If you are a varsity student going to NUS, NTU and SMU (this laptops on sale in SMU are different), here is the recommendations from me.
If you are the mobile warrior, where you move as you work with your laptop, the light and handy laptop will be the best choice for you. Look no further, cause Toshiba R500-E260 will the the choice. If you go for the looks too, Lifebook S6410U will be it.
| E6410U | R500-E260 |
| Faster Processor, 2Ghz | Power Saving CPU, 1.2GHz |
| 2 GB RAM | 1.5GB RAM |
| 13.3″ Display | 12.1″ Display |
| Better graphics chipset | Average Integrated Graphics |
| 2.08kg | 1.09kg |
Like scribbling your notes on the laptop, tablet PC is the only choice. No other choice, other than the Lifebook T4220U.
Feeling on a tight budget, TM6292 is for you. For less than 2,000, you can get a laptop so similar specification as other brand.
| T61 | E8410U |
| 2 GB RAM | 1 GB RAM |
| 160 GB HDD | 120 GB HDD |
| Intel Integrated Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 8400M |
| 14.1″ Display | 15.4″ Display |
| 2.32kg | 2.45kg |
If you are going for the cool and stylish Apple, I suggest you halt the plan, because while waiting for the Mac OS X Leopard, the price of MacBooks in this offer is not attractive. (The prices of the laptop are most probably tentative prices as the official website has not been updated yet, so keep the finger crossed.)
*UPDATE - For the Macbooks and Macbook Pros, free upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard is available from the tender. they also come with Microsft Office 2004 and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium.
Apple Online Store offer the same Macbook Pro 15″ 2.2Ghz for only SGD$3106 while the price on NUS is SGD$3318. If you want a Mac desperately, go for the online store. However, if you need the Microsft Office and Adobe CS3, taking the tender is a reasonable one.
If you are thinking of a Macbook (not Pro), do consider the Macbook Pro 15″. For 0.14kg, you get to enjoy a faster processor, dedicated graphics chipset, double the amount of RAM and a larger screen. If you are unable to fork out the extra 900 bucks, settle for the Macbook.
And if you want to play games like Company of Heroes and Command and Conquer with decent graphics, only Lifebook E8410U has a decent GPU and not forgetting the Macbook Pros.
Hopefully the prices of Macbooks drop.
Prices of the new laptops may change these few days, so watch out.
What abt the thinkpad X61? How much does it differ from those selling in the market?
Do the thinkpads have WWLan and the fingerprint reader?
The Thinkpads in the public market is definitely more expensive than those from the universities tenders.
The X61 from the tender does not come with WWLan or fingerprint reader.
Just curious, why mac is more expensive, since other laptop also offer office and photoshop. tot school should be at least cheaper then outside. different distributer?
Maybe due to the low demands for Macs? There are less people going for Macs than the normal Lenovo/Acer/Toshiba/Fujitsu laptops.
i checked out the online store. apple actually auto enroll you for their APP ( apple protection plan) which extends 90 days warranty to a full 3 years) if you select tt option in the online store it actually costs you $350+) so the school is cheaper unless you are really against the APP and think a 90 days warranty is enough.
For the T4220U, tablet pc by fujitsu, will performance be affected if i’m running CAD software like 3D modelling wares? eg, solidworks, fluent@ etc
Hi,
Just to share my bad experience of purchasing the LifeBook E8410. When i got my laptop, the most unexpected thing i saw was dead pixel. i was a bit disappointed then. I went back to the retail and ask for an exchange for one to one and i came to realized that the specification i was purchasing was actually been upgraded to a higher specifications of the same model. so i ask for a upgrade too in which i make the full payment on the lifebook laptop on the day when they have upgraded the specification, thus i should be getting the upgraded one instead of paying the same amount of $$ and received a lower end machine. i called up the distributor and clarification, and after some argument, they decided to upgrade the same specification as the day they had updated the specification. I was told to wait for a week to receive my new laptop. Never did i expect that i was told to wait for another week when i gave them a call at the NTU retail shop by the sales manager and the technician. What they could say was to just have to wait… Fujitsu LifeBook is always my dream machine to have one, thus i have no choice but to wait. i waited nearly for a month to be able to meet my LifeBook, BUT!!!! i began so disappointed and furious. Guess what i saw? DEAD PIXEL!!!!!!!! OMG!!!! this time round, i was awarded 3 * dead pixel!!! To strike a TOTO or 4D aren’t that lucky!!.(Just a qoute). whats is happening.. i immediately called the technician and rectify the dead pixel issue but he and the sales manager simply ignored my grieve and ask me to go down to NTU for a test and rectification. AT that night I also realized that the specification which was mentioned in the web site was not matched!! It was clearly showing a resolution of 1680*1050, but my machine was only able to reach up to 1280*800. I spend the entire night on the work around but to no valid.
The next morning I called up the technician from Asia Pac on the clarification on the spec and I was told the maximum resolution is 1280*800. I feel cheated. Here again, i got no choice but to the NEW laptop and went to NTU. i began to lost patient on them. At the retail, i show the dead pixels(3) to the technician, and the funny thing was that he told me that the dead pixels were too small and he was not able to change a new LCD for me. That the first I heard from Fujitsu’s Service. That comments don’t sound good to me. i bought the machine with defects yet not able to get it fixed. OMG~~.. The boss of the retail could not do anything as she said that the laptop was provided by Asia Pac which was out of your hand to be concerned of. But she suggested me to take a look at the another machine from 2 female student who came to collect their same model Fujitsu LifeBook E8410. To my surprise!.. i found one red dead pixel on the screen. I immediately show my friends on the dead pixel, and they could witness it. Poor female students were not notified by the technician whom was at the scene too. He simple just says he could not found any. He is inefficient and unprofessional who might just want to send out the goods.
i have escalated the matter to the Computer Eng Dept, but no valid. What they could say was to live with it or to do a full refund.
So i decided to have a full refund, and plan to log a file CASE against this issue as well as to get justics from the main Fujitsu manufacturer in Japan. So please be aware of the quality of the goods at NTU retails or to be sorry at later stage. So far for a total of 3 laptops of Fujitsu LifeBook I have seen, there are all present with dead pixel which the management of the Computer Dept has noticed too. But the laptop was cheap.(Services …??? Hais…)
Thought they selling the same machine, but listed model was not the same. Price varies too.
Refer to
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/CITS2/computerdeals/NB_Detail.asp?sn=2
http://www.asiapac.com.sg/np_nos/
It is always good to buy the laptop during the Matriculation Fair, as they updated their stock to the latest offerings. In your case, it is definitely a bad experience. But i guess they will be able to solve it for u… Do remember to check for dead pixel when U collected the laptop on the spot..