Buying things for S96J

Well, after a few days of deciding, I went to RJtech and bought the Asus S96J. However, since I had to give up eating for two months to save up enough money, I bought it almost completely barebones other than a DVD/CD-RW drive and a wireless thing. The total came out to be $697.84 including the ridiculously high CA tax rate.

So now I need to buy a Hard drive, CPU, and RAM. Including shipping and taxes, it can't be over $500 since I don't think I can go for another month without food. So here're the things I'm planning on getting:

Intel Core Duo T2300 Processor 1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB, Socket 478, 2MB Cache, 65nm

Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 80GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer

Patriot 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory

I'm pretty sure the CPU will fit fine, but I read somewhere on the forums that not all RAM and HDs work equally well on different laptops. So my question is, will the above items work with the S96J? Second question, are these pretty good deals or are they cheaper because they're not as good? Third question, any recomendations on how I can further lower the price without sacrificing quality or how I can increase quality without raising the cost?

 

well didnt rjtech have the core duo for that much?

as for the hd, well whats on sale at newegg? if you can lurk you can get a sale on the size you want.

that is a good model though. dont get a toshiba hd is about all id say.

ram too im pretty certain.

 

All good choices, I got the same HD for mine and it smokes. I would recommend also getting ram from ZIpZoomFly so that you don't end up payng for shipping from both. I got this one:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=90054

 

I believe you'd avoid sales tax if you bought the barebone from a different state. I think as far as cutting costs go, you could make do with a smaller HD, perhaps down to 5400rpm too. If you're like most people, you'll be a heavy downloader and in the end, it'll just be cheaper to get a large external HD where you save most of your non essential stuff. Since it's external, there's no rush for you to get it so you can buy it when you have more funding

 

Save money and get a slower 5400rpm drive. Also shop around for ram/hdd deals from newegg or even outpost.com (FRYs).

You might save on shipping if you get it from one place.

 

I would get nothing but a 100GB hard drive.....solely because of the increased aureal density of the platters which gives you faster access times. If a 7200 is out of your price or heat/noise range, then I'd go for a 5400....but 100GB regardless.

 

I too voice my support for going with a 5400 rpm drive. The 7200 isn't noticeably faster other than for booting, and it will get hotter and use more battery power. Also, if you save some money with the 5400, you might want to bump the processor up to the t2400. I've heard thats the best for price to power ratio.

 

Thanks for all your advice! Here's what I ended up buying:

Corsair VS1GSDS667D2 1GB DDR2-667 PC2-5300 Value Select SO-DIMM Memory Retail
Intel Core Duo T2300 Processor 1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB, Socket 478, 2MB Cache, 65nm Retail
Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 80GB Serial ATA 5400RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer

Can't wait till everything comes in!

 

When do you expect it to arrive and when are you going home? I assume you are a UCB student as well, and I would like to see one in person. I am considering the Z96j would love to see yours. I have a paper due Friday at 4...

 

Ah, a fellow Berkeley student, que bueno!

Sadly, I sent the computer to my hometown since I am graduating in five days and I didn't want to risk it arriving after my rent is up.

 

well, congrats to you. so much for that idea lol.


Although I can relate. I sent a Pool Cue I ordered this week to my home