Toshiba Tecra M3

Hey, I have been thinking of upgrading my now 5-6 year old comp and decided that getting a laptop would be a good choice considering that having a portable unit would be pratical. I'm not in a frenzy hurry to buy though, I already have been waiting more then a year already thinking of buying a new cpu. But not long ago I passed an interesting laptop with a good price through my uni's comp store(you need a student ID to buy and it's 1299$ CND). It's a Tecra M3 with the following specs :

Pentium M 1.6GHz Processor
512MB DDR RAM
60GB Hard Disk Drive
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive
14.1" TFT Screen
nVIDIA GeForce Go 6200 TE 64M DDR PCI Express 16
10/100/1000 Ethernet
Weighs 4.99 lbs.
3 Year Warranty
Windows XP Professional

More detailed specs are available here : http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=1&group=1&product=4196&category=

I don't know, but the price looks pretty good, but I dunno if there is something seriously wrong with it like a flaw in the serie. I really can't afford financially to have a dead pc on me right now. So I want to know what people who know better about laptops can tell me about this one.

I should probably mention my main uses. I'm looking for a laptop to be a general modest cpu but that I can transport sometimes when needed. My main use I would find for it would be surfing, word processing and video watching(DVD or encoded video files). I also would like to play some games on it, but I'm not a big gamer. Could someone tell me the limit of the games I could play, like could I play Half-Life 2 or Battlefield 2 with minimum settings? Thanks guys

 

Yeah, the price you buy from the univ is really a steal compared to what toshiba lists for the M3 on their laptop. But i'd say the price they give on at univ is good but not as much a steal as it might look like (more than 1000$ off! omg). I bought it for 1300$ from McGill univ computer store. Yeah, it's business class, it's light but every 14'' business class weights this much. It's too noisy though, once the fan is on, it'll stay on. Must be something wrong with their heat sensor cause the temperature readings wont drop until you change the power setting manually from the toshiba power control app. And i don't know if it's just mine but the optical drive is LOUD. The whole computer is loud. I feel embarassed when i turn it on inside a library. It's good for the price, yeah, but if you have the money, IBM can be had at fair prices from univ stores too.

 

is this from UofT computer shop?? cuz i m also looking for a new laptop. but i didnt ask them for the tablet.

 

never mind.. i thought this is the tablet model..... sorry...

 

Try the M4. Same notebook with tablet functionality. While you're at it, it might be a good choice to opt for a 6600 instead of the 6200.

 

Seems like a good price. Here is a review if you want to look:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2251

The 5400RPM drive is big performance wise. Good Luck.

 

OMG sorry for the long answer, you won't believe it but I totally forgot the site on which i posted this. Thanks for the comments.

I also found the unit to be less to my liking when I saw it. Moreover, I have fallen in love with the ASUS W3V which is much more expensive. But I'm also been thinking about how computer lose value and I'm thinking that buying a 1300$ comp now and buying another one in two year for the same price might be better then buying an expensive one now. Because I would have two laptops in 4 years from now instead of 1 old one. Seriously though, I'm really bad at choosing and my last electronics that I bought where all disappointing(Stupid Sony). ASUS W3V looks to be everything I want, but it seems it was out for a while know. Obviously, if i buy it now, I would be the worst time since I would be paying full price allthough the technology is more then 6 months old. So now I'm thinking if I should wait and save a little more money and see what ASUS will replace the W3V with.

So like, I'm wondering, is it worth waiting right now for W3V's replacement? Buy this Tecra M3 although it's not all I want or maybe just buy the **** W3V? Not to mention my friend who is still nagging me to buy a mac portable.

 

I personally would pick the Asus especially if you are going to use it for a bit. There is always something better on the horizon.