Looks good Kevin. 2GB of ram, core duo, and a 160GB hd is great. It is what UTS recommends, so I think you'll be just fine for the next 3-4 yrs.

Originally Posted by Kevin

Ok so I just bought myself a new laptop for university and whatnot. These are the specs:
- Toshiba
- Intel core duo T2450
- 2GB Ram
- 160 GB harddrive
- Mobile Intel 945GM 256M graphics card
- 2Mb cache (have no idea what that is)
- Vista premium

Does this look good to you? Think it'll last the whole 4 years?

Looks good.
And cache is where frequently used CPU data is stored, but in terms of University use, you don't need to worry about that =)

good for playing games tho

kevin,

is that the 1 @ future shop for $949.99?

this 1: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...10089650&catid=

i was looking at it as well, my only concerns were that it was Intel Core Duo instead of Core 2 Duo, and that the hard drive speed was 5400RPM instead of 7200RPM (i think?). is it worth the extra $$ to get those 2 things or should i not bother?

Originally Posted by scott000

kevin,
i was looking at it as well, my only concerns were that it was Intel Core Duo instead of Core 2 Duo, and that the hard drive speed was 5400RPM instead of 7200RPM (i think?). is it worth the extra $$ to get those 2 things or should i not bother?

Honestly, if you're just going to use your laptop for school-related stuff, Core Duo and 5400RPM are fine. In fact, from a gaming perspective (which requires a high demand of computer hardware) I barely notice an improvement between a 5400 RPM and a 7200 RPM harddrive.

the speed of your hard drive is not going to have much effect on gaming. you are only going to notice improvements in hard drive intensive applications with a faster drive. For instance, video editing, or transfering large amounts of data. For day to day business, or even gaming, there is essentially very little difference between the 5400 rpm or the 7200 rpm drives.

i got my lap top in july at best buy for $799 before warranty
its an hp pavillion dv6000... windows vista, built in webcam, 120gb hard drive... after 3 year warranty it all came up to about 1200 after tax. money very very well spent

the current (september) issue of consumer reports has a section on the best computers available right now, as well as security software (not required as you can get it free at mac!) and staying safe online.

check out their website: http://www.consumerreports.o rg/cro...ters/index.htm

Best buy: Toshiba w/ 1GB RAM, DVD burner, integrated stereo speakers. Model: Satellite A135-S4427. Core duo T2250. Intel 950. $780 (US).

Im wondering if its worth it to get those warranties that best buy and future shop sells...the laptop i got is 800$ before taxes.and a 3 yr warranty is 300$...thats almost half the price for a warranty..is it rele worth it? i got the hp dv2418

Originally Posted by alobais

Im wondering if its worth it to get those warranties that best buy and future shop sells...the laptop i got is 800$ before taxes.and a 3 yr warranty is 300$...thats almost half the price for a warranty..is it rele worth it? i got the hp dv2418

yeah thats what mine cost me too, and i think its worth it.. just because its such a hassle if you dont have one.. like if something happens to it theres not all the red tape with the manufacturers warranty... even if nothing happens to it... better safe than sorry

With the ones I've bought from Futureshop I haven't gotten the warranty. If you take care of your laptop, it should last you 4+ years. If there is anything defective, then it will most likely show in the first month (broken part, not functioning feature, etc). If it was cheaper I'd probably get the insurance, but costing 30% of the price isn't very appealing to me.

However, kanthamd is right. If something does happen in a year or two like your harddrive dies randomly... going through the manufacture is a pain. If you had gotten the warranty you could bring it to any Futureshop store and have it fixed much quicker and with less hassle. It's a risk you have to choose whether to take or not, and decide if it's worth the money

If you're getting a dell, the insurance is great because they cover damanages like if you drop the notebook and have physical damage to it... where they will fix or replace it. I don't think futureshop's warranty covers damages like that.

I actually ended up getting an extended warranty on my Dell as I somehow managed to blow it up twice in six months (a desktop though). However since then, all has been more or less well (minus the error messages...)

yea I would say that $300 is steep for me, for an $800 laptop. If you have a problem in the coming years with your laptop, such as a crashed hard-drive or bad RAM, it is quite easy to replace any of these components yourself and for below $150 if need be - there are alot of resources to help. Major problems, such as bad optical drive and/or power supply are noticed within the first months of purchase. Laptop fan issues (which cause noise) and mechanical problems with the computer sometimes come as the laptop ages, so those are common things to look out for in the coming years with your laptop.

I've used a laptop similar to the dv2418 and found that it is pretty reliable running on Vista. Most of the issues that came with it were software-related, so reformatting the hard-drive every year is a necessity for it, to maintain performance and speed.

Thanks. Im also wondering if its neccessary to get a printer?