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General discussion

Which one should I get?

Aug 9, 2004 2:48AM PDT

Hi,

I need help on choosing which laptop is better for my use. I'm a college student, and I mainly use the laptop for doing my homework and watching a movie or two after work/school. I'm going to use wireless Internet, as I'm sharing the connection with someone else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Dell Inspiron 700m (customizable, feel free to give me any advice on what to upgrade/downgrade):

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_notebook4?c=ca&cs=CADHS1&l=en&s=dhs

Toshiba M30 (Canadian version, not customizable):

http://www.toshiba.ca/web/specifications.grp?lg=en&section=1&group=1&product=2390&part=2372

BL

Discussion is locked

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Re: Which one should I get?
Aug 9, 2004 5:00AM PDT

You choice is made simply by whether you can really live with a 12.1" LCD on the Dell 700M or not. This LCD size is popular for people traveling on planes a lot or who truly want the lightest notebook possible (if you sit at Starbucks using Tmobile all day then this would be lighter to carry around also).

But, especially for the student who is going to appreciate watching widescreen DVD's (and you will see more colunms on an excel spreadsheet), etc. the 15.4" widescreen on the Toshiba M35 is the better choice.

I nearly bought this Toshiba M35 but ended up with the Compaq X1000 series (nearly identical specifications).

The only drawback to this Canadian Toshiba prebuilt is that it has the older Pentium M Banias cpu which has 1mb L2 system cache rather than the 2mb on the Pentium M 715 and faster Dothan cpus. Also, you only get 32mb dedicated video (can get 64mb if ordering custom) but this is still Decent. You can't play Doom 3 without the 64mb though.

So, if this is your only choice I would recommend the Toshiba M35. It still weighs only 6.2 pounds even with the 15.4" widescreen. The harmon kardon speakers are some of the best on a notebook (but headphones or external speakers will still be better of course).

Note: Toshiba has a 10% off offer for the US website on custom order notebooks. And the US best buys have 2 years no interest and the Toshiba M35S456 with the Dothan 1.7, DVD burner, and Trubrite LCD screen is on sale for $1850 US. If there is any way you can order and have it delivered to a US address these are better options but if you don't live close enough to Detroit or Seattle or Buffalo this may not be an option for you.

Note, you can easily get a Target or Samsonite or other student backpack that will fit a 15" LCD and it will carry the 15.4" widescreen (it fits in sideways so even though 15.4" is wider than 15" it will fit).

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Re: Which one should I get?
Aug 9, 2004 7:25AM PDT

As for the CPU, is it possible to upgrade it to a Dothan chip later on? I asked a few people about this, and some say the processor on this particular M30 model is upgradeable, some say it's not. I don't know who to believe now.......

BL

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Re: Which one should I get?
Aug 9, 2004 8:58AM PDT

When I purchased my Compaq X1360US in late May (prebuilt) it had a Pentium M 1.4 Banias. The corresponding Toshiba model at the time (which did not have a Trubrite LCD yet) was the M35S320- a 1.5 Banias Pentium M.

This is essentially the same cpu you are looking at now if you don't get a Dothan 715 or higher.

You can upgrade the cpu from a Banias to a Dothan in the Compaq -- the current 1.4 Pentium M to 2.0 Pentium M all use the same socket architecture.

So, yes, in theory you can upgrade the chip.

However, there is only a $50 price difference right now on custom models (at least HP/Compaq ZT3000 or X1000 Petium M between the 1.5 Banias and 1.6 Dothan(and US Toshiba custom models even offer the 715 Dothan 1.5 instead of the Banias 705 1.5) between the two.

I have the Banias CPU and it is fine so if that is the best option for you (you can't get a US custom order Toshiba or HP/Compaq) shipped to you in Canada then it is still a great notebook.

The doubled L2 system cache will give you faster loading frequently accessed web pages, etc. but that is really the only significant change.

It is true you could wait and upgrade to a 2.0 or 1.8 Dothan later (the prices for these 2 chips right now is outrageous) at a lower cost but, again, you are only picking up the doubled L2 cache and a faster mhz cpu speed.

The real upgrade occurs early in 2006 when a new Sonoma chipset (faster memory also) will appear to take advantage of the revised Centrino standard. That will entail an entire new chipset/motherboard.