<<i placed my order on the 14th. when did you?
Ordered it on the 12th for pickup. OOS at my local BB so I cancelled and replaced my order on the 13th.
<< Gotta disagree with you. I looked at both models and ended up buying the S157. First off the Processor is a much more modern Celeron. More closely related to a Pentium III as compared to the standard desktop Celeron in the S177. Although it's true the Intel video subsystem in the S157 shares the Laptops Ram, it also with the factory 256mb, can use as much as 32mb for video as needed. With 512mb installed it goes up to 48mb! Can't do that with the S177. As far as the S177 having video out, I have had it in several desktop machines and found it totaly inadequite. Besides, unless you want to hook up to a TV, the S157 has the capability to output to a external monitor and the video quality would be fantastic.
I do agree that I would have preferred a LiOn battery for the longer run time, but I can always pick up a LiOn when the NiMh is no longer useful.
The hard drive size and the NIC are also not that important to me. From experience, I seldom waste all the space on a Laptop like I do on my Desktops. 15 gig is still a lot for a Laptop! External Nics are $10 to $15.
The S157 also has to other advantages I like, it is a pound lighter and significantly thinner.
Oh yeah, by the time that hard drive fills up, and the battery wears out, I'll either sell it or spend the $200(plus interest) savings on a larger drive and better battery. ( Thanks to the constantly dropping prices!)
>>
The major turn off of the S157 for me was the battery and the modular floppy. According to the sheet Toshiba sent me w/ the laptop they want $140 for a Li-ion battery (for my model, I don't know what it costs for your model). Add that to your $699 laptop and you are within $60 of what I paid. Considering I almost spent $100 more on a similar Dell w/ a 900mhz celeron I still think I did pretty well with the 1100mhz old celeron. Sure the 1066 would have been better, but am I really going to notice that much of a difference? I'm not going to be playing games on this laptop...thats what my gf3 in my desktop is for. Mine also has the floppy built-in which I would much rather have over a modular one. If you have ever lost/damaged a modular floppy like I have and had to replace it you would see where I am coming from. 16,32,48mb video doesn't really matter to me as long as it plays dvd's well (which mine does fine) even if you get yours to 48mb it's no different than those people that put coffee cans on their mufflers and think they have a fast car. I have a Nic and Modem built in so I have two free pcmcia slots that I can do with as I please. No swapping back and forth or loose proprietary cables for me to worry about (like I had on my old laptop).
Some more disadvantages of the 157 according to epinions:
"it does lack a mouse port or serial port for those older devices such as your handheld cradle for your old handheld computer for example." I have wireless rf ps2 mice so this is important to me.
"For the battery it's rather disappointing that it offers a Ni-MH battery, even for a budget laptop. Since it doesn't even offer a Li-Ion battery as an accessory, the laptop runs only for 2 hours with the battery alone, less if you're using the DVD. Plus, you may only charge the battery when it's completely drained out for the maximum life of the battery. Which can be an inconvenience, compared to the Li-Ion battery, which doesn't have any of the restrictions of the Ni-MH. "
"The screen is rather limited to just 14.1" at the XGA resolution, but it's more than adequate for the budget user and it displays the colors vividly, but it's slightly darker than the 1800 series though. " According to this your screen is slightly darker.
I've also actually used my video out a few times already. I used it to play 1/2 of The Matrix in my Calc class (finish it Tues.) and to play movies on my uncle's 43" Sony(he doesn't have nor will get a dvd player).
I also have over 10gigs of my drive filled up already, so the 20 gig was perfect for me.
Mine isn't a full pound heavier, its only 14oz
So for ME the 1800-S177 was the better deal for what I am using it for. Either laptop has great features and is well worth the money.