Buying A New Laptop

[MikeB]

I want to replace my 6 year old Dell and was wondering if anyone has purchased a laptop recently and what their recommendation is. The Toshiba Portege R705 gets good reviews and runs around $800USD. I know there are cheaper ones (and more expensive). Looking for good performance, latest technology, and one that will last at least as long as my current one. Thanks

[Art2ro]

We're still on vacation in California and my brother took us to Fry's Electronics store in Burbank, Ca. today and I found an inexpensive 15.6" Toshiba C650 Series Laptop without the web cam for $329 (only 2 left in black mat finish), with web cam costs $418(1 left in gray). In the P.I. it would cost double! Has a 2 gig AMD processor with a 287 gig hard drive and with a CD/DVD ROM drive with Windows 7 Premium OS. My brother is into computers and says it's a good laptop for $329! So I bought it for my wife, I already have an HP desk top and an 8" Dell mini laptop at home! Heck, my Dell 8" mini laptop cost me P18,000 last year at the SM dept store! Been tinkering with her new Toshiba laptop and it works great! We'll see how it goes when more programs are installed later on when we get back home to the Philippines!

[MikeB]

Thanks, Art. I went ahead and bought the Toshiba R705 P-35 a couple of days ago, I think that series is a Best Buy exclusive. It's a little more powerful and I paid more then the one you described, but I wanted to get near the latest technology because I don't buy these things every day. I read some good things about Toshiba so I gave it a go. Amazingly light and the screen is 13in which is what I wanted for traveling. Yea, the main reason I bought it now was because they're so much more expensive there and who knows what you're really getting over there. Still learning Windows 7 OS and MS Office 2010. Appreciate your input.

[Art2ro]

Thanks, Art. I went ahead and bought the Toshiba R705 P-35 a couple of days ago, I think that series is a Best Buy exclusive. It's a little more powerful and I paid more then the one you described, but I wanted to get near the latest technology because I don't buy these things every day. I read some good things about Toshiba so I gave it a go. Amazingly light and the screen is 13in which is what I wanted for traveling. Yea, the main reason I bought it now was because they're so much more expensive there and who knows what you're really getting over there. Still learning Windows 7 OS and MS Office 2010. Appreciate your input.

Yeah, this one I bought for my wife is really nice! If I bought another one like it to bring back to the Philippines, I could probably sell it and it would pay for the one I bought because this Toshiba laptop I paid $329 for sells for double in any SM mall in the Philippines! Windows 7 does take time getting used to! I prefer Vista myself because I already know the workings of it. Also check out the Toshiba website and make sure your type of model isn't on their recall list. It mentioned that certain models has been recalled due to the laptop overheating and may cause injury to the user when being charged! I didn't read the whole story because my brother just briefly mentioned it to me and the model I bought wasn't on their recall list. Ok! Good luck with your new laptop!