wiv678's Review of Ei System 3103 Laptop
9th Jun 2008
Overall Rating
- Value for money
- Screen Quality
- Ease of Use
- Time Laptop OwnedBetween 1 - 4 Weeks
- Battery Life
Cheap
Great glossy screen
Upgradeable to Dual Core
Quick enough
Bad Points
512MB RAM not enough (for Vista)
"Utilitarian" looks
Build quality
General Comments
Picked up from local Cash converters for £150. Not bad considering £350 new 6 months ago. Everything still works as it should and is still pretty tight, although paint starting to wear where left hand rested.
Computer came with Intel Celeron M 440 1.86ghz cpu but upgraded (very easily I might add) to a Pentium Dual core at 1.73mhz for £13 off ebay. The 512MB RAM is barely enough for Windows XP but is pretty useless for Vista. Upgraded to 1.5GB RAM for £9 (again, ebay). Runs very nicely now. Rest is pretty standard for basic laptop so don't expect to play any games etc. 80GB Hard Disk is enough and DVD-RW is included.
Best part of computer is 15.4" glossy screen. Surprisingly included in budget laptop like this. Makes every film, surfing experience etc that much better. Would not go back to non-glossy after this. Keyboard and mouse a little on the rattly side, but nothing to worry about.
Worst aspect is its looks. Don't expect to win any style awards with this by your side. The colour scheme is pretty awful, as is the un-sculptured nature of the lines. Still, if you are not bothered about such things, the looks won't scare children.
Overall, this laptop is pretty good and, despite its questionable looks, its rather started to grow on me. If you can find one for a similar price that I found mine, then you will be quid in my friend. Quids in...
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Members' Comments onwiv678's Review
beanbrain on 15th Nov 2008
Robconnell84
on 28th Jan 2009Did you need to update the Bios in order to upgrade the CPU? i have bought a pentium Dual-Core and installed it in place but when i switch on my 3103 the power light somes on but not much else
wiv678
on 8th Feb 2009No bios update needed. I upgraded to a socket M Intel T2080 1.73Ghz cpu. Took the plastic cover off, untightened the cpu socket screw and removed the old celeron cpu. I then placed the dual core in, tightened the locking screw and replaced the plastic cover. Rob, you compute might not be turning on after the upgrade due to not turning the locking screw. I had this problem and thought I had broken the laptop - I locked the socket screw and everything was fine again. I think the cpu cost around £6. Hope this helps.
Robconnell84
on 9th Feb 2009Hi Installed the cpu as you have described however the power light coems on a remains constant however the hard drive does not boot could it be that the chip is dead?
wiv678
on 14th Feb 2009Hi again,
Its always a possibility that the chip could be dead, though they are pretty resilient things. The only solution that comes to mind is testing the Dual Core in another laptop. That way you will know for sure if the cpu is the problem. One question: what is the serial number of the cpu? I only ask as the native bus speed of the motherboard is 533mhz. If the new cpu runs at say 667mhz or more then there may be compatibility problems.
AdamDjoscar on 14th Mar 2009
Hey wiv678,
I have the same laptop and i want to upgrade RAM... What type of RAM did you buy, and what is the max RAM memory this laptop can support? Could you drop me the link off ebay where you bought yours?
Please answer ASAP!
Cheers mate :)highroyds
on 22nd Mar 2009The max the laptop can take is 2GB of memory
Djoscar on 23rd Mar 2009
Thanks, but i swear there are 2 RAM slots in this laptop isn't there? I can only find one lol.
highroyds
on 23rd Mar 2009There's one under the laptop when you take the panel off. The 2nd one is under the keyboard.
Robconnell84
on 24th Mar 2009Hi I upgraded to 2 GB RAM, got the PNY stuff from PC world, it was about £15 for 1GB stick the first ram slot is underneath - just unscrew the panel and the second is under the keyboard on the right hand side. I just flicked out a few keys and there's a couple of catches to hold back, I had to be a little rough with mine but it is there.
Mines a 3103.
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Hey, like the sound of the processor upgrade! What was the exact part number of the processor, want to do the same to mine so it can handle Vista, I have already upgraded the RAM.
Comment Back.
Thanks