Komplett Weekly Offers 28/07/2008

Apologies for all the delays recently, a number of factors have been conspiring to keep me from my favourite blog. I think pointing out Komplett's flaws might make me feel better!

Canon Pixma MP610

€ 129.00

-7%

My €0.02
Yup, it's a printer. Do you know how much the ink costs? The photo paper? Because that's where most of your money will go. Actually this price is pretty good as it beats dabs, peats, elara and miscellaneous.

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA232MB 7200RPM

€ 109.00

-8%

My €0.02
Ooh, a terabyte. Nice. But Aldi have them in external casings for €120.

Acer 24" LCD P241WD Widescreen,3000:1, Silver/Black, 5ms, HDCP

€ 330.00

-5%

My €0.02
Honestly? No idea. But I don't like Acer screens at all.

HTC Touch Diamond (4GB) WWE

€ 538.99

-5%

My €0.02
Not a bad price, but not a good phone. Do yourself a favour and get an N95.

Ok Komplett, I went easy on you this time. But you better bring some deals that I can assess in a fair and impartial manner next week!

Rent Games and DVDs online

A rather handy way of watching your must-see list of films is to use an online DVD rental service. They all work the same way: first you sign up for a free trial (credit card required). Then you create a queue which is essentially a list of the films you want to watch in descending order of preference. When the film at the top of your queue becomes available, it is posted out to you. You watch it, and when you are finished you pop it in a freepost envelope and send it back. Depending on your plan, you may be able to take out more than one at a time. So if you have a list of films you never quite got around to seeing but don't want to buy, one of these services may be for you.

If you're into games then it works even better because they are so bloody expensive whereas DVDs are comparatively cheap.

Moviestar.ie
Free trial period: 2 weeks
Available: DVD, BluRay
Mini MOVIE : €7.99pm, 2 DVDs
MOVIE 1: €12.99pm, 1 disc at a time, unlimited rentals
MOVIE 2: €17.99pm, 2 discs at a time, unlimited rentals
MOVIE 3: €24.99pm, 3 discs at a time, unlimited rentals

Screenclick
Free trial period: 2 weeks
Available: DVD
Lite: €7.99pm, 2 DVDs
Bronze: €12.99pm, 1 DVD at a time, unlimited rentals
Silver: €17.99pm, 2 DVDs at a time, unlimited rentals
Gold: €24.99pm, 3 DVDs at a time, unlimited rentals
Platinum: €31.99pm, 4 DVDs at a time, unlimited rentals

OnlineDVDRentals
Free trial period: 2 weeks
Available: DVD, PS2, PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, PC Games
Lite: €7.99pm, 2 DVDs
Bronze: €10.99pm, 1 discs at a time, unlimited rentals
Silver: €15.99pm, 2 discs at a time, unlimited rentals
Gold: €22.99pm, 3 discs at a time, unlimited rentals
Platinum: €29.99pm, 4 discs at a time, unlimited rentals

Now, the gotchas. Not every company has the same amount of discs to go around. So, you could be waiting for the discs in your queue to become free. Ranges also differ, with some offering TV show sets and classic movies. Also, Moviestar.ie are the only ones who rent BluRay discs at the moment. My advice is try them all. Why not, it's free!

Supermarket Wars: Return of the Penny

Things have been hotting up in the world of soulless, corner-shop crushing, profit-chasing and unfortunately necessary supermarkets. Tesco have announced their intentions to help beat back the recession by offering low-quality crap for less money than usual. Not too impressed with that. However, if any of you use clubcards there is a promotion giving 25% back in points on PCs, laptops, TVs, games consoles and electrical equipment this weekend. I don't believe in the loyalty card system myself so, as usual, use your own judgment. I assume Tesco are fine for returns.

M&S Dine for Two for €12.50 is back. It's cheap and very tasty.

Dunnes were selling the old Xbox 360 Pro (without HDMI) for €180 last week. Sorry, I was on holidays.

