News Bits: BestBuy $400 Laptop, Asus Core Duo Notebooks, Core Duo - Buy or Wait, Dell #1 in LCDs

$400 Laptop at BestBuy Starting Sunday (Rumor)

Reports from FatWallet.com say that the Toshiba L25 S1216 laptop (15" screen, 1.6 GHz Celeron M, 40GB HDD and 256 MB RAM) will be on sale tomorrow for $399 after rebates, and there's a scan of a picture ad to prove it. The deal starts 2/5 (Sunday) and runs through the week, if availability remains that is. On the BestBuy.com website it is indicated as being "out of stock" online, check your local BestBuy to see if there's stock in store though.

BestBuy should also have a Gateway MX6131 notebook for $549 starting Sunday 2/5 (you can see it in the lower left corner of the above ad), specs on that notebook are Celeron M 360 processor, 512mb, 40GB, 15.4" UltraBright widescreen, DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive.

Asus Core Duo Notebook Releases and Availability

Asus is looking to the new Napa platform from Intel to be a major drive for its notebooks sales for 2006. They've launched six new Napa notebooks in Taiwan since the Chinese New Year and PROPortable has provided us with expected release dates and pricing on upcoming Asus notebooks for the U.S. market (all new 945 chipset Asus model notebooks will be coming with Bluetooth):

Upcoming Asus "Built On"Systems (Configurable):

• Asus Z62f:some availability now, more bylate-February - 14" widescreen, integrated graphics.
• Asus Z92ja: Late-February - 15.4" widescreen, 256mb ATI x1600
• Asus Z35f: Mid-March - 13.3" widescreen, integrated graphics
• Asus Z62j: Mid-March - 14" widescreen, 128mb Nvidia 7300

Upcoming Asus Enesmble Systems (Pre-Configured):

• Asus A7j: Late-February - 17"w, 256mb ATI x1600 - *NO TV Tuner / 1.66ghz / 512mb / 100gb 5400rpm - $1,699
• Asus V6j: Mid-March - 15"r, 128mb Nvidia 7400 - *NO IPS/1.66ghz/1024mb/100gb 5400rpm - $1,899
• Asus W5f: Mid-March - 12"w, integrated graphics - 1.66ghz/512mb/100gb 5400rpm - $1,799
• Asus W2j: Late-March - 17"w, 256mb ATI x1600 - TV Tuner/2.0ghz/1024mb/120gb 5400rpm - $2,599
• Asus W3j: Late-March - 14"w, 256mb ATI x1600 - 1.66ghz/1024mb/100gb 5400rpm - $1,799
• Asus Lamborghini VX1: Mid-April - (built on the the V6j)- no price set

Centrino Core Duo Notebooks, Buy or Wait?

BusinessWeek.com technology editor Stephen Wildstrom takes a look at whether a Core Duo notebook makes sense to buy now. Wildstrom basically answers that if you're in the market for a notebook and are deciding between a Pentium M system or Core Duo system you should go Core Duo simply because it's not that much more expensive, and while there are a few known bugs in the Duo, they're nothing major (every new processor has some) and the performance gap makes it a worthwhile upgrade. From the article:

"Intel is pricing the new Centrino quite aggressively. Comparisons of new and old chips is difficult because of different features and speeds, but according to Intel's published price list, a Centrino Duo package is priced at most $50 higher than a roughly comparable older Centrino, and for many configurations there appears to be no price difference at all. This means that notebooks featuring the new processor should, other things being equal, cost just about the same as the models they replace"

More: BusinessWeek.comBuy or Wait Article

Dell#1 for Shipping LCD Monitors in 2005

Dell is known as a notebook and desktop PCcompany, but they should also be known as an LCD monitor company too apparently. Last year they shipped more LCD monitors than any other company. Dell shipped 20.0 million LCD units, almost twice as many as the next closest competitor Samsung that shipped 10.8 million units. These numbers are reported by DisplayBank research.

More: http://www.digitimes.com/displays/a20060203PR203.html

Gateway has Strong Retail Sales for 2005, Business Sales Fell

Gateway has done a great job getting their notebooks into retail stores in the U.S., but sales to businesses fell last year. Total PC unit sales for 2005 were 4.5 million, a 27% increase over 2004 mostly due to strength of retail sales to consumers.

The company explained that the sequential and year-on-year revenue increases in the company's retail business are due to market share gains in US retail as well as growth in the company's international business. It indicated that Gateway and eMachines products are now sold in more than 7,000 retail locations in the US and Canada and in more than 2,000 retail locations internationally, including Japan, Mexico and the UK.

More: http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060203PR204.html

 

I'm repeating myself, the ASUS W3j looks godly...

