Cheap laptops $429.99, $449.99, $499.99, $549.94 AR

[allisolm]

Cheap notebooks 7/31-8/06

Circuit City
Toshiba A85-S107 $799.99 less $300 CC MIR = $499.99
? Celeron® M processor 360J
? 15" XGA TFT display
? 40GB hard drive
? 256MB of SDRAM memory
? DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive
? 802.11g/b wireless
PLUS you get stuff free after rebate with the notebook purchase
PRINTER (Canon IP1500), ROUTER (D-Link DI524), CASE ( Motion Systems ICON100HBLK)

Best Buy
Toshiba A85-S1072 $799.99 less $200 mfr MIR less $150 BB MIR = $449.99
Intel® Celeron® M processor 360J, 1.4GHz processor speed
256MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM
DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive
15" XGA active-matrix TFT-LCD display with TruBrite technology and 1024 x 768 res
40GB EIDE hard drive (5400 rpm)
Built-in Atheros high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g)
Weighs 6.5 lbs. and measures 1.5" thin for portable power
Windows XP Home Edition
PLUS you can double the memory and add a Lexmark z715 printer for and additional $29.99 after rebates. Says in-store only for this. See front page of at at site for details.

CompUSA
Acer Aspire AS3502WLCi 319907 $699.99 less $200 CompUSA MIR = $499.99
Intel Celeron M Processor 360, 1.4GHz
512MB RAM
40GB Hard Drive
15.4-inch WXGA TFT Display
8X DVD / 24X24X24 CD-RW Combo Drive
Windows XP Home Edition
PLUS Receive an Epson Printer, Netgear Wireless Router and McAfee Internet Security Suite FREE (after Savings and/or Mail-in Rebates) with the purchase of ANY Notebook or Desktop System, $499 & up! here

Office Depot (in-store) (got a coupon to make it less?)
Compaq Presario R4000 build to order (means $40 or so shipping charge) $429.99 after rebates
AMD Sempron Processor 3000+
256MB memory
40GB drive
DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive
Windows XP home with SP2
15.4" WXGA widescreen display
configuration code 03017052 (from ad)
PLUS HP 3847 printer free after rebates
total $879.99 less $50 PC MIR less $50 printer MIR less $100 Compaq MIR less $120 OD MIR less $30 printer instant savings less $$100 instant savings = $429.99

Staples (got a coupon to make it less?)
Compaq M2105US 610732 $579.98 less $30 easy rebate = $549.94 (math has never been Staples' strong point)
15.0" XGA TFT Brightview Display (1024 x 768)
AMD Mobile Sempron? 2800+ with PowerNow!? 2800+ with PowerNow! Technology
24X DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
40GB (4200RPM) Hard Drive
256MB 333MHz DDR System MemoryMemory (1 Dimm)

 

[kamranziadar]

I think Office Depot's Sempron is the best one from all of these because you can always upgrade it to A64 Socket 754 Mobile Chip

 

[pxc]

Originally posted by: kamranziadar
I think Office Depot's Sempron is the best one from all of these because you can always upgrade it to A64 Socket 754 Mobile Chip

The Presario R4000 uses S939 A64 processors.

Unfortunately, the A64 options for that computer are 130nm 82W-89W TDP versions (NOT mobile processors). Plus the CPUs are lid-less, so good luck finding a low power version available for sale elsewhere. You'd have to rip the heatspreader off a CPU yourself to use it. I had the same problem when I ordered the similar Pavilion zv6000 a few months ago.

 

[tenner]

thanks much! my friend needs a cheap laptop and i think the Acer Aspire AS3502WLCi or Toshiba A85-S1072 from bestbuy is what we'll pick up. i'm having trouble deciding which one... i think toshiba is the safer bet

 

[imported_Kensai]

I like the deal on that Acer!

 

[Macro2]

del

 

[Hacp]

Too bad their all Celyes. No speedstep.

 

[nightowl]

The Best Buy add for Indianapolis had the Toshiba laptop for $399 after rebate.

 

[allisolm]

Originally posted by: nightowl
The Best Buy add for Indianapolis had the Toshiba laptop for $399 after rebate.

Interesting. Someone over at FW said their ad was for $399.99, and apparently it's $499.99 in Atlanta. In the past BB has always said that their ads were national. Maybe that has changed. I always hated OfficeMax regional ads. So hard to keep up with prices, especially if you don't have a local store. Well, the Toshiba is advertised for $449.99 in Tallahassee. More I cannot say.

 

[nightowl]

I live in Cincinnati and the local ad there was for 449.99 and I am at my parents right now and the ad is for 399.99 after 400 in rebates. So, I wonder if the rebates are different or if you could PM different stores?

 

[FlyBono24]

That Toshiba is a piece of crap... 1.5 hours battery life!!

 

[rdegler]

the laptop at Staples in a socket 754. Either Turion or A64 mobile will work. I talked to HP's service folks. it is the ATI radeon express chip set. The price is about the same with alot more options if you build it on line at http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp...mpaq_presario&storeName=computer_store

The base price in 499 with only $65 more for a Turion

I am thinking hard about this deal.

