Bit the Bullet - New Laptop

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fubar569

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
1,743
So, i'm on laptops over 50% of my time now between home and my g/f's...i do have a really nice HTPC with a 19" LCD for a desktop but i cant exactly take that with me. after paying off some credit card debt i decided i'd go laptop shopping and i came home with this:

Toshiba Satellite A105-S4364

Core 2 Duo T5500
2GB Ram
160GB HDD
DVD-R/RW/RAM Drive
15.4" Trubrite Display
a/b/g Wireless
GeForce Go 7300 w/256mb Dedicated memory
Fingerprint Reader (this thing kicks major ass)
and the dual mode touchpad with 3 programs and 3 shortcuts on the pad along with volume control
4 USB, 2 PCMCIA, 1 1394
Integrated NIC and Modem

and i think thats it

first impressions - kicks ass - got free 2 year service contract on it

Price? 1,059.99 out the door on clearance at Office Depot

Only bad thing so far is i spent over a hour and a half removing all the pre-installed crap that came with it. had to carefullyselect it so as not to cripple a few features.

I haven't installed any games yet to verify performance in that aspect, however the 7300 should offer me an adequate experience. it's not the fastest thing on the block thats for sure, but it is leaps and bounds above the integrated graphics on everything else in the store for around this final price.

i hope i still enjoy it in 6 months!
 
XP - right now i wont touch vista with a 4756495634598345834269 foot pole :D
 
After playing around for a few days, i decided to download ATi Tool and see what kind of an overclock i could get on the video side.

from 350/600 stock on AC power i went all the way to 470/775 artifact free! offers a BIG performance gain. i have it set to only overclock on AC power so battery life is not compromised but i can always override that if i have to. all in all a very nice overclock for a mobile graphics solution...benchmarks will follow if im not too lazy!

Also, the overall user experience is awesome. the fingerprint scanner makes logins a snap and multiple users really are simple to set up. no one can complain about forgetting the password since it's with you your entire life.

I've installed numerous games from FF7 all the way through C&C RA2 and all run very smooth. Q3A also looks stunning for being a laptop. I HOPE to borrow something like DOOM III to get a better idea of a somewhat modern gaming performance.

After these last few days, i would have a hard time not recommending a Toshiba satellite to someone looking for a great performing laptop...
 
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