ECS G736

Hi All,

There's a reseller (www.internetishop.com) on ebay that's been posting a number of auctions for a notebook known as the ECS G736. I've also seen it sold under the "Super Talent" brand.

Specs are as follows:

Intel® Pentium® 4 3.0GHz (800MHz) w/Hyper-Threading Technology
PCMCIA Type II Slot
1.0GB DDR 333 Memory
60GB (5400 RPM) ATA 100 Hard Drive
ATI Radeon 9600 PRO M10 128MB DDR AGP
15.1" SXGA Plus Active Matrix Display LCD Monitor (1400 x 1050)
24x8x12x24 DVD+CDRW Combo Drive
Internal Li-Ion Battery
Built-In wireless LAN
Built-In Ethernet Adapter
Built-In Fax Modem
Built-In 1394 IEEE Firewire
Deluxe Carrying Case
Operating System is not included

As of 1/2/04, they're offering this computer at $1,639.00 + $59.00 shipping.

This is a lot of computer for the money. Go to Alienware and configure a similar laptop - the Area-51m uses the same chipset & graphics card, has a higher-res screen & a 7200 RPM HD, but it costs twice as much.

I'm tempted to buy the G736 as a desktop replacement. Problem is, there are scant few reviews of this "no-name" computer to be found on the internet, and I don't want to get stuck with a lemon.

Has anyone heard of this notebook? Any advice?

Thanks!

 

I would write the seller and ask about the history of the notebook. I'm 90% sure they are simply reselling an Asian brand, which is the exact same thing Alienware and others do. They buy the pieces, sometimes assembled, sometimes not, and add a pretty case, software and a lot of marketing. Anyway, post the response here and let's talk about it some more. Also ask about the warranty.

Brian

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Any news on this brand? Is it the real thing or is it lemon? I'd buy one if it wasn't some kind of scam =(

 

[ ]Yes,this is one of the largest motherboard manufacturers in the world.
The following links are the home pages of the company.

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ (headquarters)

http://www.ecsusa.com/ (U.S.)

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Joe_125

Thanks man, I 90% sure I'm gonna buy this now instead of an overpriced Dell 8600.

Wish me luck !

<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'></font id='quote'>

Good luck, Joe!

If you do get this ECS machine, do tell us what you think of it when you get it.

I also want to let you know that I replied to your posts in the "Best gaming laptop for about 1100-1300?" topic.

 

Thanks man, I 90% sure I'm gonna buy this now instead of an overpriced Dell 8600.

Wish me luck !

 

You are welcome!

I am a student from mainland China. This is a Taiwan company. I don't know much about it. I heard it before. But I have never used their motherborad. As I hnow the most reliable motherborads are made by ASUS (Taiwan). And now they are also seeling the laptops. You'd better be careful when you are purchase those products. I recommend you spend some time on the brands such as ASUS or Legend. I talked to a friend at Shanghai several days ago. He is using an ASUS laptop now. It seems that he was quite satisfied with that product. Further more it was reported that Legend, which renamed Lenovo, sells the second most laptops around China. Only IBM do better than it. Anyway, if I were still living at far east Asian, I would think about ASUS, ESC or Legend but not HP,Compaq, Toshiba or Sony. Because those companies do make solid products and sell for much less. And I don't need to be worried about the service.

Good luck!

 

I found some more talk about this notebook at http://sagerforums.com/showthread.php?t=12331

A guy wrote his impressions after getting one. Here's the gist:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Pros:
-Good Value
-Battery lasts 2 hours at least when not doing non intensive applications.
-love the two risers at the top bottom of the laptop, makes the keyboard much more comfortable for me
-4 USB 2.0 Ports!

Cons:
-Poor Magnetic locking mechanism
-Has some trouble with some USB devices, slow to respond or crashes.
-gets really hot
-Can get noisy
-Rubberized Exterior is easy to scratch and get finger prints on.

My personal rating for it out of 100 is 76/100
I am pleased i bought it, im going to upgrade the harddrive to a 7200 Rom drive as soon as i come by the money. I will be using this laptop as my DV Editing laptop while on the run, along with my external drive =)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

It looks like a lot of machine for the money. I'm not sure why he's having trouble with his USB devices, that is a little worrisome.

My guess is that the reason that this notebook is so much cheaper than the Alienware & Dell models is that ECS apparently dosn't spend much (if any) money on marketing it. Heck, a big advertising campaign does absolutely nothing to improve the quality of a product, it just makes it more expensive.

They do offer a 1 year warranty, so I'll pick one up. If it's junk, I'll send it back.

 

Hi just a bit more info on ECS. They actually supply 'bare bones' laptops to heaps of companies who then rebadge them. Best example is voodoo pc their M460 is a supped up ECS G556 @ twice the price!
So the reduced price is due to - no advertising, basic support, and minimal testing/setup finishing etc.
Most reports give ECS laptops around 7/10. So if looks etc aren't important, u should be ok with an ECS. Personally I would go for an ASUS, i think they have a bit better finishing!

 

Just bought one of these last week.

2.6 with HT
1024 mb ram
60g 7200hd

Local shop sells barebones and only charges a little more to assemble. Got the wireless card for free! Dont think they know they put it in, talked to the salesman and he said its a doddle to put in later, but wouldn't you know the thing detected a network in my building. Blaster worm got me on first windows instal, I quite literally just plugged in the cord, but no problems since then. USBs run perfectly on mine. I wasn't expecting the finish though, its a rubbery matt black paint. Finger prints look horrible on it. Maybe I'll paint the top, the bottom doesn't seem to be the same rubbery paint. Boots really fast and overall runs perfectly

 

Hey!!!!! I've had this laptop since December 23rd, 2003, and damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn it's good!!

Get it!!!!!!!
The specs for the $$$ is awesome.
Ok, there are catchs...

The Radeon 9600 128MB core/mem runs at about 351/231. 351 is fast, 231 is NOT, and having the memory run slower does hurt performance. ;o(
But I do play NFS underground on the go, everywhere i go ;o) and it goes faster than my 2000+ and Radeon 8500 running at 290/290 desktop system, so that's good!

Lots more about the laptop you should know before buying, gotta make a review page someday... soon..

that's all for now, ttyl!

 

And for those who want to read up on my opinions of the laptop after months of use, here's a quick blurb..

http://www.geocities.com/extreme_bass2000/g736/

Hope that helps u.

Thx.

 

I would not. If you do a search for internetishop and or "hugebee" you will find quite a lot and nearly all bad. Just a few months after I paid $2000+ dollars for my G736 the company declared bankruptcy. This left my sister and I as she had bought one too, high and dry for the repairs we needed. We searched and found that a third party to fix them the first time. The next time we searched we discovered that ECS made the system and branded it for hugebee. Come to find out ALL the major manufacturers do. You are not getting what you pay for. We did get the systems fixed the second time by ECS but mine needs to be repaired a third time and ECS is not helping with it this time. The system has been phased out. The good side it that it works great when it works. Until it needs to be fixed. It may be hard for you to buy that system now as the phone numbers seem to be disconected.