[H-GEN] Laptops

[Frank Brand]

Andrew Over wrote:
> 

> I was under the impression that this (forced bundling) was illegal, and
> was one of the "predatory" trading practices that got MS into toruble with
> the DoJ in the first place.
> 
> However, I am not so much concerned with the copy of Win98, as the copy of
> MS Office that certain (gw2k/dell et al) manufacturers insit on bundling.
> The value of MS Office is significatnly higher than that of OEM Win98, and
> I'd rather not pay for something I won't be using.

Its pretty easy to get around it I think
 
> Got any preferred manufacturers?

I've found Compaq OK, we used a lot of them at work, but then AST seemed
OK too and I never have quarms about recommending HP stuff, Toshiba and
Texas Instruments have also been good but just about all of these brands
are not at the low end of the pricing tree. Try
http://www.pricewatch.com to find keen prices but I agree with Matthew
Day that it may not be worth it, considering the weakness in the $AUD vs
$USD. Your call, but there have been some good prices from Gateway
recently. Eg the best price for a Toshiba 330 Satellite (266 MMX) on
Pricewatch is about $1585; this translates to about $2650 AUD (without
fees and extras, also you may find things that are thrown in in
Australia may be extra in the US eg carrying case etc.) and you can buy
them for about that here. 

-- 
Frank Brand
E-mail: fbrand at uq.net.au
Homepage: http://www.uq.net.au/~zzfbrand