LG P310 - difference in specs from official sources?? And what's the deal with notebook.de?

Hi all. A worried potential customer of LG here.

I'm very interested in the upcoming LG P310, mainly due to its power in such a small package (9600m gt). I was at first tempted by the new macbooks, but then I saw the LG P310's release was imminent, and that it was lighter than a macbook, as powerful as a macbook pro, and probably more durable (aluminium and glass!). But after some research, I am pretty concerned.

There are so many differences in reports of the laptops tech specs! Which am I to trust? According to both the korean lg page, it seems the 2.53 ghz processor is not a centrino 2 (P9500) but an older Penryn (T9400). I would prefer a centrino 2, obviously for lower power consumption + better battery life. Not a single P9500 in sight from these 2 sources (only P8600, and that's the configuration with the weaker 9300m gs) ... yet numerous earlier reports say there is a configuration sporting P9500. Even notebook.de, which I understand is a fairly reliable reseller, sells a P9500.

I was actually thinking of ordering from notebook.de. Now I'm sure many have had good experiences with it, but it's my first time ordering from an international reseller and the fact that it seems to list misleading specs has me doubting. Furthermore, it lists under software that it provides:

- "Vista Business and XP pro", yet it seems only Vista Business only is provided by default and XP pro must be purchased separately
- "Instant On-Player" - which seems to be an outdated software from the LG LW series. I don't recall reading of this feature in previews, or the remote control being bundled in with this computer to take advantage of this software!

My concerns are:
- am I to expect such a deviation btw LG german and LG korean specs? I've always thought lg to be korean, and held LG korea as the benchmark.
- is notebook.de reliable?
- are specs even final?


(i'd post links if I could, but this silly vbulletin format prevents me from doing so unless I make 15 + posts. -_-''' )

 

the canadian site states P8400 too.

http://ca.lge.com/en/products/model/detail/p300series_p310k.cpb1a9.jhtml

 

quick answers:

-different countries get it with different configurations. germany gets it with P9500. check german LG site.

-notebook.de has a good enough ranking but it's 150€ more expensive than the cheapest vendor (check geizhals.at/de price comparison)

-you get xp with it

-never heard of the instant on and remote control, would think that's an error

 

Be careful though as you don't want a German keyboard. As far as I know Notebook.de is the only german vendor that sells it with international keyboards.

http://geizhals.at/eu/a367157.html

 

[derail]

I ordered a G1S from notebook.de slightly over a year ago. Ordered it through their website, then replied to order confirmation e-mail saying I'd like to pay it as cash-on-delivery. This was agreed with them beforehand on the phone and was painless.

I selected a finnish keyboard when ordering, and since I needed the laptop quickly it was also agreed the keyboard would be sent to me afterwards - within a few weeks - without extra shipping costs. Eventually they said (MONTHS later when I had already ask several times) there is no finnish layout available for this model. At that point I figured it could be useful to point them swedish layout is exactly the same even though they have them separately listed. They said they'd look into it with manufacturer and I never heard from them again, despite few queries later on. 69e wasted and I ended up having a german keyboard.

English website and CoD payments are really a plus, and they have english speaking people usually available if you call them but otherwise they could've improved some part of the service, at least in my case.

[/derail]

 

Maybe I'm missing something but it seems they aren't offering international keyboards any more: http://www.notebook.de/lg-p300-serie-g-767/

 

Not for all brands / models, these being one of those.

 

I live not that far away from the actual store of notebook.de. I was there last year, looking for a laptop for my girlfriend.

It's a nice store with lots of different laptops on display. We decided to go for a Lenovo R60. They didn't have it in stock (not the exact model we wanted) but promised it would be sent within 2 weeks.

A month later they could still not give an answer so we ended up cancelling the order. My impression is that that:

* the salespersons are not all of them that qualified (and don't expect them to speak english).
* they are very optimistic when it comes to delivery-times.
* a huge range of laptops and configurations which leads to employees without knowledge about what the have in stock or can order.
* Laptop configurations on the web site might be faulty (noticed this last year).

I could buy my laptop from notebook.de but I would make sure it is in stock, unless I am prepared to wait in uncertainty...

 

notebook.de 's price is among those of the riches. I would browse their categories but not buy from them.

If you're in germany, you can go either notebooksbilliger or cyberport.de

 

where can I get the p310 for a good price and with an american keyboard? Will notebook.de have the international keyboard available?

Also the other two sites you mentions does not have the price minus VAT. So its more expensive?

 

Called notebook.de over 3 weeks ago and spoke to a guy who said that they expect to get the P310 in 2 weeks and a UK keyboard would arrive a week later.

So, I ordered via there website on the same day and paid extra to get a UK keyboard fitted (emailed to get the invoice changed for a UK keyboard). 2 weeks later I emailed to get a status update - didnt get a response.
I emailed again on the 3rd week (just couple of days ago) and finally got this reply yesterday :

I'm starting to think that the over-powered P310 in Germany is a figment of my imagination. I'll post as soon as there's any updates, but would appreciate if there's anybody out there who has actually got one post to confirm that the Germany model has been released.

 

I can't claim to have knowledge of the process, but I know that the notebook is at least in korea. A korean site, notegear.com, has a new preview of the lg 310 with nice hi-def photos and some specs. I do believe the link is still on the first page of the "Reviews" tab - just look out for that familiar purple zebra cover

It's just a preview showing the design and a few comments on specs, though I can't speak korean and the google translation is sadly mediocre. Perhaps someone who speaks korean can head over there and give us a heads up.

Although I don't know the process of bringing a product to local and international markets, I daresay the new LG line has only been released in korea, and is due to creep into international markets soon. A pity about the shoddy information we're given - LG is a new player but already innovating in laptop design! The LG P300 was more-or-less a proof of concept that they could squeeze a powerful GPU into a 13.3-inch chassis. The LG P310 will build on that - if it hasn't exploded on users' tables yet, what with a 9600m gt.

There's also the LG S210, a 12-incher so light that we've got sites wondering if it's a netbook or a laptop. The catch - it's loaded with a full-fledged laptop core 2 duo, not one of those crippled ultra-low-voltage types; and there're whispers of a discrete Nvidia GPU, not a crappy ol Intel integrated one. 9400m anyone??

edit:
actually as of today, both laptops are on the front page of notegear.com. just ctrl-f and search for them.

apparently the lg s210 is not as light as I thought - 1.69 kg, as compared to the 2.2 lbs reported elsewhere. It's got a 9300m gs and P8600. Shame, wish it was really 1kg...