Need advice for computer purchase.

[dgml]

1) I've always been a fan of AMD, but I think Intel is a better choice right now with their Core2Duo's, they're pretty damn fast.

2) 2GB of RAM will be great, get 4GB if you like multitasking, a lot, games and all at the same time.

3) I would stick with Sony or Toshiba if they are within your price range, HP is good too. If it's a lot cheaper, then Gateway should be your choice, otherwise, I wouldn't bother with them.

4) Toshiba's are known to be better made than Gateways. Gateway came out into the market as a budget computer company, nothing like Sony or Toshiba.

5) I don't know too much about Intel graphics cards and have always steered clear of them, but the memory seems to be enough at 256MB for at least another few years. That is if you're thinking of playing Doom3+ type of games. I would still stick with something made from nVidia or ATI.

[GroobySteven]

Might be a bit more than your budget - haven't checked but I've been very happy with Alienware.

If you have any geek buddies - buying all the parts and having a system built is a better idea and also comes without all that junk software which usually causes the problems later on.

seanchai

[edison]

Intel seem to be on top of things with the Core2Duo at the moment, so I would go with that if I were you.

With regards to the memory, 2gb should be fine. But it would be wise to make sure there is a memory slot open for an upgrade in a yar or two.

Graphics is always difficult... if you are into the less intense games like The Sims or whatever, then the intel chip with shared memory will be ok for a while. If you are into the more demanding games like GTA, WOW or all the first person shooters then you should make sure that it has dedicated video memory and a better chip.

When it says "shared video memory" it means that it uses your RAM as video memory which works, but doesn't make for great performance.

Good luck! :D

[ds5929]

Don't forget the most important piece of advise of all----STAY AWAY FROM VISTA. FAR,FAR AWAY.

[Quinn]

Might be a bit more than your budget - haven't checked but I've been very happy with Alienware.

Been thinking about getting one of these since seeing a friend's. It's a very impressive machine..

@ Edision. Avoid the Gateway and, though you didn't mention one, don't even think about getting a Dell laptop either.

-Quinn

[Silcc69]

Might be a bit more than your budget - haven't checked but I've been very happy with Alienware.

If you have any geek buddies - buying all the parts and having a system built is a better idea and also comes without all that junk software which usually causes the problems later on.

seanchai


It's not worth the effort to try and build a laptop.

[The Guardian]

Toshiba is the Top Rated laptop in the industry. I would go with the Intel processor although the AMD's are more efficient when it comes to battery life. Intel has higher reliability. 2GB of RAM is good and will handle most of your needs. More is always better. Adding RAM is the least expensive way to improve performance of any machine. Avoid Vista.

Where are you planning to purchase the machine? PM me if you want some options.

Good Shopping :D

[kukm4]

I've heard the Amd chips running hotter than Core2duo

[Solitary Brother]

Get a macbook.
I have one and it screams plus you can run VISTA on it if you like.
My mac book is the fastest computer I have ever owned and I usually purchase 2 computers a year.

[kukm4]

How about this one?

http://tinyurl.com/2v5ux2

Gateway® Intel® Centrino® Duo Processor Technology Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor

Windows Vista™ Home Premium,
2048MB DDR2 memory,
160GB hard drive,
dual-layer DVDs
integrated webcam and microphone.
15.4" Ultrabright™ Widescreen (M-6816)

$850.00 (price good for 2 more days)

[rutilant_chick]

Removed

[hwbs]

i am rolling with the new imac...they are also $300 cheaper than the previous version...

[Master_A]

intel suck.
1gig is enuff, 2 is tones.
yes it matters, dell is shit.
what? shared video card means it uses some of your ram to play games ect.

if you want to play games other than standard windows games then get a desktop.

[kukm4]

http://reviews.cnet.com/Finding_the_right_gaming_laptop/4660-11378_7-6317353.html

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/0,39050495,39241882,00.htm

[fitz207]

It depends on what you will be using your computer for.

If you're a Gamer then you should look into an AMD machine.

If you are into video editing/encoding then you should look into an Intel machine. I own both and AMD is faster at some things and Intel faster at other things.

[ottorocket]

Mac. THere i said it. But if you're a gamer..go pc. I kno w i know...more $$$ but not a whole lot more for a uber reliable system that will hold value longer and so much more intuitive. The new Imac comes out in September and starts around 1300.00

[youcancallmeclaire]

Spend your money on...

More RAM!!!!!

I don't care what system you are using. Without sufficient RAM, it's worthless.

