- Joined
- Jun 5, 2002
- Messages
- 2,761
Well, my trusty old Dell laptop has served me very well for about 4 years now, but i thought it was time to get something a little better than a 366MHz P2, 128 MB Ram and a massive 4 GB hard drive, yes, i said four GB. 
Believe it or not, i have run an internet business, and designed and published a fairly complex website with this dinosaur for the last 4 years and frankly, it worked pretty well, but i knew that the stuff out there now was infinitely better, i was glad i waited, and thus my search began.
So, i have been researching laptops and looking for the best value, and i think i found it, and im typing this post on it too.
Im not a computer geek, but i think i do understand the basics of what makes one model better than the others, and basically, what i found was that in the $1200-$1400 range, you could expect a 2.4 GHz-2.8 GHz P4 with a 533 MHz sys-bus, which, after using my 366 MHz P2 for years, is like lightning, decent laptops these days are also generally coming with 512 MB Ram, which is plenty for all but the most hard core users, the hard drives were generally 40GB, plenty of space unless you save lots of games, audio or video, and of course most screens are 15" XGA. At this price point, you will get a DVD player, and CD+RW combo drive, integrated wireless and network card.
The best bang for the buck was, i thought, the Sony Viao which boasted the fastest processor in this price range, a 2.8, most others are 2.4 or 2.66, so, i was all set to get the Sony for $1350 after rebates, but then i saw the Toshiba Satellite, instead of the normal 2.4-2.66, or even the faster 2.8 Sony, it has a 3.06, and, instead of a 40GB HD, it has a 60 GB HD. It also has excellent speakers, which i like since i like to listen to music on my computer while working. Its also very sturdy and well made, and i have now found out that Toshiba is very well regarded in the world of laptops, and, all this for $1350 after rebates! Think about that, a 3.06 P4, 512 MB Ram, 60GB HD, DVD/CD+RW drive and decent speakers and audio/video card for $1350, im ashamed to admit, my 4 year old Dell, with its then state of the art 366, 128 MB Ram, 4 GB HD and CD-Rom player was around $3500 when i got it 4 years ago! It is truly amazing how much power is available in a laptop at this price point today. Yes, for a few hundred more, you can get a 2.66 or 2.8 P4 with Hyper-Threading, but we have a newish Sony desktop with a 2.66 with HT and its not any faster than my Toshiba, nor does it remain any more agile when running multiple apps.
I will say that its not an ultra lightweight laptop, but not super heavy either, 3 hour battery life, and unlike my Sony desktop, this one didnt come overloaded with programs and free offers that i dont want or need and took hours to get off of the Sony. Also, the Sony has a 120GB HD, but for some odd reason, its partitioned with about 10GB for your normal uses and the other 100+ GB seperate for some purpose, possibly to save audio/video to, not sure, but i dont like it, the Toshiba has a normal single 60GB HD, i like the simplicity of that. Also, unlike most other laptops, this one is expandable to 2 GB Ram, not 1 GB.
I of course have high speed DSL and my Dell was clocking around 1,000 Kbps, not too bad for a 4 year old computer with Windows 98, the Toshiba is doing a little better at 1250K or so. Yes, i wish it had the 800 MHz bus, but thats a price jump of at least $200, and yes, id like a DVD+RW, but i dont need it and my Sony desktop has one anyway if i need to burn or store data on DVD's, besides, every file i have only takes up about 300MB of space, so a 700 MB CD+RW can back up an awful lot of files, no, its not the amazing 4.5 GB of a DVD, but its enough for my uses.
Anyway, i got it at Best Buy, and as i said, after the rebates, its $1350, i opted for the 3 year extended warrantee, covers everything except a destroyed computer, even normal wear and tear, even batteries.
Anyway, just thought i might offer my experience and insight into this issue since im sure some of you are looking at getting a laptop.
So, what was once a 366, is now nearly 1,000% faster and i am very pleased with it so far, no freezing, no anything, its been 100% perfect so far and thus, i do recommend it.
