Terabyte drives ahoy!

Finally, those 1TB drives are hitting the sweet spot. That's TB as in the unit of capacity, not the disease. Now if only people would ditch FAT32 for a file system that makes sense. Seriously, why should I even care about how the bits on my disk are arranged? Grumble grumble blame microsoft grumble!

scan.ie
HDT721010SLA360 - 1TB Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B, 3.5", SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, HDD
£72.38 + £6.99 shipping (I guess, not clear from site)

komplett.ie
Hitachi DeskStar 7K1000.B - hard drive - 1 TB - SATA-300
€79.00 + €12.50 shipping

And...

dabs.ie
Buffalo 1TB DriveStation Turbo USB2 3.5"
€92.51 + €12.66 shipping
For the record, I'm all in favour of the "naked" drives. I had a seagate 500 crash and burn on me for no particular reason other than the case was possibly a bit suspect. So from now on, I'm buying a good quality case with eSata + NAS and popping in drives as needs be. Instructions are widely available on how to do this and it is simple.

Komplett Weekly Offers 17/10/2008

D-Link DSL-2740B Wireless N ADSL2/2+modem and router

€ 109.00

My €0.02
Great router, bad offer. Actually, isn't this the regular price?

Samsung 19" LCD-TV Syncmaster 932MW,Widescreen, TV-tuner, DVI, 5ms

€ 189.00

-5%

My €0.02
19 inch tv? Really?

Samsung 26" LCD-TV LE26A330-

€ 379.00

-13%

My €0.02
Wouldn't it make more sense to get one of these?

Western Digital Passport Elite 320GBTitan, USB 2.0

€ 99.00

-29%

My €0.02
Still a bad deal, just like last time...

100 posts ULTIMATE MADNESS!!!

In celebration of reaching 100 posts (wowzers!) I'm going to do an extra large Midweek Madness. Like most of you are probably facing up to, Christmas is rapidly advancing so that means you needs gifts and ideas tout de suite! And as I am on a hundred post high, I will oblige.



37" LCD TV from BigPockets

This looks identical to my 37" Hannspree, which cost €500 delivered last year. Well worth the money in my eyes. Approx €420 including shipping

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?product=ELONEX004



Yankee Candles - the stink of good cheer



Want to fill your house with Americanised Christmas smells? Sure you do, it'll mask the smell of gin! All Yankee brand candles are half price at Home Store + More.

http://homestoreandmore.ie/



Cheap printers at Tesco



Tesco have been quietly doing good deals on printers over the last couple of weeks. You'll find a variety of Wifi enabled or multi-function Lexmark printers for under €40.

http://www.tesco.ie/



Branch 309 Shoe Sale



Buying shoes online is always daunting. Branch 309 are nice to deal with, so you could do worse than dipping a toe (hur hur) here. The sale makes their good prices even better!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Branded-Footwear-at-Branch309



Portable Mega Drive



It contains 20 Mega Drive games and costs €22.49. I mean, come on. It also has Tv-out.

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=30001&catalogId=1500001151&langId=-1&searchTerms=Mega+Drive+Portable



4GB Micro SD card



4GB Genuine Kingmax TF Micro-SD Memory Card for ~€7.50. Can't knock that.

http://www.focalprice.com/4GB_Genuine_Kingmax_TF_Micro_SD_Memory_Card_4G_MF075B_5440.html



