Laptop

I bought a Toshiba just over 4 years ago. At the time, I heard good things about them which is what influenced me to buy it. I didn't know about the overheating issue which did happen about a year after I got it. I was using it for an intense application, on a hot day and it wasn't ventilated as well as it could have been. When it crashed, I didn't know what happened to it.

Luckily, it came with a 3-year warranty so I got the motherboard replaced at no charge. Since then, it's been more susceptible to overheating (I wonder if it would have been that way had it not overheated that first time?) and got the m.b. replaced 2 more times under warranty. I've had no other problems with it and I certainly can't complain about the service. It's now out of warranty and will occasionally overheat so I just have to be careful about keeping it cool.

Interestingly, the owner of the service centre (authorized Toshiba dealer) told me that, if I remember correctly, 1/3 of the cost of my laptop was the warranty.
 
I am in the computer business and have had my retail store for over 20 years.
First Dell is crap and very expensive to get repaird. Stay away from used its mot very good value and a 3 year old notebook is almost useless. Both Acer and Toshiba have nice units under $1,000. Don't believe the line about the good graphics on the Toshiba. To my knowledge all units under 1K have integrated video. Usually you have to get to the $1500 range to get a good video card. All notebooks are very expensive to get serviced because they are all propritory. This is the big advantage of Acer. You can get a 3 year extended warranty for $100 to $125. Toshiba will cost you double that. DONT EVER buy the Futureshop CRAP extended warranty. I never push extended warranties except for notebooks. I own 3 acer and 1 toshiba for my family that are priced in your range and have been happy with all of them
 
I ended up getting the A100 that I had the link to above for 799
and linksys wireless router for 50 with 30 dollar rebate.

Now if somebody can tell me how to install MY OWN copy of xp pro
let me know. I tried and comes up with pci error.
OR would it just be to much hassel. Boy they load lots or crap on these things. Restore disk doesnt give options of what to install does it?

Thanks again for the help.



S
 
cdog said:
I am in the computer business and have had my retail store for over 20 years.
First Dell is crap and very expensive to get repaird. Stay away from used its mot very good value and a 3 year old notebook is almost useless. Both Acer and Toshiba have nice units under $1,000. Don't believe the line about the good graphics on the Toshiba. To my knowledge all units under 1K have integrated video. Usually you have to get to the $1500 range to get a good video card. All notebooks are very expensive to get serviced because they are all propritory. This is the big advantage of Acer. You can get a 3 year extended warranty for $100 to $125. Toshiba will cost you double that. DONT EVER buy the Futureshop CRAP extended warranty. I never push extended warranties except for notebooks. I own 3 acer and 1 toshiba for my family that are priced in your range and have been happy with all of them


Are you recommending Acer? If so, which model do you recommend?

Thanks.
 
Hey that happened to me too!

monkeychan said:
That one too! They sent me the wrong laptop (I ordered one with 2 Gb RAM the sent it with 512 Mb RAM) and when I called in with the serial number, they told me the serial number doesn't exist.

Almost the same thing happened to me too. I ordered a Dell with 2GB of RAM and a deluxe extended warrantee. I got one with 1GB of RAM and a regular warrantee. Support was a nightmare. It took almost 2 years before I got a good explanation of the screwup.

The laptop lasted a little over a year before dying. The Dell was expensive, too expensive to repair.

I only buy HP now.
 
I have a toshiba... first lap top for me..have had it for a year and no problems..works better than my home unit..well my lap top is for business not for play..(no porno)so that must be why it works ....
 
is there still laptops out there that doesn't use the godawful shiny mirror-like screen?

I notice every Toshiba notebook has that shiny mirror like screen.
Why? Is it easier on the eyes or something?
 
it's cheaper to manufacture. The matte (non-shiny) finish is another coating that requires more powerful backlighting for the LCD.

It's great if you use your laptop exclusively in a completely dark situation, but try using it outdoors, it's completely useless (I usually use my laptop as a preview screen for my digital camera for my client to see the results instantly).

The problem now is that I no longer want to lug my 17" widescreen and 15.4" widescreen laptops anymore. I want to get something like 10" or 12" widescreen, but unless I'm willing to spend close to $3K, I can't find one without that godawful shiny screen.

Even the newer Apple notebooks uses that awful screen.
 
I have an old IBM (T30) that I've had for 3 years. I abuse this thing like there is no tomorrow. It's on almost 24 hours a day. I have never had any problems with it plus I love the no frills design. My next one will be an IBM.
 
Indy, just how did you modify the legs? on your laptop.What size and where did you get them.

MonkeyChan
I kind of like them, to me its like a cover easily cleaned when others put finger to screen. I'm typing this outdoors in bright sun, no prob.
 
monkeychan said:
it's cheaper to manufacture. The matte (non-shiny) finish is another coating that requires more powerful backlighting for the LCD.

It's great if you use your laptop exclusively in a completely dark situation, but try using it outdoors, it's completely useless (I usually use my laptop as a preview screen for my digital camera for my client to see the results instantly).

The problem now is that I no longer want to lug my 17" widescreen and 15.4" widescreen laptops anymore. I want to get something like 10" or 12" widescreen, but unless I'm willing to spend close to $3K, I can't find one without that godawful shiny screen.

Even the newer Apple notebooks uses that awful screen.

It looks like glasss screens are the way to go for manufacturers.

I was at Staples today and oddly enough there were only 2 laptops with the matte screens and they were ones with Celeron chips, thus were lower in price than others.
 
samcan said:
MonkeyChan
I kind of like them, to me its like a cover easily cleaned when others put finger to screen. I'm typing this outdoors in bright sun, no prob.

You're not bothered with the excessive reflection? I personally find it hard to show my clients my photos (during outdoor session) without using a hand-made visor for the screen.