So, I've decided to get myself an laptop. Restricted funds and full awareness of what I'm seeking gave me what I've thought would be an easy choice. I was very much mistaken. My first move was of course to start at a price-comparison engine (skapiec.pl). It's really nice, with good filtering options.
I found some nice lappies, but short afterwards I got the hint that you can buy them much cheaper in USA. It's where the fun begins. Of course checking law and import/export policies wasn't the first thing I've done, otherwise I wouldn't even bother with the next step. So I started checking the offer. Visiting HP and Dell's online stores was really nice, I've configured some really nice compilations there (just to check out pricing). Here comes the first clue. Why do they have it so nice out there? I mean, here in Poland we only have pre-configured laptops. No configuring, no flexibility at all. You can only choose from what they build for you! Besides, it was exactly the time as Dells *n (Linux preinstalled) series came out and I was really eager to get one. As mentioned above, I checked the importing possibilities and instantly I knew all this beautiful world is beyond my bounds. What concerns me most is why don't they do such things here? Are the eastern countries not worth effort or what? Possibility to tune your notebook to your real needs is just great. It's unfair...
Next problem I had to face was to choose the bast available configuration matching my needs and fitting my pocket. In the meantime already my preferences drafted from AMD to Intel. Why? Firstly, graphics. It's really not easy to find an AMD laptop with reasonable graphics. I need to mention that I run Linux and don't really need full blown 3D effects, I sought something suitable for a developer station. With AMD at my price you only get ATI (hard guess, heh?) or Nvidia Go 6150, which from what I've heard are both unsuitable for Linux. What I really wanted was Intel Graphics Accelerator. But in order to get it I needed an Intel processor. Further into the processors, I wanted a 64-bit. I think it's the most suitable for modern developer station. So, back to my choice it meant Intel Core 2 Duo, Turion 64 or Turion 64 x2. Intels are quite pricey, but as mentioned above they were my preferred choice. Once because of the graphics and secondly because of Intels extensive support for F/OSS. As for AMD, I could get Turion 64 which is a single processor unit but still 64-bit, which makes it cheaper.
So the time came to make the choice. Next thing that concerned me was that some major vendors don't even sell same preconfigured laptops oversees (or even abroad) as here locally. For example you won't get a Dell Inspiron here, at least not from Dells official web store. Same goes for HP, but they do at least offer most of their products here. But if they don't want to make money on me, I'm not going to insist. What I've chosen will remain my local secret. What I can reveal is that Asian brands tend to treat central Europe much more seriously. They also tend to have better pricing and amazing reliability.
This much as to that topic. I know it's by no means useful to you, but nevertheless I want such a voice to exist over the net. Maybe American producers will come up with some conclusion and the future generations will have any use of it. For now, they're loosing very pitifully here, I believe.
I found some nice lappies, but short afterwards I got the hint that you can buy them much cheaper in USA. It's where the fun begins. Of course checking law and import/export policies wasn't the first thing I've done, otherwise I wouldn't even bother with the next step. So I started checking the offer. Visiting HP and Dell's online stores was really nice, I've configured some really nice compilations there (just to check out pricing). Here comes the first clue. Why do they have it so nice out there? I mean, here in Poland we only have pre-configured laptops. No configuring, no flexibility at all. You can only choose from what they build for you! Besides, it was exactly the time as Dells *n (Linux preinstalled) series came out and I was really eager to get one. As mentioned above, I checked the importing possibilities and instantly I knew all this beautiful world is beyond my bounds. What concerns me most is why don't they do such things here? Are the eastern countries not worth effort or what? Possibility to tune your notebook to your real needs is just great. It's unfair...
Next problem I had to face was to choose the bast available configuration matching my needs and fitting my pocket. In the meantime already my preferences drafted from AMD to Intel. Why? Firstly, graphics. It's really not easy to find an AMD laptop with reasonable graphics. I need to mention that I run Linux and don't really need full blown 3D effects, I sought something suitable for a developer station. With AMD at my price you only get ATI (hard guess, heh?) or Nvidia Go 6150, which from what I've heard are both unsuitable for Linux. What I really wanted was Intel Graphics Accelerator. But in order to get it I needed an Intel processor. Further into the processors, I wanted a 64-bit. I think it's the most suitable for modern developer station. So, back to my choice it meant Intel Core 2 Duo, Turion 64 or Turion 64 x2. Intels are quite pricey, but as mentioned above they were my preferred choice. Once because of the graphics and secondly because of Intels extensive support for F/OSS. As for AMD, I could get Turion 64 which is a single processor unit but still 64-bit, which makes it cheaper.
So the time came to make the choice. Next thing that concerned me was that some major vendors don't even sell same preconfigured laptops oversees (or even abroad) as here locally. For example you won't get a Dell Inspiron here, at least not from Dells official web store. Same goes for HP, but they do at least offer most of their products here. But if they don't want to make money on me, I'm not going to insist. What I've chosen will remain my local secret. What I can reveal is that Asian brands tend to treat central Europe much more seriously. They also tend to have better pricing and amazing reliability.
This much as to that topic. I know it's by no means useful to you, but nevertheless I want such a voice to exist over the net. Maybe American producers will come up with some conclusion and the future generations will have any use of it. For now, they're loosing very pitifully here, I believe.
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