Laptop Advice Please

[garbage can]

I am purchasing a laptop and was seriously considering this one. I only need it for college, googling, emails, finances, and in the future, photos--of my kids for family and friends. I know very little about computers...is this one okay? Thank you.

Toshiba - Satellite Notebook with Intel® Centrino® Duo - Onyx Blue A105-S4384
Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor T5500; DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive; 15.4" widescreen; 160GB hard drive; 1GB PC4200 DDR2 SDRAM; Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 5-in-1 media adapter


Toshiba Satellite Notebook with Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology - Onyx Blue

Model: A105-S4384

Serena, I'm not sure what the intel centrino is, but my last computer had an intel celeron processor....which I paid $1600 and threw it out in 2 years.

Both my computers now have intel pentium 4 processors.

The 1 gig of ram is great..... I have 512K on each computer, it's not enough.

160 gig HD is plenty, Windows XP is a must IMO...... the rest is fluff IMO.

Make sure it has the wireless card...... I think all notebooks do...... but just ask.................

 

[Feelfreetotouch]

Buy a mac.

1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
512MB memory
60GB hard drive1
Combo drive
Ships: Within 24 hours
Free Shipping
$1,099.00
or as low as $26 a month

 

[islandman]

Buy a mac.

1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
512MB memory
60GB hard drive1
Combo drive
Ships: Within 24 hours
Free Shipping
$1,099.00
or as low as $26 a month

If she wants people to point at her and laugh, sure, buy a Mac.

 

[~hellbaby~]

McAfee was just too annoying an intrusive. I unintalled it and installed AVG.

I was in Circuit City today and looke at the Toshiba laptop in question. I have to say I didn't care for it. Everything looked cheap and not well made on it. I preferred even the Gateway over the Toshiba *shudder*.

Of course, looks aren't everything, but having had a number of laptops over the years I have a little bit of an eye for what is cheap or prone to breakage.

How many have you been through? I'm on number 7, (if you count borrowed ones it's 9) . I like the Toshibas, but I get higher ended models. I have a gateway desktop and it sucks, it is very slow.
I had a compac, it lasted about 2 months and I did not like it.
Sony vaio's are sleek, I like the way they look but aren't worth the cost. I had 2 several years ago, the screen went on one after about 18 months. The keys popped off the next one, it lasted about 2 years or so. I figured I'm not buying them again, no matter how nice they look. Next I tried Toshiba, I got over 3 years from one before it started acting up. I got the little convertible tablet for travel when they first came on the market, and didn't expect much storage or speed even though it was pricey. I was pleasantly surprised to get both. Its been dropped 3 times and still worked although a few weeks ago it started crashing and turning off so I think it's dead.
Now I'm using an HP Pavillion, it is the cheapest half decent thing they had in the store because I was tight on cash when I needed it. I'm still getting used to it and I'm bot sure if I like it better than the toshibas yet. Its got a lot of stuff for the price though . Its got 3 usb's a pc slot, an 'SD MS/PRO MCC SM XD', which is a lot of card slots. Altec Lansing sound, an expansioin port, printer port, monitor port, rewriteable DVD r/rw and it can inscribe the discs too. I haven't tried that yet but it sounds cool!

 

[sereneone4u]

Thanks for all the great advice....my h got the Toshiba for me and had it charging when I got home...would have gone online instead..but I am thankful he got me a lap...my desktop was an emachine, for about $300...lol...

 

[~hellbaby~]

Yeah, being a college student, I can relate. Toshibas and HPs can take beating after beating. I had a toshiba before the HP... (toshiba for high school, HP for college)

I've got an HP now and just got my son a toughbook for Christmas, I havent had a chance to check it out yet though.

 

[hotguy1234]

Serena, I'm not sure what the intel centrino is, but my last computer had an intel celeron processor....which I paid $1600 and threw it out in 2 years.

Both my computers now have intel pentium 4 processors.

The 1 gig of ram is great..... I have 512K on each computer, it's not enough.

160 gig HD is plenty, Windows XP is a must IMO...... the rest is fluff IMO.

Make sure it has the wireless card...... I think all notebooks do...... but just ask.................

Centrino is not bad. It just their Pentium M chip ( their mobility chip that runs on low power, which can be nice because it gives long battery life )

Most notably Centrino has wireless ability as a feature to the chipset. They are a decent enough processor, and they are better than a Celeron

 

[garbage can]

I've got an HP now and just got my son a toughbook for Christmas, I havent had a chance to check it out yet though.

Both my desktop and laptop are Dell's...... that's all I will buy now.

 

[sereneone4u]

Does one ever get used to the damn rectangle you roll with your finger instead of a mouse and clicking beneath it...it is aggravating me to no end!

 

[BeBe81]

Both my desktop and laptop are Dell's...... that's all I will buy now.

I just found out that I'm getting a new Dell Laptop from "santa".... very excited, because I adore them.

