[G-man]

i never say the point of a "gaming" laptop. if you need a laptop, then buy a samll portable one, which is actually portable. if you need power, then get a desktop. You can build a decent desktop, and a monitor, and get a "netbook" for the same price. i never understood it...

 

[Baines93]

You did the right thing, Toshiba's are next down from Lenovo's im told by my dad who worked on IBM (and other) servers.

I use my a100 on power saver mode, still plenty fast enough, doesnt run as hot. Max brightness, and i get just over 3hrs if im lucky...Not great, but not bad.

EDIT: fully charged, just unplugged, 4hrs 25min, power saver mode, converting songs in Easy CD-DA Converter on high CPU priority, both cores running 76-100%. I think that is a bit off, just did it again, 1hr 38min 99% full

Matt

 

[oicdn]

Well, I need power, but I need something I can take places. I don't game or anything, I just need processing power cause I multi-task like a mofo. I didn't even pay attention to the sLi...it was more a "Oh....that's cool..." after it arrived.

I didn't look at "gaming machines" as I too think those are fairly stupid...I looked at specs, and it just so happened that it was a "gaming machine"....I guess it was inevitable, lol.

 

[Voltron]

Mods: Shouldn't this incredibly boring thread be in the GEAR Fi Forum?

 

[G-man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltron /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mods: Shouldn't this incredibly boring thread be in the GEAR Fi Forum?

the thread is not boring, it is interesting, if not repetitive of many other similar discussions. And i agree, it should be in gear-fi. no one really uses that forum, i've just stopped looking at it. any idea why (sorry for the thread jack, ill return it, but there is a price... two waffles.. mmm waffles.)

 

[Voltron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gautam /img/forum/go_quote.gif the thread is not boring, it is interesting, if not repetitive of many other similar discussions.

One of the many reasons it is boring.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gautam /img/forum/go_quote.gif And i agree, it should be in gear-fi. no one really uses that forum, i've just stopped looking at it.

The very reason Nate chose to post it here anyway: so that lots of people will see his "new lappy." Yay!

Gear Fi, or bust.

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gautam /img/forum/go_quote.gif i never say the point of a "gaming" laptop. if you need a laptop, then buy a samll portable one, which is actually portable. if you need power, then get a desktop. You can build a decent desktop, and a monitor, and get a "netbook" for the same price. i never understood it...

I totally agree. I have a 14" laptop with a graphics card and it performs reasonably well even with new games. In the future, when games get more advanced, I will simply buy a desktop.

Baines I'm going to have to completely disagree with you on that. I think Toshiba is one of the worst brands you can buy laptops from. Heck, I KNOW they're the worst, because while my Thinkpad T60 is still chugging along perfectly today (and is still reasonably fast by today's standards), I'd say at least 90% of my friends with Toshiba complain terribly. My roommate has a Toshiba tablet and the battery is now unusable while mine is still in perfect condition. His laptop is scratched, the screen is in terrible shape... and we're both very careful with our stuff, it's just that Thinkpads are built to last and Toshibas are plastic pieces of junk with cheap components sold for slightly-below average, attractive prices. I've worked at Office Depot selling laptops and when you get around to comparing the different brands, you realize that besides Gateway, and old Compaq (not anymore, owned by HP), Toshiba is the worst you can get. IMO, even HP is better by a small margin.

I've seen far less HP users complain, although my roommate last year had his HP's RAM spontaneously fail. The difference between HP and Toshiba is that he called up HP and they immediately repaired, and upgraded the RAM. Toshiba's customer service is terrible by comparison, and their warranty service is very limited.

If there's one trend I see among my hundreds of college peers after two years of us using our laptops in a college environment, it's that IBM users have zero problems and are still happy, and people who buy junk like Toshiba are either replacing their laptops or struggling to replace outdated/failed components.

IMO, my list, from best to worst:

IBM/Lenovo
Sony Vaio
Dell Professional (latitude)
Dell XPS
HP Professional
Dell consumer (inspiron)
HP consumer/Compaq (soon to be gone, I'm sure)
Toshiba
Gateway

 

[Edwood]

Meh.

It's not a 3G iPhone.

-Ed

 

[oicdn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltron /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mods: Shouldn't this incredibly boring thread be in the GEAR Fi Forum?

Actually....I completely forgot about that forum. Slipped my mind.

Nice assumption...however.

Feel free to move it (like I have a choice anyways, lol).


As far as brand goes....I've never had a problem with my Toshiba. Most everybody I know that has owned one never had an issue either. My Toshiba was brought with me ALL OVER THE PLACE. From Panera, to starbucks, back to Panera, to my house, down to the warehouse, and back. Constantly unplugging and plugging back in, coming back awake from sleeping, etc. Opening closing CONSTANTLY, never had an issue. it didn't sit on a desk like most peoples laptops, it was actually USED and was good to go.

