New computer, is it decent?

chickendude · Post by **chickendude** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 11:45 am

Ok, so my parents bought/are buying me a new computer and I don't even know if it's good. I know a lot of you are computer buffs, so could you look it over and see what is substandard and what is good about it?
Satellite A100-S8111TD
-Toshiba Laptop IntelÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â® CoreÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢ Duo Processor T2400 (1.83GHz; 2MB L2 Cache; 667MHz FSB)
-Genuine WindowsÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â® XP Professional
-Peacock Blue (cheaper)
-1024MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz SDRAM (1024MBx1) (I bought another gig of ram to pop in there)
-15.4" Diagonal Widescreen XGA TruBriteÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢ display (1280x800)
-nVIDIAÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â® GeForceÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â® Go 7300 with 256MB DDR discrete graphics memory
-80GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial-ATA)
-CD-RW/DVD-ROM Multifunction drive
-IntelÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â® PRO/Wireless LAN 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
-Standard stereo speakers
-Standard Touchpad
-Li-Ion Battery (12 Cell)

I plan on having it for, well, ever. So as far as upgrading it goes, what needs it the most?

Post by **kv83** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 1:38 pm

Here comes CompWiz with ranting about AMD:

ISUCK · Post by **ISUCK** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 1:40 pm

I'd have to say that that's a pretty good laptop. Nothing is really lacking in the specs, so I'd say it's decent.

threefingeredguy · Post by **threefingeredguy** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 1:55 pm

Yeah, that's good.

King Harold · Post by **King Harold** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 1:56 pm

I'd say its quite good, for a laptop, and for intel..
if only it was AMD..

dysfunction · Post by **dysfunction** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 2:33 pm

The Core Duos rock anyway. Intel is raping AMD in the mobile department right now. That computer will do pretty much anything you want it to, even gaming- a 7300 GO will handle any modern games at medium-to-high settings and with 2 gigs of RAM you'll be all set. Too bad it doesn't have a bigger monitor, it would be a sweet gaming rig

chickendude · Post by **chickendude** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 2:48 pm

Hah, yea I tried to convince my mom to go for the larger screen, but whatever. I thought it was a decent computer, and now I'm satisfied

And I think I've read CompWiz's rants before, but I'd like to see it again

King Harold · Post by **King Harold** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 3:03 pm

yea me too lol but why 'convince your mom'? doesnt she know you probebly know a lot more about computers then she does? (assuming that's true.. it usually is..)

Post by **tr1p1ea** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 3:20 pm

Its a nice lappy, but you never said how much you payed for it?

.

You should be able to do what you want with it, which is always good. Even code some Asm games

.

chickendude · Post by **chickendude** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 3:40 pm

I think it was around $1990, but that was with the $300 insurance and then we found some other rebates and stuff that shaved another couple hundred dollars off (I typed bytes first, then had to erase it to type dollars haha). I think the actual computer ended up costing about $1,400. And about the screen size, she was worried that a larger screen would limit its portability, which I guess is reasonable to assume.

CompWiz · Post by **CompWiz** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 3:49 pm

Well, while I do like AMD, as I have mentioned earlier, the core 2 duo is a decent chip. The specs look pretty good(2 gigs of ram in dual channel is good), although that 7300 is going to be your weak point for gaming. I would really suggest going for the 7400 go or the mobile x1400. As for the 7300 playing modern games on mid to high settings, try morrowind scrolls: oblivion. You'll be lucky to be able to play at 800x600, and it will probably look worse because that's not the lcd's native res.

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 4:18 pm

My only gripe with that is that it seems to not have a DVD burner, only a DVD reader and CD burner.

Also, with a laptop, portability is an inverse function of screen size. 15.4" is a good middle ground; anything larger and it becomes too heavy and big to move around very often.

CompWiz · Post by **CompWiz** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 4:26 pm

But the mere awesomeness of having a 20.1 inch laptop screen makes up for any lack of portability.

I'm surprised it doesn't have a dvd burner. most come standard with that.

King Harold · Post by **King Harold** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 4:44 pm

CompWiz wrote:Well, while I do like AMD, as I have mentioned earlier, the core 2 duo is a decent chip. The specs look pretty good(2 gigs of ram in dual channel is good), although that 7300 is going to be your weak point for gaming. I would really suggest going for the 7400 go or the mobile x1400. As for the 7300 playing modern games on mid to high settings, try morrowind scrolls: oblivion. You'll be lucky to be able to play at 800x600, and it will probably look worse because that's not the lcd's native res.

my geForce 6800 LE (yes i know its old) can handle Oblivion at 1024*768 pix with HDR (or whatever the "better then bloom lighting" is called) but without self shadows and only 2x shadow filtering. if 6800's can do it then a 7300 should be able to do it aswel, although a 7950 would be nicer (im probebly going to get one as soon as i can get my lazy arse outof my computer chair, next year maybe

)

Shadow Phoenix · Post by **Shadow Phoenix** » Mon 14 Aug, 2006 4:50 pm

That lappy is nice except for the video card. I would expect that for a $1400 it would have like a 7800GO.

Just for the fun of it, I went to dell's website, and configured a Inspiron 9400 to have 256MB NVIDIAÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â® GeForceÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢ Go 7900 GS for just $1,300, and all the other stats are the same as your laptop.

However, if you are not a gamer, then dont worry, your lappy will be just fine. If you are, then try to OC that Core Duo, it gets pushed really easy.