Know thy exchange rate

This year the dollar is up and the pound is down, so grab those british bargains

http://www.xe.com/ucc



~~~100~~~

Komplett Weekly Offers 10/10/2008

OCZ DDR2 PC6400 4GB KIT, Reaper X HPC, 2x2048MB, Heat Pipe, (CL4-4-3-15), E.P.P

€ 93.00

-11%

My €0.02
I'm pretty sure those heatspreaders would be a nuisance. I'd go for these instead.

Samsung 32" LCD-TV LE32A430

€ 477.00

-6%

My €0.02
Does anyone else actually sell this model?

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo RND2150 500GB

€ 305.00

-9%

My €0.02
I get the distinct impression that most people would be better served by a low-end PC from DC running linux. Cheaper than play.com.

Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1GB GDDR5,PCI-Express 2.0, DVI-I/HDMI/HDCP

€ 285.00

-5%

My €0.02
Hah. A good price for this expensive space heater. Still, cheaper than a Quadro 5800.

DVICO 6500 Multimedia Player 1TB, €449 ex. shipping

For those of you who missed out on Monday's iBOOD Argosy 500GB offer, or who couldn't decide in time if it was what they wanted, here's what it aspires to.

The DVICO 6500 is a pretty high-end piece of kit. "Does it support format X?" Yes. End of discussion. It is one of the best devices ever for format support, especially HD because this sucker goes all the way to 1080p without breaking a sweat, unlike the 720p/1080i Argosy.


The 1TB SATA drive is almost the least interesting part, given that you can replace the Argosy's 500GB SATA drive at any time. A second drive bay would be nice, given the size. Still, better than a kick in the teeth.

I haven't used divxplayer.nl myself, but I hear good things. Head over to MPC club to find out more.

Oh, and why is it a bargain? Well, check out the usual price... (full specifications available)

Komplett Weekly Offers 03/10/2008

Nothing happened last week.

Really.

Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-Ray Player

€ 199.00

-17%

My €0.02
I would rather a PS3 for 299... seriously, who buys a low-end Blu ray player that ISN'T a PS3? Kindly explain the logic of that one.

Sony DCR-SR35E, 30GB HDD recorder

€ 296.00

-13%

My €0.02
Another hard disk camcorder. They all cost around 300 beans and all have 20 - 40 gigs of memory. The only differentiating factor is battery life and this pissed off guy says it drains rapidly in standby mode. Not ideal when the stated charge life is 110 minutes..

Freecom USB Storage XXS 320GB USB-2

€ 89.00

-10%

My €0.02
Terrible value. Next.

Asus P5N32-E SLI, nF-680i SLI, ATX,S-775, 2xGbLAN, DDR2, 2xPCI-Ex16 demo

€ 99.00

My €0.02
A really strange mobo with some funky heat pipes. If you buy it, make sure the bios is the latest version.

Komplett Weekly Offers 21/10/2008

NZXT ADAMAS Black, Full Aluminum chassis, 4 chassis fans 120mm, No PSU

€ 59.00 (-34%)


My €0.02: A decent case. Price is ok too. But may be a little pricey to ship... perhaps the 'plett are offering an incentive for people to try the pick-up point?.

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB SATA232MB 7200RPM

€ 127.00 (-15%)


My €0.02: Cheaper at Dabs. Cheaper at Misco. Used to be cheaper at Elara! I think I'm starting to understand how Komplett's product managers work (previously I had assumed that a ouija board was involved)

Western Digital Elements 500GB USB2.0

€ 65.00 (-6%)


My €0.02: 500GB. Big whoop. At least it's not a Seagate.

Gainward Radeon HD 4850 1GB GDDR3, PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI, "Golden Sample"

€ 169.00 (-6%)

My €0.02: As usual, graphics card equals ripoff but this is an ok price for what it is.

Komplett Weekly Offers 13/10/2008

Crucial PC2700 DDR-DIMM 1024MB CL2.5 6ns Unbuffered, Non-parity, 2.5V, 128Meg x 6

€ 26.00

-16%

My €0.02

Same price on dabs but of course the shipping is half price there. And I picked up something similar from ebay 6 months ago, for the same price including shipping. Thanks FastMemoryMan!

AXP Powersupply ATX 500W Retail, SATA, Dimension mm(163x150x85) 20+4 pin

€ 29.00

-36%

My €0.02

Dunno, but this guy is selling an aging gaming rig with a 630 Watt rated model. Maybe a little old?

WD Passport™ Essential 320GB Real Red, USB 2.0

€ 89.00

-25%

My €0.02

Under 90 seems to be a theme for this one, find it at misco for 88 and dabs for 85.

LG 19" Wide W1934-BN, 1440x900, 5ms, 700:1

€ 129.00

-10%

My €0.02

I fail to see how this is different to the W1934S-BN at pixmania. Typo, perhaps?

Poor show, big k. Only one item wasn't beaten on total price and that's because nobody else sells it anymore.

Komplett Weekly Offers 06/10/2008

Sony Bravia 40" LCD-TV KDL-40W4000 Full HD, DVB-T, DVB-C

€ 1,157.00

-15%

My €0.02
An extremely good TV at an extremely average price, assuming you use the new collections facility. You could find it cheaper through private sales.