I couldn't help but smile at Lidl Treats. I'm a big fan of some of their stuff so it's nice to find an author who does good research as well as spinning a good yarn. Prices are in Euro too, unlike the now defunct the joy of lidl. Worth checking out.

[iBOOD] ION Audio iTTUSB05XL USB Turntable

It sounds better - or so they say. This is essentially a turntable that you can hook up to your PC. It uses a USB connector to shuttle the audio directly from the pickup to the PC so you don't need to mess around with cables and sound cards. Of course if you are a pro then maybe you like messing around with wires and whatnot but then again this isn't for you. If you are a DJ on a budget with a Mac and a few vinyls for remixing or an aging hipster who wants to make their back catalogue accessible through the home multimedia system, then this could be right up your street.

For comparison, komplett are selling it at €99 : ION ITT USB05XL USB

Komplett Weekly Offers 21/07/2008

Komplett-Oh!

D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N WirelessGigabit Router, 802.11n (draft 2.0)

€ 108.00

-10%

My €0.02
Ignoring the fact that the Americans can get this for $96, expansys of all people can beat this price. Just as shockingly, dabs are more expensive. Has the world ended?

MSI K9A2 Platinum, AMD 790FX, DDR2, ATX,Socket-AM2+, GBLAN, 4xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16

€ 112.00
-9%

My €0.02
Looks like a very good price. Beats dabs and ebay at any rate.

LG 22" Wide L227WT-PF, Black,1680x1050, 2ms, 10000:1, Color Gamut

€ 269.00
-7%

My €0.02
Another good price. Pixmania can't compete, and dabs only sell the cheaper W2252TQ.

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3,PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDMI/HDCP, Lite-R

€ 156.01
-8%

My €0.02
Usually sells for around €170. Dabs and Misco are both at about €160. So, not too bad. But any other week I would go to dabs.

Openmoko Neo FreeRunner released

With more than a few people making hefty financial commitments to get their hands on an iPhone 3G, I thought I'd mention a phone that's been long awaited in the Open Source world. The Neo FreeRunner is the sequel to the Neo1973. Although lacking 3G, it boasts some impressive features such as a 2.8" full VGA (640 x 480) touchscreen, 3D accelerated graphics, wifi, bluetooth, motion sensors, GPS and expandable sd memory. Most importantly, all the software is Open Source so developers are free to create any software they can think of and give it away to users all over the world from day one. Take that iTunes App Store!

Free upgrades for broadband users

If you have UPC broadband at home you may have noticed the blisteringly fast new speeds you can reach. 20Mb on the top package puts it on a par with Dungarvans famous offering. If you haven't been moved to a faster package automatically you will need to fill in this form. You can upgrade from from 1Mb to 3Mb, 3Mb to 10Mb or 6Mb to 20Mb for free, but will need to sign up to a new 12-month contract.

It's not all doom and gloom for the 99% of DSL users on Eircoms resold Bitstream product (which powers almost every other ISP) as there are free upgrades coming to you "in the next four weeks". They won't be quite as dramatic though, with the top residential package moving to a mere 7.6Mbps. How awful.

No word of reactions from Smart, Digiweb or Irish Broadband at this time.

Don't expect any movement from the 3G crowd, they're fighting their own battles.

PS. What the hell happened to Wimax? Too expensive? Not enough available spectrum? Name not catchy enough?

Komplett Weekly Offers 14/07/2008

I'm back! See, I haven't vanished off the face of the earth

It's Monday, show me what you've got Mr. Komplett!

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 Black, 8.1MP18x opt.zoom

€ 275.00

-14%

My €0.02
Nice camera, reasonable price. You can find it for slightly cheaper elsewhere but not by enough to warrent the extra effort in my opinion. There is also a silver version which is almost €70 more expensive for some reason.