 

I might have considered picking up that $400 notebook for a second PC . . I'd like to have another machine. But, it's a Toshiba.

Yeah, the X1600 is a great chip - very low power consumption, therefore it should be great in a 14".

 

Well, you can just get one to play around with...

Mod the heck out of it

 

I very well could. I have a bunch of parts lying around . . .

I guess it wouldn't be that bad of an idea, if I just want a second PC.

I am going to take a trip and look at it.

 

yeah that... :asus:

 

agreed.. I should have hold out a couple more more months...

 

Agreed. Sure gets my attention.

 

I wouldn't touch that $400 notebook with a 10ft pole... I feel bad for the sales associates that will have to give people that computer. I could think of a lot of other cool toys to get before buying something like that... assuming that one is buying it as a second computer. I'd put money on that the battery doesn't charge and that the battery ends up being suspiciously light like other ultra cheap toshibas I've seen recently.

 

I'm glad someone finally put a GPU with more than 4 pipelines into a 14-inch laptop. I kind of wish I'd held out for that one too, as I think the 14-inch widescreen is the best combination of size and power.

 

Wow ASUS

First of all

The W2j and the W3j, works of art. I know they are going to suceed in the market. Especially the W3j since so many people are looking for portable gaming notebook, and the price is very decent.

The W2j for me is great news, only $50 more than the current W2v. Makes me very happy.

Nick

:asus:

 

Well the BestBuy ad is real for sure. Might go check it out today.

 

I bought the $400 laptop from Best Buy at 449 + tax... total of $475... You guys still think this is a good deal?? Or should I just return it?

 

I would also like your opinions on the Gateway computer that is available at Best Buy for $549. Is that a good deal for a basic laptop?

 

Yeah, I'm going to take a trip just to see it, but I doubt I will buy it . . probably pretty shoddy.

Good insight there.

 

Bestbuy is selling the Toshiba laptop at $449.99 in Rhode Island. Bought one this morning as a gift for a friend.

 

I went to check it out at Best Buy today. I thought it was actually a decent notebook for basic stuff, although there were some cut corners. Not unexpected at that price point though.

The display really flexed a lot, pretty shoddy there. Same with the keyboard - a lot of flex on the right side, it's alright on the left.

Pretty basic looking, not much to the design. Looks pretty boring.

Screen is average - a little washed out, but not terrible.

Speakers are really tinny and low-volume, but who cares.

Is it a good deal for $450? Yeah, just don't expect much in terms of build quality and performance. Basic users, it would be fine [Internet, wireless, email, etc]. Just be sure to add some RAM; only has 256MB.

Cheers

 

good points Chaz, thanks for the field report there! and the reality is that some people just can't afford $1,000+ for a PC so from a "social equality" perspective if a laptop that runs okay and name brand is made available for this price then it's a good thing.

 

My friend is really happy about the Toshiba laptop gift. She used to fight with her husband over the use of the only one laptop in the house, and complained that he always messed around with the icons. No more arguments/frustrations now. $480 (w/ tax) to make a better world is really worth it.

(My friend is a basic user...email, web surfing, ebay, dial-up... so the unit should be sufficient for her, even with 256 MB ram.)

 

I have to say that the laptop was a lot better than I expected it to be. True, they cut corners as I mentioned in my previous post, but for basic users or people just wanting to get online, it's just fine.

It actually includes some nice components - 5400RPM hard drive, fastest [1.6GHz] Celeron processor, wireless, and a CDRW drive. Not bad for $449.

Cheers

 

I bought the $450 toshiba laptop from bestbuy last Monday. Out of the box its horribly slow, so i ordered up 2 512 sticks of ddr2 ram from newegg and its now a reasonably priced second computer and decent gaming box. Ive been playing world of warcraft with this thing on my wireless lan and it runs just fine. The radeon 200m is an impressive little chip for built in graphics. Dont expect to be playing doom 3 with it, but other than that its fine. Battery life is garbage but i didnt buy it for that so its not a big deal to me. For the money its a good deal, just be aware that it will need memory added out of the box.

So far ive played, world of warcraft, neverwinter nights, jedi knight, pharoah, warcraft III, and all have run very well at decent graphic settings. Not bad for a budget laptop. As i said about this pc in the toshiba section of the forum, too many folks blast these machines for what they wont run, they dont look at how much stuff you can play. Buy this one with reasonable expectations and you wont be disappointed.

 

Actually, the Radeon X1600 Mobility is a decoupled 4 pipeline design with 3x times the ALU for a total of 12 Pixel pipelines. So the old term pipeline is getting old fast

So in essence the chip features:

12 Pixel Pipes
5 Vertex Pipes
4 Texture Units
4 Render Back-Ends