Toshiba build quality and other questions

Hi guys,

I just got my first notebook, a Toshiba Satellite A210-MS0 from Futureshop Canada on Friday, and overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. Here's the one I got:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10095430&logon=&langid=EN#

For the price, I think it was a great deal. However, like I said, I'm a first time laptop owner, and though the laptop feels quite sturdy, I have read in a lot of places that recently, the build quality of Toshiba Satellites (the A200 series in particular) has not been so good. What are your experiences with the build quality of Toshiba laptops? How is their customer service in general? I have a one year warranty on this, should I extend it to two years or so by paying $100 more?

Secondly, how good do you think this laptop will be for gaming? To be sure, it has a low end Radeon, but I'll still like to game on it a little if possible. I installed the Far Cry demo the other day and it ran flawlessly on medium settings.....although, after being used to running everything at max detail and 4xAA on my X850 XT on my desktop, it was a big drop in terms of graphics.

I currently have 1 GB of RAM-will upgrading that to 2 GB make a big difference in gaming terms?

And lastly, is the processor (AMD Athlon X2 TK-55, 1.8 GHz) enough to last me for the next 2-3 years? I will be mostly running professional design programs and office software on it, with maybe some web designing and video editing.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

I think the Athlon TK-55 could run a bit hot. Just be aware of that.
Overall, Toshiba is average when you go through all models. Some models are better than others.

 

Yes, upgrading to 2GB ram is a really good idea.
I only had like 200mb of ram free when idling lol
I suggest that you get a better laptop with a better CPU, since the TK's have only half the L2 cache of the TL's.
They also seem to be more slower and more hotter than Intel C2D's.

 

Thanks for the replies!

Actually, before I bought it, I thought that the processor would run hot too. But either because of the very good cooling of the laptop or because of low power requirements of the processor, I've found that the laptop doesn't get very warm at all, at least to touch. Even when I touch the exhaust vent, it's barely lukewarm. And this when I'm playing Far Cry on it. So I did a little google search, and came up with this:

http://products.amd.com/en-us/NotebookCPUDetail.aspx?id=8

http://products.amd.com/en-us/NotebookCPUDetail.aspx?id=7

http://products.amd.com/en-us/NotebookCPUDetail.aspx?id=4

The Athlon X2 is actually rated at 31W TDP compared to two types of Turions, one at 33W and another at 31W. So it seems that the Athlon X2 dissipates less power, but like allan said, also has half the cache. Compared to the Core 2 Duo, both are slower, but it's not like I'm going to run FEAR on this, and in everyday use, I think as long as I have a dual core cpu, I should be fine. Besides, Core 2 Duo based laptops are out of my budget.

Unfortunately, my budget stretches only upto about $650, and this was the best deal I could find for the price.

I'm not sure what difference that extra cache makes.....maybe it increases latency issues, and makes the situation worse for the Turion? Otherwise why would AMD brand a processor with less cache the Athlon X2, which historically has been much more popular and faster than any Turion X2s?

The RAM issue, yea, Vista eats up about 480 MB of RAM while sitting on the desktop.......maybe I should get more RAM then.

I thought that being a japanese company, Toshibas would be really good quality laptops......anyone have any experience with their customer service? Anyone ever had anything go wrong with their Toshiba laptops?

Lastly, can anyone suggest me a good laptop deal for $650 or less?

 

My personal experience is that the CS via telephone is not all that great.
The tech guy in the local center was a bit better and more helpful and knowledgeable. These guys at the support center tend to see the same
problem over and over.

There is a Thinkpad R61i (doesn't have a webcam tho) that might still
be on sale in your Circuit City store for $550 after rebate. It's kind of ugly and the display is not as glossy but cool (temperature wise) as hell. Also got a 2 GB on it. Better check it out before the next notebookreview guy who see it gets the last one.

 

Japanese brand or not, they all made in Taiwan anyway

Compal makes ones for Toshiba. Just select few for Japanese market are actually made (or more exactly, assembled) in Japan.

 

even most of the Vaio are made in China.
I believe the quality of laptop made in Taiwan is pretty good , since
Acer and Asus are Taiwanese brand.