Looking to buy barebones Centrino laptop, where to buy CPU?

[AnyMal]

I was looking at neweggs Centrino barebones and sometimes one can be had for less then $500.00 from their refurb section. What is a good source for Centrino CPU?

 

[KevinH]

http://www.titannotebook.com/ or
http://www.computerstop.com/outlet/
Ebay sometimes has a few floating around. Bear in mind the prices are pretty steep for P-M chips.

 

[Naruto]

Becareful of Ebay bought CPU's. Make sure you get the P-M's with speed and cache size markings at the top of the chip on the black sticker label. I bought a Dell pulled 1.3ghz that would only run at 600mhz max on my barebone. Really, it was stuck at low power mode. That chip had different chip markings than OEM and retail P-M's. Luckily I bought a 1700mhz P-M for just $75 on ebay and it works fine.

 

[GnomeCop]

1.7ghz pentium for 75 bucks on ebay???

bullsh!t

 

[Naruto]

Originally posted by: GnomeCop
1.7ghz pentium for 75 bucks on ebay???

bullsh!t

Not bullsh!t. Link Here. And this works fine, runs at 1700mhz on my ECS G551. And it was not a friendly hookup, I didn't know the guy at all, just lucky to spot it a few hours after he posted it late night.

 

[777php]

apparently he is also selling 2.2's for $100

 

[KevinH]

WOW! You scored on that man. The jump from a 1.6 to a 1.7 most vendors charge over a 100 bucks just for the difference. Good job!

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: Naruto

Originally posted by: GnomeCop
1.7ghz pentium for 75 bucks on ebay???

bullsh!t

Not bullsh!t. Link Here. And this works fine, runs at 1700mhz on my ECS G551. And it was not a friendly hookup, I didn't know the guy at all, just lucky to spot it a few hours after he posted it late night.

OK, I'm a bit confused here. Are Pentuim M and Centrino one and the same? Do they share the same socket?

 

[KevinH]

Pentium M is the name of the cpu. Centrino is marketing buzzword for a system with the Pentium M + Intel 2100/2200 wireless. People (myself included) tend to use Pentium M and Centrino interchangeably.

 

[gtd2000]

Kevin,
Any recommendations where to look for a barebone notebook system?

I was hoping to buy a G556 which I believe has the ATI 9600 but it was out of stock at Barebones Etc.

 

[KevinH]

The G556 has a ATI 9700 although if you read up this thread I'm no so sure about that:

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=23198

Then again if u expected a 9600 in that book, then performance wise, that's exactly what you'd get.

That said...have you considered the Asus M6N? You can get that barebones here.

http://www.escstore.com/dept.asp?dept_id=12


There is reportedly some issues with the color gradient on the lcd panel with this notebook. Some have said they have it , other's don't.

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=13838&amp;highlight=m6n <--a long thread about the M6n.

THat said, given a choice and it's pricing I'd probably go with the ECS notebook. Here's a review of it here:

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=22487&amp;highlight=m6n

 

[gtd2000]

I'm really just looking for the best bang for the buck at the end of the day

The G556 was supposedly on sale for $499 and would have made a very reasonably priced laptop starting at that price.

I'm actually just back from Taiwan and it amazes me that the prices are more expensive there than here in the USA....



Here is my thread regarding the benefits of building a barebone vs simply buying a cheaper pre-configured system.