Calling all A70 owners! and others!

well its been a while since i got my A70 (little over a year) and i was wondering how other A70s have been holding up. i know i know, theres a TON of problems with these units but i honestly have not experienced any shorts or freezing or random crashing, losing all saved work or anything of the sort. however, with school starting soon i am going to be relying on this laptop heavily as i do not have my PC anymore and it will have all of my essays, assignments etc now that i am a senior student. my main concern is that someday when im doing an assignment, the laptop crashes, not turning back on the night before its due or even when im doing a presentation and the laptop freezes etc.

i guess what im asking is... do you think i should get a new, more reliable laptop? any input is appreciated, thanks guys.

 

hahaha...thanks venom that makes me feel a whole lot better

 

LOL! Sorry, didn't mean to make anyone feel bad about their purchases, but it's just my personal opinion on the units. The A70's I've repaired all came in for either systemboard repairs or it needed the new top covers to fix the static problem.

But in regards to your question, I guess if you're currently happy with the performance of your notebook, don't change it. The worst thing that can happen is that you get yourself a new notebook and find out it's causing you problems when you need the notebook the most. As most will say, if it ain't broken don't fix it.

I'd recommend using the unit for now, but keep your eyes open for a backup unit. Do the research on a decent notebook that meets your needs and wait. Once your notebook starts to cause you problems, just go and buy that "backup" model. Since you've done all the research on it already, you'll know if it's any good or not. No need to do the search after your notebook starts causing you headaches or dies. By then, it'll be too late and you'll be without a computer for a while.

-Vb-

 

jeez venom, you're just full of great solutions aren't you. lol. what top cover are you talking about? the blue plastic piece? how is the new one different?

 

That's me...just full of it!

In regards to the top cover, I mean the entire top of the unit. Plam rests area. It's all that silver you see wrapping around your keyboard. That lifts right off (after a dozen screws are removed of course). It looks exactly the same, they just added some grounding strips to the underside to ground the unit as well as cover some exposed metal with some ESD tape. Not much to worry about if you're not experiencing any problems.

-Vb-

 

alright cool. if you think i dont need it then ill take your word for it. i have chosen my backup laptop to be the new toshiba M60. whats your opinion on this unit? one thing i like is the numeric keypad which would be a lifesaver because i have to type a lot of numbers for science research labs etc. BUT, it causes the actual keyboard to be offset and was wondering if you have ever used an offset keyboard like that and if you like it or not. i went to my local electronics store but for some reason they dont carry it yet...i thought they were released a couple months ago...

 

The units are still fairly new. It may take a few more weeks or so before they show up in the stores, or, the store you went to just doesn't carry them yet.

I have never used a notebook with that big of an offset. I have seen/used (at the store) 15.4" models with a slight offset and it didn't feel too bad.

The M60 is a 17" notebook. This will be BIG and somewhat heavy (7.32lbs) and therefore not the most portable. It's got a good graphics card (NVidia Go 6600 w/128MB) and a TruBrite screen. Spec wise, it's a nice system, but since I've never used one before, I can't really comment on the quality/look/feel of the unit.

I'd suggest going to you're local computer store and checkout an HP 17" notebook. These units also have the offset keyboards similar to the Toshiba (kinda), so you should get a general idea how the offset will affect you.

**** Update: I just went to Costco in Canada and it seems that the M60's are currently sold there (approx $2000-2100CDN). Regarding the position of the keyboard, I tried it out and it seemed fine. Even though it's off center, it still feels ok. I didn't really notice too much when typing on it.

-Vb-