New Westinghouse laptop only $399!

Westinghouse Laptop
Extraordinary Quality and Value!
Our new Westinghouse 14.1" Widescreen Laptop seamlessly integrates digital entertainment with the productivity and convenience of mobile computing. This slim, handsome notebook is loaded with dazzling features. Intel Celeron M 410 processor at 1.46 GHZ, 533 MHz FSB and 1MB cache. ATI Xpress 200M Graphics. 60GB hard drive. 512MB DDR2 SODIMM memory. 802.11b-g wireless technology. 4-in-1 memory card reader. And this Westinghouse beauty is super light – all these great features, and it weighs just a bit more than 5 pounds! Westinghouse – among the most trusted brands in the World. Performance plus value. Order today! A great gift idea for the mobile warrior who works and plays in style.
heres the link http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2539636&Sku=W330-3000

I got this letter in my mailbox from tigerdirect, looks like a awesome deal for $399 after $80 dollar rebate and it has 200m graphics! don't worry about reliability westinghouse was bought out by toshiba and i belive they will be using the name on their lower priced laptops.

 

You might want to add that the price is $399 after an $80 rebate (AR)... and we all know how good TD is about rebates.

 

Anyone have any info on these? I am thinking of picking one up for my niece to use for school, shes 9 and it seems like a good basic machine, just unsure of reliability?

 

The mail in rebate is suspect but the price is good either way

 

i cant wait until 7-11 starts selling the new slurpee brand of laptop

 

I ordered one for the heck of it for my wife, I'll put up a review on it as soon as it comes (this friday from the looks of it)

 

Scary...

Just got it in, and I am actually very surprised.

Comes very well packed.
Comes with a 512mb onboard, and an open ddr2 slot under the laptop. Comes with a preload of xp on it, and NO Bloatware.... I'm shocked!
Comes with an XP home disc, and a driver disc.
I'll put together a review and images and so forth for it. I think my wife is going to love it.

Also thought it was cool that the mouse keys around the synaptics touchbad are brushed aluminum. kinda a neat feature. Little getting used to to click them, but I like the look. I also like the fact that the cover, and the keyboard, and the touchpad all had adhesive clear protectors on them. My fifteen hundred dollar hp didn"t even come that way

 

Thats cool you got it, I look forward to seeing a review on it, too bad the deals gone now, I was going to maybe buyone for my dad but decided to wait till closer to christmas. one thing I like about that laptop is that it has ATI xpress 200m graphics which is really rare as most intel machines use a slow GMA series card, also since it has a Yonah Celeron M 410 you should be able to upgrade it to a Yonah Core Duo! enjoy it!

 

Sorry If I've opened up a old thread. I just got one of these for free from a friend. He said it froze at random times. I got to his house and it booted up fine. Although it had some extra things on there. I decided to re-format the HD and install a fresh copy of XP Pro. It froze @ 49%. I was in shock, after that it would cut on but the screen would stay blank. Other times it would get to the bios and I would try to install again, and it would freeze. I took the bottom of and I can't see the memory? But I am more than sure that laptops or any other computers do not go pass BIOS without memory? I use to have a older Dell Latitude that froze too, and the the same thing because of the memory being loose or overheating. But I can't seem to find the memory? I took off the bottom panel even. I have pictures.



If anyone could help, I would REALLY appreciate it. Someone stole my last laptop and I am too broke to get a new one, so when I heard about him not wanting it because of the problem I figured it was something small. Well thanks in advanced!

 

I would double check maybe try a new hard drive to see if thats the problem. I tried to do a little research but have come to many dead ends on this particular model laptop. Westinghouse doesn't have much on the website except for the bundle information at walmart and the drivers for the machine. I would start with the hard drive first. and after that the memory. now for the location of the memory thats a good question.

From the pics its looks as though it could be under the hard drive itself or possibly even another hidden slot---if there is one. It could also be preloaded with 512 mb on the motherboard that is not removable, so it might be a motherboard issue for i wouldn't know what to do to remove or replace it if it was onboard motherboard memory. You also could try to stick more memory in the laptop to see if that works, or possibly see if the bios option has a way to disable the onboard memory and load from the extra slot memory you put in it.

Was there any documentation as in owner's manual or tech support/warranty info from your neighbor that came with the laptop because that might be the first place to looks. If its not the memory or the hard drive, could be a motherboard issue or an issue with the motherboard bios. Just trying to help. Sounds like a good deal on a laptop if its a freebie if you get it to work. It even sounds like a good deal from what i have been reading from tiger for under Four Hundred dollars. Let me know how it goes and keep us posted. Who would have thought. Westinghouse and laptops. Hope that helps, just giving my 2 cents.