[youcancallmeclaire]

Last week I was drooling over a mini ATX board that had sockets for 2 AMD 64 FXs and 32GB of ram. :) :) :)

[GiaCallMe]

Don;t laugh, but look at the various Home Shopping channels. They will run a laptop or computer hour. The good thing about them is that you can make payments over a 6 month period using your credit card. On ShopNBC they have an Acer that look nice.

[manbearpig]

Might be a bit more than your budget - haven't checked but I've been very happy with Alienware.

If you have any geek buddies - buying all the parts and having a system built is a better idea and also comes without all that junk software which usually causes the problems later on.

seanchai


It's not worth the effort to try and build a laptop.

If you don't know what you want/are doing. But if you want a system for a specific purpose its better to build yourself (or have someone else build it). www.tigerdirect.com has alot of good deals on occasion as does www.newegg.com

[kukm4]

Nah, Shopping channels are too over priced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxXmPFxf2Jg

[fitz207]

Spend your money on...

More RAM!!!!!

I don't care what system you are using. Without sufficient RAM, it's worthless.
Well said :) You should get a system with at least 2 GB onboard with expansion slots for more ram in the future.

You will need it if you plan on running Vista.

[fitz207]

Last week I was drooling over a mini ATX board that had sockets for 2 AMD 64 FXs and 32GB of ram. :) :) :)
32GB OF RAM? :shock: :shock: Well i hope you have a good water cooling system, or you are going to have big time overheating. :D

[youcancallmeclaire]

Last week I was drooling over a mini ATX board that had sockets for 2 AMD 64 FXs and 32GB of ram. :) :) :)
32GB OF RAM? :shock: :shock: Well i hope you have a good water cooling system, or you are going to have big time overheating. :D

Mac also has a tower that uses Dual Quad-core Intel chips at 3.0ghz ea and maxes at 32GB ram.

That's 8 cores.

I don't know if it means anything to anyone else here, but personally, it makes me squishy in the pants.

[youcancallmeclaire]

I don't read whatever language this is... but from what I can gather, one or more of these boards is capable of 64gb of ram.

http://www.tweak.dk/nyheder2.php?id=11437

and on this page there's a server with 128gb of ram and 8 CPUs.

http://www.virtual-hideout.net/articles/AMD_Tech_Tour_2006_Seattle/index3.shtml

Really there are no limits to these sorts of things. It all depends on how much you want to spend and how geeky you are. :)

Sorry for hijacking your thread.

[peteincollege]

Get a mac!!!

[Realgirls4me]

Buy a Mac ...


... Save yourself the headaches and BUY A MAC!


Once again, what good is buying or building a PC "screamer" if it is prone to crashing, stalls, and freezing, etc ? That would be like buying a car that visits the mechanic every 600 miles.

The iMac deserves to be a strong contender for any PC user looking to get a new computer. If I was looking to replace my PC right now, I would be sorely tempted. Even the Windows software I've accumulated over the years isn't a real reason not to switch, because Macs can now run Windows, too (with some additional software purchases).

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070815/D8R1LUS00.html


:)

[manbearpig]

Buy a Mac ...


... Save yourself the headaches and BUY A MAC!


Once again, what good is buying or building a PC "screamer" if it is prone to crashing, stalls, and freezing, etc ? That would be like buying a car that visits the mechanic every 600 miles.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070815/D8R1LUS00.html


:)

Theres no such thing as an idiot proof computer. Not even a Mac. I'm sure the same idiots who crash windows and linux machines can crash a Mac machine with the same amount of effort.

[peteincollege]

Really, an iMac or a Macbook will serve all of your needs. the imac starts at 1200 with 1 gig of ram, and is 1375 with 2 gigs. but for any normal processes you don't need more than 1 gig. i have a macbook with 2gigs of ram, but i almost never see the ram usage go above, say 950 megs. also, they have an ATI radeon 128mb graphics card, so they don't drain any memory for that. Also, OS X is insanely better than anything else in the universe, so use it.

I would wait until October when OS X 10.5 Leopard comes out, and then buy an iMac if I were you.

[youcancallmeclaire]

Oh yeah... and get a Mac. ^_^

[Realgirls4me]

Buy a Mac ...


... Save yourself the headaches and BUY A MAC!


Once again, what good is buying or building a PC "screamer" if it is prone to crashing, stalls, and freezing, etc ? That would be like buying a car that visits the mechanic every 600 miles.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070815/D8R1LUS00.html


:)

Theres no such thing as an idiot proof computer. Not even a Mac. I'm sure the same idiots who crash windows and linux machines can crash a Mac machine with the same amount of effort.

