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Toshiba Tecra A4 First-Impression - Page 3

post #41 of 55
5/9/05 at 10:29pm
In a nutshell, the main difference is that the the A4 has a 15.4" wide aspect screen and the S2 has a 15" regular aspect screen, the S2 has a s-video out port (it doesn't look like the A4 does) and the A4 has a express card (supposed to replace the pc-cards in the not to distant future) slot (at least in US models) while the S2 doesn't.

Also, you can order a S2 with a faster 5200 or 7200 rpm hard drive while the A4 you can only order with a 4200 (but that doesn't mean you can't get one elsewhere and pop it in), there are some difference in the lower end graphics card options between the two (the avail option on the a4 are: Intel integtrated w/ up to 128mb shared emmory, ATI X600 w/ 64MB or NVidia 6600 w/ 128mb, whil the S2 options are: ATIx300 w/32mb, Nvidia 6600 w/64mb or the same w/ 128mb), the S2 you can get with or without bluetooth and the A4 does not offer bluetooth. Other than that they are pretty similar in the rest of the options and specs... but I may be missing something
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post #42 of 55
6/17/05 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fidget
smilepak is right on that one. but in real life most useres will never know the difference between the regular ddr and ddr2 laptop ram. it is only the real power useres who will know the difference.

is there a noticeable difference between 333mhx and 444mhz ddr memory?
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post #43 of 55
6/17/05 at 7:56pm
youd probably see more difference there than between the ddr and ddr2.... but even then its not huge alot depends on timings of the ram and the rest of the computer its put in.
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post #44 of 55
6/17/05 at 8:36pm
Agreed. But if you're looking into upgradiong the ram in a laptop you have (i'm guessing an A4 since you posted in this thread) you will see better performance my matching two sticks of ram in order to make use of dual channeling. For example, if you now have 333, get another 333 with the same latencies and it by dual channelling it sould (theoretically) run at 333x2, however since the FSB is only 533, it will run at 533.
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post #45 of 55
6/17/05 at 9:12pm
thats the theory... for the absolute best performance with your ddr you could get two sticks of ddr 400 with the same latency (dual channeling afterall) which would provide the absolute best level of performance possible for you. they can be had for not too bad a price through places like newegg if your in the states. or through the manufacturer like crucial, or corsair, or kingston directly.
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post #46 of 55
6/18/05 at 1:05am
Ok thanks... unfortunatly I do not have any laptop as of now haha but I am purchasing one for school in the next little bit. If I go with toshiba is will be the A4 or A5, or with Asus the W3V or z70v.

I have always known Toshiba's as excellent service and quality, but I feel if I take a risk with the Asus I can grab a better laptop. It will have to come down to the supplier I suppose.

(As someone who needs battery life, widescreen, and solid quality, are my choices of an A5/A4 the best of what I can get from Toshiba? I am in Canada btw)

Thanks!
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post #47 of 55
6/18/05 at 2:03am
what kind of a budget do you have?
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post #48 of 55
6/18/05 at 7:14pm
I'm in the same boat as the user above.

For me its come down to the Asus Z71v and Tecra A4.


The specs I want are

1.7 ghz - 2 ghz
geforce 6600 128 mb
1 gig ram
60-80 gigs, preferably sata

but I want a WXGA because of the font size, and I run games at lower resolution (prefer frame rate)

problem for me is, the asus is cheaper, but you cant get it with an xga, and you can only customize the toshiba at toshiba.com (from what I can find) and it costs a lot.


any help?
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post #49 of 55
6/24/05 at 3:32pm
well budget it probably about 3k$ Canadian. ( A family member has sugested they would like to buy me a laptop, hence the higher budget, but because of this, I fell to not waste their money a TOSHIBA will be the best buy.)

So I need portability, battery life, dedicated video card from the laptop, and from the manufacturer I need reliability, and a solid warranty.

From what I can read, the Tecra A4 & A5 are by far the best for what I need. I'd like to have a widescreen aspect, and either 14 or 15 inch. The Satelleite (sp? haha) M40 was looking really good, until I heard stories of it's battery life.

As we stand right now, im leaning heavily towards the Tecra a5.

other choices are:

ASUS z70v
Dell Lattitude d810

any thoughts or ideas on this matter would be great! Also does anyone know if any big discounts happen with toshiba's for back to school specials?
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post #50 of 55
7/14/05 at 4:15am
Hi there, thinking about one myself...now they seem to be offering them with X600.

Anyway, would one of you mind (if you have a second) to look in control panel>system>hardware>device manager>then view, and then scroll to resource by connection? (IRQ)

I am interested in the following info: IRQ for graphic card and what number and if other IRQ;s share that same IRQ and the FIREWIRE type, if it's iLINK or texas instrument, or texas instrument complient...

The paper work (Toshiba website) says Ilink but at the store last night they all said Texas Instrument complient or Texas Instruments.

Thanks, this means a bunch to me for future audio use.

thanks again.
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post #51 of 55
7/14/05 at 1:57pm
should be a very nice machine and i hope that they have what you are looking for in it...there may be some back to school sales in august too but i would not expect like the 35%off dell deals.
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post #52 of 55
7/14/05 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by composer11


I am interested in the following info: IRQ for graphic card and what number and if other IRQ;s share that same IRQ and the FIREWIRE type, if it's iLINK or texas instrument, or texas instrument complient...

The paper work (Toshiba website) says Ilink but at the store last night they all said Texas Instrument complient or Texas Instruments.

Thanks, this means a bunch to me for future audio use.

thanks again.
Anyway, would one of you mind (if you have a second) to look in control panel>system>hardware>device manager>then view, and then scroll to resource by connection? (IRQ)



Thanks a bunch!!!
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post #53 of 55
7/14/05 at 3:27pm
Actually, for that matter, anyone with a laptop and ATI X300/600/700 should probably have the same settings (IRQ).

again, Merci Danke Grazie Σας ευχαριστούμε Вы Gracias Dank u
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post #54 of 55
7/14/05 at 5:23pm
Has anyone else noticed how hot the A4 gets while running games? Anyone have a cooling suggestion.

Also, has anyone ever used either RMClock or Centrino Hardware Control? If so which do you recommend...

Thanks,
EWB
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post #55 of 55
7/15/05 at 8:10pm
centrino hardware control i have heard good things about... dont use it myself because i have a p20 and it is not a centrino, and the times i do use other lappy's i dont end up with them usually long enough to really want to mess with the thermal stuff.

as for how to cool it faster, i would say get a laptop cooling pad. they are cheap and will do the job very nicely. should really help you keep it cool while gaming. although it will still get warm it will be better.
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