Sony Bravia 40" LCD-TV KDL-40D3500--Full HD, DVB-T, DVB-C--

€ 957.00

-5%

My €0.02
Not a bad price but I suspect the shipping might be almost €200! Strange one actually... DVB-C is the digital cable standard. Does this show the digital channels if you have chorus/ntl/upc?

ASUS EEE 7" WVGA White CM353 900MHz 4GB512MB Webcam Linux Incl. Carry bag

€ 299.00

-14%

My €0.02
Really trying to move the Eee's, Mr Komplett? It's a shame that Dabs sell many colours for less than €262.

Seagate Maxtor OneTouch 4 500GB USB

€ 79.00
-9%

My €0.02
You can get a 1TB drive for €120 these days. Twice the storage for 1.5 times the price.

Nice camera, sort out the Eee pricing and no more 500GB drives please, unless they are under €60!

Cheap and cheerful projector

Taking a break from the high end 1080p beamers this time, what we have here is the InFocus IN1 gaming projector. Ideally suited for PS2 gaming in the kids room (ahem) this is a basic projector that will display medium quality graphics from medium quality sources. In other words, don't expect to have this at the centre of your home cinema. But for a wall full of gaming goodness, you won't get better value than this!

General
Device Type	DLP Projector
Built-in Devices	Stereo speakers
Width	33.9 cm
Depth	26.4 cm
Height	21.6 cm
Weight	4.5 kg
Projector / Panel
Image Brightness	500 ANSI lumens
Image Contrast Ratio	1500:1
Image Size	1.01 m - 5.33 m
Projection Distance	1.5 m - 8 m
Throw Ratio	1.8:1
Resolution	640 x 480
Native Aspect Ratio	4:3
Max Sync Rate (V x H)	130 Hz x 69 kHz
Bulb type	UHP 132 Watt
Bulb life cycle	1000 hour(s)
Controls / Adjustments	Volume, brightness, input select, focus
Video Input
Analogue Video Format	NTSC, SECAM, PAL
Analogue video Signal	S-Video, composite video, component video
Digital Television Video Formats	480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 480i, 576i, 576p
Audio Output
Type	Speaker(s) - integrated
Sound Output Mode	Stereo
Output Power / Channel	7 Watt
Speaker(s)	2 x right / left channel
Expansion / Connectivity
Interfaces	1 x component video input - RCA x 3 1 x S-video input - 7 PIN mini-DIN 1 x composite video input - RCA 1 x headphones - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
Miscellaneous
Compliant Standards	FCC Class B certified, CE, UL, TUV GS, C-Tick, GOST, cUL, NOM, EN55022 Class B, ICES-003 Class B, CCC, MIC, EK, IRAM, RoHS, IEC 60950-1, EN 60950-1, WEEE
Power
Power Device	Power supply - internal
Voltage Required	AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Power Consumption Operational	260 Watt
Manufacturer Warranty
Service & Support	90 days warranty
Service & Support Details	Limited warranty - parts and labour - 90 days Limited warranty - lamp - 90 days
Environmental Parameters
Min Operating Temperature	10 °C
Max Operating Temperature	40 °C

Blurb shamelessly lifted from elara.ie

Komplett Weekly Offers 07/07/2008

More monday offers from Komplett.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA216MB 7200RPM

€ 53.00

-16%

My €0.02
320GB isn't much these days. I guess the price is about right but why bother? They could have priced these lower to clear.

Creative Zen 8GB, SD/SDHC slot, MP3/AAC,2,5" LCD screen, DivX/XviD/WMV

€ 102.00

-9%

My €0.02
Again, €100 + shipping seems normal.
http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?quicklinx=4PBN
http://www.gspot.ie/store/product_info.php?products_id=340&gclid=CNOl3bGKsJQCFQyD1Qodr3fbtA
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Zen-8GB-Player-Playback/dp/B000LXXGZW (won't ship to Ireland)
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3471519/Creative-Zen-8GB-MP3-Video-Player/Product.html (won't ship to Ireland)

Western Digital My Book StudioEdition 500GB, USB 2.0, eSata, Firewire

€ 113.99

-12%

My €0.02
I think I've been pretty clear on my opinion of 500GB external drives.

