Looking at my usual supplier, CCL, I see they are charging £20-40 more for the a laptop supplied with Vista with regards to the same laptop supplied with XP.
However looking at how I was going to use the laptop, I decided I would have more room on my ham radio desk with a mini-keyboard, cheap 15" TFT on shelf and computer on floor.
I did enquire regarding a refund of "windows tax" and CCL imfomed me "I would have to contact Microsoft"
Kind Regards - Nick Daniels
Nick Daniels wrote:
I am looking for a cheap new laptop without O/S (£300-400) just for my Ham Radio
Surprised nobody mentioned this (so apologies if they did and I missed it), but Dell now sell Ubuntu laptops; cheapest seems to be £329 inc VAT delivered.
Given that it has Linux pre-installed it is a long way from "without O/S" but it's definitely "without MS tax", which is probably more important.
On Fri, Sep 28, 2007 at 04:38:57PM +0100, Mark Rogers wrote:
Surprised nobody mentioned this (so apologies if they did and I missed it), but Dell now sell Ubuntu laptops; cheapest seems to be £329 inc VAT delivered.
A saving of £53.50 over the same machine with Windows Vista, one other thing I noticed is that to extend the hardware warranty you find it is cheaper with a Linux machine compared to Windows too.
Adam
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Wayne Stallwood