I sense a little defensiveness here. So it's about a bad carpenter blaming his tools, huh? It could also be a bad carpenter blaming his piss poor quality tools too. ...My old PowerMac crashed once in 10 years ... my current Imac, zero times in almost two years of owning it. How many times has yours crashed in just the last two months?

[manbearpig]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oc4oP_ITqMc

[manbearpig]

Buy a Mac ...


... Save yourself the headaches and BUY A MAC!


Once again, what good is buying or building a PC "screamer" if it is prone to crashing, stalls, and freezing, etc ? That would be like buying a car that visits the mechanic every 600 miles.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070815/D8R1LUS00.html


:)

Theres no such thing as an idiot proof computer. Not even a Mac. I'm sure the same idiots who crash windows and linux machines can crash a Mac machine with the same amount of effort.

I sense a little defensiveness here. So it's about a bad carpenter blaming his tools, huh? It could also be a bad carpenter blaming his piss poor quality tools too. ...My old PowerMac crashed once in 10 years ... my current Imac, zero times in almost two years of owning it. How many times has yours crashed in just the last two months?

lol And I'm supposed to be the defensive one...Well, sir, the tools are only as good as their user. An idiot with tools is still an idiot. That said, a Mac is still a tool and where theres an idiot there will be a crash. Personally, I like Macs, but I've never been able to justify the price. And FYI, I've never had a crash and I've been using this machine for almost 4 years now. Aside from the dwindling hard drive space, my system is in impeccable condition.

[youcancallmeclaire]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oc4oP_ITqMc

I watched every video from that user and they were some of the most hilarious things I have seen in months. :)

[manbearpig]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oc4oP_ITqMc

I watched every video from that user and they were some of the most hilarious things I have seen in months. :)

lol yea those guys are great. "And I run faster too"

[Realgirls4me]

Buy a Mac ...


... Save yourself the headaches and BUY A MAC!


Once again, what good is buying or building a PC "screamer" if it is prone to crashing, stalls, and freezing, etc ? That would be like buying a car that visits the mechanic every 600 miles.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070815/D8R1LUS00.html


:)

Theres no such thing as an idiot proof computer. Not even a Mac. I'm sure the same idiots who crash windows and linux machines can crash a Mac machine with the same amount of effort.

I sense a little defensiveness here. So it's about a bad carpenter blaming his tools, huh? It could also be a bad carpenter blaming his piss poor quality tools too. ...My old PowerMac crashed once in 10 years ... my current Imac, zero times in almost two years of owning it. How many times has yours crashed in just the last two months?

lol And I'm supposed to be the defensive one...Well, sir, the tools are only as good as their user. An idiot with tools is still an idiot. That said, a Mac is still a tool and where theres an idiot there will be a crash. Personally, I like Macs, but I've never been able to justify the price. And FYI, I've never had a crash and I've been using this machine for almost 4 years now. Aside from the dwindling hard drive space, my system is in impeccable condition.

True to some extent, but are you really trying to tell everyone reading this that Macs crash and breakdown as much as PCs?

Yeah, right.

[manbearpig]

Buy a Mac ...


... Save yourself the headaches and BUY A MAC!


Once again, what good is buying or building a PC "screamer" if it is prone to crashing, stalls, and freezing, etc ? That would be like buying a car that visits the mechanic every 600 miles.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070815/D8R1LUS00.html


:)

Theres no such thing as an idiot proof computer. Not even a Mac. I'm sure the same idiots who crash windows and linux machines can crash a Mac machine with the same amount of effort.

I sense a little defensiveness here. So it's about a bad carpenter blaming his tools, huh? It could also be a bad carpenter blaming his piss poor quality tools too. ...My old PowerMac crashed once in 10 years ... my current Imac, zero times in almost two years of owning it. How many times has yours crashed in just the last two months?

lol And I'm supposed to be the defensive one...Well, sir, the tools are only as good as their user. An idiot with tools is still an idiot. That said, a Mac is still a tool and where theres an idiot there will be a crash. Personally, I like Macs, but I've never been able to justify the price. And FYI, I've never had a crash and I've been using this machine for almost 4 years now. Aside from the dwindling hard drive space, my system is in impeccable condition.

True to some extent, but are you really trying to tell everyone reading this that Macs crash and breakdown as much as PCs?

Yeah, right.