 

Today around noon I turned it on and gave the installation one last try, SUCCESS! It installed and everything. I got it past the log on screen and it freezes. Another time I quickly went to My Computer>Properties and I saw the 512MB memory...I don't understand I'm running out of ideas. He said it was brandnew so I was thinking why would it be the HD then? But looks like I'm going to have to give it a try. I saw this test that you can run to check it, but now my burner is stuck, there's something stuck in there so now I have to fix that! Gosh just seems like problem after problem. Thanks for replying, if you have anymore ideas now that this happend, I'm more than content to see everyone's thoughts. Thanks guys.

 

Hello everyone, I got this notebook and began experiencing the same freezing issues at start up, I tried several things and noticed that it doesn't freeze if the wireless is off before start up, I still have to find out if there's a driver update for the wireless adapter. Hope that helped.

 

Tiger Direct has it on sale again until the end of this month.

Two questions:

1. Is there anyone who's not experiencing the freezing issue?

2. Can you find out how to upgrade the memory?

 

not to sound mean but don't you still have warranty so why don't you call westinghouse?

 

They don't have a phone number.

 

Just wondering if anyone who owned one of these could take pictures and post a review.

Thanks

 

Also, (866) 442-7873 is the general Westinghouse review since it doesnt fit into any of the other categories listed on their site. I would reccomned giving them a call if you are having troubles.

 

I today received one.
It runs fast.
I don't have any freezing issues at all.
You have a help - This big thick glossy paper says, "STOP! Before returning this system: If you are experiencing problems, please call 1-800-287-5555."

Processor runs at a various speed according to power settings.
The fan is a bit noisy running on and off constantly but I can stand that.
No junk programs are pre-installed.
I liked the feel, touch, and look of the keyboard and keypad.
It comes with a separate Windows XP Home CD which I like.

Thank you very much^^

 

I like the notebook but I hate the fan noise coming on and off repeating.
It's becoming very irritated.
I'd rather liked a constant weak fan sound.

Is there any software that can control the fan speed, the way how the fan can operate?

 

Got this for a client of mine. It's one fast laptop.
512 Mb Ram, DVD dual layer burner, 1.4 GHz Celery M processor,
pretty zippy for a Celeron.
I hate Celeron's. But this is fast. Sturdy too. Love the left/right buttons.
Installed IE 7 and ran MIcrosoft Defender at the same time. No glitches.
No slowdown. I guess for $ 399, it's better than Santa Claus goin' down.
One problem though:

It has a DVD burner and no dvd burning program ?
No cd burning program ?
No MS Word simplified ?
No ANY programs ?
But for $ 399, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ?

8 OUT OF 10 ON THIS ONE, just because it's fast ( 512 Mb Ram ).

 

You can have all the programs you mentiuoned above at a cheap price or for free. I already have excellent programs and I only mind the performance of the notebook. I love it because it is fast (I just still can't believe I bought a brand new notebook for $399!).

9.9 OUT OF 10 ON THIS ONE!

 

I also have and I like it !
Runs fine !
9 out of 10

 

I've had this sucker for about 3 weeks. I have a desktop as well, so I haven't put a lot of hours on it.

I had it freeze up only twice (blue screen, fatal error) and this was only when I was at my parents house and only when I was actively using the internet (wireless). On a whim I turned off the wireless on restart, no freeze. Since then, back at my apartment, no wireless problems, no freezing.

My main concern is overheating. After about 30 minutes SpeedFan tells me that my hard drive is getting hot (50 C and up, though I tend to get scared and shut her down at this point). Is this temp a concern? It seems hot. The CPU doesn't get nearly as hot as the HD. The fan blows in pulses, not constant. Is there a way to control this (BIOS, SpeedFan)?

I've been thinking about putting more memory in it (maybe it will have to access the HD less and thus not heat up so much), but also have not been able to find the memory slots. I opened both access panels on the bottom panel, no dice. The seems to be another panel underneath the battery, but this has a "Warranty Void if Broken" seal on it, so I am a bit hesitant.

I hope the little information I've provided helps and thank you in advance for any help yall might have.

 

Here's a little help with that missing memory...

 

Nice! Thank you. Now for the stupid question. How do you get that keyboard out?

Also, has no one else had overheating problems? Is 55 C not that hot?

 

Its been great that I found this tread!
I got this one for about a month now, and it has perform wonderful ; surfing the net, also for playing some games and most of all to download music from limewire. Its incredibly fast opening and operating limewire and running other programs at the same time.
Now the only problems that I have encounter so far and I would appreciate if anyone savvy enough to offer a solution are the following: 1) After left iddle for a couple of minutes, the screen would go dark (turn off) and the only way to recover is by pressing the turn on button. Is this normal ?? 2) I seem to have lost the keys (u,i,o,p,j,k,l,m) Whenever I press any of these keys the only thing it would write would be numbers. It may have been something I inadvertently did, I dont know!
I thank you for any input

 

Trotador:

1) Check your power and sleep settings. Right click on the desktop and choose Display.

