Entry level Toshiba laptop to replace a damaged Dell

I owned a Dell Inspiron 1300 for 2 years but dropped it in January 2008 and crashed it's monitor and Dell wanted a chunk of change to fix it, I told Dell no. Several people have told me to consider purchasing a Toshiba laptop to replace my damaged Dell. All I would be doing on the laptop is surfing the web, sending and receiving email and some Quicken. I'm not into playing games nor am I into digital photography.

Now that Vista is the primary OS offered by Microsoft, this part I do know from having read a lot, any new computer I buy having Windows Vista should have at least 2GB of system memory for the computer to run efficiently. Toshiba makes many models for home office use.

Which one or two models would be good to consider for a new laptop for just basic computing needs like those I've mentioned above and if none come pre-configured with 2GB of system memory can I purchase a laptop with only 1GB of system memory and purchase more memory and add it to the new computer or would that not be a very good idea?

 

Well, what's your budget? If you tell me that, I'll look up every possible thing you can get.

 

About $600.00 USD if possible.

 

Sure. Let me check what your options are.

 

Also, I forgot to ask, do you mind buying another dell, and what is your favorite color? Also, about the ram upgrade, yes, you can do it yourself if you are confident in opening your computer up.

For example, I found a $509 Inspiron 1525, previously ordered new, (meaning it was ordered and canceled in the build stage, never turned on, and will ship as soon as your payment is processed because it is already built) 2 GB ram, and an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz with a 250 GB Hard drive, webcam and Vista Basic in Jet Black. This is a steal to me. To use the dell outlet, just go to dell.com/outlet, choose laptops, then Inspiron 1525, then uncheck refurbished, scratch and dent, and off lease so all the results are previously ordered new, and then just click price and it'll show the prices from lowest to highest, and just click the set of numbers/letters under view details to check. You can also filter minimum ram, minimum processor, and color.

 

If I bought another Dell Inspiron I would probably go with "MIDNIGHT BLUE" rather than "BLACK" but lots of owners of the new Dell laptops have encountered problems with their touchpads and erratic cursor movement on their computers, Inspiron 1520's, 1525's and even Vostro 1500's which is why I have been looking at other models. I thought you were going to give me a model number by Toshiba..

 

Things will be tight at your budget. It may be the right move to consider one of the current models of netbooks on the market if you truly only need the laptop for very basic computing needs. I have used three Toshibas to date, two in the Satellite A-series, and currently use an M305 as my dual-boot LINUX/Vista machine. For the price I paid, to get a Core 2 Duo and 250GB hard drive was an excellent value buy (based on the market in March of this year).

Your best bet right now is probably the A305-S6872, available at Best Buy. It features a Core 2 Duo and 250GB HD as well, although it is a bit larger than my model, which is ok if you are not wrapped around the axle about maximizing portability.

Circuit City has a similarly spec'd model, the Toshiba L305-S5885 15.4" Widescreen Laptop. It is the same price, and at a cursory glance I did not see any glaring differences in their specs. Toshiba makes specific sub-models in a line specifically for direct sale at certain retailers. For instance, the specific model of M305 I have was only available exclusively at Circuit City, although it is likely a model with the same specs and some minor differences was available at another retailer. You'll need to follow the links and determine if there is something that sticks out to you on one model more so than the other.

I did not see anything at Newegg.com that had anything other than what I would consider a budget processor for less than $800. Hope this helps to get you started. Others will provide more refined choices than I might.
- Vr/Z.

 

I took a look at that laptop listed on Best Buy, it seems to be a nice unit. What's Toshiba's tech support like? Is it based in India like Dell's? Are Dell laptops sold through their outlet store any good? Refurbished model? New and never delivered? Nobody now seems to make a laptop similar to my old Dell Inspiron 1300 except for Compaq and Acer, 2 companies I have been told to stay awat from, poor build and poor tech support.

 

All their outlet laptops are ok, but refurbished may have some light scratches, previously ordered new doesn't, sorry I forgot about this thread, I would've gave you some Toshiba models. Zeuxidamas listed a common one. Previously ordered new outlet have never been turned on. I've never dealt with Toshiba's tech support however. Maybe make a separate thread asking about it? Maybe consider some laptops from Lenovo? I don't know if they have any in your budget, but their build quality is renowned around this forum.

 

Are Lenovo laptops considered better than Toshiba? I wonder if any other brand of laptop besides Dell are having touchpad and erratic cursor problems? Dell says on their forum the problem is due to faulty A.C. adapters which they are sending out new ones to laptop owners who complain.

I don't know why Dell doesn't just go ahead and correct their A.C. adapter problems, they must have a few hundred thousands on hand so they're still sending them out, if you complain Dell will ship you out another one to replace the defective one. I was seriously considering buying another Dell until I read about that problem.

I called Dell's tech support again yesterday to get another price quote on what they would charge me to repair the damaged LCD monitor on my 2 year old Inspiron 1300 laptop, $368.00 + sales tax, the work would be warrantied for only 90 days, I asked the guy in India what would happen if at day 100 my laptop's monitor went out again, he said to ship it back and pay another $368.00 charge and we would gladly fix it again. I said I don't think so.

 

I wonder, if the battery of A305-S6872 could last at least 3 hours..

 

I have fortunately for me but perhaps unfortunately for your question, never had to personally deal with Toshiba Tech Support, so I could not say how they do. I would recommend you hit up CNET.com and laptopmag.com. Each of their associated magazines runs a Tech Support evaluation article each year where they evaluate the various laptop manufacturers and grade them based on their performance. You should be able to find the 2008 articles in the archives on the website or by doing a search.

My own opinion on Lenovo's are that they are the Toyota Camry's or Honda Accord's of the lap-top martket. Most of the models they make are not overly exciting, but you should be able to put a ton of miles on one before it completely breaks down. The problem is that they tend to be priced out of the bottom-budget market. However, recently, they have been placing some models nearer the entry level prices that other manufacturers do, so checking one out may not be a bad idea.
- Vr/Z.