Sooo...how are you all enjoying those "Black Friday" lapto..

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Just curious. I was really intrigued by the $499 outright-price
Toshiba that Best Buy was offering; if I were still in the market for
32-bit equipment, I might have dragged myself out of bed to try for
one. Anyway, do those of you who did get up and luck out on any of
these offers feel like you got your money's worth? If you had it to
do over, would you still buy what you did or are there features (e.
g., PC Card slots, memory upgradability, etc.) you had to forego that
you now wish you hadn't? How about software? My first laptop-not a
true "Black Friday special" but a real cheapie nonetheless-didn't even
have a word processor preinstalled on it. Could this be how they're
getting the price down to such tantalizing levels?

And have any of you checked yet into how easily you'll be able to
obtain replacement batteries for these machines? If so, do you like
what you heard?

Again, I'm just curious. If not next year, there'll probably be
64-bit boxes in Black Friday ads by the year after next. Can't start
getting ready too soon.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

kcutccbfoon@mailinator.com wrote:
> Just curious. I was really intrigued by the $499 outright-price
> Toshiba that Best Buy was offering; if I were still in the market for
> 32-bit equipment, I might have dragged myself out of bed to try for
> one. Anyway, do those of you who did get up and luck out on any of
> these offers feel like you got your money's worth? If you had it to
> do over, would you still buy what you did or are there features (e.
> g., PC Card slots, memory upgradability, etc.) you had to forego that
> you now wish you hadn't? How about software? My first laptop-not a
> true "Black Friday special" but a real cheapie nonetheless-didn't even
> have a word processor preinstalled on it. Could this be how they're
> getting the price down to such tantalizing levels?
>
> And have any of you checked yet into how easily you'll be able to
> obtain replacement batteries for these machines? If so, do you like
> what you heard?
>
> Again, I'm just curious. If not next year, there'll probably be
> 64-bit boxes in Black Friday ads by the year after next. Can't start
> getting ready too soon.

Most of these looked like the savings were LCD and processors. The Tosh
as I recall was a 15 inch 1024x768 rather than 1024x768 which would be
normal for that size screen. Celeron M, Celeron D provide big savings
for the CPUs. Since the same laptops were being offered by several big
boxes it looked as if the units were manufactured specifically for
holiday sales purposes. OTOH, none of the stores guaranteed more than a
few in stock in my area.

Q

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in message
newsuWdnT3d0p2gYjXcRVn-gg@comcast.com...
> kcutccbfoon@mailinator.com wrote:
>> Just curious. I was really intrigued by the $499 outright-price
>> Toshiba that Best Buy was offering; if I were still in the market for
>> 32-bit equipment, I might have dragged myself out of bed to try for
>> one. Anyway, do those of you who did get up and luck out on any of
>> these offers feel like you got your money's worth? If you had it to
>> do over, would you still buy what you did or are there features (e.
>> g., PC Card slots, memory upgradability, etc.) you had to forego that
>> you now wish you hadn't? How about software? My first laptop-not a
>> true "Black Friday special" but a real cheapie nonetheless-didn't even
>> have a word processor preinstalled on it. Could this be how they're
>> getting the price down to such tantalizing levels?
>>
>> And have any of you checked yet into how easily you'll be able to
>> obtain replacement batteries for these machines? If so, do you like
>> what you heard?
>>
>> Again, I'm just curious. If not next year, there'll probably be
>> 64-bit boxes in Black Friday ads by the year after next. Can't start
>> getting ready too soon.
>
> Most of these looked like the savings were LCD and processors. The Tosh
> as I recall was a 15 inch 1024x768 rather than 1024x768 which would be
> normal for that size screen. Celeron M, Celeron D provide big savings for
> the CPUs. Since the same laptops were being offered by several big boxes
> it looked as if the units were manufactured specifically for holiday sales
> purposes. OTOH, none of the stores guaranteed more than a few in stock in
> my area.
>
> Q
>

They did not interest me really. I am in the market and was at Best Buy for
the sales but let that one go. But I got the PC for $200, very good price
for a 3rd pc but I want a better laptop. $500 did not seem like a deal
really for that one to "me". Probably a good deal for someone who just
wants to surf and a little word processing though.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

The issues that you list are not issues. The low end machines have PC
Card slots and expandable memory, and all of the normal software (Office
is not part of the normal software suite for any laptop). Where you
really give is on CPU performance, video performance (only important for
games in most cases), and some wireless and DVD media burning capability
isn't built-in. Also, you don't get the "widescreen" or larger or
higher resolution screens.

But to answer your question, I've bought several $500 and $600 notebooks
over the years, and they are fine for what they are, and for
applications for which high performance isn't a requirement. Getting a
battery for a Toshiba notebook 5 years later won't be a problem.


kcutccbfoon@mailinator.com wrote:

> Just curious. I was really intrigued by the $499 outright-price
> Toshiba that Best Buy was offering; if I were still in the market for
> 32-bit equipment, I might have dragged myself out of bed to try for
> one. Anyway, do those of you who did get up and luck out on any of
> these offers feel like you got your money's worth? If you had it to
> do over, would you still buy what you did or are there features (e.
> g., PC Card slots, memory upgradability, etc.) you had to forego that
> you now wish you hadn't? How about software? My first laptop-not a
> true "Black Friday special" but a real cheapie nonetheless-didn't even
> have a word processor preinstalled on it. Could this be how they're
> getting the price down to such tantalizing levels?
>
> And have any of you checked yet into how easily you'll be able to
> obtain replacement batteries for these machines? If so, do you like
> what you heard?
>
> Again, I'm just curious. If not next year, there'll probably be
> 64-bit boxes in Black Friday ads by the year after next. Can't start
> getting ready too soon.