2) You probably have your Numlock enabled. Look around for a Numlock key and turn it off.

Cheers,
-Jesda

 

Ok I just brought two laptops for $399 the first one I brought I am sending back because i thought something was wrong with the fan, it blows every 5 seconds. I called Westinghouse and they said it should only blow once every 10 min. I have the other computer and I guess they were wrong b/c this one is doing the same thing. I have another issue if anyone could help with this one. I was on MSN's Video Highlights and the video plays funny I don't usually judge based on color but Dammit I am tired of seeing pink and green people. Also would anyone know if I get Windows XP installed will i then have the capability to watch movies?

 

I bought this one for my wife and has been using it for the past few days. Even through a kensington dockstation, almost everything work fine. My 2 cents to some of the questions posted earlier, as far as I know:
1. Use Fn+NumLK key to disable numlock.
2. For turning off the fan coming on and off, I've tried the little "half-moon" button next to the power button. It claims to run in slower speed and the fan seems to stop. But then after a while I found the battery to be pretty hot, so I turn it back on.
3. Yes, I have the "pink and green" frames when watching streaming video too. Watching regular DVD movies is fine and nice.

When watching movies on 2 screens, the laptop screen and the cloned monitor screen using dockstation, the cloned monitor would not show the video. Just use the Fn+"screen selector" to switch turn on only 1 screen.

Now my question, the user manual claims the battery to last only 300 recharges. So in a sense it won't last a year, where are we going to get replacement or extra battery?

I do not experience any freezing saga and there is no dead pixel. So far so good, touch wood! I loaded tons of software onto it and my wife just loves it!

 

I know this thread is kind of old, but I am thinking of getting this laptop. My question is to the users that have had this laptop for a little while. Has the laptop held up pretty well over time? Is the fan a problem? And is battery life good or bad (after you've had it for a while?)

Thanks
Evan

 

I'm pretty satisfied with it so far. It held up pretty well, I don't have the freezing problem. The quality so far have been pretty decent, I haven't found any major problem yet. The battery time on the other hand is bad, with a full 100% charge, it last roughly an hour for me only. I own 5 laptops, this is the worst with battery, but if you work plugging in there is no problem. Don't know where to get an extra battery either. Moreover, the memory can only be accessed by removing the keyboard plate, don't know how to do that safely. Mind you, Office Depot is offering a Toshiba Satellite starting tomorrow for $399 after a $250 rebate, with a voucher for Vista upgrade ($9.95 S&H). In my opinion that's a better and safer deal, even if it does not come with a DVD-RW.

 

Pretty much agree with everybody, can't beat it for the price.

-I have the same problem with the fan constantly turning on and off

-Same problem with streaming video colors, they're all screwed up. When I try to open the ATI video driver settings from the program tray, I get a "CLI Application has encountered a problem and needs to be closed. We are sorry for the inconvenience." I couldn't find an update for the driver on ATI's site. Anybody know why the video is screwed up, is it the driver?

 

Guys I dont think its the ATI driver problem for the screwd up streamin videos..... its i guess, codecs that are required to play the streming videos. i havent got the time to install the latest codecs. but i guess that should solve the problem.

Ok, has anyone managed to install more RAM on the laptop? my question is 1)Is the installed RAM detachable(the 512MB) or is it onboard memory(already being soldered on the motherboard) and 2) will the bios support both the memory modules or either one of them? Hope you guys understood what i meant...

thanks guys...... this forum has really been helpful 2 all of us.

Riberet

 

Hi guys, I just got this for my daughter for Christmas. It seems pretty fast for the price. But, it won't play DVD movies without jumping. Anyone have any ideas? Can't seem to find different drivers other than the Win. XP disc drivers. There must be something simple I am not doing. Thanks in advance.

 

can anyone find this deal anywhere?

 

My experience has been ****. I bought it from Tiger Direct, received it and had to register windows, it wasn't loaded.... no manual and the sixth letter was Z , the Z did not work. This was 11/28. Tigerdirect said contact westinghouse, sent it to westinhouse for a replacement. That was a lie, after they received they sent it for repair,they still have it. Everytime I call they say 2 weeks, on the 12-06-06,12-11-06,12-18-06, Jan 3rd 07. I have not even seen it work yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This has made me miss the rebate!!!!!!! No laptop just a credit card bill for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I've had this model for 4 months now. I have had 4 freeze ups today. I finally had to deactivate the graphics accelerator. When it's not freezing up, it's worked great. I've loaded lot's of software, including MS Office. The freezing up seems to be when it first boots up. I loaded VLC freeware for a dvd decoder. It works okay. Because the laptop is generally packaged with a 19" LCD TV, I'll comment on that as well. It has the worst sound quality of any TV I've ever heard. Having said that, I noticed that there is an audio output jack on the back of the set. I set up a good quality pair of speakers and it's much better. I agree that there are less freeze ups if you disable the wireless adapter first. Other than that, this is my first notebook and for the amount I paid, I'm satisfied. I've compared it with my nephews Dell, and the Westinghouse kicks butt. He paid $1100.

