Warm - Toshiba Satellite 1415-S115 Laptop $950 at Costco

[Takan]

I've been in the market for a decent performing laptop while being also being on a budget. I was seriously disappointed with the lack of 4th of July sales this year. So I just looked around and found this one. It has pretty decent specs, and don't let the 16mb video card scare you, it performs nicely. I thought I would share it with all of you for those in the same boat that I was in.

Toshiba Satellite 1415-S115
specs:
? Intel® Celeron® processor 2.00GHz
? 512MB of memory
? 30GB hard disk drive
? DVD-ROM/CDRW multi-function drive
? Floppy drive
? 15.0? XGA
? 16MB nVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go
? Integrated V.92/56K modem
? Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
? ECP Parallel printer port
? RGB Port (Monitor)
? 3 Universal Serial Bus ports
? Infrared port
? TV-Out (NTSC/PAL output; RCA jack)

More info here

I ran 3DMark2001 on it and got 5909 3D Marks--very decent considering most laptops in this price range score about 2000. I played UT on it at 1024x768, default settings, and it plays very smoothly. Have only had it for a day, so haven't done anything more stressful on it yet.

There's another thread where they talk about a widescreen presario for the same price, but to get that up to this level, you'd have to add more stuff that will bump up the price and you also have to jump through the rebate hoops. So IMHO, this is a good spec'd budget gaming laptop that is hard to beat without a major sale.

Unfortunately, you cannot get this at Costco.com. It is only in the stores and is discontinued, so YMMV. At my store, they just dropped the price $150 due to it's discontinuation. It might drop in the future, but it might not before it's gone.

 

[m1ke101]

I had this exact laptop...except with a 1.8ghz celeron...OMG was it so slow. I mean it seriously ran like molasses, I blame the celeron cpu. But I got it for a good price, but I couldn't take the slowness of it.

 

[nightowl]

In what way was it slow? My sister has a HP with a Mobile Celeron 1.6 and it runs fine. It does not seem slow at all.

 

[Porschedude]

I have a Toshiba Laptop with a 1.8 celeron and think it is pretty fast! I'm not gamming with it and use it CAD drawing, email and some web browsing.

I've been told the current celerons are basically P4 architecture with a smaller L2 memory cache.

 

[Takan]

I don't find it slow at all. Maybe it was a different model? For normal office processing, it works very well. And for games, you need to make sure it has the geforce4 go video card, because, using an intel integrated card would make it really slow (I benched a compaq 2.4 P4 laptop at Sam's Club that had a 32 MB Radeon Mobility 7500 IGP and it only scored about 2000 on the same test that this laptop scored 6000).

 

[jrichrds]

I have a Toshiba 1415 with Celeron 1.8Ghz - same laptop except with 256MB (upgraded to 512MB myself) and no infrared port. The 1415 series are good laptops...designed and manufactured by Toshiba unlike the Compal-made models from Toshiba (e.g. their 1115 series). Toshiba has now moved onto their A15 line, in which you can find configurations which match that of the 1415 line.

The 1.8Ghz/2.0Ghz Celerons in these laptops are the mobile versions with 256KB cache - They're P4 Northwoods with half the cache basically. So they're quite capable CPUs. Other laptops like the Dell Inspiron 1100 use desktop Celerons, which only have 128KB cache and use more power/generate more heat.

 

[poolshark]

I have the 1.6 version and I put the 5400 rpm 40gig in it and I can't see any difference in it and my Northood 1.8 desktop.

 

[jrichrds]

Originally posted by: poolshark
I have the 1.6 version and I put the 5400 rpm 40gig in it and I can't see any difference in it and my Northood 1.8 desktop.

Which 5400rpm 40GB drive did you get? And could you feel a difference in general system responsiveness after upgrading from the 30GB 4200rpm Toshiba drive?

Excluding gamers, the hard drive is really the only thing holding back this laptop (and any other modern laptop). 4200rpm is still mainstream for 2.5" laptop drives.

 

[TheWart]

is this still good? can't find it on the costco site. local b&m i guess?

 

[DanTMWTMP]

my bro has that exact same laptop..got it for $1050-$100 rebate like a little over a month ago..he's still waiting on the rebate.....i have a compaq w/ xp2400-m...w/ radeon 7000 ( ) ..

and when was these comps 2000 bucks??....errr...

i haven't really played games on it..but also, u DO WANT SXGA ON A LAPTOP!..u must..i can't handle the 1024X768 resolution on my bro's....

celery 2ghz < amd athlon 1.4

 

[mchammer187]

we have 4 at work and after a month one of them is pretty much dead
5105 S-701

it has a 1.7 or 1.8 Ghz P4-M in it only turns on 1 in 20 times

probably won't be repaired either because the hard drive would have to be removed for security purposes and it would probably take like 3 months before it was allowed be shipped of to toshiba

the thing gets really hot and IMO looks really dumb it comes in a hard plastic blue case (easily scratches) anyways i would not recommend it and neither would any of my co-workers

the thing is these were not abused at all they just sit on a desk/ hardly moved at all

also there is about 1 hour of batter life maybe 1 hour 20 mins max

this is just about the worse laptop i've ever used

 

[jrichrds]

?? How is a 5105-S701 the same as a 1415-S115?

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: jrichrds
?? How is a 5105-S701 the same as a 1415-S115?

its not but im sure it is based on the same platform and if there high end stinks that bad i would stay away from the low end

 

[chin311]

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
my bro has that exact same laptop..got it for $1050-$100 rebate like a little over a month ago..he's still waiting on the rebate.....i have a compaq w/ xp2400-m...w/ radeon 7000 ( ) ..

and when was these comps 2000 bucks??....errr...

i haven't really played games on it..but also, u DO WANT SXGA ON A LAPTOP!..u must..i can't handle the 1024X768 resolution on my bro's....

celery 2ghz < amd athlon 1.4

i probably have the same laptop as you....got mine @ sams...cant complain for 999$ tho...

its actually very similar to this deal, but only @ sams i think...heres the specs:

xp 2400-m
512mb pc2100
40gb 4200rpm
Intergrated Radeon 64mb (shared mem. : ()
DVD/24xCDRW
15" XGA

blah, good deal for 999$ i guess...this looks similar, but better video...and a celeron....tradeoffs i guess :\

 

[Takan]

Originally posted by: TheWart
is this still good? can't find it on the costco site. local b&m i guess?

Yep, see the last paragraph of my initial post, B&M only, it's discontinued--hence the price.

I really like it still, it is plenty fast for a laptop. When I really want power or to play hard, I go to my desktop.

its not but im sure it is based on the same platform

With this laptop being discontinued, Mchammer, I doubt that they have the same platform. Don't know for sure, but the case is not blue, it's black. I have longer battery life ~2.5 hrs. I'm not sure you can truly compare them.

I still think this is a pretty good deal. Could be hotter if it drops more if they really want to clear them out.

 

[jrichrds]

You can't compare them without knowing more detailed specs about both of them. Like many other major notebook brands, a portion of the models are outsourced. Toshiba designs/manufactures their own and also outsources to Compal.

Takan - what brand/speed cd-rw/dvd combo drive came with your 1415? Teac DW-224E, Matsushita/Panasonic, or another brand?