ECS Desknote: Quality or quap?

[golfextreme]

I'm looking to get a laptop computer so I can free up my main computer for video encoding and maybe do a little video work on the laptop. Does anyone know how good the ECS desknote A929 (The athlon version) really is? I hate to pay an arm and a leg for a laptop that can't run as fast and this seems like a good deal. I like the fact I'm not sacrificing speed so I can do more video work on it.

[yokem55]

AnandTech (http://www.anandtech.com) has a good series of reviews on laptops that you might want to check out. I think when they reviewed ECS's Athlon desknote they thought it got too hot and the performance didn't compare well to some of the P4 based systems because of a slower hd.

[smiller667]

You can buy them barebones (i.e. no CPU, no HDD) - so the "slow HDD" thing would be a non-issue. However, they are made to accept desktop components, so heat might be a real issue with fast athlons :).
Check the keyboard & the display - I read a review that mentioned these two components as the two major downsides.

[frigginjerk]

you cannot beat the value of this thing. If you are lucky enough to live near a fry's electronics you can get an

A929
Athlon 1500
DVD+CDRW
4 - USB 2.0 ports
1 - Firewire port
1 - 10 gig drive (I think)
1 - Ethernet port
1 - 56k Modem
0 - batteries
and xp Home installed for only $800!!!

At that price by two, one for just video encoding and the other for whatever.

I have an A900 which uses a cyrix C3 processor running at 733mHz, I don't recommend this for anything that has to do with video.

look here for a little more info (not much) from owners of desknotes.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/desknote/

I want one of these but I already bought the A900 (for only $570 shipped, on ebay) and now Im too broke.

[golfextreme]

I guess another question after reading some reviews would be, should I get the A928 with a p4 2.0g, or get the hotter running a929 with a athlon xp 1700+? Anyone with experience know anything about these?