Is This Toshiba Good Deal?

Hi

I have recently been looking to buy a laptop but I haven't had much money to work with. I am currently using (don't laugh please) an HP from 1999 with a Celeron 433mhz, 160mb Ram, and a 4GB HDD.

Anyway, I saw the Best Buy black Friday ad and noticed the Toshiba for $379.99. I was wondering if this is a good deal. My use for it for now will be at school, so it has to run well on the internet, which I am sure it will, run Word, and be able to play some games. I noticed this laptop has an ATI Radeon with 128mb dedicated, so I figure it should do better with games than just Intel integrated graphics.

I also want to know how Toshibas hold up with reliability as I plan on keeping this for a long time (as you can tell). I also would like to know how the ergonomics are and how the screen looks as I have not used a Toshiba in person. I wanted to try one out today in a store, but I couldn't get to it and stores will be closed tomorrow.

I appreciate any help on this. Thanks

EDIT: well it seems I can't post a link to it until I have 15 posts, but it is the Toshiba with the AMD Turion x2 64 on the Bestbuy website for $379.99

 

It should be a pretty amazing computer after what you're used to. It is one of the best deals out there, but it will be very difficult to get because soooo many people expect to buy everything they want on Black Friday... I don't understand how everybody thinks they'll get what they want *sigh*

Don't trust that it has dedicated Video memory... I've bought many things from Best Buy which had misleading specs...

AKA: Best Buy says "This Acer Aspire 5050 has 128 MB of DEDICATED video memory!" but that's only at the store... at home it's all shared... gerrrrrr..............

If you want good graphics on a budget I'd look for the ATI HD 3200, it's pretty peppy. Also the Nvidia 9400m, but that'll be much harder to find...

 

It should have the dedicated memory. It does show it on the Toshiba website.

How well do Toshibas hold up?

As for actually getting it. The website says there will be a minimum of 15 at the store and I plan on getting there before 3 am.

 

For a few more bucks I think these are better deals.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...1127&lp=12&type=product&cp=6&id=1218022433432

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...1127&lp=11&type=product&cp=6&id=1218028404703

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...&lp=9&type=product&cp=6&id=pcmprd101500050007

 

Unfortunately, those are more than a few bucks more.

 

I may be looking at another laptop now. There is a $350 laptop at Office Depot. HP 15.4" screen, 3GB memory, 160GB hard drive, Pentium Dual Core Mobile Processor T3200. I have read on other forums that the T3200 is as good as or better than the AMD Turion x2 64. I don't know if it is true but I will have to do some more research, but if it is true, then that may be the better deal. I just don't know if I am crazy about the smooth surface touch pad on the HP.

So it comes down to which processor + IGP is better entium Dual Core T3200 with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M, or the AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core TL-60 with the ATI Radeon X1250

 

The HP (T3200 + GMA4500) is MUCH MUCH better than the Toshiba (TL60 + X1250).

Definitely take the HP. Both the processor and the IGP are significantly faster.

 

Use MS Live Cashback and look for ebay "New Acer Aspire AS4730-4857 2GHz 14.1 Notebook".
Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=230310455918

Price: $464.99
Ebay Mailed me a 10% off coupon: 464.99 - 46.49 = 418.5
Cash Back for Live 25% = 418.5 - 104.62 = 313.88
Plus Free Shipping and no tax. (Its a 14.1")

I Got Two of them.

Specs:
he Acer Aspire AS4730-4857 notebook offers:

* 14.1"-diagonal widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) CrystalBright LCD screen
* Intel Pentium dual-core processor T3200 operating at 2.0GHz
* 1MB L2 cache
* Up to 667MHz frontside bus
* 2GB of PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory
* Maximum memory capacity: 4GB (Available system memory will be considerably less than this amount and will vary by model and system configuration. This is due to the use of shared video memory and operating system limits.)
* 160GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive
* SuperMulti DVD drive with Double Layer support (reads/writes DVD±R/RW, DVD-RAM, DVD±R Double Layer, CD-R/RW)
* Wireless-N: 802.11b/g/Draft-N wireless LAN
* Ethernet port (RJ-45)
* 56K V.92 fax/modem
* 2 USB 2.0 ports
* 5-in-1 memory card reader: reads SD, MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, xD-Picture Card
* ExpressCard/54 slot: also support ExpressCard/34
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with up to 1759MB shared memory
* High Definition Audio with built-in stereo speakers
* headphone/speaker/line-out jack and microphone input jack
* 6-cell lithium-ion battery (2200 mAh); AC adapter
* Dimensions: 1.6"H x 13.4"W x 9.7"D
* Weight: 5.29 lb

 

Somehow the acer deal fails to impress me... plus it's Live cash back so you actually pay the full price and then wait for months before you get your money back.