Tecra A9-ST9001 OR Satellite A200-ST2041

Dear all -

I'm planning to buy a laptop from toshibadirect.com. After some ground work;
I'm bit confused whether to go for Satellite A200 or Tecra-A9.
Both are customizible. I have customized both of them as below:

Tecra A9-ST9001 --- $1,374.00

• CPU: Intel® Core™2 Duo* Processor T7300 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
• Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista™ Business 32-bit
• Office Software: Microsoft® Office Ready Suite 2007 (60-day trial)
• Memory: 1024MB PC5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (1024MBx1)
• LCD: 15.4" Diagonal Widescreen SXGA+ display (1680x1050)
• Graphics Controller: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• HDD: 80GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial-ATA)
• Optical Media: DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive
• Mini-PCI/WiFi: Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 2.0 +EDR
• Standard Warranty: 1 Year Standard Limited Warranty

Satellite A200-ST2041 --- $1,286.40

• CPU: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)
• Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista™ Business 32-Bit
• Office Software: Microsoft® Office 2007 Suite Ready
• Memory: 1024MB PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (1024MBx1)
• LCD: 15.4" Diagonal Widescreen XGA TruBrite® display with High Brightness (1280x800)
• Graphics Controller: nVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7300 with 128MB dedicated graphics memory
• HDD: 80GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial-ATA)
• Optical Media: DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash™ drive
• Mini-PCI/WiFi: Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965 AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® v.2.0 + EDR
• Speaker: harmon/kardon® stereo speakers
• Standard Warranty: 1 Year Standard Limited Warranty

My primary use of the laptop will be at home - doing some office work i.e J2EE development + a bit of gaming + music

Tecra has got Santa Rosa motherboard (667 to 800 MHz gain in FSB) - apart from this - I dont find any difference in above both configuration.

But Tecra is expensive, has less ports, no webcam , no good speakers etc.
What could be the reason?

Cay anybody recommend me what to go for based on your experiences ?

thnks and rgds,
Bas

 

The Tecra is a business class machine, and as such is built tougher and has some business-level features. Why it has no webcam is beyond me, and I think that was a poor decision on Toshiba's part. But this is why the machine is more expensive with "less" in it.

I was thinking much the same thing you were, but I decided to wait out the Santa Rosa Satellites. I'm hoping they come soon; the Santa Rosa P200 showed up last night and so I can't imagine the Santa Rosa A200 being far behind. I'm thinking about calling to ask about it today, actually.

- Trip

 

Many Thanks Trip

Can you care to tell me what are these business-level features? ( I really want to know? )
One more thing -
Does Santa Rosa make any much difference? (Apart from a bit increased battery life and in-significant bus speed. Please correct me if wrong.)

Please update this post on expected arrival of Santa Rosa A200 after your dialogue with Toshiba folks.

thnks and rgds,
Bas

 

No problem. Um, the Tecra has the Centrino Pro technology in it. This means it supports hardware virtualization, additional security features called "vPro," and I think it has some specialized Toshiba hard drive protection. I remember seeing a fact sheet on it somewhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_vPro

You hit the two big ones for most people. In my case, I'm a bit of a tech nut so I like to have the ability to upgrade my system, even if I don't use it. Santa Rosa introduces a new processor socket, Socket P, which will be used in newer processors for some time. I want to have the battery life and bus speed increase as well (plus the dynamically changing bus speed to conserve battery), but this was a big reason for delaying.

I was told that it would be posted "next week," so we'll see. I'm waiting anxiously.

I may call again later this afternoon and see if anyone knows any specs for it, but based on my call about a week or so ago (I was transferred to a guy who knew a decent bit about what he was selling), the sales department is kept in the dark until the day before release so it may not be worth the time.

If there's anything else I can try to help you out with, just post. =)

- Trip

 

Thanks Trip. That was informative.
Santa Rosa looks promising. But there is a downside for Socket P :

The Santa Rosa platform also introduces a new pin-out, Socket-P, for Core 2 Duo processors. Unfortunately that means you won't be able to use current Core 2 Duo and Core Duo processors in Santa Rosa based motherboards and notebooks -- This does not matter for laptop users

Taken from here

I will also wait for a week i.e. till first week of July. If nothing comes up; will go for Tecra A9.

