please help laptop novice decide! Acer or Toshiba?! Or other?!

[little_miss_m]

Hello!! I'm very new to this forum; new to technology in general hehe.

I've currently got a very very old Compaq laptop (5Gb... that should tell you how old it is!) and I really need a new one. I've found two deals which my dad is prepared to pay for... but I obviously don't want to just go spending his money on random products, so I thought I would seek your help as to which product is best.

Please bear in mind that I don't use the computer for anything else bar a lot of Word document work, the internet for e-mails etc. and if I had a larger hardrive, i would use it to download music :-) My dad is set on getting a Centrino computer too. He especially likes the Duo-core centrino (even though I have told him on many occasions that it makes no difference to me when I've had my slooowwww computer for two years).

The first is Toshiba: just under £500

Main Features
Product Description Toshiba Satellite Pro L20 - Pentium M 740 1.73 GHz - 15" TFT

Dimensions (WxDxH) 33.2 cm x 27 cm x 3.7 cm

Weight 2.8 kg

Localisation United Kingdom

Platform Technology Intel Centrino

System Type Notebook

Built-in Devices Stereo speakers, wireless LAN aerial

Processor Intel Pentium M 740 1.73 GHz

Cache Memory 2 MB - L2 Cache

RAM 512 MB (installed) / 2 GB (max)

Hard Drive 60 GB

Optical Storage CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo

Display 15" TFT active matrix 1024 x 768 ( XGA ) - 24-bit (16.7 million colours)

Graphics Controller Intel GMA 900

Audio Output Sound card

Telecom Fax / modem - 56 Kbps

Networking Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g

Wireless NIC Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG

Input Device Keyboard, touchpad

Power AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )

Battery Lithium Ion

Run Time (Up To) 3.8 hour(s)

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Manufacturer Warranty 1 year warranty



The next is Acer (£600)

Brand ACER
Processor Intel Centrino Duo Intels dual-core processor for laptops - giving both fast performance and great portability & battery life
Processor model number T2300 The model of the processor-

Processor speed 1.67 GHz
Processor bus 667 MHz
Processor cache 2 Mb
Memory (RAM) 1024 Mb
Screen size and type 15.4" brightwidescreen
Storage (hard drive) 80 GB
Lightscribe No
Built in wireless networking Yes
Media card slots Not featured
Bluetooth Not featured
Play and record live TV Not featured
Remote Control included Not featured
Product weight (kg) 2.92 kg
Battery Life (approx) 3 hours
Speakers Standard ste produces sound from the laptop. Great for watching DVDs, li stening to music and playing games.
USB 2.0 slots 4
Firewire Not featured
Application software tbc
Wired networking Ethernet Yes
Dial-up Modem included No
PC card slots 1 An expansion slot for adding an additional card to your PC - for adding functionsl like extra Firewire or USB sockets or adding a TV tuner
Other features 24x Plays CDs Play CDs on your laptop.
Other features 24x Records CDs
Other features 8x Plays DVDs Play DVDs on your laptop.
Other features 8x Records DVDs Record DVDs on your laptop.
Other features Dual layer DVD recording Records double the amount of a standard DVD, giving 9.4GB instead of 4.7Gb
Other features +/- Dual format DVD recording Records in every DVD format - your DVDs will play on any DVD player
Other features 224MB Intel - 945GM shared graphics

Other features Lithium Ion battery

Other features Windows XP -
Other features Internal sound card
Other features A Home photography

Other features C Gaming Only top laptops can handle gaming well. Look for dedicated graphics, a powerful processor, loads of memory and a large screen size
Other features B Video editing Editing movies from your camcorder needs a powerful PC with plenty of storage and a dedicated graphics card
Other features C Mobile office How good the laptop is for use on the go. Important factors include an energy saving processor, longer battery life, a lightweight and thin design
Other features Windows XP Home Operating system is what you see when you use the computer. Windows XP is the current standard, there are 3 versions - Home is the basic version, Professional is for use with networks, Media Center is for organising and enjoying your pictures, music & TV. Vista is the next version about to be released - a Vista Ready computer is more futureproof
Other features Plays & records DVD & CD Choose an optical drive that suits your needs. CDs are great for albums, DVDs are great for large data back-ups and movies. Look for Blu-Ray and HD DVD drives which are the latest technology and give far more storage - great for high definition content & data back-ups
Other features C Portability rating How portable the machine is, rated based on the weight, battery life, and wireless conectivity
Other features C Power Rating How powerful

Sorry the Acer one looks like one massive solid block of text!!!

I'm especially stuck because i've never used any Acer products... and i don't have any friends who have Acer computers. Is it as good as Toshiba? Or is Toshiba over rated?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! As well as any other cheap-ish good laptops!!

Thank you very much

:thumbup:

[ez2remember]

Out of the two the ACER is better...

The core duo is better cpu than the pentium-m even though the pentium-m is clocked silghtly higher.

512MB vs 1GB RAM (Acer wins again)

Graphics (Acer wins again, although neither has dedicated GFX)

HDD (Acer wins again)

etc...

[little_miss_m]

Thanks.

But i'm just wondering if anyone has any idea about how good Acer is as a brand, compared to Toshiba?

I have one relative who says that her friend used an Acer and it broke down all the time. Doesn't sound too good... but some reviews i've read on Acer have been very positive, though they do say the USB slots are too close together, and the laptop gets very hot very quickly, as well as the screen back (lid?!) being very thin and hence breaking very easily...

[Starcub]

It doesn't tell you a lot but it's a good article nonetheless: http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,123409,pg,9,00.asp

Personally I think the new Macbooks are looking pretty good right now, if you're not heavily invested in PC software. However from the article, it looks Acer might be OK as well.

First year reliability on laptops is somewhere from 20-25%, so you might want to investigate warranty options too.

[aintz]

out of those 2 id say acer definiately. well acer is pretty popular you can visit the acer threads and see