considering a barebones IFL90

I'm looking to buy a new laptop this summer. Right now, the IFL90 is at the top of my list. The IFL90's position could change between now and the time I decide to put in an order but that's not likely.

Anyway, I want to look into the option of getting a barebones IFL90 and building it up myself as needed, hopefully saving money in the process. I understand that I won't get any kind of extended warranty on the barebones and that's precisely the reason why I'm looking into the option of getting a barebones. As required by my Ph.D. program, I will be required about a year from now to do research abroad for a minimum of 9 months in India or China. So if I have a 3-year warranty on a Compal, I'll be spending about a third of the time of the warranty in a situation where I won't be able to use it. (I don't think any US-based Compal reseller offer an international warranty.)

There are two things I need to know:

1. What comes with a barebones IFL90? I've not been able to find the specs for the barebones so I don't know what I would need to add to have a functional laptop.

2. Are there other options I should consider rather than getting a barebones?

 

Here is the link for the Xoticpc IFL90 barebones, just click on 'customize'

 

Woah, I didn't know XoticPC sold barebones. Intresting.

 

Yah... pricing a prebuilt IFL90 and then a barebones with parts bought at mwave, I'm able to save about $160 off the total price. YMMV.

 

If you want, I found a place that sells it with the 8600M GT, no matter the screen res. So, if you want a barebone WXGA with 8600M GT, here's your site. Most places only sell the WXGA with 8600M GS.

http://www.microexpress.net/proddetail.asp?category=Laptop&subcat=&linenumber=155

 

http://www.xoticpc.com/product_info.php/products_id/1876

just as cheap as the barebones + mwave with the configuration i wanted

 

Thanks for reporting this.

I checked out the site and thought "I've been here before... why did I not keep it on my list of possible resellers?" Then I did a little investigation and found they have pretty much no history on resellerratings and are not registered at the BBB and remembered that's the precise reason I did not keep them on my list. In general, I'm not keen on making big purchases at places that do not have a positive reputation.

 

The Sager np2090 (which IS an IFL90) on xotic offers the 512mb 8600gt with both screen resolutions as well.

 

Yeah, we know. It's just lemur wants a barebone. But, from what I've found, the pre-configured ones end up just as expensive. At least how I configure them.

 

I do not have the numbers in front of me right now but I think I still got about $50 off if I went with a barebones vs a Sager. Now, I'm not saying this to counter other people's reports or to claim that a barebones is the only possible solution for me but just to illustrate that YMMV. A price advantage can evaporate quickly if you go with different parts. I also have to decide whether I want to put everything together myself or just pay more and have someone else do it for me. The money saved by getting a barebones + parts is just not worth it if the price difference is too small... although I do enjoy putting computers together by myself.

 

I did the math for the configuration I wanted (don't forget to include the price of shipping) and the price difference between the sager and the barebones + mwave + newegg was $2.68 in favor of the sager. Also the sager had a few extra things the barebones didn't (arctic silver, DVD-RW instead of DVD-ROM, 100GB HDD instead of 80GB, and I wouldn't have to put it all together myself)

i guess it all depends on the configuration you're aiming for

 

Yes, I do take shipping into account and I would take taxes into account if there were any. I've done enough of this to know that shipping and taxes can totally cancel any other price advantage.