Medion Celeron 350 Notebook - Thoughts please guys

[400SPYDER]

Its at Woolies and its half price - £500

Celeron 350 Notebook Computer features inbuilt wireless networking allowing you to connect to the internet without cables. With a multi-format DVD re-writer, 1.3 GHz celeron mobile processor, 15.4" widescreen TFT display and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 it has everything you'd expect from more expensive machines at a market leading price.

Supplied software includes Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2 and much more. You even have a choice of 5 movies to download absolutely free (internet connection required, unlock code valid until 31st December 2005).

Features



15.4 TFT anti-glare WXGA widescreen colour display (16:10 screen is perfect for watching DVD Movies)

Intel Celeron Mobile 350 Processor

Dual Layer Multi-format DVD Re-Writer

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (up to 128MB shared memory)

Wireless 802.11 g/b Networking

40 GB hard disk drive 5400 RPM

256 MB DDR II RAM superfast memory

3x USB 2.0 ports and 1 x FireWire (IEEE-1394) port

Choice of 5 Movies: S.W.A.T., Spider-man, Charlies Angels Full Throttle, Men In Black II, Stuart Little 2

16-bit Sound and 2 inbuilt stereo speakers

Technical Specifications



Intel Celeron M 350 Mobile 1.3 GHz

256MB DDR II 533MHz RAM, expandable to 2048MB

15.4" TFT Widescreen Display, 1280x800 resolution

40GB HDD 5400RPM

DVD-Writer/-ReWriter

Read Speed: 8xDVD-ROM, 24xCD-ROM

Write Speed: 24xCD-R, 4xCD-RW, 10xhigh Speed CD-RW, 8xDVD-R, 2xDVD-R DL, 4xDVD-RW, 8xDVD+R, 2.4xDVD+R DL, 4xDVD+RW

Graphics Media Accelerator 900, 128MB shared memory

S-Video TV out

56 K V90 modem

54Mbit/s inbuilt wireless networking

16bit stereo sound

2hr 15min battery life

VGA monitor out port

3 USB 2.0 ports

1 1394 IEEE Firewire port

Ethernet LAN port

PCMCIA type II

[ric355]

My main comments would be;

1.3Ghz isn't very fast these days, however it may well be adequate for what you want to do.

256Mb RAM just isn't enough. Once the operating system is loaded, you've only got about half of it left. Any relatively large applications will start to struggle. You could still buy it and purchase a RAM upgrade separately.

I'm not familiar with Medion PC's but I think they might be rebadged from another manufacturer.

Also 40Gb disk is quite small too - again though it depends upon what you want to do with it.

Ric.

[Angelis]

What are you going to use it for?

Personally, I would'nt get it. Especially if it has a Celeron chip.

I have a Toshiba which I really like. Dell are quite cheap and good value, plus you can build your own spec.

[Pauli]

Dell is the best way forward, spec it with a pentium and take off the warranty for a reduction of about 150-200 GBP so makes it alot cheaper.

I've got Inspiron 6000 and it's brill.

I also have bluetooth and wireless builtin too.

Also think that battery time is pretty poor at 2.15mins, sounds well short of mine which is about 4/5 hours use without power

[Kam]

I think it's a bit expensive and outdated, I spend a lot of time looking at various laptops and desktops for my job. The laptop isn't expensive but you can get better makes with the similar/better spec for the same money.

Suggest you look at Dabs.com to give you an idea what you can get for your money as they quite cheap for an internet based company but I'd echo Sy's comments:

Avoid Celeron and go for a Pentium M
You should be looking at 1.5GHz processors or higher really
Try to get 512 RAM (RAM makes a massive difference in real life speed)

Hope this helps. Here's a link to one I found in 2 mins, it's an IBM which I swear by.

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3T4W&CategorySelectedId=11105&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11105,4294959538,22&v=2

[400SPYDER]

Thanks for comments guys.

[tonyh]

Dell are offering a decent machine today for £650 , in most papers. Seems a decent spec, Kev.