CompUSA: Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284 6lb Notebook Core Duo Processor
T2050, 1.6GHz, with Centrino Technology, 1GB/100GB, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT
Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Media Center 2005 $699.99AR -
free shipping.

It's $899 with a $200 rebate. But the rebate is a "CompUSA" rebate
which can be done online, usually without sending in anything, and they
have been pretty good at paying these in about 60 days (they wait 30
days to make sure that you don't return the item).

Although it's by no means an "ultimate" laptop, it's not a low-end
machine. It has a Core Duo processor, DVD burner, 1GB/100GB, built-in
flash memory card reader, built-in WiFi and BOTH a PC-Card and an
Express Card slot, and it comes with XP Media Center instead of XP Home
(very important if you plan a Vista upgrade).

looks very reasonable

prices are dropping,
now that the Quad chips have been announced,
and the holidays of course

personally, i'm looking for 2gb ram

waterboy

RAM is easy to add/change. Because of that, it's not worth focusing on
in a laptop search. But 2GB in a laptop is somewhat expensive (about
$200 all by itself), whether the laptop comes with it or whether you add it.


waterboy@financier.com wrote:
> looks very reasonable
>
> prices are dropping,
> now that the Quad chips have been announced,
> and the holidays of course
>
> personally, i'm looking for 2gb ram
>
> waterboy
>

"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:4579ae64$0$10999$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> CompUSA: Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284 6lb Notebook Core Duo Processor
> T2050, 1.6GHz, with Centrino Technology, 1GB/100GB, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT
> Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Media Center 2005 $699.99AR - free
> shipping.
>
> It's $899 with a $200 rebate. But the rebate is a "CompUSA" rebate which
> can be done online, usually without sending in anything, and they have
> been pretty good at paying these in about 60 days (they wait 30 days to
> make sure that you don't return the item).
>
> Although it's by no means an "ultimate" laptop, it's not a low-end
> machine. It has a Core Duo processor, DVD burner, 1GB/100GB, built-in
> flash memory card reader, built-in WiFi and BOTH a PC-Card and an Express
> Card slot, and it comes with XP Media Center instead of XP Home (very
> important if you plan a Vista upgrade).

Just wanted to add that the quality of Toshiba laptops has gone down
*significantly* in the last 1 to 2 years. Toshies used to be top shelf, but
now they are just average, and the lower end ones are mediocre; way too much
cheap plastic and very poor build quality. It is sad to see it happen, as
Toshiba used to make a top grade product.

Honu

On Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:26:36 -0500, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> CompUSA: Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284 6lb Notebook Core Duo Processor
> T2050, 1.6GHz, with Centrino Technology, 1GB/100GB, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT
> Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Media Center 2005 $699.99AR -
> free shipping.
>
> It's $899 with a $200 rebate. But the rebate is a "CompUSA" rebate
> which can be done online, usually without sending in anything, and they
> have been pretty good at paying these in about 60 days (they wait 30
> days to make sure that you don't return the item).
>
> Although it's by no means an "ultimate" laptop, it's not a low-end
> machine. It has a Core Duo processor, DVD burner, 1GB/100GB, built-in
> flash memory card reader, built-in WiFi and BOTH a PC-Card and an
> Express Card slot, and it comes with XP Media Center instead of XP Home
> (very important if you plan a Vista upgrade).

Yes, and this is also a model that reportedly gets about 1 to 1-1/2
hour of runtime on the battery. Not exactly what I'd want
in a theoretically mobile machine.

- Rich

RE: "Yes, and this is also a model that reportedly gets about 1 to 1-1/2
hour of runtime on the battery. Not exactly what I'd want in a
theoretically mobile machine."

That's not an issue with the laptop so much as with the battery and how
marketing is selling the product. Toshiba offers two batteries for that
machine, a large high-capacity battery and a small (fewer cells) low
capacity battery. On the web site, you can order either (of course the
larger one is a LOT more expensive). But guess which one comes in the
box with a new computer? Of course they could supply the larger one and
you would think that battery life was fine, but the price of the laptop
would be higher by $100 to $200.

[Dell does the same thing: They have a 6-cell and a 9-cell battery for
almost all models. Unless you pay extra, however, you get the 6-cell
battery with a new computer.]


user wrote:
> On Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:26:36 -0500, Barry Watzman <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote:
>> CompUSA: Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284 6lb Notebook Core Duo Processor
>> T2050, 1.6GHz, with Centrino Technology, 1GB/100GB, 15.4-inch WXGA TFT
>> Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Media Center 2005 $699.99AR -
>> free shipping.
>>
>> It's $899 with a $200 rebate. But the rebate is a "CompUSA" rebate
>> which can be done online, usually without sending in anything, and they
>> have been pretty good at paying these in about 60 days (they wait 30
>> days to make sure that you don't return the item).
>>
>> Although it's by no means an "ultimate" laptop, it's not a low-end
>> machine. It has a Core Duo processor, DVD burner, 1GB/100GB, built-in
>> flash memory card reader, built-in WiFi and BOTH a PC-Card and an
>> Express Card slot, and it comes with XP Media Center instead of XP Home
>> (very important if you plan a Vista upgrade).
>
> Yes, and this is also a model that reportedly gets about 1 to 1-1/2
> hour of runtime on the battery. Not exactly what I'd want
> in a theoretically mobile machine.
>
> - Rich