Doh, no stores near the Dallas, Tx area!

I just bought the last one at the local Aldi. I still haven't had a chance to look at it, so I don't know yet what I got. I did ask the manager if he would give a discount, since it was the last one. At first he said they didn't discount like that. I told him it was my understanding that they did, so he finally discounted it $100. I will post my impressions later, after I get a chance to check it out.

With tax it was about $645. I have unpacked it. Looks ok. Pretty light weight, but feels fairly sturdy. The battery is pretty small, 14.6 volt, 4200 mah. My cell phone is an HTC PPC-6800 and I have a 2400 mah battery in it. The carrying bag is nothing special, opens across the top and about 6 inches down each side, it doesn't open like a clam shell. It is lightly padded, is mostly a carrying bag, will not provide much protection. I will post more later, right now I am watching Florida-Georgia game.

ElectroM said:With tax it was about $645. I have unpacked it. Looks ok. Pretty light weight, but feels fairly sturdy. The battery is pretty small, 14.6 volt, 4200 mah. My cell phone is an HTC PPC-6800 and I have a 2400 mah battery in it. The carrying bag is nothing special, opens across the top and about 6 inches down each side, it doesn't open like a clam shell. It is lightly padded, is mostly a carrying bag, will not provide much protection. I will post more later, right now I am watching Florida-Georgia game.

Thanks for replying ...It's surprising is this Tax 10% due to Illinois ? If you got $100 Discount then final Amount without discount must be $745.. here in IL they told me $770

After using the Medion laptop for a day, I thought I would give my first impressions.
Everything works fine, including the fingerprint reader. The sound is very good, but not very loud, even using Sony earbuds. The screen is good, but must be viewed from straight in front of it, even a little bit to the side is not so good. There are no bad pixels at all. The laptop is pretty well made except for the top. I understand why the manual says not to place anything on the top of it, it will flex more than I think it should. I still have all the pre-installed software on it except for google desktop. With the factory settings, such as Windows sidebar and all the other eye candy I got 2450 with 3dMark 2006. I ran Passmark burn-in tests for about 4 hours, nothing failed. The laptop stayed very cool, just a very slight warm area to the left of the touchpad. This is where the hard drive is. There was also a warm area on the bottom in the middle towards the front, maybe the video card is there. There is no Bluetooth installed and no place for a second hard drive. There are three default power settings, balanced, power saver and high performance. It comes set to balanced. I am getting about 2 1/2 hours with it set to balanced with moderate use. I haven't tried the other settings, nor have I tried to watch a movie on DVD yet all the way through, just played a few for a short time to check that it worked and to check playback quality, which is very good. Maybe with a clean install and some tweaking the battery will last longer. I haven't decided yet if I will keep it, the weak volume and flimsy lid are issues, along with the small battery. After looking at a lot of laptops in stores I will say the touchpad is as good as I have seen. It is a Synoptic and I haven't even changed the factory settings, it just works. The mouse that comes with the laptop is pretty good, but kind of small. I prefer a trackball anyway. I will continue testing it, will do an update here later, if anyone is interested.

My local Aldis has 2 different laptops. One is $599 and one is $699. But they are locked in a case and there are no specs listed anywhere near it, just prices.

Laptop is awesome, fast as hell. But either I'm crazy or this Laptop has no HDD activity light/LED.. Anyone else got this from Aldi ?

essence25 said:Laptop is awesome, fast as hell. But either I'm crazy or this Laptop has no HDD activity light/LED.. Anyone else got this from Aldi ?

you are right, I got it from ALDI, Laptop has no LED that shows HDD activity and the support registration on site did not work on the medion site, had to email them and surprisingly, support is sitting in UK

