what do you think about this laptop(Satellite M45-S169 Notebook)

im thinking about buying this laptop.

Intel Celeron M Processor 380, 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB Hard Drive, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Home Edition

heres a link http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=333380&pfp=srch1
total price 800$

what do you think, comments?

 

If you are looking for a inexpensive laptop, I would check the deals section on the front page. Celeron M doesn't have very good battery life since it cannot slow the clock speed to save battery life. The Mobile Sempron is a much better budget CPU. You should consider the FAQ in the hardware forum and post there. Good Luck.

 

I highly agree with zaz, the Celeron M wouldn't be a good choice period - avoid at all costs. Look at the Sempron as zaz said, and if you can, try to score a Turion 64 or Pentium M.

 

I was very interested in the same notebook a month ago. I almost bought it but chose to get the M45-269. Difference is that this one has:

1.73ghz Pentium M 2mb cache w/ 533 mghz bus, not celeron
memory is DDR2 not DDR
100 gig hdd, not 80 gig

Everything else is the same I believe. I got lucky and instead of having 2x256 mb of ram I have 1x512 stick w/ an open slot.

Paid $1099 after rebate at Best Buy w/ 24 months no interest.

I would definately spend the extra money and go for the centrino.

 

I agree with all of these guys, the celeron is no good in a laptop. About a month ago, I bought an M60 with a Pentim M 760 (2.00 GHz), It is nice because when the processor doesn't need to operate at full throttle, it will down clock to 800 MHz, which is still fast enough to run virtually everything, because it saves the battery, and if it needs to speed up, it will go back to 2.00 GHz. You gotta love mobilemeter. If there would have been a choice for a Turion, I would have definately scored one of those, but Toshiba doesn't put AMD in their laptops, otherwise I would have had one.

Matt

 

Got mine about one week ago. Its more than enough for almost all tasks I have to do. Photoshop runs smoothly as my Flight Simulator (20fps). Screen is very good for dvd watching too.
For comparision, if You want do some tests, Super PI values are: 1m03s and 2m40s for 1 and 2 MI respectively.
Photoshop: gaussian blur filter apply in less than 1 sec in a 34 Mb image.
At work I'm using wireless with no problems. I agree about battery life. Usually last less than 1h20m.

 

I'm not sure why everyone's dissin' the Celeron M. It's a great budget CPU. It's been well noted that the Celeron M has basically the same or very similar performance level as the older 400MHz Pentium-Ms (do a google search). Not bad. The only thing that it doesn't have is the the power saving features... but then again, if you buy a budget notebook, you're going to expect some compromises, right?

Don't confuse the Celeron M with the older Celerons, which had relatively weak performance compared to equivalent Pentiums. $800 is a great price for those features and you can always upgrade to a higher processor later on, especially considering that the dual core Yonah processors are supposed to be released in Q1 2006 (re: price drops for current PMs!).

 

The Celeorn-M doesn't have the same performance as the older P-Ms. The older P-Ms had a 2MB cache, wheras the ALL Celerons have only had a 1MB cache, which effectively reduces performance almost in half. In addition, it lacks, as others and I have stated, power saving features that the AMD Sempron has.

 

The first Pentium Ms, the Banais, had 1MB cache.

 

Ah, you're correct - however I was refering to the pre-Sonoma platform Dothan P-Ms. Well anyways, it is still preferable to get an AMD Sempron over an Intel Celeron nowadays.

 

If having 1MB of cache halves the performance, then that would mean that Dothan Pentium-Ms would be twice as fast as the older Banias Pentium-Ms. And clearly, that is not the case. In fact, with 2MB of cache, DDR2 memory, and the 533MHz bus, even the Sonomas are only somewhat faster (certainly not by a factor of 2).

If we go back to the original post, seancttm asked what people thought about the M45. Although it 'only' comes with a Celeron M, remember that you're really getting the performance of an older Pentium M... minus the power savings and that can be easily remedied by popping in a PM chip any time in the future since they both fit the same slot.

I definitely won't argue with anyone about the merits of the AMD Sempron, but 512MB of RAM, a 5400rpm 80GB hard drive, a glossy 15.4" screen and a double layer DVD burner for $800, this little M45 is an awesome deal (as long as you don't need a good graphics card). I say go for it! Of course, if there are any AMD Sempron powered laptops that offer these specs for the same money, then that would also be good.

 

You can't just pop out the Celeron and stick in a P-M (Which BTW might not even work if you don't have the proper model). You have to find out if Toshiba has a BIOS for the specific chip along with knowing you're voiding your warranty.

 

"You can't just pop out the Celeron and stick in a P-M (Which BTW might not even work if you don't have the proper model)."

Actually, you can. Notebooks have been CPU-upgradeable for quite some time now. Also, there is no such thing as a Celeron M motherboard; if it accepts a Celeron M, then it will also accept a 400MHz FSB (Banias) Pentium M.

"You have to find out if Toshiba has a BIOS for the specific chip along with knowing you're voiding your warranty."

The M45 comes available with either a Celeron M or a Pentium M processor which leads me to believe that there is one BIOS for both versions - unless Toshiba took the time to write two different BIOSes for the same notebook which seems unlikely. Anyway, you could always download the 'Pentium M BIOS' if such a thing exists.

As for voiding the warranty, that's a good point. You'd have to find out what Toshiba's policy is.

Anyway, I think that seancttm should have enough information about this notebook by now to make an informed decision. It has great features but has less than a perfect processor as well as having integrated graphics. But a notebook costs $800 for a reason. Good luck.

 

Well, I still have to stand by my statement that you can't just pop out a Celeron and pop in a P-M (Banias), and have the notebook run. It just doesn't work like that; ask any other knowledgeable NBR member. You must flash the BIOS (if Toshiba even supports the Banias platform) to make sure your notebook runs at the very least. Additionally, you'll be hard pressed to find any Banias P-Ms around anymore - they're just too old and outdated, and if you can't find a Banias, most likely, you won't be upgrading your CPU. A Sonoma or Dothan P-M won't work either as they have a different FSB and/or a modified architecture. I am fully aware that notebooks can have their CPUs upgraded, and have been for quite awhile.