What do you say?

thnks and rgds,
Bas

 

Well, it runs current Core 2 Duo processors, i.e. the T7300 I plan to get in it. I'm not planning to downgrade my processor, I'm keeping my options open as far as getting something newer. =P

Sounds like a good plan. I called again yesterday afternoon and was told that there was going to be a product launch on July 3, which means I now have heard three different dates from three different people. All of these dates are next week though, so they're all hitting around the same couple of days (July 2, 3, and 6 are the dates I've heard, all I need is July 5 to own the complete set!).

Let me know what you eventually decide to do. =)

- Trip

 

I had the same dilemma when I was shopping for a new laptop about two months ago. I really wanted another Toshiba because I've had great experiences with them.

The Tecra has a series of reliability/durability enhancements known as Toshiba EasyGuard. It includes shock absorbing design, hard disk protection from drops/impacts, magnesium alloy casing (stronger and lighter than titanium usually used), spill resistant keyboard and some proprietary diagnostic tools. The ones I've see in a store felt much more substantial than the Satellite. If longevity is a goal, I think it'd be money well spent.

One other thing I noticed, on the Tecra it only costs $100 to extend the 1-year standard warranty to 3 years. On Satellites, it's more in the $250-300 range. It seems they have more confidence in the Tecras durability.

I have an old (as in 1999) Satellite Pro that still works perfectly. It has held up better than the Satellite M45 I bought in 2005. Of course, it's a 333 MHz P2 with 64MB of RAM, but my nephew uses it for Word and Excel and limited internet browsing. Dang good machine.

My M45-S265 had a major heat related failure about two months ago and I still haven't got it working yet. I needed a new laptop for work right away and a friend who works at Circuit City offered me his discount on whatever they had in stock. I really wanted a Toshiba, but I ended up with an hp dv9339us instead. I regret it now.

 

Thanks!

Lookslike Tecra beats Satellite. I've kind of made up my mind on Tecra.
Hopefully on or by July 4, Tecra will be become little more cheaper!!
6 days to go
thnks and rgds,
Bas

 

Looking at the Tecra when I was responding to this post, I started really wishing I'd gotten one. I'm not happy with the hp9000-series that I ended up with. I'm thinking I could sell it for $1000 on Ebay and cut my losses. Then order a Tecra. =) The A9 is "only" $1779 configured the way I'd want it.

Quick question- will Vista Business meet your needs? I know some features aren't included that are in Vista Home Premium. The main things missing from Business are Windows Media Center, Windows DVD Maker and Windows Movie Maker as well as their so-called 'premium' games.

Too bad they don't still offer xp like Dell and hp are still doing.....I'd sell a kidney if I had to to buy a Tecra with xp instead of Vista....

 

I had compared the different flavours of Vista on their site.

But after some thought I had made up my mind with Vista Business.
Primarily because it has

• Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore
• Windows Fax and Scan
• Remote desktop connection

These features are not available in Home premium & also difficult to get genunine copy of these. Also these are very much required for the kind of projects that I work on.

I also checked on the third party software provided by Tecra a9.

Third-party Software
o Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2007 (If purchased at time of system configuration)
o Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2007 (If purchased at time of system configuration)
o Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2007 (If purchased at time of system configuration)
o Sun® Java™ 2 Runtime Environment
o Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.0
o InterVideo® WinDVD® 8 For Toshiba
o Microsoft® Windows Media Player 11
o Google™ Desktop
o Google™ Toolbar
o Yahoo! Music™ Jukebox
o Infineon TPM Software Professional Package 3.0
o Protector Suite™ QL by UPEK®32
o Ulead® DVD MovieFactory® 5 for TOSHIBA

The WinDVD, yahoo Jukebox & media player 11 will make up the features that are not available in Home premium (hope fully).

Games - I don't care much but would loved to have but definitely not the criteria.

I also feel the same that XP with Tecra would be rock-solid combination.

 

When you get your new system, let us know what you think of it. I've been to the Toshiba site a few times over the weekend looking at them. Also found a few Tecra's on clearance at various sites with xp, but they have the Core Duo, not the Core 2 Duo processor. I may break down and get one and pawn off my hp on someone else.

I was concerned about the Remote Desktop capability with Vista Home Premium, but I discovered that only Business and Ultimate versions can act as HOST to a session. All Vista versions can connect as USERS via Remote Desktop. I use Home Premium to connect to work almost every day (way too often). Just FYI, you may already be well aware of that.

If you miss any of the Premium features later on, you can always upgrade to Ultimate.

I have noticed that Office 2007 Standard is not easy to find. Most laptop makers offer the Home and Student version which replaces Outlook with OneNote for the same price. OneNote is useless to me but I miss Outlook....although the new Windows Mail works pretty well.

Good luck and enjoy the new Tecra!