Has anyone heard of ECS i-BUDDIE notebooks? I'm looking to buy a laptop and I want to know how this notebook performs. There's a place that's selling ECS i-BUDDIE 4 (A928) (PENT. 4-478 1.6GB 512K CPU) NOTEBOOK (UPGRADABLE UP TO 2.8GB CPU) 256MB DDR MEMORY (UPGRADABLE TO 1.0GB DDR) / 64MB VIDEO (MEMORY SHARING) / 15" TFT LCD / 6 CHANNEL 3D AUDIO / 8X DVD / 20GB HARD DRIVE / 10-100MBPS LAN / V90-56K MODE $1,894.95 Canadian That does look like a great deal. Or should I go and buy a namebrand laptop?

Cheryl, I saw this on usenet recently: "I doubt that most people would care, but just in case you do, I just got an ECS i-Buddie, and here's my mini-review. Specs: CPU: 1 GigaPro CPU (VIA C3 667 MHz) RAM: 128 MB (Generic PC133 RAM) HD: 10 GB (IBM TravelStar DJSA-210) Display: 14.1" TFT CD-ROM: 24X (Matsus---a CR-177) (8X DVD optional) Other stuff: parallel, serial, external monitor (dual display capable), TV-out, 4 USB ports, SP/DIF out, mic-in, IrDA, 56K modem, LAN 10/100, touchpad with two buttons Removable hard disk, upgradable RAM (1 slot, takes *168-pin PC133 SDRAM*). HD and RAM slot covers are held in place by screws. Parallel/serial/monitor ports are behind a rubber "push-in" cover. Stereo speakers above keyboard. Missing features: No internal battery (External battery optional) No PC Card slots No analog line-out No floppy (USB floppy drive optional) No PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports All for $700. The i-Buddie is actually marketed as a cheap desktop replacement, hence the missing battery. I read on some news sites that the optional battery connects to an USB port (huh?). But in reality the battery connects to the DC IN jack and according to docs, runs for "1.0 hours" with the period in tiny print! I'm sure many people would be fooled into thinking that it runs for 10 hours. For the RAM, it uses a standard 168-pin PC133 SDRAM, the place that I bought it from was running a promotion with free 128 MB (Total 256MB!). Of course, I thought it was a good deal until I paid for it, then realized they're just giving out a cheapo generic PC133 RAM. Even worse, the notebook has only 1 slot for the RAM, so the shop couldn't even install it. So now I have on my desk the i-Buddie with 128 MB, and a useless stick of 128 MB SDRAM. Of course, I could use it on one of my desktops, but my desktops all have 256 MB or more. Otherwise, the i-Buddie is excellent, the build is good, no cheap plastics or creaking. The CD-ROM is somewhat noisy, but it isn't annoying, and this CD-ROM is also a standard notebook part anyway. The screen is bright and easily viewed from any angle, mine has no bad pixels. The keyboard keys seem to be slightly loose, making them clack when typing very fast, but travel and feel is good, and layout is good. There are four hotkeys (volume, Internet, e-mail) that are unscreened, but rather have the icon etched onto the surface, so they're nearly impossible to see. But once you remember what they are there's no problems. My space bar came unattached at the side which took a minute to remove and reattach properly. One sheet of quick install guide in 8 languages, the English-only full docs are in HTML format only on CD. Recent drivers are all included on the CD too. No problems with those. VIA C3 CPU is no speed demon, but this is quick enough for office apps, and I'm running AutoCAD 2002 on it with no problems. It's based on the SiS630ST chipset (shared video RAM) which isn't too bad on the desktop, but on the i-Buddie the speed is hambered by the VIA C3 CPU. Mine came with a 667 MHz CPU (boot-up screen claims it's a 1 GigaPro CPU, whatever that means) with a 133 MHz bus speed. Supposedly it can support up to 1 GHz. There are no speed management features (obviously) but the underside of the notebook is just warm when running. Not palm burning like some other notebooks I've used. I'm not associated with ECS in anyway, and this is in no way a formal review. :) -FRiC frac@pobox.cow I have a .com address "