What's a better buy between this Toshiba and this HP?

[niggles]

I need help here!

I know that Toshiba is a better brand, but I'm faced with a real pricing problem on what to buy... here are my two choices that are priced the same, note the drastic difference on Video card and speakers... I'm leaning towards the HP, but how bad are they as a manufactuere?:

HP Pavilion ZV5210 Celeron 2.8GHz Notebook
WebID: 10046402
Mfr. Part Number: PF130UA#ABL
Audio Type 16-Bit Stereo Sound
Average Battery Life 2 Hours
Battery Type Lithium-Ion
Cache 512KB
CPU Speed 2.8GHz
CPU Type Intel Celeron
Fax/Modem 56K V.90
Hard Drive 40GB 4200RPM
I/O Ports 3 x USB, 1 x IEEE 1394; See Below
Included In Box Battery, Charger, Manual
Network Card 10/100, 802.11b/g High-Speed Wireless
Optical Drives CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive
Other Software MS Money, MS Works; See Below
PC Card Slots 1 Type II or 1 Type III
Pointing Device Touchpad
Preloaded Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Product Dimensions 36.2(W) x 4.6(H) x 29.4(D) cm
Product Weight 3.6 kg
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 512MB DDR SDRAM
Removable Storage No
Screen Size 15.0"
Screen Type XGA TFT
Speakers Harman/Kardon Stereo Speakers
System Bus Info Not Available
Video Type 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 IGP
Warranty 1 Year Parts & Labour

OR

Toshiba Satellite A60-JL1 Celeron 2.8GHz Notebook
Mfr. Part Number: PSA60C-JL1100E
Audio Type 16-Bit Stereo 3D Sound
Average Battery Life 1.6 Hours
Battery Type Lithium-Ion
Cache 12KB/8KB L1, 138KB L2
CPU Speed 2.8GHz
CPU Type Intel Celeron
Fax/Modem 56K V.92
Hard Drive 40GB 4200RPM
I/O Ports 3 x USB 2.0, 1 x RGB; See Below
Included In Box AC Adapter, Power Cord; See Below
Network Card 10/100 Ethernet
Optical Drives CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive
Other Software Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
PC Card Slots 1 Type II
Pointing Device Touchpad
Preloaded Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Product Dimensions 34.3(W) x 4.9(H) x 28.2(D) cm
Product Weight 3.4 kg
RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 512MB DDR (Exp. To 1.5GB)
Removable Storage Optional - Sold Separately
Screen Size 15.0"
Screen Type XGA TFT
Speakers Realtek ALC250
System Bus 400MHz
Video Type 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7000
Warranty 1 Year Parts & Labour

 

[WobbleWobble]

I wouldn't care too much about the speakers. Just because they are HK doesn't mean they're great.

Plus, the speakers listed for the Toshiba aren't even speakers. The Realtek ALC250 is the audio codec the machine uses.

If you're going to be playing any games at all then go for the HP. What good is brand if the laptop doesn't play what you want it to play? Even though I also personally favor Toshiba, I'd go with the HP in this case. Their laptops are decent in my opinion.

 

[superHARD]

I hate HP but in this case the HP is better...did you check dell?

The HP has a faster proc and faster video card...
Both have low speed HD's

Toshiba makes very highquality laptops I can't say the same for HP...yet still better than some other laptops

 

[fbrdphreak]

First of all, HP is not a bad manufacturer as far as laptops go. My father, GF, and best friend all have HP laptops that are doing very well. And my Dad's was a refurb he bought on ebay like 6-7 years ago!! I sell HP laptops on a daily basis and see almost none come back for any reason or go into service for any reason. HP is no less reliable than any other brand.
Toshiba does have a reputation for reliablity and ruggedness, but I would not expect this from their bottom of the line model.
Personally, I like the design/ergonomics of the HP series than Toshiba's bottom-line. You didn't list prices, but I assume they're around the same price. I would go for the HP, even if it was slightly more expensive.
Also, CELERON SUCKS. Have you looked at the HP/Compaq laptops w/Athlon XP-M? The HP is a 4800 series or 2100 series from Compaq. Those notebooks have 15" XGA's, wi-fi, 40-60GB HDD's, CD-RW, and ~3 hours of batt life for ~$1000. Again, not sure what price you are looking at; but no matter what your uses those models are MUCH better for the money. GL & PM me if you have any ?'s

 

[niggles]

First off thanks to all who replied to this. My wife and I just went over some of the posts I've left on various forums and these are by far the most useful. Further comments would be appreciated as well.

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
You didn't list prices, but I assume they're around the same price. I would go for the HP, even if it was slightly more expensive.
Also, CELERON SUCKS.

You're right I didn't list the price, I only mentioned that they were the same price. I didn't list the price because I live in Canada and I've noticed that sometimes I get comments back about how I'm paying outrageous prices. So keep in mind that I'm talking CANADIAN dollars... the cost is $1399 and this is from Futureshop. This deal is on until tomorrow so I'm a little short on time on this. Also I'd like to say that I meant no slight against HP, just in terms of reliability scores from the "Consumer Report" HP scored 60% reliability while Toshiba scored the highest at 80%. Stands to reason that at 60% no problem you're still going to hear mostly good things about HP.
As for Celeron sucking... yes, I get that. The 12 or so Desktops I've put together over the past 7 years have all been AMD since the AMD K6-2s were released. I can't get enough of them, but it doesn't seem to be an option at the price bracket that I'm at. We're a little pressed for cash with a mortgage and a new baby in the house. While my last laptop was about $3K, it just died and $1400 is a lot of cash to us right now. Any further advice would be appreciated, and the stuff so far is great.

Cheers.

Edit: Oh yeah, and on the topic of Dell, they're not even in the same ballpark. I guess their prices in the U.S. are competitive, not so in Canada. They're drastically overpriced and then you have to pay for shipping at the end of it. I can see getting a Dell if your needs can't be met with a cookie cutter PC as listed above. But even getting half the CPU power, half the memory, a smaller screen and a much lower end video card would cost me about $200 more. I do not understand who buys Dells in Canada from a home user perspective. While their reputation for support is fantastic I can't see paying all the extra money.

 

[deejayshakur]

been eyeing the compaq v2000 series that just came out. can be had for maybe $100US more. but since i won't use it for games, it only has intel igp. check it out on hpshopping.com. it's brother, the hp dv1000 is neat--plays dvds and cd/mp3s without booting up windows.

 

[Justin216]

The R7000 would most likely be a better graphics card, because that IGP card I believe uses shared video memory, which blows...correct me if I'm wrong of course

 

[dannybek]

niggles,

The Hp has a better build quality than the Toshiba.
I would go for them.
Dan