A few pre zepto laptop purchase questions

Hi,

I'm wanting to buy a Zeptop laptop but have a few questions.

1. Is there a 17" Laptop available ? If not, will there be one in the next couple of months ?

2. I plan to install English XP Home on it. Can I order one of the Penryn processors? I saw some threads that were a month or so old that discussed uncertainty about that. I wondered what's the latest status. I already bought a XP Home OEM-CD with SP2 from Amazon so I'd use that (and order no OS).

3. Until today, I'd never heard of Penryn, and I'd been always looking at machines with either a T7500 or T7700. How do the new Penryn's fit into a general performance order? I know I can't just go on processor speed. Can someone order these processors in order of slowest to fastest on an overall test? T7500, T7700, T8100, T8300, T9300, T9500. I spent a long time googling and couldn't find a simple chart that ordered these processors.

4. I'd be ordering from the German Zepto website because I live in Germany and want to be able to claim the german VAT back as I'm self-employed here. However, I'm English and would like to have an English keyboard layout. My first choice would be US-English. Second choice would be UK-English. I wouldn't order it at all though if I had to have a German one. Do you sell your laptops with US English? I see you sell to Australia, I'm not sure what they use. If not, then I'd accept a UK English one.

5. What's this "1GB Turbo Memory" all about ? I went through the Zepto configurator a few times and was offered it, but there was no explanation of what it's for. Is it only for Vista ? I saw a message in one of the threads I read here that implied it might be, but it wasn't clear.

6. Do the laptops have two drive slots ?

7. Are all of the main memory offerings using dual-channel ?

8. Is the 6225WD the only option for a powerful machine? Seeing all these keyboard issues around here puts me off that model.

 

1. Noopz, it will be presented around May
2. That's no problem, it does work
3. Check: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile...ornote=0&or=0&search=&sort=sorting&type=specs
4. You have to email Zepto DE about that!
5. Don't buy that, it's crap! It has to give your laptop a boost, but it doesn't
6. No... (I don't know laptops which has two..)
7. No... Only if you have 2 of the same SO-dimms (2x512MB / 2x1024MB / 2x2048MB)
8. For Zepto yes Or you go for a:
Zepto Znote 3415W: 1280x800 resolution
Zepto Znote 6224W: 1440x900 resolution

 

The keyboard issue is a bit over-blown on here, its not that bad (remember that the ones without problem doesnt come here to say it, the ones with bad experiences comes ).

The 6625 is a powerful laptop (especially as its a 15"). With proper drivers its very fast.

Penryn + XP is not supported by zepto, and its proven that xp crashes with penryn processor (not frequently but still)

6625wd screen is awsome! 1680x1050 glossy makes colors really good and the sharpness is awsome too.

 

Thanks guys.

Re:#1 ... Ok, no 17" until May. Not waiting that long. I'm sure I'll be impressed with 15.3". My biggest ever laptop screen was 14.1" and I thought that felt big. I'm a bit concerned about the description of the 6625wd screen as being "glossy" though. You're not saying it's like a HP laptop screen are you? I hope not. I don't like those highly reflective shiny screens.

Re:#2 & #3 ... I've decided I'll probably not go for a Penryn. I'd pegged my highest choice of Penryn at the 8300 in terms of value-for-money. Now I've seen that it's slower than a T7700, I'm thinking that it's "not all that". Does anyone want to try and convince me it's a bad idea to skip on the Penryn? I don't care about power use, as I'll rarely use it on battery power.

Re:#4 ... I'll ask Zepto DE about getting a US keyboard.

Re:#5 ... Skipping the turbo memory

Re:#6 ... Dell and Acer both offer two-drive systems.

Re:#7 ... The memory I will go for is "2048MB (2x1024) DDR2 800/PC6400 SODIMM". Glad to know that is dual channel. I wonder why they don't tell you that on the configurator.

Re:#8 ... Yeah I'd already thought about that after I posted. People don't show up and say "got my new PC, the keyboard has been problem free"

So I think I'm all set on the config I'll choose. Only remaining issues are the US (or UK) keyboard orderability in Germany, and the glossyness of the 6225wd screen.

Just Noticed:
------------

The drive selection in the configurator just says SATA. Does anyone know if it's SATA-II (or SATA 3.0 depending on how you like to call it ).

I'm beginning to wonder whether this new laptop will outperform my desktop. Does anyone think it would? Here are the configs:

laptop: T7700, 2GB (2x1024) DDR2 800/PC6400 SODIMM, SATA (?) 7200 rpm drive, XP/SP2, NVIDIA® GeForce 8600M GT 512MB

desktop: E6600, 2GB (1x2048MB) OCZ PC2-6400 CL4 KIT XTC Platinum, SATA-II 7200 rpm drives, XP/SP2, G256P MSI (R) NX7600GT T2D256EZ passive 256MB

 

I would recommend 2GB of PC5300 RAM instead. Save you some money
The 6625WD has a glossy screen so yes it's like the HP and Dell ones
The 6224WD has a matte screen butonly 1440x900 resolution.

 

They don't sell the 6224WD anymore. It was no doubt superceded by the 6625WD.

It's looking like Zepto don't have the laptop I want

 

The Zepto Znote 6224W D don't exist ;-)
He means the Zepto Znote 6224W and that's a beast:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=138893

EDIT: Don't buy a T7700! Buy a T7500 instead!
The extra 'power' you get isn't worth the money!

 

Yeah I accidentally added a D to the model name.

 

Thanks for the T7500 tip. I'd been flipping back and forth between that and the T7700 not really sure which I'd go for. Looking at that comparison page posted earlier in the thread, there's so little in it that I'd be hard pressed to notice the difference.

The 6224W is, for me, a compromise too far. A 14.1" screen (but more importantly the resolution) isn't quite gonna cut it for me I'm switching from a dual-monitor desktop setup at 2560x1024, so the least amount of pixels I lose the better.

 

Yes, with the 6625WD, it's exactly like the HP530 style screens with the glossy reflective quality. The picture quality is so vivid and sharp, much nicer than the matte screens which look dull and boring in comparison IMHO.

However, if you really don't like that style of screen, then you should steer clear of this model. I don't have any more of a problem using this screen on a plane or in a car than I do with the matte screens, but do understand that some people really can't stand them!

 

I've been using Penryn + XP daily on my 6224W since 15th January, playing WoW, browsing the internet, sound editing, etc. and my laptop hasn't crashed once so I'm not sure about the crashes. I can strongly recommend.