Voodoo envy a:228 and Voodoo in general

First off, Notebookreview has been an awesome site! Thanks to them and to all you folks. It has been a great help so far.

I'm trying to figure out what laptop to get and it's been difficult finding one that would work. I saw the Voodoo Envy a:228 and it has really caught my eye. I have a few questions:
:decision:

1. Has anyone had a chance to lay their paws on the a:228? Any opinions?

2. Support - I haven't been able to find too many comments regarding Voodoo support on this site. Any of you folks have any thoughts? Are Voodoo's generally solid feeling and functioning machines? Also, anyone know links to reviews comparing these smaller companies (like those found in PC Mag when they compare service of the bigger guns) as far as service/quality/etc?

Thanks in Advance!

 

Voodoo's are "rebranded" clevo's. Along with Alienware, Hypersonic, Falcon Northwest, Sager, and etc etc etc....... If you would like the same computer(at least i think Sager has that one too) go with sager. They are not FLASHY and colorful like the others, but they are the same thing except in silver, and a whole lot cheaper haha. As for my opinion, I like sager best. But, I'm not sure if they have that model. It wouldn't be called the "same thing" just have the same inside stuff, and a different paint job. Once again, they are all Clevo laptops, with a different brand and color scyhme on them. www.sagernotebooks.com


EDIT::::: I checked on the sager version, and I don't think they have it. But the 5720 is very nice if you like it, It has a Pentium M. It is basically the same specs as a Dell XPS M170, except a little bit cheaper. Hope I helped.

 

I did check out Sager but maybe I'm just being a moot but I couldn't find a similar machine. I was disappointed because I heard of a lot of good things about Sager. Do you think you can find the link to the similar machine you're referring to? Thanks for the quick response!

 

I checked on the sager version, and I don't think they have it. But the 5720 is very nice if you like it, It has a Pentium M. It is basically the same specs as a Dell XPS M170, except a little bit cheaper. Hope I helped.

 

I'm actually looking for a small and light notebook. Thanks for your help though. I'm hoping to get comments about the Voodoo envy a:228 cuz it looks sweet. I don't mind paying for the flashiness as long as the machine can back it up. The laptop has to be a good laptop first and foremost.

 

well, I don't have insight into this particular machine but if you want to see how Voodoo puts together their machines take a look at this article just posted:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2579

We'll be doing reviews in the future, but nothing coming soon. They look like a great company and you can see what you think of the look of their tech support!

 

Wow. Thanks for the link. That's definitely a neat insight. I'll wait... hopefully someone who has this laptop can share a few words.

How about a VoodooPC smiley?!

 

If you want a customized 12" laptop, Asus is another good place to look. The Sony TX is also good if you want a small but functional laptop with sexy styling.

 

If you're willing to go 14", the Sony FJ series is very nice, also the Asus W3V if you want a dedicated GPU.

The a:228 is a sweet notebook, but hideously expensive. If you're willing to pay for the nice paint job, conditioning, and all the accessories that Voodoo includes, then go for it. But otherwise, I'd stick to something else that we are suggesting and save money.

 

I like the FJ series and I would love 14" but I want to be <= 4.5 lbs, preferably < 4 lbs. Ditto regarding the weight of the Asus. Actually, if I was looking at a 5 lb notebook, I would've gone IBM handsdown. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Yeah, I really like the paint job of the a:228 but I may buckle and go with a more modest version. What are some good stores to buy the more modest versions (in the U.S.) and Asus laptops (customizeable) similar to Portable One?

 

I am definitely looking at the TX. I really like that laptop but it looks hard to get (most of the models at the sonystyle website list the laptops as out of stock). Anyone know the status of these laptops as to their "in-stock" status?

Asus looks promising but I'm not sure where online to configure and buy in the States.

Thanks for the reply Eliwood. Do you have any experience with the TX?

 

How about a Fujitsu S2110? It's a 13.3" CrystalView XGA, and has 4 hours of battery life and weighs 4lbs. It's definitley worth considering.