Canon PowerShot A590 IS, 8.0MP 4x opt.zoom

€ 144.00

-6%

My €0.02
I'm seeing a lot of 8/10's in reviews online. 4x optical zoom is nice. Expansys want €190. I want to know who buys from them at that price. A.J. Purdy are doing a deal on Canon's, the A590 is £104 with a 2GB memory card and football thrown in. You'll have to ring them to find out the shipping charges though, so I think Komplett win this time.

Shirt.Woot now shipping to Ireland

As the title says, Shirt.Woot are now willing to send their stuff to Ireland for the more than reasonable price of $5. If you are wondering who the hell Shirt.Woot are, or what relevance this has to, allow me to enlighten you. Woot use the same sales model for selling that iBood use: 1 day, 1 deal. They are notable for having a great sense of humour, awesome goody bags, great low prices and not shipping outside America. It's the last one disappoints me. But hopefully this is a step in the right direction. Shirt.Woot is a sub-site that sells shirts using the sales model.

And just to compare Woot and iBood, today deals are:

Woot
Navigon 2100 Portable 3.5” GPS with Text to Speech
$89.99
+$5 shipping

iBood
Navigon PNA 2110 White West Europe preinstalled with TMC
€149.95
+€12.50 shipping

C'mon Woot, ship to Ireland already!

New look

Hope you prefer the new style, the old one was getting on my nerves a bit. There's a new subscription link at the side so you can get the latest news directly into your RSS application or online reader if you're not doing so already. Now, onto business!

If you can manage a trip up North, and there are many reasons for doing so, you can grab a 40" Samsung TV for ~€700 in Currys. Beats the hell out of their recent Irish pricing.

Argos are doing a DVD recorder for ~€55, which is as cheap as I have seen.

Note: Currys.ie is down at the moment (Sun 16th Jul, 6pm).

02 3G broadband price drop

And it's a significant one: it is now arguably the best value package at €19.99 per month. The basic E220 modem is now €29, and the E270 (with 2Mbps max upload) is €49. 3 have matched the fair usage policy, but now O2 are ahead in my opinion because they offer GPRS and EDGE in areas without 3G signal. It is more useful because more Irish people can't get broadband at home than need it in a select number of locations abroad.

As always, try before you buy.

Reusing old SATA drives

So I was thinking about yesterdays media case and how you can upgrade the internal drive with a larger model. I was wondering what you do with the old hard drive when you upgrade when it occurred to me that I saw a very cool solution about a year ago. Working out at about €50 shipped, the Geekstuff4U HDD Stage Rack allows you to turn your old bare drives into high speed removable media.


As a bonus, it has a slot for 2.5" notebook drives too. Great for all you PS3 owners out there!

[iBood] 500 GB Argosy mobile video HDD HV356TB

Right. This is the LAST 500GB drive I will ever blog about. From here on out, it's a minimum of 750GB. But it's a good one, truly. The drive itself is nothing special but the multimedia case is superb. It supports a ton of different video types so you spend less time mucking around converting them, has component connectors for HD viewing, a handy remote that can be clipped underneath the drive when not in use, supports subtitles files, it's quiet, it's compact and it's €119.

Oh, and it's a standard SATA drive, so when 500GB just isn't enough just take it out and pop in a bigger drive. It even supports NTFS.

Good news! Well, less terrible news anyway

El Reg are reporting that the previously mentioned second coming of Christ (in phone form) will be retailing, Pay As You Go, for the still outrageous but not completely unattainable $599 (8GB) and $699 (16GB). So, a glimmer of hope there. Though I sometimes find myself more in agreement with this guy on the features front.