 

I found that by installing the newest Microsoft Media Player 11, which probably includes more up to date directX, the little green men displayed under streaming video seems to go away. Now everything is working fine on this little laptop. Touch wood, but I never had any freeze either. The DVD-RW is wonderful, it's actually faster than the one on my $1000+ toshiba vecra when I rip DVD. I added another 512M memory and I'm using it as a desktop by plugging it into a Kensington dock station with a 22" monitor and a lot of external hard drives to replace my aging desktop, which I gave away to charity. The only impecfection is the out-of-breath fan sound which you will not hear anyway when you are watching video, press the "partial moon" button and you will hear less of it.

 

Bought this for my daughter, has been great until this week and the wi reless adapter has stopped working. tried unistall and re install no worky works fine with wired lan it scans wireless and can find no net works HELP PLEASE.

Hill

 

You suck
I ve got my for 399 and on top $80 mail in back = 319 !!!!
I never had any problems with my mail reabtes...

Now my westing house is:

pM 2.0 T7200 Core 2 Duo
ExtraBrite XWGA screen
2GB RAM
200 GB HDD
HD-DVD
Vista Ultimate

 

Those who asked about memory. I just installed 1gb OCZ memory the other day and the performance increase is amazing. It is very easy to install. Just take off the large panel and slide it in.

 

the battery went out, i've checked ebay and googled and can't find anywhere they sell a replacement battery. i'm pretty sure it's the battery, when its plugged in it works fine, you can charge it all night and if u unplugged it, it won't turn on. so has anyone found a place to buy a new battery????

 

Hi Hill,

There is a very tiny button in the front of the computer (below the mouse pad and look left on the black panel). Make sure the button is 'ON'.

West1988,

How do you take the (keyboard) panel off?

 

I've had this laptop for a few months now, and I'm pretty satisfied. Great performance for the price, and I don't have the crashing issues that other have had, fortunately.

Only problems are the battery life (I get around 2 hours fully charged), and the fan, which is constantly shifting into high gear and back down... But I usually have headphones on or something playing out of the speakers so I don't notice it often. I DO notice how hot it gets, but I don't know if that's considered normal or dangerous. It hasn't affected the performance, as the laptop has been on for several days straight before without issue.

The wireless card and sound card do not work in Linux, I've found. I've read of people getting the wireless to work by using a wrapper, but I haven't been successful yet.

I'd also like information about a replacement battery, if anybody has any- preferably a more powerful one. I'm going to try pestering Westinghouse about it.

Some information on removing the keyboard so I can try installing more RAM would be great. Does the keyboard just pop out?

Make sure the RAlink software is installed- it should be on the driver disc that came with the laptop. XP automatically works with the wireless card, probably with a generic driver- so the actual driver may work better, if that's the problem. If that doesn't help, make sure your wireless router is properly configured. Contact your ISP or the maker of the router for specific help on that.

Whoop, also, like armsoo said, it might just be the switch on the front of the laptop

I'm confused- I've never looked into upgrading a laptop beyond RAM. You upgraded the Westinghouse laptop to that? I'd like to do that, if it isn't insanely difficult to DIY.

 

Guys great site!!! i just bought mine from tigerdirect i do have a couple of questions. is there anywhere on the laptop that will tell you when you are on CAPS? are the fun f5 & f6 the only keys for the volume? what is the F4 fun for? , I DJ so i'm using this laptop strictly for my music burner, labels etc will this work without crashing on me? i will usually have a access open all night to see my music list
thanks and keep the good work
JC

 

For #3, you need to turn off "Video Acceleration" in the Media Player. Tools > Option > Performance.

 

Hello All
I just help my lady friend buy one of these, i really did not know about this Westing house laptop until i went to Tiger direct today. once i got home i did a search and found this Forum..(saving to my favorites ). anyways i am about to upgrade the Ram to 2 GB PC2-4200...
I have a few Questions
Does any body know if it supports 667 MHz memory?
When upgrading to Core 2 Duo do you need to access the bios?
How is the thermals once you upgrade to a Core 2 Duo it has 15-20 watts more?

After reading all this thread and know i can Upgrade to Core 2 Duo, iam strongly considering Getting one for myself Very Soon.

nice how did you remove that keyboard?

 

Guys i noticed on my computer slows down and kind of locks when i'm using Media player and internet, i just downloaded some programs to record music and burn cd's but it looks like the computer is getting slower, any tips advice add memory, or something?
thanks in advance
DJ Calmet

 

Hello West1988,
Would you mind sharing more info on this memory upgrade and install
Thanks