Toshiba Tecra S1 Laptop with Pentium M 1.4 256/30GB/DVD Centrino $1025

bznotins

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Oct 30, 2003
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I've been shopping for Dells and HPs, but I see this on another deal site (rhymes with MechBargains) and I think I should be all over this deal.

Thoughts?

Link
 

unclebud

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2000
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my friend got a tecra his father found abandoned
it would probably be good if they had an adapter
he has been begging me to find one for him cheap
gonna check this site, thanks!
 

bznotins

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Oct 30, 2003
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Bumparoo. This got some play at FW, but no one here seems to like it. I would think the crowd here would know more about lappies than the FW crowd... hmmm...
 

Gibson486

Lifer
Aug 9, 2000
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its a centrino with a radeon 9000, not a bad deal at all. It's seems nice if you want something to traval with.
 

sianof

Member
Apr 7, 2003
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What's the Deal with this Laptop??? Is it a good one?

It seems reasonably priced for a Centrino. I am debating if I should stick with a Compaq 2.4 Gig Celeron with a 30 gig drive, 15 inch screen,256mb that will be 768 after I upgrade and more that I paid $600 for after rebate. Compaq 2182US

What do you guys think??? Please help as I must make this decision SATURDAY the latest :)
I basically want to spend around a thousand TOPS ! or stick with the $600 Compaq I already have.
Let me know
Thanks
Frank
 

sianof

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Apr 7, 2003
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PS- My main functions will include:

Hardcore Web Development including Macromedia products, php apache for testing, and lots of photoshop.
I already know, some are going to say Celeron won't cut it. But I can say I had a 400 mhz celeron that ran it perfectly fine with 256mb. I will be upgrading it to have a total of 768MB ram so that should be plenty for photoshop to breathe.

I will be watching some dvds here or there and probably not play many games if any.
I run Windows 2000, XP, and am now starting to run Knoppix Linux based on Debian.
I will end up paying $700 with the 768 mb upgrade.
Is it worth spending more or should I stick with what I have?
Keep in mind that this is not going to be my main machine. This is a to work and back machine and when I am not home type deal. I already have a power house machine overclocked and burning up anything it touches for home use and development :)
I am dying to either open it, or buy another :)
Let me know
thanks
frank
 

wfay

Senior member
Jul 24, 2001
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Originally posted by: sianof
PS- My main functions will include:

Hardcore Web Development including Macromedia products, php apache for testing, and lots of photoshop.
I already know, some are going to say Celeron won't cut it. But I can say I had a 400 mhz celeron that ran it perfectly fine with 256mb. I will be upgrading it to have a total of 768MB ram so that should be plenty for photoshop to breathe.

I will be watching some dvds here or there and probably not play many games if any.
I run Windows 2000, XP, and am now starting to run Knoppix Linux based on Debian.

I have a Toshiba 1415-S173 that I do a lot of Java and some web development on. Its a great machine for WinXP but is really horrible for Linux due to some issue with the keyboard hardware. I am a big Linux user on my desktops and so I was rather disappointed to discover this. After doing a little research online I found that this has been an issue on Toshibas for a while now and there are various tweaks/patches/utils to compensate for the bouncy keys, none of them worked well for me.

If I typed "hello" in Redhat v9 it would come out "hhhhhellllllllooo" or "heeeeelllllllloooooooooo" or maybe possibly just "heeelloo" at the best. EXTREMELY ANNOYING.

So anyways, before buying this (or any other Toshiba laptop, it seems) for use with Linux, do some research and see if they have really honestly fixed this bouncy keys issue yet or not. Give the machine a test run with Knoppix or another Live CD and make sure it runs like you expect, if you can!
 

kctopitz

Member
Aug 25, 2003
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Argh. This has basically everything I've been looking for AND a 3-year warranty at a great price - EXCEPT it's just a DVD drive and not a DVD/CDRW combo. That and the 30GB hard drive is probably 4200RPM. Anyone know for certain?
 

bznotins

Member
Oct 30, 2003
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Originally posted by: kctopitz
Argh. This has basically everything I've been looking for AND a 3-year warranty at a great price - EXCEPT it's just a DVD drive and not a DVD/CDRW combo. That and the 30GB hard drive is probably 4200RPM. Anyone know for certain?

Yeah, the real problem is that if this is your primary machine, you need the combo drive. I already have a desktop with a DVD burner so I don't really need a burner in my laptop. Also, I believe the HDD is 4200rpm. All your questions can be answered here:

Detailed Specs.

BTW, I ordered this the other night and it has shipped. Expected to be here in Texas on the 10th!
 

geoffkin

Senior member
Feb 9, 2000
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Taken from the Toshiba specs...

30 GB - 4200 RPM
40GB - 5400 RPM
60 GB - 5400 RPM

I love my IBM T23 I got for $999 delivered from PC Connection a WHILE ago. I got extra OEM IBM batteries for it off Ebay for $30 each and now I watch all my own DVDs while flying across country!! If I hadn't got that deal, I would jump on this one...
 

aerialcombat

Senior member
Feb 2, 2001
385
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TECRAs are the mercedes of laptops. Just for those who didn't know. They've been well known for its performance and its unlaptopish specs. I would get this any day over dells of hps. Well, this fact would be completely valid had it been about 5 years ago. I don't know how it is now, but i'm sure it beats dells and hps anyday.
 

mrVW

Senior member
May 18, 2000
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The ignorancze of the masses has vanished the TrackPoint! Even Toshiba doesn't have them on many models.

The TrackPoint turns people off at first, but once you use it for about 30 hours you realize how great it is. I freakin HATE those touchpads, no matter how many hours I work with them - they are flawed - I costantly rest my thumbs on them and move the damn cursor.
 

Vcize

Senior member
May 30, 2003
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Just so you know, with the 10% off coupon at Compaq you can get an x1000 for the same price, only the X comes with:

9200 64mb radeon as opposed to the Tecra's 9000 32mb
40gb HD instead of tecra's 30gb
Widescreen
same weight, plus more upgrade options.
 

bznotins

Member
Oct 30, 2003
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Originally posted by: Vcize
Just so you know, with the 10% off coupon at Compaq you can get an x1000 for the same price, only the X comes with:

9200 64mb radeon as opposed to the Tecra's 9000 32mb
40gb HD instead of tecra's 30gb
Widescreen
same weight, plus more upgrade options.

How do you get $1025 with those specs? Using the coupon, I get $1170. And only a one year warranty.

Plus the Tecra will give you 5-6 hours of useful battery life. The X1000 is only about three, maybe 4 (as reported on x1000 forums). Also, you get XP Pro with the Tecra.

I like the widescreen of the Compaq, and for some people that will be a difference maker. But I don't think you can do an X1000 with those specs for $1025....
 

Rupster

Senior member
Feb 12, 2003
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This is exactly what I want in a laptop - Anybody got a grand I could borrow until after XMAS ???
 

mattg1981

Senior member
Jun 19, 2003
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I just got a Toshiba Satellite p15-s409 ... if the Tecras are the mercades of notebooks what would the satellites be? ( ... just wondering)
 

sianof

Member
Apr 7, 2003
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I've Run Knoppix and Mandrake on an HP and a Compaq with everything working. Although I didn't test the ethernet. Since I was in Circuit City :)
Later
Frank S
 

rasputinj

Diamond Member
May 15, 2001
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Good deal, the HP deal for the zt3000 for $1009 I believe might be slightly better, with the widescreen. But that deal ends tomorrow...