Email me if you have any specific questions.
BTW, anybody want a very rare and collectable 4 year old Dell laptop? Im just looking to get what i have in it...
Ari
Believe it or not, i have run an internet business, and designed and published a fairly complex website with this dinosaur for the last 4 years and frankly, it worked pretty well, but i knew that the stuff out there now was infinitely better, i was glad i waited, and thus my search began.So, i have been researching laptops and looking for the best value, and i think i found it, and im typing this post on it too.
Im not a computer geek, but i think i do understand the basics of what makes one model better than the others, and basically, what i found was that in the $1200-$1400 range, you could expect a 2.4 GHz-2.8 GHz P4 with a 533 MHz sys-bus, which, after using my 366 MHz P2 for years, is like lightning, decent laptops these days are also generally coming with 512 MB Ram, which is plenty for all but the most hard core users, the hard drives were generally 40GB, plenty of space unless you save lots of games, audio or video, and of course most screens are 15" XGA. At this price point, you will get a DVD player, and CD+RW combo drive, integrated wireless and network card.
The best bang for the buck was, i thought, the Sony Viao which boasted the fastest processor in this price range, a 2.8, most others are 2.4 or 2.66, so, i was all set to get the Sony for $1350 after rebates, but then i saw the Toshiba Satellite, instead of the normal 2.4-2.66, or even the faster 2.8 Sony, it has a 3.06, and, instead of a 40GB HD, it has a 60 GB HD. It also has excellent speakers, which i like since i like to listen to music on my computer while working. Its also very sturdy and well made, and i have now found out that Toshiba is very well regarded in the world of laptops, and, all this for $1350 after rebates! Think about that, a 3.06 P4, 512 MB Ram, 60GB HD, DVD/CD+RW drive and decent speakers and audio/video card for $1350, im ashamed to admit, my 4 year old Dell, with its then state of the art 366, 128 MB Ram, 4 GB HD and CD-Rom player was around $3500 when i got it 4 years ago! It is truly amazing how much power is available in a laptop at this price point today. Yes, for a few hundred more, you can get a 2.66 or 2.8 P4 with Hyper-Threading, but we have a newish Sony desktop with a 2.66 with HT and its not any faster than my Toshiba, nor does it remain any more agile when running multiple apps.
I will say that its not an ultra lightweight laptop, but not super heavy either, 3 hour battery life, and unlike my Sony desktop, this one didnt come overloaded with programs and free offers that i dont want or need and took hours to get off of the Sony. Also, the Sony has a 120GB HD, but for some odd reason, its partitioned with about 10GB for your normal uses and the other 100+ GB seperate for some purpose, possibly to save audio/video to, not sure, but i dont like it, the Toshiba has a normal single 60GB HD, i like the simplicity of that. Also, unlike most other laptops, this one is expandable to 2 GB Ram, not 1 GB.
I of course have high speed DSL and my Dell was clocking around 1,000 Kbps, not too bad for a 4 year old computer with Windows 98, the Toshiba is doing a little better at 1250K or so. Yes, i wish it had the 800 MHz bus, but thats a price jump of at least $200, and yes, id like a DVD+RW, but i dont need it and my Sony desktop has one anyway if i need to burn or store data on DVD's, besides, every file i have only takes up about 300MB of space, so a 700 MB CD+RW can back up an awful lot of files, no, its not the amazing 4.5 GB of a DVD, but its enough for my uses.
Anyway, i got it at Best Buy, and as i said, after the rebates, its $1350, i opted for the 3 year extended warrantee, covers everything except a destroyed computer, even normal wear and tear, even batteries.
Anyway, just thought i might offer my experience and insight into this issue since im sure some of you are looking at getting a laptop.
So, what was once a 366, is now nearly 1,000% faster and i am very pleased with it so far, no freezing, no anything, its been 100% perfect so far and thus, i do recommend it.
Email me if you have any specific questions.
BTW, anybody want a very rare and collectable 4 year old Dell laptop? Im just looking to get what i have in it...
Ari
