Velocity Micro launches NoteMagix L80x Ultra in Best Buy
By Darren Murph 
posted September 26th 2006 7:40PM
posted September 26th 2006 7:40PM
While you might not be exactly keen on waltzing into your local Best Buy for gadgetry purchases (for various reasons), Velocity Micro is going all in, hoping that millions of others just might. The gaming-centric boutique is unveiling its latest NoteMagix offering -- dubbed the L80x Ultra -- in select Best Buys today in favor of its own website. Pumping up the specs from the plain ole L80, the 6.5-pound L80x Ultra reportedly packs a 15.4-inch LCD, 2.0GHz T7200 Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 100GB hard drive, nVidia GeForce Go 7600GS graphics, an integrated webcam, and a fingerprint scanner. While elaborate details concerning the wireless suite, host of ports, and collection of stickers you can expect to find on the palm rests aren't currently available, we do know that it'll set you back $1,999 -- if you manage to dodge that additional "protection plan," of course.[Via TGDaily]
Hrmm, nothing at all on the bestbuy site (doesn't show up under notebooks or in any searches). How do you find out if your local bestbuy has these?
Sort of curious about how good a deal this is; I like what I've heard about Velocity Micro for their gaming desktops, but don't know as much about their laptops.
This does at least sound like a decent price though; the same basic configuration for a NoteMagix L80 on their site comes out to $2025.
Why do you think $2000 isn't worth it for that laptop? And why do you recommend Toshiba of all companies? What comparable 15 incher do they have like that? The only Toshiba I would look at I think would be the new Core 2 Duo P105, but I've also heard pretty questionable things about Toshiba's quality, so who knows.
But what is wrong with Velocity Micro's pricing here? $2000 for a Core 2 Duo in a 6.5 pound 15 inch model with 2 gigs of RAM, a 7200rpm 100 gig HD and a GeForce 7600GS sounds pretty reasonable to me, actually.
And $2000 doesn't seem that much higher than what I've seen some similar configured Asus' go for.
What is with people always talking such crap on Best Buy? I mean, they're not the best retail operation in the world, but they are certainly not bad by any means. As for the actual laptop, I say "meh". There's nothing that sets this apart for the only other mainstream gaming notebook line that's carried in retail stores, the Toshiba Qosimo.
This same notebook is a Compal Hel80, and you can get it custom built at powernotebooks.com for a lot less.
"This same notebook is a Compal Hel80, and you can get it custom built at powernotebooks.com for a lot less."
A "lot less"? I just went to PowerNotebooks and custom configured their "PowerPro L 8:15 FORCE" with as close to the same specs as this model as I could, and the price came out to $2009, or $1948.73 after an instant $60 discount.
Maybe I'm missing something, but it again looks to me like Velocity Micro has priced this quite reasonably.
Actually, one note, that $2009/$1948 price is configuring PowerNotebook's laptop with the regular WXGA glossy screen; I don't know what the Velocity Micro configuration has (whether it has a 1280x800 screen, or a 1680x1050 screen, which adds an extra $90 to the price on the PowerNotebooks model.
Again though, I don't think I really see where you're getting the idea that this model can be had for a lot less from PowerNotebooks. If you're just saying that you can get it cheaper by doing a custom configuration with lower specs, that's true, but you can also go to velocitymicro.com and custom configure a NoteMagix L80.