When I worked at officemax, my experience was completely opposite of yours. Hp had reputedly the #1 customer service 5 years running...yet, whenever customers had issues, HP left them hangin, and all we could do was tell them "you shoulda bought MaxAssurance(insurance)". Compaq, even the newer models still suck and are good for nothing more than internet browsing and listening to CDs.

The only praise I have are Sony Vaio's (thing I've had firsthand experience with)...because nobody ever had a problem with them, either customer or people I've known personally. A lady even came in with one when I worked at officemax and it had windows 95 on it, and was some tiny 12" thing with a HUGE battery pack/handle on the back. My buddy has a Vaio and absolutely beats the crap out of it and it's working flawlessly for the past two years he's owned it. Leaves it in the car in 90 degree heat, all that jazz. It still works fine. Sony price points are bit crazy though, especially in the higher echelons, but if they can take a beating, I guess they're worth the price. He bought it because he didn't want to deal with Mac, but wanted "a pretty computer". Meh, to each their own.

 

[SonicArmada]

If you really want to remove all of the pre-installed software, you would be better-off formatting the drive and reinstalling the OS.

 

[MD1032]

That's interesting. Then again, all of the Toshibas I've seen around VT are basically one of four types, all bought around summer of 2006, of course. Maybe Toshiba just had a bad year. Still, replacing a laptop after two years? You have to admit it's atrocious.

I think Sony Vaios are good laptops, but only if you can get a bargain on them. They're not worth the retail price, IMO, but if you can get a gigantic discount like Dell has running every once in a while, they're a good value. They, like IBM/Lenovo, tend to use better parts, but mark their prices up because of the brand name. The screens they use, in particular, seem to be some of the best.

Sonic, I do the same thing with a brand new laptop. Use the Windows CD to reinstall windows... if the company doesn't give you one, make one. It's worth it to get rid of the bloatware.

Ah yes, I remember the Product Protection Plans... any Staples/OfficeMax/Office Depot worker knows em. Pretty hilarious trying to sell those. Some are worth it, others, you realize, are a complete ripoff. I would frequently refer people to buy cheaper items and not buy the PPP's, because Office Depot offered such little incentive to sell them.

 

[oicdn]

^^ Hahaha. In all reality, it depends on your management. If you have a sales driven manager, they're worth it, because you know the management staff will take care of the customers and the store would just damage and destroy it out. But if the management staff is by the book, it's a pretty sour deal for the customer. This did two things, it put money into the pockets of people selling them (even if the incentives are small, number add up, atleast for me they did, lol), and you get loyal customers. After me and my manager left the company, that store went to the worst in the district because they couldn't sell a plan to save their lives.

I agree though, Sony's are great, but only if you can get them at a deal.

2 years for a laptop is pretty atrocious, but with today's progression, 2 years is starting to seem fairly normal for many people to replace a computer or laptop....especially with the geeks and gamers and people who don't maintain their computers.

Removing the crapware, unfortunately, all the newer computers I've seen (both of mine included) all come with a "restore disc". not just an OS disc. And the "restore disc" includes all the bloat ware....so I just deleted everything and the Uniblue software I have, finds unused icons and missing parts of software/programs and prompts for them to be completely erased, which I clicked yes to and it removes all remains of the program that weren't removed by typical deleting and uninstalling. I freed up over 3 gig of space just by removing crap. That's horrible.

 

[G-man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicArmada /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you really want to remove all of the pre-installed software, you would be better-off formatting the drive and reinstalling the OS.

well yea. who actually uninstalls them. thats just BS. i generally remormat, reinstall, and i have copies of my favourite antivirus, firewall etc programs installed. i uninstall windows ones, install mine. then i actually start using the computer. works best that way.

 

[ken36]

GOOD STUFF!

 

[Computerpro3]

For $1100-1800 shipped depending on options using CPP which can be googled easily, and getting the hard drives from an online retailer

Lenovo t61 14.1in widescreen
WSXGA Resolution
t9500 2.6ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
4GB DDR2
2x 500GB SATA hard drives, or 1 64GB SSD and 1 500GB hard drive (SSD would jack up the price)
dual layer dvd burner
Nvidia quadro NVS 140m (plays counterstrike soruce maxed out and supreme commander on medium)
9 cell battery (5 hours battery life)
5lbs
magnesium roll cage
thinner
half the weight
built in keyboard light
better build quality
trackpoint
better keyboard
spill-proof (built in drainage system)

Quite literally the only thing the toshiba is better at is gaming because of the SLI. But if you don't game, what is the point?