Need help on buying laptop for under $1K in Melbourne

[Eruntalon]

On the same subject of purchasing new laptops, I'm going to go hunting for one early next year and was wondering if it was going to be more feasible and more practical to buy an 'already-put-together' laptop offered by one of the companies such as Dell, Compaq, HP, ASUS, etc. or whether I could get a better deal from a computer store who have built laptops from random components tailored to suit individual customers.

I used to build computers as a hobby 4-5 years ago and I too have very little knowledge these days on what the most popular pieces of hardware people recommend you should have in your machines. It can be a confusing process, but I think I would need a set up which would have at least a capable graphics card that wasn't built onboard with the laptops motherboard.

[autobreadticon]

my advice is get one with built in wifi , abg whatever frequeny every1 is using these days

[jacksplatt11]

my advice is get one with built in wifi , abg whatever frequeny every1 is using these days

Bah, haven't you heard? Wireless is old technology, everyone is back onto wired now, it's all the rage

[Eruntalon]

Bah, haven't you heard? Wireless is old technology, everyone is back onto wired now, it's all the rage

Everyone uses 802.11n mimo I think, although 802.11g is still popular.

[STL]

Don't know much about laptops (or computers for that matter) but talking to former colleagues/clients over Christmas lunches and whatnot the indications are that there's approx. a 25-32% price rise (25% on the lower price range and 32% at the top of the range) in January so buying now would be a very good time.

[Wheel-J]

UPDATE:

As much to our surprise, me and my wife ended up buying a netbook instead.

The Story:
On that rainy Saturday afternoon, we went to the nearest Officeworks in our area.
We were eager to buy the Dell laptop which I mentioned in my first post.
But when we were there, luck is not on our side. They don't have the laptop we wanted.
We were told that we have to go to another branch which is a bit farther away coz other nearby stores don't have it.
Whilst the weather is not doing well and it was 4pm that time, we decided not to pursue our hunt that day.
Then When we're about to leave, I happen to pass by the netbook section and noticed one of the item has a big-marked price tag.
It attracted my attention coz the price is almost half of the laptop we're looking for.
I called my sister to ask if she would reconsider a netbook instead. Eventually she agreed.
It was a white 10-inch Asus Eee PC 1000H. Just an ideal size and weight for a uni student, I said.

So the next day, I went to check that exact same model from other stores (Harvey and JB-Hifi).
And found out that officeworks still sell it much cheaper ($599).

I havn't owned a netbook before. Funny I didn't expect netbooks don't have DVD-ROMs.
I read a few reviews about it and it seems that many people are satisfied with its performance.
Just hope my sister will like it.

Btw, I noticed that there are so many people shopping around for computers. Probably that is where they're spending most of their christmas bonuses.

my advice is get one with built in wifi , abg whatever frequeny every1 is using these days

Everyone uses 802.11n mimo I think, although 802.11g is still popular.

The box of the netbook I bought says Wifi 802.11b/g/n

Don't know much about laptops (or computers for that matter) but talking to former colleagues/clients over Christmas lunches and whatnot the indications are that there's approx. a 25-32% price rise (25% on the lower price range and 32% at the top of the range) in January so buying now would be a very good time.

I thought the best time to buy computers is during the tax season (June/July) where major retailers pull down the biggest discount sales of the year. I'm hoping the price would still be cheaper that time. I guess nobody could really tell..

[kay-al]

UPDATE:

It was a white 10-inch Asus Eee PC 1000H. So the next day, I went to check that exact same model from other stores (Harvey and JB-Hifi).
And found out that officeworks still sell it much cheaper ($599).

Wow - you sure is the EEEPC1000H? I thought it was selling at $799! (Cheapest I found is at $749 on sales) Instead it's the EEEPC900HA which is selling at $599. You really did get a good deal if it's the EEEPC1000H!!