Toshiba vs Acer

[Awibrandy]

Time to purchase a new Lap Top.

I don't use my pc for work (at least not at this time). Mostly I use it for surfing the net. Forums. Some research. Online games. Writing letters. Some online purchasing. Sharing pix.
I do have an external hard drive that I download my documents & pix for save keeping.

I don't/cannot spend a fortune! My last lap top was a Toshiba which was ok, until it started dragging.
I am currently looking at

Toshiba $548.00
"Windows 7 Home Premium
AMD Athlon II P320 processor
4GB memory & 500GB hard drive
17.3" widescreen display
Blu-Ray Optical drive to play HD movies and also read/write regular DVD's and CD'? "

Acer , $498.00

"Acer Brown Aspire 17.3" AS7741Z-4633 Laptop PC with Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor, Webcam, HDMI Out and Windows 7 Home Premium

Intel Pentium Dual-Core P6100 processor
4GB memory & 320GB hard drive
Webcam, 5-in-1 card reader, & HDMI Out
Wi-Fi 802.11 Wireless
Windows 7 Home Premium"

I'm leaning towards the Acer. Which would you go with?

I don't know anything about PC.

 

[Quang]

Awi, looks like a pretty good deal on the Acer--- I'd go with that one. My brother and I have owned two Acer laptops between us and have no complaints... it's a good brand IMO. I don't have personal experience with Toshiba but the two friends I know who owns Toshiba laptops have mentioned taking it for repairs a few times.

How important is Blu-ray on your laptop? That's the only pro I see the Toshiba has over the Acer. You've mentioned you had an external hard drive to store files, so the 320 vs 500gb hard drive, to me, is not an issue.

I'm sure more computer savvy members will chime in.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks Quang! I don't really care about the Blue Ray since I don't watch dvd on lap tops.lol I prefer to watch movies on my big screen TV.

 

[reefs247]

I say check out HP they have great warranty coverage as well as an accidental damage plan which is like insurance the guy told me I could literally get pissed off and throw it out a window and they would send me a new one LOL. I have always gotten great help from their customer service as well. Those are the only comps I have owned.

 

[guarda]

+1 Acer. At that price point, The Acers are higher quality. Unless something has drastically changed in the past 3 years, only the higher end Toshibas are better made, with different qc standards, and even from different factories. Hope this helps.

 

[guarda]

Also, explain dragging. If you mean, slowing down, then a reformat/reinstall would make it even faster than when it was when you got it new. In a nutshell, you only want Windows, the laptop's drivers, and the programs you use running, and nothing else. So you need to wipe the hard drive and install a clean copy of windows. I could give you a hand if you want.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks reefs247, HP is also in my search. The 2 above happen to be on sale at the moment.

Thanks guarda, dragging= slow, freezing up, shutting down so on & so on.

Reformatted it a few times, the only thing I have done is the reinstall. I can't find the disk that came with the darn thing. Got one more place to look for it. Right now it is missing the nsmaster.idk or is it the snmaster.idk

My son is suppose to be working on it (lol) wonder how thats going.LOL

It's 4 years old, so figure it has reached the end of it's life cycle anyway.

 

[reefs247]

Well there is always getting the software online usually the mfr. site has it downloadable and if now it's easily obtainable via various other sites like cnet dowloads etc. Best buy usually had good deals in their flyers as does circuit city.com. Another possibility for your old machine would be to upgrade your RAM, it is always best to have the max. My desktop I just got has 8 gigs RAM and a 1 tb hd w/ 24" monitor I love it. =]

If you want to try updating your machine and beefing up the RAM I have a great source that is very cheap.

 

[Awibrandy]

Throwing an HP in to the mix.
$478.00
HP 17.3" Biscotti G72-227WM Laptop PC with Intel Pentium T4500 Processor & Windows 7 Home Premium
*Base price subject to availability
Value Bundle:
Intel Pentium T4500 processor
3GB memory & 320GB hard drive
17.3" LED display & HDMI Out
5-in-1 card reader, Wireless-N Wi-Fi
Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[Awibrandy]

Well there is always getting the software online usually the mfr. site has it downloadable and if now it's easily obtainable via various other sites like cnet dowloads etc. Best buy usually had good deals in their flyers as does circuit city.com. Another possibility for your old machine would be to upgrade your RAM, it is always best to have the max. My desktop I just got has 8 gigs RAM and a 1 tb hd w/ 24" monitor I love it. =]

If you want to try updating your machine and beefing up the RAM I have a great source that is very cheap.

Not sure I wanted to be bother with the old one at this point. As to getting the software online for it - wouldn't I need the lap top to go online in order to download the software? At this point it is not able to go online.

Oh, and I wouldn't deal with Best Buy for anything any more.

 

[reefs247]

yea sometimes it is better to just buy new and forget about it. Well best buy is just the place to buy it from if there's any issues you just contact the company.

 

[guarda]

No problem. When I say reformat/reinstall, i mean reinstall a clean copy of windows, not the toshiba cd. Factory installs are the start of most of the problems that people have. My Vaio TX is 6 yrs old and I wouldn't trade it for the the newer ones. Also, if you want to save on tax, get it from frys.com, tigerdirect, or newegg.com. Or ebay, with caution. good luck

 

[guarda]

Not to be confrontational but I think that is the problem with American consumption. After living in South America for almost half a decade I cringe every time I walk down the block and see what people throw away. We waste so much here.

If you are going to trash it, give it to me and I'll refurbish it and donate it to http://www.computerswithcauses.org

yea sometimes it is better to just buy new and forget about it. Well best buy is just the place to buy it from if there's any issues you just contact the company.

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Yo awi go with acerbic toshibas have been known to have poor heat sinks and shutdown constantly I have repaired plenty of toshibas for friends and that's the reGular issue good luck and shop wisely!

 

[reefs247]

http://www.circuitcity.com/applicat...ch.asp?CatId=17&sel=Detail;98_266_10303_13593

 

[bad coffee]

Circuit city, you're joking right?

Awilda,
I had (Still actually) an Acer that lasted 5 years, including being on tour for two of those years. It was one of the expensive models, so I don't know if there's a difference between the high end and the regular lines. You might want to do some research.

B

 

[rkaragozler]

Awi which model do you have, most Toshibas have a hidden partition for bringing your computer back to factory settings.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

B, I guess you feel about CC as I feel about BB.lol I am seriously looking at the Acers. Still researching. Aways off from final decision.lol

guarda, I always look for where to donate that which I can no longer use.

Who knows, maybe my son got it working again. That would be nice.

Considering a new one for the cam, so I can talk with my grandson in Philly.. I don't get so him much otherwise. Still pic are nice, but not enough.

 

[Awibrandy]

Awi which model do you have, most Toshibas have a hidden partition for bringing your computer back to factory settings.

Hi Richie, I have to wait for my son to get up. He has it in his room, and I don't remember model it is. All I remember is that it is a Toshiba/Satellite.

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Yeah satellite is the series of toshibas that has issues they are pretty but the only way to use em for a good length of time is by upgrading the cooling system and using a cooling tray under it which sucks but u usually use them on all laptops to keep em cool, toshibas are a laptop that was supposed to rival the hp live strong series as well as the hp 6000 series multimedia laptop that was made to compete with the I books of 5 or six years ago also inferior made products by hp.

All in all you have to ask yourself what are your pc needs if you can do without the bells and whistles then that will make your decision easier don't rush it especially if it's just a simple operating system issue that can be resolved by re instalation! You would be surprised how many laptops and pcs I fix back to factory speed as good as new just by doing a fresh install of windows and a good anti virus and spyware blocker goes a long way . If you have any questions just pm me