You assumed thats what I was trying to "tell" you. I merely stated that no computer system was idiot proof. I never said anything about the frequency of crashes. Macs aren't perfect. If they were they wouldn't need updates. Though with the added publicity I suspect that they'll start getting more attention from malicious coders and whatnot, thus, eventually, evening the playing field.

But seriously...calm down...its not that big of a deal. Fanboy's will be fanboys I guess.

[Realgirls4me]

I am calmed down. I think you got defensive when I mentioned the propensity of PCs to crash over that of a Mac. You are trying to make them even, and based on my experience they are not -- not even close, and it wasn't so much the user.
I was simply adding my two cents based on my experience with Macs at home, and PCs at work -- I happen to think we would be two to three times more productive at work if we used Macs giving how often our lovely PCs crash everyday.

[ottorocket]

Lets see my last Mac i had for 8 years, and in that whole time i had 1 system resource "crash" that was my fault entirely...zero viruses or system hijacks.

Then i went PC for XP for about 2 years. My Dell crashed more times than i can count, had to run major system hogging anti-virus software, and i was on tech support with Dell like an ex-girlfriend wanting to get back together.

I will never go back to a PC ever...its like buying this Chinese junk you see at Walmart for so cheap, but you end up cursing why you spent the money on something so poorly designed.

[Tobe]

1) The Intel (Centrino) Core2Duo or the AMD Turion 64 X2? Or do you think they're pretty much equal?

2) Most of these systems within my price range come with 2048MB (2GB) of RAM, is that sufficient?

3) Next question would be does the maker really matter? In most cases my options have been either Toshiba, Sony, HP, or Gateway.

4) I did notice in one store that there was a Gateway with the same things that a Toshiba had but it was less expensive, is that because Toshiba's are just better made?

Though i've never been much of a gamer lets discuss gaming while we're at it......

5) Would the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and 256MB of shared video memory be enough for most games or would i need something more like Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 and 358MB of shared video memory for most games?

I'd appreciate any help from you computer smart folks out there and thanks for reading. :D
1. The Core 2 Duo is more energy efficient and faster perfoming than the AMD chips.

2. 2 GB of ram is plenty for normal usage or even gaming. Some specialty applications may need more (server, massive databases, hardcore video editing, etc.). Remember that 32 bit operating systems will utilize a max of ~3.2 GB of ram regardless of how much is installed. 64 bit Vista or XP will be able to use more. But ram is cheap nowadays, so...

3. The make does not really matter for laptops. Most of them outsource their production to ODM Chinese companies such as Clevo, Quanta, Compal, Asus, etc. Then they slap their name on it and sell it. See this article: http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?action=fullnews&id=17
A corollary to this is that you can sometimes get a decent deal buying off brands, e.g., Sager, which is just rebranded Clevo.

4. See 3. It may be higher quality, but not necessarily.

5. If you want to do any gaming avoid integrated intel graphics like the plague. If you don't care about gaming, it will work fine.

It all depends on what you want to do with your laptop. How portable do you want it, what battery life, what screen size?

If its just a basic machine for work, email, and some multimedia, I would recommend getting something relatively cheap for ~$700, see http://www.gotapex.com/ for deals on Dells.

Apple computers are fine, but you pay a premium for their look and design. A properly configured XP system is just as stable as a Mac OS X system.

[manbearpig]

I am calmed down. I think you got defensive when I mentioned the propensity of PCs to crash over that of a Mac. You are trying to make them even, and based on my experience they are not -- not even close, and it wasn't so much the user.
I was simply adding my two cents based on my experience with Macs at home, and PCs at work -- I happen to think we would be two to three times more productive at work if we used Macs giving how often our lovely PCs crash everyday.

No defensiveness necessary. You assumed. But its all relative to personal experience. I, for instance, have never had a bad experience on a PC with a distro of Linux installed. I leave it on 24/7 and not so much as a hiccup. I find Macs more suited for my artistic needs. Final Cut is hands down one of the best video editors out there. And Logic is fun (though I prefer Cakewalk SONAR). But as far as general use I can build a cheap system, slap a linux distro on it, and be fine for years. I'm sure theres a use for every OS (possibly excluding anything having to do with Windows...yuck) but it all comes down to knowledge, price and preference.

[Master_A]

Last week I was drooling over a mini ATX board that had sockets for 2 AMD 64 FXs and 32GB of ram. :) :) :)

got any links?, i thought 4 bays was the most there is and 2 gig ram sticks is the highest there is.

