NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Toshiba Notebook Forums › Toshiba Notebooks › budget toshibas - what's lacking?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

budget toshibas - what's lacking?

post #1 of 15
9/2/07 at 3:30pm
Thread Starter 
Just got a Toshiba A215-S4697 for a hell of a good price ($550). AMD64 /160GB /1GB RAM /DL DVD burner etc etc.
I'm wondering if there's any features I might miss later on that another couple hundred bucks would have covered.
I'm not a gamer or video buff, so right now it seems like the best deal going, and apart from cosmetics and maybe a better 'feel, I wonder why the average person would want to spend any more on a laptop (than $500 - $600)?

Dave
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 15
9/2/07 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by groovon View Post
Just got a Toshiba A215-S4697 for a hell of a good price ($550). AMD64 /160GB /1GB RAM /DL DVD burner etc etc.
total cool

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 15
9/2/07 at 9:11pm
You might want to up the RAM to 2GB. Also, when you move up a little you can get a built-in webcam.

The screen resolution is OK, but 1440 by 900 would be better.

Overall it's a good little machine - just wish I could dual-boot it to XP, but the last time I checked the video driver wasn't available.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 15
9/2/07 at 9:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
total cool

cheers ...

Thanks for the encouragement! I should try and overcome my gear lust(!) and be happy 8>) No doubt it's an excellent machine. There are always things one could pick at - spending twice as much money wouldn't guarantee happiness. It's just hard to stop looking around at what's available(!)

Cheers
Dave
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 15
9/2/07 at 9:52pm
Thread Starter 
I'm looking at more RAM but don't really need it yet. Definitely if I keep the machine I will. BTW, Fry's has it on sale this weekend, [2x]1GB for 70 bucks.

Dave
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 15
9/3/07 at 2:04am
Amd is always cheaper than Intel. Always has and probably always will be
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 15
9/3/07 at 8:33am
Thanks. I find Newegg.com has good prices and great service on RAM and other upgrades. Fry's is west coast and I'm out east.

The only other upgrade I might try later is a faster hard drive. Acronis has a good hard drive cloning tool www.acronis.com.
HITACHI Travelstar 7K200 HTS722016K9SA00 (0A50939) 160GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Notebook Hard Drive - OEM


Alex.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 15
9/3/07 at 12:49pm
Thread Starter 
That's a very nice HD but I would have thought a bit of overkill on this machine. I haven't got any pretensions to this laptop being high-performance, just pure utility.
[Even holding out on more memory to see if I really 'need' it.]
Cheers
Dave
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 15
9/3/07 at 2:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by novageek View Post
.. wish I could dual-boot it to XP, but the last time I checked the video driver wasn't available.
r u talking about xp driver for the ati x1200? try to dig up a 7.4 mobility catalyst - it should work

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 15
9/3/07 at 2:42pm
or u might want to try omega driver for xp

cheers ...
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 15
9/3/07 at 10:05pm
Thread Starter 
Just a heads-up: CompUSA has a sale on PNY 2GB [2x1GB] DDR2-5300 667MHz memory for $79.99.
I read some reviews online and most are good. Price is better than NewEgg. Sale's on for a few more days.
Dave
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 15
9/4/07 at 11:36am
Well, I got a Toshiba at one of the local retailers on the weekend specials...

Bad idea, turns out, the model we picked was a total LEMON and Toshiba knew it.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 15
9/4/07 at 11:38am
The model we picked was so bad that there ended up being a class action lawsuit against toshiba for it, we have had it serviced 10 times do far this year for a defective motherboard.

I have had Toshiba laptops in the past and they were good units, but after this one and the miserable support, no more Toshibas ever again.

You can get some great deals on the weekends from the big retailers, but sometimes you get what you pay for.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 15
9/4/07 at 11:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stulaser View Post
sometimes you get what you pay for.
The Golden rule.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 15
9/5/07 at 1:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stulaser View Post
Well, I got a Toshiba at one of the local retailers on the weekend specials...

Bad idea, turns out, the model we picked was a total LEMON and Toshiba knew it.

How do you know they 'knew it'? There's always a chance you'll get bad one out of a lot. You just had bad luck. Toshiba is putting out products to meet a demand at a price level and mostly they seem to do as good a job as anyone. You could have bad luck with ANY brand.

My only complaint so far is their scratch-prone glossy plastic case and the slightly clunky keyboard. So far so good. It works and I've bought the extra GB of RAM to put in. I think I'm doing the practical thing and just keeping it.

Also having fun absolutely GUTTING Vista!

[Hints: disable User Account Control, remove all extraneous commercial preinstalled crapola, revert to Classic Windows appearance.]

Dave
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Toshiba Notebooks
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Toshiba Notebook Forums › Toshiba Notebooks › budget toshibas - what's lacking?