 

[Byte]

The Toshibas with Trubrights have incredible screens, easilty rivaling Sony Xbrights.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: allisolm

Originally posted by: nightowl
The Best Buy add for Indianapolis had the Toshiba laptop for $399 after rebate.

Interesting. Someone over at FW said their ad was for $399.99, and apparently it's $499.99 in Atlanta. In the past BB has always said that their ads were national. Maybe that has changed. I always hated OfficeMax regional ads. So hard to keep up with prices, especially if you don't have a local store. Well, the Toshiba is advertised for $449.99 in Tallahassee. More I cannot say.

If it's the Toshiba advertised on the first page, ours is $449 AR (Portland, OR).

 

[Shinare]

I really am trying not to thread crap here, but I want to put out here that IMO a celeron is a waste of money. My sister just bought a dell lappy with a celeron (against my warnings) and she is totally unhappy. Infact, side-by-side with my Mom's P3 Sony Viao they were almost equal in responsivness, sometimes the P3 actually seemed FASTER. I'd like to put my opinion out here as someone who has actually had a Celeron and a P3 right next to each other and say that you are wasteing your money if you go celeron. I have no experiance with SemPr0ns, so that might be a better option.

 

[Kazuo]

Yes... except Celeron-Ms are faster than any Pentium III in existence. 1.4GHz with 1MB of cache, not to mention a tuned up core? You're nuts.
The chip is not the problem with your sister's Dell. It could be a variety of things.

 

[pxc]

Originally posted by: Shinare
I really am trying not to thread crap here, but I want to put out here that IMO a celeron is a waste of money. My sister just bought a dell lappy with a celeron (against my warnings) and she is totally unhappy.

Generic Celeron rant quota fulfilled.

Dell discontinued the last of the Northwood core Celeron (128KB L2 cache) laptops a while back, so if your sister "recently" bought a Dell Celeron laptop (new), it would be a Dothan-based 1MB L2 Celeron M. As pointed out above, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Celeron M CPU.

A Celeron M 1.3GHz (the minimum that Dell offers) is faster than any Mobile Pentium 3. Low amounts of memory and/or (especially) using the terrible McAfee security program slows all laptops to a crawl, and is most likely the real problem. Uninstall McAfee and upgrade to at least 512MB and you'll see a world of difference. The CPU isn't the problem.

 

[traxxton]

Originally posted by: allisolm
Cheap notebooks 7/31-8/06

Circuit City
Toshiba A85-S107 $799.99 less $300 CC MIR = $499.99
? Celeron® M processor 360J
? 15" XGA TFT display
? 40GB hard drive
? 256MB of SDRAM memory
? DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive
? 802.11g/b wireless

I picked up the toshiba Sunday. Besides the screen its great. XP Pro installed quickly and no problems. Im using for pictures and stuff so I didnt want anything fast. The screen had terrible light leakage, even worse then dells. I might return it, but it doesnt bother me too much because im not doing much that deals with black screens.

 

[RossMAN]

traxxton - Doesn't CC have a restocking fee?

 

[traxxton]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
traxxton - Doesn't CC have a restocking fee?

"There is no restocking fee if it is defective and you exchange it for another. If you return for a refund for any reason there is a 15% restocking fee."

Either way im going to keep this model (I should have said exchange in my last post). Im going to use it more and try to decide if I want to exchange it. I will try to post a pic of the light leakage later, but its really only noticable during boot-up or dark games (and I wont be playing games on this one). I might just keep it.

 

[agent2099]

Do any of these have a 6 or 8-cell battery?

 

[TheAdvocate]

I can't find the Compaq on Office Depot's site. Is this in-store only?

 

[grokk]

Yep, OD is in store only. You'll have to get a rep to fire up their build-to-order computer and walk through the options with them. They seem to have the same build-to-order as the compaq site does just the prices are a little different. Some comon ones you might like:

A64 3200 +75
A64 4000 +275
XP Pro +30
100GB HD +150
DVD+- double layer +40
128MB vid +25
WiFi G +30
12cell instead of 8cell +30

heh - posts = 1!

 

[RossMAN]

grokk,

Welcome to the AnandTech forums, great first post

Ross

 

[Samus]

Originally posted by: pxc

Originally posted by: kamranziadar
I think Office Depot's Sempron is the best one from all of these because you can always upgrade it to A64 Socket 754 Mobile Chip

The Presario R4000 uses S939 A64 processors.

Unfortunately, the A64 options for that computer are 130nm 82W-89W TDP versions (NOT mobile processors). Plus the CPUs are lid-less, so good luck finding a low power version available for sale elsewhere. You'd have to rip the heatspreader off a CPU yourself to use it. I had the same problem when I ordered the similar Pavilion zv6000 a few months ago.

It has a sempron. Wouldn't that require it to be S754?