Looking to buy a notebook which store to get from?

I am looking to buy the IFL90

Approx specs
2.0ghz
1-2gb ram (not sure if i will self install or what)
1gb turbo boost
160gb 5400rpm hdd
Wireless
9cell battery
WSXGA+ Screen
8600M 512mb
3 year warrenty that comes with

So my question is basically what company provides great prices, support, worksmanship, et cetera. Based on the sellers found in the FAQ

 

dealing with the same delimma. I would definitely order from powernotebooks if the upgrade on xotic from 7300 to 7500 wasn't so cheap. I called Powernotebooks today and got a feel of their service and am planning on calling on calling xotic tomorrow. If no major differences, I'm probably going to go with xotic because it's only like 20$ more for 2.2ghz instead of 2.0.

 

I have heard you can get lots of freebies with powernotebooks if you call instead of online

 

Don't know about freebies, but have read that the service provided by PowerNotebooks is outstanding. The store has been at the top of ResellerRatings' list for a long time.

 

I'd certainly take forum participation as an indicator of how a dealer will communicate. Good communication is 80% of good customer service in my opinion.

 

well it depends where you live.
milestone for canada for sure.

 

I can personally vouch for Powernotebooks having dealt with them personally. Donald and his gang are exceptionally service-oriented and professional. That's not to say the other resellers are any less professional...I have seen and heard great things about the others as well. XoticPC and MilestonePC are standouts from the above list.

I think it's a good idea to talk to the dealers you're interested in and get a feel for them. After all, they'll be the ones you will deal with should you have any questions/concerns/problems during the life of the system.

I agree that communication is quite important.

 

Umm - I think the way this calculates percentages is alittle off. They total over 100%

 

You can select more than one option, that's why.

 

Yes, Rhyick is correct. This is a multi-choice poll so users can vote for as many selections as they want to.

 

I'de have to go with powernotebooks....i've dealt with them before and all i can say is AMAZING service before during and after the sale...haven't dealt with Xotic before but from what i'm seeing on the forum they seem to be up there with the best resellers, great prices too!

 

is there really NO way to get a compal IFL90 here in Canada without getting 500 bucks taken off my hands by the canadian government during import?

 

Short answer...no

 

Try checking out the resellers forum for some of the canadian resellers...

 

We have the same Warranty on the IFL90. We pay Next Business Day Shipping for all RMA's for 3 Years (You will see the Complete Care Warranty is included with the Compal IFL90)

 

^^there you have it

I built the same configuration for my IFL90 on Xotic and Powernotebooks and the Xotic price was cheaper, so I am going to be going with them.

 

sorry bout that justin....i went with the info provided in the "warranty" section of both websites....my bad!

 

Lol the notebook market's just making me extremely angry.
The 8600GS is hardly any better than the old 7700s so after having waited for an 8 months for the new platform and video card series I somehow can't bring myself to settle for an 8600GS.
The 8600GT can be found in the following:
Asus G1S - like an inch bigger than it should be.. WHY that blank space above the screen?
Compal IFL90 - looks like a gray box with blue lights and ONLY available in the US, nothing for us Canadians, unless we bribe our government with another 500 dollars.
Zepto 6625 - Nice notebook, ONLY AVAILABLE IN EUROPE. Same story as Compal IFL90.
Acer Gemstone - not much in terms of design and quality.
MBP - costs more than my house.

 

You should email danny at milestonepc, or call them
I dont see why they wouldnt be getting the IFL90

 

I haven't seen milestonepc around on this board for ages now. Wonder what they're doing ...

 

I have to ask--is that "$500" an actual estimate that you were given by a broker or is it coming from somewhere else? (If it's from an actual broker, what's the breakdown on that sum and what's it based on? Alternatively, is the system you're planning on importing really ~$3000-8000?) I've played around a touch on Alienware's system builder and they're GST-registered, so you should only have to prepay taxes and the laptop would then go straight through without any additional customs/brokerage fees. According to the builder, the only taxes due are GST and PST (if applicable; maybe for harmonised tax provinces since I tried out an AB and NS postal code). I can't say if the same taxes/tariffs would hold true for the Zepto though. Different country of import, different tax rates may apply. (I didn't find any information about additional tariffs for importing laptops when going through the Border Services website. It could mean that I'm just not finding the right info though.) Really though, if you haven't contacted a broker or Border Services (I think they're the ones who take care of applying import taxes) and you really want to know what import taxes are due for both systems, you should do so.