[Nooksack]

The ASUS KFN4-DRE 2200 supports 32GB, but it's a dual-core Opteron chipset. It has 8 RAM expansion slots. PC2-5300 DDR II SDRAM is the supported RAM speed and technology.


The EliteGroup KA3-MVP supports up to Athlon 62 X2 chipsets and is also has a max of 32GB of RAM support. Accepts up to PC2-6400 DDR II SDRAM. Unfortunately, it's a CrossFire board, not an SLi one, and I'm more of a fan of NVIDIA then I am of ATI.


ABIT IN9 32X-MAX is a nice SLi board that is a Pentium 4 to Core 2 Extreme-supported chipset. Once again up to 32GB support of PC2-6400 DDR II SDRAM across 4 memory slots.


Unfortunately, the only 4GB SODIMMs I have found are for specific systems such as DELL of IBM systems...
http://shopper.cnet.com/motherboards/elitegroup-ka3-mvp-v1/4014-3049_9-32034596.html?ar=o&tag=pdtl-list#p5

[youcancallmeclaire]

I'm telling you, this is the one you want. :)

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8261

I checked around and I believe one could be had for somewhere between $900 and $2000.

And I hear 32 sticks of 4GB RAM are getting easier to come by all the time. ^_^



Mmmm... I think SLI technology is awesome. Have you seen those units that have 2 GPUs per PCI slot? and on top of that, they're SLI compatible?

Imagine this Supermicro board with 4 GPUs, 4 procs, 128GB of RAM...

If I was rich and stupid, this would be the type of thing I would waste my money on. :)

[youcancallmeclaire]

got any links?, i thought 4 bays was the most there is and 2 gig ram sticks is the highest there is.

Bays? Huh?
What do you mean?

[manbearpig]

I'm telling you, this is the one you want. :)

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8261

I checked around and I believe one could be had for somewhere between $900 and $2000.

And I hear 32 sticks of 4GB RAM are getting easier to come by all the time. ^_^



Mmmm... I think SLI technology is awesome. Have you seen those units that have 2 GPUs per PCI slot? and on top of that, they're SLI compatible?

Imagine this Supermicro board with 4 GPUs, 4 procs, 128GB of RAM...

If I was rich and stupid, this would be the type of thing I would waste my money on. :)

Thats almost as beautiful as you :gets teary eyed:

[fitz207]

I'm telling you, this is the one you want. :)

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8261

I checked around and I believe one could be had for somewhere between $900 and $2000.

And I hear 32 sticks of 4GB RAM are getting easier to come by all the time. ^_^



Mmmm... I think SLI technology is awesome. Have you seen those units that have 2 GPUs per PCI slot? and on top of that, they're SLI compatible?

Imagine this Supermicro board with 4 GPUs, 4 procs, 128GB of RAM...

If I was rich and stupid, this would be the type of thing I would waste my money on. :)
You better have a fire extinguisher next to your desktop with 4 AMD cpu's running. But that is a thing of beauty.

Nice pic. Thanks. :D

[fitz207]

1) The Intel (Centrino) Core2Duo or the AMD Turion 64 X2? Or do you think they're pretty much equal?

2) Most of these systems within my price range come with 2048MB (2GB) of RAM, is that sufficient?

3) Next question would be does the maker really matter? In most cases my options have been either Toshiba, Sony, HP, or Gateway.

4) I did notice in one store that there was a Gateway with the same things that a Toshiba had but it was less expensive, is that because Toshiba's are just better made?

Though i've never been much of a gamer lets discuss gaming while we're at it......

5) Would the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and 256MB of shared video memory be enough for most games or would i need something more like Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 and 358MB of shared video memory for most games?

I'd appreciate any help from you computer smart folks out there and thanks for reading. :D
1. The Core 2 Duo is more energy efficient and faster perfoming than the AMD chips.

2. 2 GB of ram is plenty for normal usage or even gaming. Some specialty applications may need more (server, massive databases, hardcore video editing, etc.). Remember that 32 bit operating systems will utilize a max of ~3.2 GB of ram regardless of how much is installed. 64 bit Vista or XP will be able to use more. But ram is cheap nowadays, so...

3. The make does not really matter for laptops. Most of them outsource their production to ODM Chinese companies such as Clevo, Quanta, Compal, Asus, etc. Then they slap their name on it and sell it. See this article: http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?action=fullnews&id=17
A corollary to this is that you can sometimes get a decent deal buying off brands, e.g., Sager, which is just rebranded Clevo.

