Toshiba Satellite A65-S1362 Notebook - HELP!

Just picked up this laptop from CompUSA for $600 after rebates. I have not opened it up yet. Was looking for reviews and can't find any.
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=314628&pfp=ldaysale

Satellite A65-S1362 Notebook

Intel Celeron D Processor 325, 2.53GHz, 256MB RAM, 30GB Hard Drive, 15-inch XGA TFT Display, 8X DVD / 16X4X24 CD-RW Combo Drive, Windows XP Home
Manufacturer: Toshiba

Mfg Part #: PSA60U-086015

Product Number: 314628


Somebody talk me into keeping this thing or returning it before I open the package.

I will be using it for mainly surfing and light applictions.
I know the battery life is going to suck. For this price, I can live with that. Can't find anything on the new celeron D's in laptops. Not sure if the USB ports are 2.0 or not.

Toshiba has absolutely nothing about this laptop on their website.
Would I be better off paying $400 or so more for an AMD?

Thanks

 

- Basically, this unit has a Desktop CPU in it. Battery life will be poor because of this. Heat may be a factor since it is a DTR CPU.
- L2 Cache size in the CPU is 256k, which is very low compared to a Pentium M (1MB or 2MB), or even the Celeron M CPU's (512k or 1MB).
- USB 2.0 is standard in all systems now
- For your needs, this will do just fine. The video card has shared memory, so this is not really designed for gaming or heavy graphics. Surfing & light apps should be more than fine.
- The AMD CPU's may give you some more computing power, but for your needs, it's not required.
- If you mobility & excellent battery life, a Pentium M or at least a Celeron M would be the way to go.

-Vb-

 

I'd probably return it. Pretty much anything with a Celeron in it, even the vastly improved D model, should not even be considered. Not when you can get a vastly superior Athlon XP-M for around the same price, or a full-blown Pentium 4 for $200 more bucks. Even the other specs are substandard-40GB hard drives are pretty standard today, and 256MB of RAM will not go very far, expecially considering that your integrated solution uses up to 64MB of it for its own purpose, and XP uses 128MB idling. The DVD/CD-RW drive is this thing's only redeeming quality, and even that is pretty much a standard in most notebooks above ultraportables. Do yourself a favor, and save up a little more money. Go with a better machine. A year from now, you will be thanking yourself you did.

Take a look at hpshopping.com for an Athlon XP-M deal. They come in for as little as $749, but about $850 gets you a decent machine.

 

Thanks for the replies. I returned it today. Will wait for a better deal to come along.

 

I picked it up the other day for the same price, and decided to keep it since I was badly in need of a machine.

It is SLOW.

One question - the specs on the compusa website say that there is a parallel port on this machine, but mine does not have one! I can't find any specs on this machine elsewhere. So I don't know whether the specs on the compusa website are incorrect or whether my machine (it was nicely packaged) just happens to be out of the norm. Does anyone know whether or not this machine is supposed to have a PP? I called Toshiba and they do not know!

Thanks in advance.

 

I just checked the CompUSA site and it doesn't indicate that there's a parallel port. Maybe they made a correction to their specs. A lot of cases, they cut & paste the specs from another unit and forget to change a few things.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=314628&cm_ven=dealm_site&cm_cat=deals3_2004&cm_pla=site

If you need an older parallel port, you can buy a USB to Parallel adapter for your system.

-Vb-

 

Hi.. I have the celeron 2.8 version of this

it's really not bad at all, but you can't use toshiba's OS image, it's crap and makes the computer slow as hell.

install XP/2k yourself, and up the RAM cuz 256 sucks.. you're not even getting 256, cuz of the shared video. 256 - 64 shared ram = 192mb! so, get a 256 or 512M stick and life will be better.

Wish I had an XP-m, but I had no choice.. perhaps for my personal laptop i'll get one of those Athlon64's

anyway

--jason

 

The Toshiba A65 S1362 is TERRIBLE with a capital T. I bought extra memory for it to speed it up and it worked. I have had this computer for 5 weeks. In that time, I have had to use a system restore three times, which caused me to reinstall all of my software. I have had FATAL ERROR messages since I have had it (a grand total of 5 weeks), I have lost data, and now to top it off, it will not start. I get yet another error message that says, "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. If this is the....." blah blah bottom line, it won't come on and I have to do a quick restore and lose my data. I completly regret that I bought this computer, I bought it b/c my COMPAQ broke, and now it broke. DERN.

DONT BUY IT!!!!