Western Digital My Book Home Edition 320

€ 80.01

-8%

My €0.02
Meh. Old stock?

EVGA GeForce GTX 260 896MB GDDR3, PCI-E 2.0, 2xDVI/HDCP, 448bit

€ 255.00

-6%

My €0.02
Ok price for Europe. The yanks get it far cheaper, of course.

Corsair Dominator TWIN 2X8500C5D 4096MB, DDR2,2x2GB(KIT), DHX, E.P.P, CL5-5-5-15-2T

€ 99.00

-9%

My €0.02
15 yoyos cheaper than dabs.

Komplett Weekly Offers 29/09/2008

Samsung 22" LCD Syncmaster 226BW TCO03,1680x1050, 2ms, 3000:1

€ 234.99

-10%

My €0.02
Hmm. Good quality panel, but a little too old for my liking, with questions over colour bleed. I'd prefer the 2253BW for the same money, shipped.

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

€ 95.00

-21%

My €0.02
Expansys have increased the price to €136 and dabs are still not competitive at €103. Reality appears to have restored itself after the aberration in July.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA232MB 7200RPM

€ 113.00

-19%

My €0.02
Seagate? No thanks.

Sennheiser Headphones HD 515, 14-26000Hz, Cable 3m, 255g

€ 52.01

-12%

My €0.02
Yeah, whatever. Have you ever seen Ferrari sell a cheap car?

Komplett Weekly Offers 22/07/2008

K time.

OCZ nVIDIA SLI DDR2 PC6400 4096MB KIT,XTC, w/two 2048MB, CL5-4-4-15

€ 75.00

-12%

My €0.02
Hey the Yanks get this for $82, and $52 after a rebate! WHY? No fair, but that's life eh? Actually, 75 is not a bad price at all if you don't want to gamble on ebay.

Canon Pixma MX850 31/24ppm printer/copier/scanner/fax USB

€ 237.00

-3%

My €0.02
Yay, a printer. Defile the corpses of some dead trees, and get ink all over you hands to boot. As this printer goes, it is cheaper than the alternatives.

Western Digital Passport Elite 250GB Titan, USB 2.0

€ 93.00

-6%

My €0.02
Passport Elite... wtf? Oh it's a 2.5" external hard drive? Nonsensical nomenclature aside, what makes this better than this Toshiba? Or WD's own Passport Essential for that matter?

MSI Radeon HD 3870 x2 1GB OC GDDR3, PCI-E, 2xDVI-I/Tv-Out/HDCP/HDMI

€ 184.00

-29%

My €0.02
Again? Did Komplett buy all the stock of these in the country or what? Old, but still good and better value than Dabs.

Looks like a solid week for Komplett. In ither good news, the new local branch is ready to open any time now. Here's the address:

Komplett.ie
2. Unit 287, Block G
Blanchardstown Corporate Park 2
Ballycoolin
Dublin 15

GMap link

Komplett Weekly Offers 15/09/2008

Where have I been? Deutschland! The Germans say hi, by the way. Oh, and you you know those mini satellite boxes that come in the aldi/lidl travel kits here? They cost about €30-€40 in Saturn (a retail chain like dixons or currys). My brain nearly imploded. Anyway, on to the Komplett!

Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM

€ 51.00

-7%

My €0.02
Did I mention that I'm sick of the sight of 500GB drives? Yes, I think I did. Cheaper than dabs but with postage blah blah blah NEXT!

Western Digital My Book2 HomeEdition 1TB, USB 2.0, eSata, Firewire

€ 148.00

-12%

My €0.02
Huzzah! Now take out the unnecessary Firewire and make it cheaper.

PowerColor Radeon HD 3450 256MB DDR2,PCI-Express 2.0, SCS (HeatSink), DVI-I

€ 30.00

My €0.02
Thirty bucks, eh? Why can't they do this one in AGP?

Acer One A110 Aw Atom N270 1.6GHz 8.9"512MB 8GB NAND HDD Wifi Linux Blue

€ 289.00

-10%

My €0.02
Walk into any PC World and pick this up for €269.

Tchuss!

Komplett Weekly Offers 01/09/2008

Monday morning again, eh? Let's do this.

Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-Ray Player

€ 244.00

-9%

My €0.02
Personally, I would avoid Blu-Ray players. Pixmania do this one for €209 if you are keen.

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

€ 112.00

-14%

My €0.02
500GB... YAWN!

Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO M9400 14.1" T7300 2.0Hz 2048MB 120GB Vista Bus

€ 759.00

-5%

My €0.02
I couldn't find this exact model. But a lower spec'ed model was selling for ~€900 on elara.

Samsung 32" LCD-TV LE32A552 --Full HD--

€ 757.00
-0%

My €0.02
Err, dunno. Seems to be popular in Belgium. Some nice features I guess but really quite expensive for a 32" TV.

It's Terabyte time!

Yes, it's getting to the point where the terabyte external drives are coming in at below €120. Roll on the petabyte drives, that's what I say! In the meantime, have a look at what's on offer right now.

Komplett

Western Digital Elements 1TB
€115.00

Dabs

Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 1TB
€121.94

Pixmania
Trekstor DataStation duo 1 TB
€139.00

EH? Why isn't that in Komplett's weekly bargains? At €115 they are certainly giving the impression of being the cheapest, although when you factor in shipping it is probably the same as Dabs offering. Well, that's our measure for the time being. Laters!