4. See 3. It may be higher quality, but not necessarily.

5. If you want to do any gaming avoid integrated intel graphics like the plague. If you don't care about gaming, it will work fine.

It all depends on what you want to do with your laptop. How portable do you want it, what battery life, what screen size?

If its just a basic machine for work, email, and some multimedia, I would recommend getting something relatively cheap for ~$700, see http://www.gotapex.com/ for deals on Dells.

Apple computers are fine, but you pay a premium for their look and design. A properly configured XP system is just as stable as a Mac OS X system.

Excellent points.

1. I have an Intel and a AMD. Intel core 2 IS faster at heavy duty task than AMD dual core cpu.

To back up your point. Apple computers are good, but they are way too expensive for most people. I have NEVER had a major crash or any other problem with windows. Keep your system updated and don't DL junk software and you should be OK. Computers are like cars. It's all about proper maintenance for a long and trouble free life.

[youcancallmeclaire]

I don't think i'm too worried about crashing my new PC. I've had this cheap Desktop PC running XP (Intel Celeron 256 MB of RAM) for almost 10 years.

I think i'll be fine with with a Toshiba or Sony. :)

Didn't XP come out in '01 though? :?

[Rogers]

I have a 2.5 year old Toshiba laptop ($1600 at the time), and its fan is often noisy as hell. It's really bad when it's going full throttle, sort of like an aircraft taking off. :lol: :frustrated :banghead The guy at the store did warn me about it. He also told me that Sony were the best, but that would have meant an extra $500. So from what I've experienced and heard, I'd definitely go for a Sony over a Toshiba if both are in your price-range. I don't know about HP. But I don't recommend a laptop anyway unless you really want the freedom it gives, especially if you want to do some gaming with it, as you'll need to buy speakers. I'm about to move back to a desktop for the same reasons.

[Rogers]

I have a 2.5 year old Toshiba laptop ($1600 at the time), and its fan is often noisy as hell. It's really bad when it's going full throttle, sort of like an aircraft taking off. :lol: :frustrated :banghead The guy at the store did warn me about it. He also told me that Sony were the best, but that would have meant an extra $500. So from what I've experienced and heard, I'd definitely go for a Sony over a Toshiba if both are in your price-range. I don't know about HP. But I don't recommend a laptop anyway unless you really want the freedom it gives, especially if you want to do some gaming with it, as you'll need to buy speakers. I'm about to move back to a desktop for the same reasons.

The difference in price between the two brands isn't as wide ($500) these days from what i have seen, there are Sony Laptops that i liked within my price range.

How long did it take for the fans on your Toshiba to get as loud as they are now?
The fan has always been noisy I'm afraid, M77. It's something apparently peculiar to Toshiba, or certainly was. Like I said, the guy at the store did mention it. If you've made up your mind between a Sony or a Toshiba, M77, I'd definitely go for the Sony and if you do I hope it works out for you. I ain't selling anything. My Toshiba has been fine, but the fan (and low RAM) is why I'm gonna switch back to a desktop pretty soon. One more thing about laptops I forgot to mention, upgrading is nigh on impossible, so if there are new games you want play, you can forget about them. I was told I couldn't even change my graphics card as it's part of the motherboard.

[fitz207]

Brand names really don't mean much these days. All of them are made in China. Example there is no real difference between a Gateway and a Emachines puter. They're both made by the same company.

[fitz207]

Well Rogers, (Robert Rogers was it? :lol: ) The gaming isn't that high of a priority, it was just a nice little extra. What these systems have should more than suffice as far as that goes. I'm sure i'll be fine for most games that i had in mind. Like i said in the first post, i've never been much of a gamer. I am needing the mobility of a Laptop so another Desktop is out of the question.

Thanks for the Head's up about the Sony. :o
You might want to look into an Acer laptop, i've heard good things about them.

Like i said brand name doesn't mean much these days.

[Rogers]

Well Rogers, (Robert Rogers was it? :lol: ) The gaming isn't that high of a priority, it was just a nice little extra. What these systems have should more than suffice as far as that goes. I'm sure i'll be fine for most games that i had in mind. Like i said in the first post, i've never been much of a gamer. I am needing the mobility of a Laptop so another Desktop is out of the question.

Thanks for the Head's up about the Sony. :o
I just remembered today that Toshiba were recently having problems with some of their laptops catching fire, M77. They blamed the Sony batteries in their machines. I would definitely check out (online) reviews of the actual model you want before you buy it, M77.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9030338