Which Toshiba model to buy?

okay the best bet for you would be the m40...

its the most lightweight of them although in your case that doesnt really matter. it also is the newest in terms of components. the centrino is in my opinion better to the P4 mobile. the video cards are fairly similar because of the age of the p30's card. although the p30 will have a slightly faster card i would still get the m40 cause its video is newer and almost the same speed.

But isnt the pentium 4 one of the best processors for a notebook?

not really.

it runs very hot and although it has alot of speed, it also consumes alot of power and sucks the battery life back hard. there are two different flavours of p4 that have been used in a notebook.

the full desktop p4 is a mix of the best and the worst. it has termendous power and capability, but at the same time it is the worst on battery life and heat. it requires a very large notebook with lots of fans and large batteries. the requirement of lots of fans means that it will not only be big but it will be loud as well. for some tasks especially video rendering and CAD the desktop p4 with hyperthreading can be the best choice still, and for the average user it is not bad as long as you are okay with the tradeoffs.

then there is the now discontinued P4 mobile. this is a slightly modified P4 that is intended for the notebook market as the full desktop one never was. this improves the heat issues slightly as well as the battery life slightly. that said it is not perfect, while some sport hyperthreading there are versions that do not support it. ultimately they also sacrificed speed in order to maximize the battery life and minimize the heat. unfortunately because neither of those two are really great even after the modifications it means that what is left is a slower p4 with low but not quite as bad battery life and still a pretty high amount of heat. the P4-m was essentially a stopgag measure until the newer P-M processors used in the centrino systems were released.

then we have the P-M which is the processor used in the centrino system. it is often called the centrino but that is not really true because centrino is actually a combinatino of processor, chipset, and wireless all made by intel. that said this is probably the best intel processor for the notebook. it offers very good speed which is not tied to the GHZ of the chip as well as excellent heat. simply put it wont be really hot and it will still give you great power with good battery life. it is a totally different design from the P4. the P-M is prettymuch standard on notebooks except the large desktop replacement systems which still often use full desktop P4's. a great choice for mobility.

as for the speed of a P-M essentially to find its equivalent in a desktop P4 multiply the stated speed of the P-M by 1.7 which in the case of the 1.73ghz P-M gives you a speed of essentially 3.0ghz. however you must realize that the P-M does not have hyperthreading as an option as well.

for waiting that really depends.... with notebooks it is best to wait until you really need it to buy so you can be sure you will get the best you can for your money. dont get caught in a well just another month and then product X will come out cycle, buy it when you need it and be happy. there is always something new coming out and if you are always waiting for the next big thing you will never actually get a new machine.

What model do you think mine is?

And, oh, yeah, about that battery thing -mine (see sig) lasted about 45 mins playing far cry before it cut out because of the battery empty!

i believe that you have the P4-m im not saying its really a bad processor and it certainly is still powerful just giving the basis for comparison of the current systems. your system is still good so dont worry suddste.

but you said that the p4 -m does not have Hyper-Threading (mine does)

my processor is great, it is very fast, if you don't mind the battery going down so fast!

actually i said that some models of the p4-m do and some do not support or have hyperthreading.... the later models do have it and the earlier ones tend not to. that said you have a later model of it and it certainly would and does have the hyperthreading.

well your welcome.

the biggest difference is in the graphics capability, and yes if you are doing things like gaming and want to play current high intensity 3d games you will notice the difference cause it will be a big one.

it really comes down to how much gaming you are intending to do on it.... you mentioned that it would see some gaming action, but to tell you if it is worth it you gotta say what kind of games and what you expect to run them at settings wise. like if you say doom3 cranked up settings, its definately the higher end model but if you say World of warcraft on average to elevated settings you can get away with the lower end one and be very happy.

personally i think that the power difference is not huge processor wise but if i had the money and spending it was not a hardship, i would always get the highest spec'd model i could. this is for the same reason that you were asking about the machines in the first place, it will be the longest amount of time before its obsolete..... that said if you come back saying money is a bit of an issue and its not going to see much gaming at all then i can easily recomend the lower spec'd one for you.

simply put i would do it... the price is very very good for a 17inch notebook with its power and the system will be excellent. in my opinion it is worth it, and remember that just a little while ago it was selling for $2400 so at 1899 it is a really good price.

yes an extended warranty is a good idea (get it from toshiba and not bestbuy though. even if it is only handled by adults and never leaves the house accidents do happen. not only that but the warranty helps if something happens and your screen dies after a year and a half, not something i would really think would happen but anything is possible and the extended warranty is definately helpful for when it does.

I just got a Satellite M60 and I couldn't be happier.

M.

give us a review... we need one.