Memory, fast

I'm well aware that I already have a few entries about places to buy memory. Still, no harm in knowing your options right? So check out MemoryC some time. They have a bad habit of showing the VAT-free prices more prominently but they do have some good deals from time to time. Their shipping starts at €5 (including VAT, thankfully) and is incredibly fast - 2 days for small items usually.

[Special Offer]M2 from elara, 8GB for €45 collected

Got a new Sony Ericsson phone or camera or camera-phone or phone-camera? Does it take M2 memory sticks? Sandisk Memory Stick M2 8GB's are going for €44.77 including VAT at elara. A Pro duo adapter is thrown in for good measure. Not bad, if you happen to live near the M50 and need it in a hurry. And if you live near the M50, you are most likely always in a hurry. Usually to get away from the M50. BOOYAH!

Ahem.

Enjoy!

Games Consoles

So you've got a HD TV or projector, now what can you do to make the most of it? Modern consoles are more than just games playing machines. They can play music, videos, HD videos, photo slideshows, browse the internet, organise your life etcetera, etcetera. Games are of course a great way of showing it off, but you might also use it for watching near-cinema quality films with the added bonus of no chewing-gum riddled, spring loaded, popcorn-salt covered, tatty velour seats. Here is what is on offer:

Wii
Nintendo
Typical price: €270, comes with bundled Wii Sports game

The market leader. Does not play High Definition discs, or any other kind of disc. Does not output resolutions higher than 480p. No internal hard drive. Has wifi. Does play video from SD card. Backwards compatible with Gamecube games and controllers. Downloadable games and retro games. Popular with all ages despite non-HD graphics.

Xbox360
Microsoft
Typical price: €200 for Arcade model, €350 for Elite model

The number 2 console. Play High Definition discs, however only in the soon to be defunct HD-DVD format. Plays and upscales DVDs. Output resolutions up to 1080p. No wifi or internal hard drive on Arcade model. Has ethernet networking. Backwards compatible with some Xbox games. Downloadable games and videos from Xbox Live!. HD-DVD discs are being sold very cheaply.

Playstation 3
Sony
Typical price: €400 for 40GB model

Last place. Plays High Definition Blu-ray discs. Plays and upscales DVDs. Outputs resolutions up to 1080p. Has wifi and internal hard drive. Has ethernet networking. Backwards compatible with some PS1 games. Built in web browser. Downloadable games from Sony Store.

Digital heaven or dismal lemon?

AKA how to spot a dud 101

Sometimes I see a deal that sounds too good to be true. And like all such deals, that's exactly what it is. For example, the 5 Megapixel SD memory video camera in Aldi this week promises to shoot video in 720p for the low price of €100. That is phenomenally good. It is also far, far from the full story. Just in case you are wondering, I did not buy it. I have seen the quality (or lack of) of the budget optical devices Aldi sell and suspected that this was not one of their better offers. A quick visit to hotukdeals.com was enough to convince me to steer clear.

Just remember, 5 Megapixels of crap is still crap.

Camera Memory

A quick one today. The most common question I get asked is why memory for cameras is so expensive. Well, it is if you buy from a retail chain or local electronics store. These are the places you buy cookers and fridges, basic workhorse stuff that can be serviced by a technician. If you want good quality memory at affordable prices I'm going to recommend a couple of places further afield:

• LED Shoppe
• Dealextreme (affiliate link*)

Compare their prices with Argos or even Amazon. An [Integral] 1GB SD micro card (compatible with many cameras and Nokia phones) costs €39.99 in the latest Argos catalogue. The same type of card will cost $7.83 on DX for a Kingston* or $5.99 on ledshoppe for an unbranded model. So for a tenth of the price you can get the equivalent capacity! Despite their hideous countenances, these places are kosher and use tried and tested online transaction systems such as PayPal which gives a strong measure of security. The downside is you have to wait about 2 to 4 weeks for delivery (which is FREE) but then again it's not like there is any rush, right?

They sell other types of memory too, so take a look before you blow your cash at the checkout. Go forth and snap happily!

* Affiliate link. This means if you click on this link and buy an item within a certain amount of time, I get a small reward. It doesn't cost you anything extra, but if enough people do it it means I can save on some of the cost of maintaining this site. Which is nice.