FWIW, NCIX.com apparently carried the HEL80, so it's possible they'll carry the IFL90 as well. (You might have to wait until the system is actually available to see who will be carrying it.) I haven't followed the local 'puter shops here much over the past few years, and I don't know which city you live in, but Memory Express does have a notebook system configurator that used to be for getting a custom-built system; you'd have to ask them if they still do that/will be bringing in the IFL90.

 

I always thought you only had to pay GST

 

I'm really not sure how things work for the harmonised tax provinces let alone any of the other PST provinces since AB doesn't have PST. (Alienware apparently collects the HST, so it might be worth double checking for regular PST if in doubt.) In any case, I'd assume whatever is normally due for a given province for international imports is what's due for a laptop.

 

Just something to keep in mind, if you need your notebook more quickly, you might consider ordering from the less prominent companies, mostly because the more prominent companies around the forums no doubt already have plenty of orders.

Of course, it's not nearly as reassuring, at least in my opinion.

 

in the past, milestonepc and ncix both carried the compal hel80 barebones....there may be a good chance that they stock the new model. i would give them a call and ask.

 

If you are after the barebone we have it available here

 

Yea now i just need to figure out whether i want a laptop or desktop...

 

I feel your pain. Added to this is that even if one of these laptops ends up being available at someplace like Milestone, you still end up havng to fork over that 500, because pricing in Canada of things like cars, computers and books hasn't adjusted to reflect the near equality of the American and Canadian dollars, and then once you add GST and PST your gonna get close to that 500.

One thing that I'm considering doing is if I decide to order a comp, having it shipped to a PO Box that one of my relatives owns in Detroit, that way I can just drive down, pick it up and drive back across the border not having to pay customs, duties, taxes, or overprices Canadian prices. If I dispose of the packaging (I can even mail it home from Detriot if I want to keep it) the customs agents would have no reason to suspect that I purchased the laptop in the States.

 

I've heard good things about Powernotebooks and XOTIC. Both Donald and Justin are good nice people.
Lynn

 

That's the estimate they gave me in another Compal thread

 

In that case, they could be lumping more than just duties in there. Personally, duties themselves don't bother me too much unless there's a special surtax (like on clothing or cigarettes) because they'll be no different than paying the GST (and PST) if applicable locally--they're a known quantity. (I think as long as you're not in an HST province you can avoid PST by buying out of province domestically, but I'm not 100% sure on that.)

*Brokerage fees*, on the other hand, can be quite unpredictable without asking or doing a lot of homework especially when shipped via UPS (and FedEx Ground?) from the US. I'm rather resigned to a horrible heart-attack and a harsh lesson to be learned on importing with this system because I'm still going for it even though UPS has always been a deal-breaker for me. (From what I've been reading, it might be UPS's ground service that is the problem and the other levels of service might be safer to use.) I hope it'll be reasonable, but I'm not counting on it.

FWIW, I did find one other place in Canada that might be worth looking into as a potential seller of the IFL90: Genitech in Ontario. Apparently they do/did carry the HEL80, so they might get the IFL90 as well.

 

The poll speaks true. Go with powernotebooks or xoticpc and you will not be disappointed.

 

Gentech PC
www.GentechPC.com
www.BTOtech.com

 

I just found http://www.gen-x-pc.com/note_IFL90.htm
It includes a one year warranty instead of a three, don't know where their located or how shipping costs are though.

Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/GEN_X_PC

Seems like a great reseller, I'd encourage everyone to check it out.

They also offer great discounts: http://www.gen-x-pc.com/notebook_discount.htm

 

I can't find that cheap of an upgrade anywhere, can someone point this out to me?

 

That pricing was corrected several weeks ago (that quote is from 6-07).
The upgrade is $90-95 now.