P100 Customized or P105 S9312?

May buy either one of these but would like you input please. I am not a gamer but would not mind a good graphics card but I am concerned about the slow HDD and the possible heat from this high end graphics card. With the other, I like I can get a faster HDD but I will have lesser graphics card, less memory and it will cost me about the same money as the p105. Also, if I buy the p105 and on't like it, I will be hit for a $300 restocking fee. Would appreciate your input and why you made your choices between these. Thanks.

Gary

 

for me the P100 was the best choice. I would have prefered the higher graphic card on the P105, but the go7600 is still a good graphic card, and i am not the heaviest gamer in the world. I also didn't need the huge hard drives the P105 offered (i stuck with the 80gb 5400rpm, figured i would get a new HD in the future when i fill mine up and make it 7200rpm). It ended up being much cheaper then the higher end p105-S9312. Here i will post what i order....:

Satellite P100-ST7211 -
Toshiba Laptop Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2500 (2.0GHz; 2MB L2 Cache; 667MHz FSB),
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, Peacock Blue,
2048MB PC5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (1024MBx2),
17" Widescreen SXGA+ TruBrite™ display (1680x1050),
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7600 with 256MB discrete graphics memory,
80GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial-ATA),
DVD SuperMulti drive (+/-R Double Layer),
Atheros® Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g), Bluetooth® (v.2.0) + EDR, Li-Ion Battery (9-Cell),
DVD SuperMulti drive (+/-R Double Layer)
Intel® PRO/Wireless LAN 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g) Intel® Centrino® compliant
Bluetooth
Li-Ion Battery (9-Cell)
COST:$1,761.75

 

It depends, what are you going to be doing with the notebook?

 

Hi there... first time poster debating the same question as the original poster. I'm wondering the same thing myself. Personally I AM a gamer but not sure if I will be using the laptop mostly for this. My wife will be using it for school work, finances, etc...

I'll be using it for some amount of gaming (Oblivion) and general internet stuff

Is the ugraded graphics worth waiting on the P105??

Thanks in advance.

 

Well just to add my .02 here. I have the P105 and I absolutely love it. Can play any game at max resolution and max settings without breaking a sweat. Also with some volt modding via NHC I am getting about 3 hours battery life doing general websurfing and word docs. Need to hurry up and get my review done

 

Would love to see your review but for now, what about the heat under normal, not gaming use? And, how do you find using the keyboard since some of the keys are very small in comparison to other like the right shift? Thanks for your input as well as others.

Gary

 

Heat isn't an issue at all at least with the 7600 go. You'd feel more heat if you sit on your hand! As far as gaming I would've loved the option of the 7900 GS, but the 7600 go in my laptop will play most games at medium to high settings. Despite the app's protests I can have over 10,000 soldiers on the battlefield in Rome: Total War and both its expansions with ALL video settings at maximum including anti-aliasing and have it run as smooth as silk.

The only thing that turned me off with the S9312 is the pokey HD. For $2,000 you'd think they would at least put in a 5400rpm one!!. I'm with the other guy above me...I'll just get a 7200rpm hd when the price goes down to something more reasonable.

 

I'm not sure, because I can't compare it with the 7600. But I do know that the 7900 runs Oblivion very smoothly with almost everything maxed--it is really gorgeous on the S9312 widescreen. One caveat: I've noticed once in awhile if I play Oblivion for a long time, I can get some weird video artifacts going on. But then I just exit the game and reload, and it's fine. This happens very rarely, but I thought you should know. I'm really happy with this laptop. For games, it runs everything really well.

 

Hey Pharoke, how do you do that modding? I don't want to hijack this thread, so if you could start a new thread with info about that, I would really appreciate it!

 

By the way, I should add that I wasn't sure about the slow hard drive before I bought it--but so far, it really doesn't seem slow to me. I just know it is because of the specs, but I wouldn't have guessed it--maybe that's due to the T2500 dual core CPU... ?

 

For anyone considering the P105-S9312, Costco has one for $1850. Looks similar to a deal they had up last week.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11146465&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

 

Doesn't really get warm at all and as far as the keys are concerned I don't even notice the size difference. The center of the key is in the same relative spot so you should be able to hit it.

 

My thoughts, I ordered a customized P100 mainly because I was broke and plan on upgrading to a Core2Duo when the prices go down. However I would have sprung for the P105. I guess it all depends if you have the money or not.