Web Hosting Talk : Advertising Forums : Community Reviews : Other Reviews : is this a good laptop?

[jasong]

What do you think of this?

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...7&ccid=1291021

It looks like its pretty good, but I dont know that much about computers.

Basically what I'm looking for is a pentium m processor, 512 ram, and 60+ hard drive.
I dont really know about all the other stuff
I'm going to be doing some 3d design, photoshop, webdesign, the whole sha-bozie

Is this a good price? Recomend any others? (it needs to be a laptop)

Also, I'm going to Tokyo on saturday for a week, would you recomend buying a laptop there?
If there computers are a year ahead of ours, my logic is i can get this same laptop there for much less.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Jason

[Christina]

In my opinion, if you want a laptop to do 3D design, you will need more rendering power. So I don't think the M will suite you. Unless you were just a regular business person with a minimal use of graphics packages and such....then it'd be perfect. But to each his own opinion I think the only advantage of an M is only battery power which isn't too much? If you plan on doing rendering on the fly/go...you'll still need to plug your baby in the wall.

For 3d...and any rendering...you will need something with a little more kick. Something with hyper threading technology..and a good graphics card....and of course decent memory.

Toshiba is a good brand...I currently have the P25. For it's stock options, it rendered 3d files in 3ds Max quite fast and rendered animations in good time. Very stable when having multiple applications open as well.

You should probably look into a Dell if budget is the issue though...but they're having some great deals...so good luck! I hope you find the right laptop you're looking for. Just make sure you do a lot of research before you buy.


Only thing if you buy from Japan...you won't get the luxury of having a warranty if anything goes wrong.

[the_pm]

I bought a Dell in Feb. 2002. It was a Celeron 833, with 256 Mb. RAM, 20 Gb. HD and 15" 1440x1024 screen (odd size, I know).

Sounds crappy by today's standards, but I was able to run Poser and Z-Brush, two lower-end 3D rendering programs. Photoshop, Fireworks and Illustrator ran without a hitch. I was pretty impressed to say the least! But that 1440x1024 screen, now that was something special for a laptop!

I bought an extra battery, a portable printer and an extended warranty. Total came to about $2,100 with shipping. Bottom line, Dell is a'ok!

[Bashar]

i hate toshiba although so many ppl said its amazing.

i like dells and adore IBMs

[Christina]

You know, it took me a while to like Toshiba...but after much research...I just fell in love! I own a PowerBook G4 as well..I love them both....it's all about preference and about the type of things you will be using them for.

My father has about 4 kick around business Dells that he's got wired in his whole house not including desktops. I think they're Inspirions? Anyway, Dells are pretty good for overall value, quality, and support (that's their #1 thing). But I have a Toshiba product replacement plan only for the fact that I dropped some cash on it and I have the same for the PowerBook but got a sweet deal on it as well.

I look at IBM's as more of the business side of laptops to tell you the truth. But as a designer, it's about performance/power. It would be nice if they'd hurry up and pack in some power in those Tablet PC's!! Now those are great (Tried Alias Sketchbook Pro..and it's wonderful on it!) Til then, I'll stick to the Intuos tablets.

As far as weight goes, that's personal preference as well. Most people now days have things on rollers. I stuff everything in a skateboard backpack! Those things hold everything. But I have seperate sleevecases for everything as well, if I don't need everything.

I just don't recommend HP/Compaq for what you will be using the laptop for...I haven't heard great stories of longevity as far as the hardware goes.

Check Pricegrabber.com for pricing....if you're a student by any chance...you can get some great discounts but if not, discounts are still there...or incentives...extra ram..etc..

Get something that you can live with for the next 2-3 years though...those new Dell laptops...comes with the upgradeable graphics cards...which I wish would've came out when I decided to get my Toshiba!! But oh well....so definitely look into all your options and good luck!