Sub-$1000 Toshiba worth it? (A65)

Hi there!

I need to find a sub-1000 notebook that's basically not crap. I'm afraid of cheap HP's due to the stuff I hear about their reliability and quality. I hear toshiba makes good stuff.

CircuitCity has an A65 for 850 after rebates: http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&u=c&catoid=-8026&qp=0023643000235&oid=95078&m=0

Is this any good? I have a celeron 2.4 notebook now. A little slow but what I need is a work notwbook, some business apps and that's it.

If not toshiba, is HP in your opinion any good? I'm also looking into an Averatec 3225 for 800 at the same place, but not sure if I want a tiny screen. Then again, I'll be carting it to and from work every day, AND it has superior power.. hmmmmmmmmmmm

Sorry for the long post!! And thanks for any help / advice.

--jason

 

Actually, the HP quality is on par or better than the Toshiba's IMO. The A65 is a decent notebook, but is still a Celeron system. You said that you have a Celeron 2.4 and it's slow, this is a Celeron 2.8 so performance may not be what you're expecting. The size and weight of this unit may be a bit much. It weighs 7.7lbs plus another 0.5lbs for the AC adapter, makes this over 8lbs. You may want to consider a smaller unit.
A lot of people on this site say that getting a Celeron is a sin, but I say if it suits your current and possibly future needs, then I say get it.
If I can make a recommendation, have you looked at the HP NX5000? This is a smaller unit, weighs less, the only issue is it's more expensive, but I believe it's worth it.

-Vb-

 

Hi.. thanks for the reply!

I realize the speed of the celeron is kind of crippling, especially when my desktop is an AMD 2500 barton. I don't have much of a choice.. a really cheap but good quality notebook?

I do PHP and SQL work, so I have an editor and a few query windows and a few IE windows open. Not bad I think. Whether or not it's going to be good we'll find out, since we just purchased one today to try it out. Maybe I'll go with the 12" one, since it is an XPm2000.. But in reality, celeron or not, is it fast enough to keep me going is the real question.

Too bad I don't have a choice, my manager wants $700 laptops (rather sub-$1k), so I Can't work with much.

My biggest concern is quality and reliability. Do these low end toshibas tend to break easily? I can go with HP too, but is saying quality is the same mean they're both blah, or not bad, or ?

I wonder, can I just stick a P4 2ghz or whatever in it? My current one came 'barebones' and could accept celeron OR P4, and all these A65-xxxx look like the same chassis.

Anyway, good times.

Jason

 

Well, the quality depends on who you talk to, but I personally think the HP's are better than the Toshiba's.
HP does offer a few sub-$1K notebooks. Pretty much their entire Consumer lines will be in the $1000 range, some above and some below. You may have to change the config of the systems to drop below $1000, but it's doable. Again, most of HP's Consumer line, except for the ZT3000 & X1000 series are fairly heavy (8+lbs). The 2 series I just listed are under 7lbs.

Swapping of the CPU's may be possible. I believe in the desktop area, the CPU's have the exact same pin layout and same voltage, but I'm not sure about notebooks. Especially with all the Mobile chips that use less power. A Mobile Celeron is completely different than a Celeron M. The 1st is based on the P4 technology, while the 2nd is based on the Pentium M design.

From what I've seen, the quality of the HP's are good. Not that many complaints of anything horribly wrong with the units. Toshiba is pretty much the same. The older Toshiba's were a bit flaky (my friend's a notebook depot tech), but the newer ones are better.

Good luck!

-Vb-

 

Ewwwwww! A computer with a Celeron?[ ]

I would definitely avoid at all costs. Pretty much anything with the Celeron label will not be worth it in the short and long run.

Besides, there are a bunch of systems in the same price range with the Athlon XP-M chip, which is far superior in terms of battery life and computing power.

You are definitely looking in the right direction when you mention Averatec and HP.

In this price range, you have a bunch of choices. You can configure a ze4000 series for about $950 with the same stuff that the Toshiba comes with. Of course, I would opt to go with a little more RAM, which will increase the price a little.

Good luck in your search!