Steveo55

Hey,
I am going off to college and I need help with buying a new laptop. I am looking at the Satellite M105-S3004 Notebook from Toshiba. Is this a good laptop for me? It has a fingerprint reader is that worth it? I am un-decided about whether to buy the Toshiba or a HP I found at Best Buy that has 2,000?mb memory and a 120gb hard drive. All my friends say that the Toshiba has enough hard drive room for all of college at least 4 years. The Toshiba has 100gb. I am open to any other recomandations.Thanks

DCIScouts

The only reasons you'd need to do have more than the 100GB that is in the Toshiba is if you were doing some gaming, video editing, photos, music or some other multimedia stuff. If not, then you will probably use less than 10GB. Even so, with the music and photos, the 100GB drive should be enough, and definitely not enough of an issue to be the deciding factor. If you're using the laptop for general/basic college use, the Toshiba should be more than adequate.

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EliteEmerz

toshiba laptops are horrible, so are HP's. HP is probably one of the lowest performance computers next to a dell. Your best bet is to order a custom one from www.ibuypower.com or www.newegg.com. My advice, do not get an HP, Dell, Toshiba, or Compaq. From personal experience, they are all horrible companies. My suggestion also if you are getting a laptop, get a nice long warrenty, you're going to need it, especially with all that can happen in college.

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computerhakk

Really? I beg to differ.

Well, like said, the Toshiba should suite your needs fine. The only question now is... How much are you paying for it and how much are you willing to pay?

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spamdos

you could not possibly more wrong. these brands are more expensive than you average custom built one. if you want a really solid one for college then a toshiba is a great idea. they are tough and less likely to mess up with all your important data. it might be worth that investment to get some really quality build and a good warranty

oh yeah some of the toshibas are made with tougher stuff nowadays so that might be important for college, if your computer is always travelling by bike or whatever.

also i think that HP's are good, it is unfair to say that they are the second lowest in quality you would be very wrong to say that

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Steveo55

around $1200

computerhakk

Well, you should be getting a great laptop with that much..
The fingerprint reader.. I wouldn't say is something that you need.. but just something that you want. Depeding on the fingerprint reader, like microsoft's, its not encrypted, so someone smart enough can still get a hold of the message that is being sent with your fingerprint and still access your laptop. Unlike other means of passwords where they are encrypted.

The only other question I can ask is if you are planning to play games with it.
And, are you a graphics designing major?

There are so many that it's really up to you on the style and look that you want.. the size. weight.. performance if you plan to do some gaming on it. battery life.

So really look for key specs like:
The processor: preferably Penitum M if you dont plan on gaming
The memory: i personally think its not much of an issue because it is easily upgradable, but I think atleast 512mb is what you should be looking at
The battery life: very important if you are a college student. Make sure it'll last atleast a 2 hour class, or even 4 hour class.
The hard drive: Depending on your major, and what you will use it for it really depends on how much do you think you need. As previously stated, 100 should be fine.
Drives: if you need a cd/cd-rewritable combo.. dvd/dvd-rewritable combo.. etc..
The screen: if you need a huge screen or want a small laptop that can easily fit in your bag.
The weight: possibly the weight... if you plan on carrying it around a lot.. make sure you get a light weight one.

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onegpthreexp

Toshiba would be excellent.
This is what your looking at.



Intel® Duo Processor (1.66GHz)
Intel Wireless (802.11 b/g)
Weight: 5.42 lbs

A hundred Gigabytes can last a hundred years. I prefer the Pentium 3(M) better because it picks up on the Internet Explorer quicker in wireless situations. A dual processor will start your programs faster though.

Security is a good priority as well. Get an extra battery so you don't have to tote the adapter around.

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