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General discussion

Toshiba Satellite M30-710 vs. ASUS M6000NE

Aug 30, 2004 9:19AM PDT

Which of the following laptops would you recoomend?


ASUS M6000NE specs:
Intel Pentium M 1.6
15" XGA/SXGA+ TFT Screen
or 15.4" Wide WXGA TFT Screen
512MB PC2700 SO-DIMM
24X24X24-8X Combo Drive
Intel 855 PM Chipset
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
Toshiba 60GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
Integrated 802.11B+G Wireless
10/100/1000 Lan
AC/97 Modem
IrDA SIR-115.2Kbps support
Audio out, line-in, mic in
Serial / VGA / TV/OUT
4* USB 2.0 Ports
1* Firewire Ports
1* PCMCIA 2.1 Slot
Touch Pad Pointing Device
MMC, SD, MS, MS PRO
Battery Life 5.5 hrs (8.5 with 2nd battery)
2.6KG in weight

Toshiba Satellite M30-710 specs:
(site has tables, so check url)
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10045167&catid=11520&logon=&langid=EN&dept=1&WLBS=fsweb21#MoreInfo

Discussion is locked

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Re: Toshiba Satellite M30-710 vs. ASUS M6000NE
Aug 30, 2004 10:00AM PDT

Ask the hard question. Where do you send it to get fixed. It's not Future Shop.

Bob

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Re: Toshiba Satellite M30-710 vs. ASUS M6000NE
Aug 30, 2004 10:28AM PDT

You are at a big disadvantage in Canada for ordering the newest Dothan Pentium M processors on Centrino notebooks. You will notice on the Toshiba M30 (which is otherwise a great notebook) that it only has 1mb L2 system cache. This means you are buying the older Banis Pentium M 1.5 -- the 715 Dothan Pentium M 1.5 and above (725 Pentium M Dothan 1.6, 735 Pentium M Dothan 1.7 up to Pentium M Dothan 2.0 755) all now have DOUBLE the L2 system cache -- 2mb.

The Asus has the better video card (the ATI 9700) but I don't see there how much dedicated video memory it has (64mb is decent, some have 128mb now) -- avoid shared or integrated memory.

However, the Asus brand is not as large or established as HP/Compaq, Toshiba, Dell, etc. so you are taking more of a risk there.

Many people have the same issue with the Compaq X1000 series I have (similar to the above) -- they can't custom order it like the hpshopping US website can.

Also, the key hot feature of the new Toshiba M35S456 prebuilt model (see it at www.circuitcity.com --US website) is that it comes with the bright and vibrant Trubrite LCD -- similar to Sony Xbrite.

The older M30 models don't have this either.

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Re: Toshiba Satellite M30-710 vs. ASUS M6000NE
Sep 10, 2004 5:06PM PDT

I just sold my HP for this ASUS. Mine will arrive on Monday. HP has great tech support, but ASUS is the best of the best when it comes to quality. I used to own a computer store and now am a Computer Engineer. ASUS was always known as the best Main Board maker in the industry for "years". Do not worry about them going out of business. HP has changed owners more times then they have. So I disagree with the last guy, there is no risk here:

"However, the Asus brand is not as large or established as HP/Compaq, Toshiba, Dell, etc. so you are taking more of a risk there."

In fact the Boxed CPU will have a 3 year warrantee from Intel and the Laptop will be covered from 1 to 3 years depending on if you pay for the extra warrantee. If you like custom built desktops, then why would you purchase an off the shelf laptop? HP deals in quantity. Asus has built their name through quality.

My HP notebook needed 3 trips to HP in 8 months. Before that, my Toshiba notebook needed 4 trips in one year to Toshiba. I was super excited to find out Asus was in the build your own laptop business.

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Re: Toshiba Satellite M30-710 vs. ASUS M6000NE
Sep 29, 2004 9:32AM PDT

derbidge-
Thanks for your comments. I am looking at either an Acer Aspire or Asus M6000NE. Who did you purchase your unit through? Is the unit shipped to the distributor for repairs or somewhere else? I would be curious about your review of the notebook. thanks.