 

[Angel]

Does one ever get used to the damn rectangle you roll with your finger instead of a mouse and clicking beneath it...it is aggravating me to no end!

Touchpads do take some getting used to. Thinkpads have an eraser-head mouse in the keyboard that some people find easier, but I hate them

 

[RhumbRunner13]

Does one ever get used to the damn rectangle you roll with your finger instead of a mouse and clicking beneath it...it is aggravating me to no end!

I carry an old USB mouse with me in the case. Use it 95% of the time,

Rhumb

 

[revelator]

Does one ever get used to the damn rectangle you roll with your finger instead of a mouse and clicking beneath it...it is aggravating me to no end!

If your computer has Bluetooth, get a Bluetooth mouse (maybe from Logitech).

If it doesn't, get a Billionton Bluetooth 2.0 PCMCIA CardBus Bluetooth adapter.
I got mine from boteq.com, but a search will probably yield other vendors. Zoom Telephonics also makes a similar card you can buy at Newegg.com.

These adapters are better than the USB adapters that stick out - you won't even notice it in the slot.

 

[The Heretic]

How many have you been through? I'm on number 7, (if you count borrowed ones it's 9) .

I've lost count. The first one was a KayPro 2000 over 20 years ago. I've had Gateways, IBM thinkpads (still have two old ones) which are good, Dells, Macs (I still have a PowerBook but the HD went bad), Sony, Compaqs, don't remember if I ever had a Toshiba.

 

[unregistered]

 

[hotguy1234]

Touchpads do take some getting used to. Thinkpads have an eraser-head mouse in the keyboard that some people find easier, but I hate them

that little mouse thing in the keyboard is my favorite thing about a Thinkpad.

I can use that much quicker then a regular mouse on a laptop.

It may make a difference if you were always on the desktop computer and them move over to a laptop for some work. Maybe then that eraser head mouse is easier to use?

 

[The Heretic]

that little mouse thing in the keyboard is my favorite thing about a Thinkpad.

I can use that much quicker then a regular mouse on a laptop.

It may make a difference if you were always on the desktop computer and them move over to a laptop for some work. Maybe then that eraser head mouse is easier to use?

Some Dells (like mine) have it now too - the patent must have expired. I don't use it - I use an external mouse.

 

[hotguy1234]

Some Dells (like mine) have it now too - the patent must have expired. I don't use it - I use an external mouse.

I like it over the track pad. Actually I deactivated my track pad so I wouldn't hit it incidentally, so that is how much I use the track pad.

I do have a USB mouse for times when I need to do finer work and in better detail with the mouse

 

[OscarTheGrouch]

I know I'm late on this, but im going to put in my .02 anyways since this is what I do for a living (sell computer stuff that is) Toshiba makes decent computers, and that is a great spec for the money, but I might suggest you check the lenovo website (www.lenovo.com) Price out what you need. I have a Thinkpad t-60 and the think series line of computers are some of the best on the market. Yeah, for the same spec it might be more expensive, but you will also get a MUCH better machine. If you get the toshiba, be sure to get the extended warranty, you are likely to need it. Like I said I have thinkpad t-60 and it has a three year warranty standard.

I usually rank Toshiba just under HP/Compaq in terms of quality. but again, this is just my .02, if ya have any other questions feel free to ask me

I personally would also avoid Dell like the plague

 

[garbage can]

Does one ever get used to the damn rectangle you roll with your finger instead of a mouse and clicking beneath it...it is aggravating me to no end!

Serena..... you buy an optical mouse......

 

[sereneone4u]

Serena..... you buy an optical mouse......

I know, Garby...it was late at night and was just trying out my laptop...wondered if anyone ever got used to the damn thing or prefered it..

 

[BreeCarter]

Buy a mac.

1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
512MB memory
60GB hard drive1
Combo drive
Ships: Within 24 hours
Free Shipping
$1,099.00
or as low as $26 a month

that is way to expensive for having not even half of the shit that the other two come with.

 

[garbage can]

I know, Garby...it was late at night and was just trying out my laptop...wondered if anyone ever got used to the damn thing or prefered it..

It sucks, that's why you need an optical mouse................

 

[Horny_Husband]

For someone with your level of usage, I'd recommend a Mac, no worry about viruses that way...

Macs do get virus's as well.

 

[Horny_Husband]

I understand.

Only problem is, I've had problems with various programs.

I had Norton for a long time, then a new version seemed to really cause problems so I un-installed that and downloaded an internet (highly rated) AV program that destablized my 'puter so bad I didn't know if I could recover it. Got rid of that and went to McAfee Internet Suite. That worked fine for a year or so until it puked. I finally got a file from McAfee that removes EVERY trace of MF on your computer (saved it, too). Now I'm using the Comcast download...but only the AV part, not all the other crap.

Rhumb

Where did you get your file/program to remove McAfee? I have one for Norton that I keep on my thumbdrive.