VPR at BB

[seanpj]

I was just about to buy a VPR 200A5 and noticed that they are gone from the BB website. Am I wrong or just blind? And what about eMachines M5312, would it be a good replacement.
thanks for advice, sean

[CYberDog]

I think (not sure 'though) BB is no longer selling the 200A5 since the introduction of the 220A5, which I think is better and a lot cheaper - almost half the price (I have the 220A5). I don't know if you've also considered the 220A5, but two laptops have exactly the same specs except for the following:

- the 200A5 has the Sonopur sound system while the 220A5 has the SoundMax digital audio. I don't know how better is the sonopur, but I don't think it makes any difference if you will be just using the built-in speakers. Besides, if you happen to really like nice sound while using your laptop, you'll definitely be hooking it up to external speakers and a good sound system should make the "ordinary" SoundMax digital audio have the boom! you want.

- the 200A5 has an integrated 802.11b while the 220A5 doesn't. Now that 54g/802.11g is available (which is 5 times faster, not considering the turbo mode of some of the wireless manufacturer's which could increase the speeds up to 100Mbps), who would want the 11Mbps max speed of the 802.11b? I am currently using a Belkin 54g card on my 220A5 and I haven't had any problems with it.

- the 220A5 has a P4-M processor that is 0.2Ghz faster (2.2Ghz vs 2.0 Ghz), but I don't think it makes any difference at all.

To sum it up, I would recommend the 220A5 over tha 200A5. The difference in specs mentioned above just doesn't justify the $1,100.00 price difference (the 200A5 retails for $2,399.00 while the 220A5 is $1,299.99). I actually got mine for $999.99 (before tax) since there was a $200.00 instant and $100.00 mail-in rebates promo when I bought it.