For those people that have never tried Aldi's you are missing out. Medion is a very well respected company in Europe and based out of Germany. People that think that ONLY Dell is the brand that matters is poorly educated and does not know this market. The reason why Dell is so cheap is the components and the mass production. I work with an authorized dealer for Dell & Gateway and they work with organizations and school systems all over the US supplying equipment. The reason why people say that Medion is an "off-brand" is because they have never heard of it in the mainstream. Well board a plane and go to Europe or Germany and you will quickly change your mind. Don't knock Medion until you have tried it. I have the Medion 9200 laptop that is about 5 yrs old now and it has been rock solid. My father has one of the first desktop models that came out right after I got my laptop. I added a 2nd HD to his tower and it has been a very solid performer. I have a traveler digital camera and GPS system that is far better than other GPS systems that I have used. I have gotten all sorts of cool goodies and gadgets from there. The support is amazing. They use to have support in Batavia, IL but in the last year or two have moved the support to the UK. Either way the support has always been very good. I went to my local Aldi's yesterday to look at this new laptop as I check out each new series that comes out. They will not have this in the display case because of how much room it will take up and they cannot display the other items then. If you want to see the unit then wait till close to closing and go and speak with a manager. All Aldi's stores are staffed with a Manager and maybe one other person. If they are busy you will never see a laptop. If you cannot see it then buy it because you have 90 days to return the item even if it is opened and used. Aldi's has an impeccable return policy. You will never get this from your big box stores. I had no problem looking at the laptop. There are a few things that caught my eye:

1) There is no latch to keep the lid closed.
2) There are no ports to plug anything in the back, everything is on the right or left side.
3) The power plugs in the left side.
4) The lid is not solid like my Medion 9200 model. The lid on the 9200 is metal this one is plastic with a little give when pressed in the center when the lid is closed.
5) There are 3 USB ports on the front right side and one on the left side.
6) There is an HDMI port on the left.
7) Has a Samsung 8x DVD burner also accepts DVD RAM
8) Weighs about the same as my 9200 but is actually larger in size with a 16" LCD
9) Battery is way longer than my 9200....but I usually leave the laptop plugged in when using it.
10) Has the built in 4 and 1 card reader....with the SD card as the standard.
11) There was NO HD indicator light that I could find.
12) Comes loaded with a bunch of software which usually you don't see very often.
13) The 2 year warranty is GREAT! I already know the support is fantastic.
14) The carrying bag is better than the 9200. There are a few inside pockets with padding on the top and bottom.
15) The AC Adapter has a power switch on the block. That is nice since you can leave it plugged in and turn it off at the block. I had to replace my AC adapter on the 9200 last year.
16) The battery is bigger than the 9200. I have never replaced my 9200 battery but right now on a full charge may get 45 to 60 minutes of life...so it should be replaced but I just leave the laptop plugged in when using it.
17) This one comes with an mid-size USB optical mouse...9200 did not.
18) The video card is awesome!

As much as I want this new laptop I am debating on weather to get it. My Medion has be rock solid and in this economy I am not sure if that is such a good idea right now. I am trying to convince my wife.

Hope this has been helpful....please let me know your thoughts as well..I will share more as I think of them.

Update to my previous post....I now am the proud owner of a 2nd Medion Laptop. I figure I have 90 days to check out the laptop to see how it works. Medion has awesome support and you should not have a problem even if you could not register online. Aldi's in OH had this laptop the first week of December. I went there 2 days after the flyer came out. That store had a total of 6 then 2days later they had 3. Today Sunday 12/7 they still had 3 left. I thought for sure they were all going to be gone. Usually that is the case when they carry Medion computers.

I have been comparing this to big box store brands with the same features and it is very hard to find anything that compares. Especially in the 16"+ LCD and a full 2 yr warranty. There is no brand that comes with a nice padded carrying case or a optical USB mouse. Most of the time you just get 1yr if you are lucky. From what I could tell any laptop that came with a built-in webcam did not offer a latch system to keep the lid closed. Will update more as time goes on.

Lowering the volume via the keyboard holding the Fn key is a good thing. This will prevent the accidental volume changes when you are typing really fast. It really is very quick if the volume needs to be changed. Most of the time volume can be changed using the OS and mouse.