Aldi Laptop - Good or Bad?

[digitaldream]

Please can you tell me what you think of this apetising Aldi laptop.
* Intel® CentrinoTM Mobile Technology * Intel® Pentium® M processor 735 * Intel® Pentium® M processor 735(1.7Ghz) * Multi Format DVD Burner * DVD R/RW * Intel PRO/WIRELESS * LAN 2200 b/g * ATI Mobility Radeon * 9700 with 128MB * High resolution * 15.1" SXGA+ Display * 80 GB Hard disk * 512 MB DDR RAM 333MHz * 4 in 1 Card Reader * Soundsystem * 2 internal speakers, internal microphone * 3x USB 2.0, * Firewire IEEE1394 * VGA-Out, Mic-In, Line-Out, * TV-Out (s-video) * 56k Modem V.90 and fast ethernet 10/100Mbit LAN (includes telephone cable) * Battery: Smart Li-Ion battery (8 cells).
ONLY €1499 or £999

Should I go for it?

 

[Cookieboro]

Aldi tend to be cheap and nasty. for £999 you can get a much higher spec laptop.

 

[squareyes]

Aldi laptop - GOOD

I did my homework before I bought one of these babies, you can't touch it for the money. performance is is extremely good on half life 2 and doom 3. they are a toughy for desktops let alone notebooks......you also get a soft case and some good software thrown in!

Go for it - you won't regret it.

 

[elysium]

I did my homework before I bought one of these babies, you can't touch it for the money. performance is is extremely good on half life 2 and doom 3. they are a toughy for desktops let alone notebooks......you also get a soft case and some good software thrown in!

Go for it - you won't regret it.

I am going to go visit my local Aldi' tomorrow as they still have about 3 of the laptops left.. I have been pretty undecided about what to go for and although I was half tempted to blow around £1500 on a Sony Vaio .. I just can't justify any laptop being worth more than £999 .. If I take a fancy to the the Aldi unit I'll take a chance.

I take it you've had no problems ..?

 

[elysium]

Poor quality unit(s) .. refurbhished Gericom.

I am going to go visit my local Aldi' tomorrow as they still have about 3 of the laptops left.. I have been pretty undecided about what to go for and although I was half tempted to blow around £1500 on a Sony Vaio .. I just can't justify any laptop being worth more than £999 .. If I take a fancy to the the Aldi unit I'll take a chance.

I take it you've had no problems ..?

Responding to my own comments from yesterday:

Bought one and was pretty disgusted when I opened the thing in terms of the top of the unit being pretty badly 'scratched' and splattered with lots of white specs.. the ceal had not been broken on the front of the keyboard (but the side 'tape' had clearly been pealed back and re-stuck) .. seems like the warnings about Gericom supplying 'refurbished' kit are true. No way would I be happy with forking £999 for this ... taking it back later today.

 

[squareyes]

mine was absolutely brand new with all seals intact. I think your store has sold you a returned item. I don't believe that gericom ship "used" kit

 

[elysium]

mine was absolutely brand new with all seals intact. I think your store has sold you a returned item. I don't believe that gericom ship "used" kit

The so called master-seal (front middle of keyboard holding lid+keyboard closed) was totally untouched, as were the plastic bags (un-opened) with the contents of the discs, etc. The manager of the store was very nice and said to me, "Out of curiosity I'll just go and get another one and open it ..." a few minutes later he returned with a completely un-opened unit, took it out of the brown box-cover.. then opened the actual box containing the laptop, .. pulled it out, master-seal was still intact on the keyboard, .. but this unit also had a *lot* of scratches on the lid, fingerprints, etc.. and equally the brown tape used to hold the keyboard down (left/right side) wasn't stuck properly. He then apologised and gave me my money back.

There was no problem with Aldi; and those units had not been out before (as was clearly visible from the other components and assurance from the manager of the store) .. It was supplied from Gericom as "new" and had clearly been a refurbished model.

If you do a search on google's groups you'll find lots of mentions to Gericom with regard to "brand new" external-HDDs that yet had contents already stored on the hard-disk drives. One or two people opened up the units and could clearly see "old" hdd's in there.

Anyway, I'll *never* buy anything with the Gericom label again.. and I really do hope your unit keeps you going. But there is a strong possibility that its a cut-and-shut .. parts pulled from repaired items and supplied as new. I would hate to think that the LCD had already had 6 months or more 'wear' .. and/or other items inside had been hammered to death. Chances are you'll probably need the 2 year waranty!

 

[stt_d31]

i have some friends that baught Aldi laptops, and few months/years later they are still very happy with it, no problems. only battery problems, but that could be their own fault. Also i know people that baught Aldi desktop computers, and also never had serious problems with it.

BUT for desktops: check the inside if you want to upgrade it later !!!!

 

[grk]

Do NOT buy from Gericom!

Hi,

I would like to warn you, I have a laptop from Gericom in service for more than 4 months! I don't give you all the details, but the Gericom service desk is terrible. Every time I've called I had to wait 30 minutes, no following-up is done, everytime I called I had to tell the whole story again. The reason for which I had to call for (warranty) is even not my fault, but resulted from the servicedesk itself. I ended up deciding to pay the repair (although I contacted Gericom several times, asking for a reply) to notice at home the repair was not done correctly, returning it back twice!

Sorry for this, but this weekend I wanted to use this laptop, and I'm very VERY VERY VERY disappointed it is still in service!

True story!

 

[iamlittlemiss]

Dont Buy A Gericom Laptop In The Sale At Aldi!

Yep it sounded like a fantastic buy, i bought one, it doesnt work.......

I have a medion desktop from aldi, its great, no customer service problems. One word fantastic!

GERICOM however are appaling. They have spoken to me in a disgusting manner.

a manger said to me ...

'You do not understand anything You are stupid'
'I must be speaking french or jap because you dont understand me'
'I'm not apologising to you - who are you?'
'i havent got time for this rubbish'


They told me to wait in all day Friday because DHL would collect it, they hadnt even booked a collection. It was about 5 weeks. I have called them about 40 times. I have worked the total cost at - £1000 for a laptop which does not work - £75 on phone calls to be insulted - and several trips to aldi to get a refund. ALDI WERE VERY QUICK TO TAKE MY MONEY BUT THEY SAID THEY NEEDED FURTHER MANAGEMENT TO GET AUTHORISE A REFUND.


Ok I have had my moan, but I am so upset that I have lost so much money!! Buyers Beware of GERICOM. AND ALDIS NO QUIBBLE POLICY.

I HAVE A REFUND NOW AND I AM IN LOOKING FOR A RELIABLE PRODUCT AND SERVICE! IF YOU SEARCH ONLINE FOR BUSINESS INFORMATION REGARDING GERICOM IS DOES NOT LOOK GOOD!

 

[lilpaul2019]

aldi is a huge company does anyone remmber when emachines first came out it was sold at aldis only so aldis is a place where companies start out thats why people think they are cheap because they never heard of them but emachines started there now they have medion so aldi has good stuff just unheard of brands

 

[capitalal2003]

ALDI is crap

I'm sorry to be sounding like a growning person, but I bought a digital cam from there, good specs and extremely cheap. sure it did take the picture, but the exposers would be like 1 sec each and would like make double effects. Hard to explain. Comparing to my sony, my sony is 5 stars while aldi is less than 1. ALDI IS GENERIC DONT BUY CRAP

UVE HEARD WHEN SOMETHING IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT AINT TRUE

 

[Geoff]

The specs sound realyl good, however i have never heard of that company, so i cant say how good the quality is.