quote:
Originally posted by alby
Here's what I came up with for a total of 1400$. Please give me your opinions on it, especially about this Core Duo technology from Intel.
It looks like a good value. You are getting a lot for your money with those specs. That only leaves questions about quality and whether it is the right type of notebook for you.
Regarding construction quality and feel, I'd agree with rav0's suggestion that you go get your hands on one at a retail store. The
first thorough review I found sounds mostly positive, too. You might want to Google for more, before committing to it.
The Core Duo technology is just a new way to increase performance (since there's just no room to increase clock speeds much further with current semiconductor technology). Two cores are better than one, but do not assume the resulting performance gain to be 2x -- it is nowhere even close. Since you are looking at the lower end of Core Duo (1.66 GHz), don't rule out faster (say, 2.0 GHz) single core Pentium M based laptops over that, if you come across one you like better.
quote:
Originally posted by rav0
Get only something with WiFi g, and definately not a.
I think that statement may be sending the wrong message. I'd agree with it regarding exclusive, 802.11a
only built-in WiFi support, which is probably what rav0 meant. However, I don't know where one would find a laptop like that today.
Usually, the choice is between b/g or a/b/g combo (a/g actually means a/b/g). There is no downside to choosing a/b/g (other than slightly higher cost, perhaps). I have found myself in a few places where the only available networks were running on 802.11a and its use is expected to increase.
quote:
Originally posted by rav0
Check to see that the fans dont blow air out the bottom. If they do, you can only use it a a desk, and not on a bed/couch or anything soft
That is a good point and the fan on this Toshiba does blow out on the bottom.
I am also not excited about the "up to 3 hours" stated battery life, which probably means 2 hours or less if you are actually making the laptop do some work. However, that may be enough for many people.
Overall, I think it's most important that you carefully think about how you will be using it and choose a laptop that you will be comfortable using, over focusing on the specs and performance.
I know someone who got rid of a comparable size/weight laptop, in part because he felt it was too bulky after having carried it around the college campus for a year. He had a 14" Latitude D600 -- perhaps even smaller, considering this Toshiba is a wide screen model. He has replaced it with the feather-light, tiny Latitude X1 and seems happy (he is hard to please
), despite it being a downgrade in the raw performance at a substantially higher price.
This is not to say you will want to do the same -- just a story that came to mind.
Something I looked for when trying to decide on my last laptop (and then needed some time to get used to) was high screen resolution while keeping it reasonably small/thin/light. I have a 14" Thinkpad with a 1400x1050 screen (the typical resolution would be 1024x768). I am used to having a lot on my desktop and all the stationary machines I use are running at 1600x1200 or higher. The thought of looking at 1024x768 makes me sick.
After receiving it, I had second thoughts for the first week -- 1400x1050 on 14" is rather fine print. However, it was a matter of getting used to it and I don't doubt for a second now that was the right choice.