 

Ok, I was able to track down this system to the manufacturer of MSI. Here is a link in case anyone is interested.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/notebook/nb/pro_nb_detail.php?UID=608

The only way I was able to tell that it is indeed made by MSI is if you check out the touchpad mouse buttons they have a slight angle in the middle. Took me about 15minutes of time to find it, but that is ok. As far as I know Sager/Clevo doesn't make anything with a screen size smaller that a 14" or 15". I am actually currently looking at ordering the 5720V here shortly. Hope this info helps out.
Also, found this nifty little review of the above mentioned notebook.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/hardware/notebooks/0,39023407,39203488-9,00.htm

 

Thanks for the good suggestion. I've been looking at the Fujitsu's (S2110, S7020D, S6240D) already. I love the specs, value, and size. There's even the great reseller that I've been hearing about and seems like worth a shot to try (although their ResellerRatings is a bit limited). The only thing that I hesitate about Fujitsu is the keyboard. I have had access to many Fujitsu's and the keyboard just simply doesn't impress me. I'm a pure touch typist and their keyboards bug me. The models I've seen are about a year old though so maybe the newer ones have a better feel to them. Before I started exploring these boutique options, the Fujitsu was primo on my best candidate list.

Anyway, still hoping someone has personal experience with the Voodoo before I make a decision.

 

Well, my brother-in-law has one of the older (about 3-4 years now) Fujitsu ultra-portables (can't remeber which one, just that it has the Crusoe chip) and I have used it and typed on it just recently and the keyboard is nice and tight and the keys have adequete resistance still. My only problem is it the keyboard is so **** small ( I have giant hands) and I made lots of typing mistakes, but that is what spell check is for. I just got off the phone with my brother-in-law and I can't remeber the model# but I do remember that it has like a 7" screen on it and that is why the keyboard is such a pain.

 

Thanks for the find! I appreciate it. It really helps in figuring out this notebook.

I just want to make sure I understand correctly,... is the MSI S270 is the same notebook as the Voodoo a:228?

I looked at the review. It's not terribly flattering and it's writing could be a little clearer. Hmmm... after that review, maybe it's not worth paying that premium...

Have fun with your 5720 and thanks for your post! I wish I could get a nice big screen. I'm freakin' blind as a rat but my portability needs is of primo concern.

 

As far as I have been able to determine (lots of research on other forums) short of sending Voodoo an e-mail yes they are the same machine. If you go to the MSI website and check out the specs and enlarge the picture and then look at the hinges and mouse area and compare them to the Voodoo they are identical. I actually didn't read the review but a part about it running hotter than the other test models caught my eye. I am gonna have some serious fun with my 5720. I am actually waiting on a disability settlement check and then it is being ordered and then shipped with 2-day shipping to me. I was originally gonna get the 3880 and then I changed my mind when I saw the 5320 and then with some begging to my wife (actually none at all she said the price difference was nominal) I finally decided on the 5720. Only took about 8 or so months of looking at this laptop and then that laptop to come to a decision.

 

Cool. Thanks for figuring that out. I'm looking at it right now.

8 or so months to find a laptop? That's quite some time and I could probably break that record but I need to order my laptop soon. Heh heh. I definitely understand that long search though. There are so many options out there, I keep finding more and more options as I search. Some of the searching makes me want to fly over to Japan/Taiwan just to test out laptops in person.

 

Lol I know how you feel about wanting to fly out there. Fortunately for me I have a friend who is in the military who is based in Japan. Oddly enough this is my first laptop, hence the total indecision, but when it comes to desktops I know what I want and I can build it myself. I think that is the hardest part of laptops, most of them you can't build yourself, and the ones you can build yourself are fairly limitted. I haven't seen a build yourself laptop with a ATI X800 or nVidia go 6800 Ultra out there, nor can you just order one up. That is what took me the longest time, finding the most bang for my buck. Looked at D(H)ell, Voodoopc, Hypersonic, but Voodoo and Hypersonic are really expensive for the same thing you can get from Sager, and don't get me started on Dell (had friends at school that wanted nothing more than to run over their Dells with my big ass truck). Then there is Acer (can you believe they format their hard drives FAT instead of NTFS), Fujitsu (we use only our own 4200RPM drives) and HP (ahhhh exploding batteries=burned crotch region). It enventually came down to Sager for me as they have decent(3880 or 5320) or awsome graphics (5720), nice screen resolutions, and the Pentium M for great to fair battery life. Granted I am an AMD man for my desktops, but hey I have friends with the Pentium M and they aren't complaning and there are no real DTR's as of yet with the AMD Turion.