which toshiba for portability and gaming?

Hi,
I have had a friend reccommend Toshiba as a good laptop brand, and I am wondering which one you would reccommend based on the following requirements:

- min 512mb ram
- dedicated graphics card (preferably 128mb, but 64mb is ok)
- min 40gb HDD
- min 15inch screen
- not too heavy

I am obviously not expecting a super games machine that is paper thin, but just something that won't break my back when I carry it and will be able to play games ok.

I am hoping for under AUD$3000 (~US$2200), is this possible?

Thanks for any advice!
Miranda

 

hmm, if you're looking for a minimum of 15" screen you're going to get something that is somewhat heavy. maybe look at the toshiba satellite m40/m45. You could even look at the Qosmio line if you want the multimedia options that are presented with it...although Qosmio tends to be a bit expensive [xx(]

DigitalCameraReview.com | BargainPDA.com | TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

David Jones can do you the Satellite M40/700 for $3299, which has the 1.86Ghz processor, nVidia Go 6600, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, 15.4 screen DVD burner, Card Reader and the cool speakers.

They have the M40/K00, which is exactly the same but with 2Ghz CPU and 80GB drive, coming in next week at $3699. I know because I am waiting on mine to arrive

I believe the nVidia Go 6600 is better than the ATI Mobility x600 and just as good as the x700, but other folk may be able to correct me here.

HTH's
Whytey

 

recently I got my Toshiba Tecra A3 which is pretty nice..

1.73mhz Centrino Sonoma, 80Gb, 512Mb Ram, 128 Mb Intel Graphics,15''
SD/MMC card reader, DVDRW+-/CDRW..And 2.7kg.

You may also check out Dell and HP too.[ ]

 

I don't know if they're available in your area yet, but the Toshiba M4 Tablet is also good.

It has a 14.1" screen, which is a little bit smaller than what you are looking for, but it is 2.7kg, uses DDR2 ram, SATA HD, also has geforce 6200 or 6600 options. Plus it is a tablet, and the only tablet you can buy that can game very well if you get the 6600 option. Has a 1400x1050 resolution on the screen as well; it isn't locked at 1024x768 like many other tablets.

Mine hasn't arrived yet, but for 3DMark 2001 I've seen 3DMark2001 scores of ~12000, 3DMark2003 of ~4000, and 3DMark 2005 of ~1600 from other users who have the tablet. For the size/weight and tablet combination that is hard to beat.

My machine costed about $2200 USD, or 2900AUD. It has 2GB of ram, GF 6600, 60GB HD, 8x DVD+/-R writer.

 

Thanks for the replyes everyone!

I definately like the look of the Satellite M40, but it might be a liitle expensive and I haven't seen it around much.

I enquired about the M40 here and had the salesperson try to sell me the ITC Millenia 6200 instead. It looks nice on paper, but I'm not sure if I trust the brand.

Any thoughts?

edit: I just discovered the M40X it looks quite nice! main difference would be the graphics card: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 IGP with 64MB

How would that card handle games?

 

I would steer clear of the ITC's. I wanted something I could trust having had trouble with Acer. My only other laptop was a Toshiba and I have never had any trouble with it at all. I am happy with my new M40.

As for the M40X, it is a nice machine, but I think the X600 with 64MB is considerably poorer than the nVidia 6600 with 128MB in the M40. Plus you miss out on the BT, the faster processor, the express card slot and plenty of other stuff too.

My advise would be to go to Harvey Norman or David Jones and try and get them to beat the Dick Smith price, you could probably get the M40 for $3400 or less.

HTH's
Dave

 

i'm lookin for a toshiba too from australia or india...

lookin at toshiba m40 or tecra m3....which 1 do u suggest....tecra has ddr2 ram...i think thats the advantage

and where in australia would u suggest i should buy it from...plzzz tell me the best sites and stores...

btw i couldnt find the email address of harvey norman on their site.....if u know it plzzz post it here

 

yea look into the toshiba m40 cuz i have it and iits great! and chek my review if u
need

 

the 1.86 ghz model doesnt have dvd writer...but the 1.73 one does....i wanted the dvd writer.....1.73 has xp hom while 1.86 has xp pro i think .....so what do u think?? which is the better choice?? is there a lot of diff betwen the 1.73 and 1.86???i'm planning to get a ram upgrade to 1 gb and get a 80 or 120 gb external hard disk coz i'm thinking that 60 gb might get a little less....i'm gonna end up paying Rs 1,00,000

btw i also have an option of getting the m40 from austrlia....they are giving 2 ghz processor...1 gb ram....external 40 gb hard disk.....for around 3000$....which comes to about the same...Rs. 1,00,000 ...do u think its better to order from australia coz my relative is comin back from there.....but it'll be more convinient to buy from here....so if there is not too much diff between 1.73 and 2 ghz then i would prefer to buy from here..

 

Well I got a Satellite M40, the 1.86 model, and for games look no further. It can play any game on the market at medium to maxed levels (just beat farcry, chaos theory), and has a gorgeous screen. Also not too heavy. At least my model (the default 6600 model in canada) has a dvd supermultidrive. ONly thing is the battery life, which is 3 hours MAX, unless you buy the bigger battery. Overall, highly recomended and definitely the most graphical oomph for your dollar.

 

thanx...but thats the prob here...only the 1.73 model has dvd writer and it has xp home while 1.86 has no dvd writer and xp pro...
so which 1 of the 2 wud u suggest???
but what exactly is the difference between xp pro and home....will home work on the oxford internet network??

 

I'd suggest going for the 1.73 with XP Home & a DVD writer. The reason is because it shouldn't cost too much to get an upgrade verison of XP Pro and just change the OS. You won't notice too much of a difference in speed for the CPU's and the DVD writer is a good thing to have. This costs approx $130-$160US to get a replacement 3rd party DVD writer drive. The CPU can be upgraded at a later time when prices drop and you feel that you need a boost in power.

The difference between XP Home & XP Pro is that XP Pro is designed for a corporate/networked environment. It has added features above XP Home which include the ability to connect to a domain (company/school network), has increased security features and a whole other bunch of stuff designed for networked environments. If you'll never be in this type of environment, you probably won't really miss the features, but I personally like XP Pro vs Home (user preference).

When in indicated oxford internet network, did you mean Oxford University's network or is oxford the name of your ISP? If it's the university network, then you're probably gonna have to log onto a domain and that would require XP Pro. If it's one of those hotspots to get free internet, both home & pro should work fine. If it's just your internet provider, then both will work.

-Vb-

 

yup...i'm talkin about oxford university...so i'll need xp pro......but i'll anyways have to format the disk i guess coz i want some partitioning....does toshiba come with partitioned disk or no....40 on c and 20 on d or something
and also if i format the comp myself i'll lose the softwares that come with toshiba rite??

 

1. I'm not sure how Toshiba offers their Recovery CD's. In the past, they used an Imaging method to restore their systems. This would restore the system exactly the way it was from the factory (software, drivers, settings, etc...). With this method, there's really no way to partition the drive unless it comes partition or if you use Partition Magic (or other partitioning software). But since you're buying XP Pro (I assume from Oxford, since you'll get a student discount), you'll be manually installing the OS and this will allow you to partition the drive the way you want.

2. I'm not sure if Toshiba comes partitioned, but again from what I've seen in the past, they don't.

3. When you reload the system from scratch (manually), yes, all the software will be gone, but they should provide a Driver Recovery CD and/or an Application Recovery CD as well. In most cases, you can download all that is needed for your system from the Toshiba support site. I'd recommend contacting Toshiba support before you wipe to verify the location of specific software you may want to keep (either online or on CD).

-Vb-