Toshiba or Compaq

[zeyvier]

Good day mga bossing, ask ko lang po your opinion which is better of the two branded laptops? Toshiba or compaq, their good and bad sides. thanks po mga bossing.

[awing]

I'll go for TOSHIBA. More expensive though.

Why not HP?

[Camgen6]

I'll go with Toshiba. Compaq was bought by HP long time ago. I think Compaq only sells lower end models. I'm surprised they still exist.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Tough call. I do have a new (budget line) Toshiba laptop I bought for $900 which I like a lot.

Supposedly, Toshiba has bad tech support if I was to believe some of the negative user opinions on the internet. How many of those are due to fanboish mudslinging, I don't know. I take online user reviews with grain of salt.

My wife's cousin has been a longtime Toshiba laptop owner (since 1996) and she's been happy with every one she's bought.

As for Compaq.... Those I've seen have been decent although I've never personally bought one for myself.

The specs on my ($900) Toshiba:
Satellite A215-S4757
AMD X2 Turion 1.8ghz dualcore
2gb ram
15.4" widescreen WXGA with Trubrite
8x Pioneer DL DVD Burner with Labelflash
Mobility Radeon X1200 (slightly better than GMA950)
250gb Fujitsu 4200rpm SATA150 hard drive
Atheros WiFi b/g wireless
SD Card/6-in-1 reader
4 USB2, 1 4-pin FW, S-Video Out, VGA Out, Expresscard slot
Windows Vista Home Premium

The lcd screen is especially vibrant and the 250gb 4200rpm hard drive doesn't seem to lag that much. I feel the finish is too glossy. But it goes well with the PSP.

[phat_azz]

Tough call. I do have a new (budget line) Toshiba laptop I bought for $900 which I like a lot.

Supposedly, Toshiba has bad tech support if I was to believe some of the negative user opinions on the internet. How many of those are due to fanboish mudslinging, I don't know. I take online user reviews with grain of salt.

My wife's cousin has been a longtime Toshiba laptop owner (since 1996) and she's been happy with every one she's bought.

As for Compaq.... Those I've seen have been decent although I've never personally bought one for myself.

The specs on my ($900) Toshiba:
Satellite A215-S4757
AMD X2 Turion 1.8ghz dualcore
2gb ram
15.4" widescreen WXGA with Trubrite
8x Pioneer DL DVD Burner with Labelflash
Mobility Radeon X1200 (slightly better than GMA950)
250gb Fujitsu 4200rpm SATA150 hard drive
Atheros WiFi b/g wireless
SD Card/6-in-1 reader
4 USB2, 1 4-pin FW, S-Video Out, VGA Out, Expresscard slot
Windows Vista Home Premium

The lcd screen is especially vibrant and the 250gb 4200rpm hard drive doesn't seem to lag that much. I feel the finish is too glossy. But it goes well with the PSP.

hi... i'm also planning to buy a toshiba A215 laptop (almost the same features as yours but with built-in webcam). would you highly recommend it? how long is the battery life? how about gaming? i'm just a casual gamer, need for speed games at most. TIA

[zeyvier]

Tough call. I do have a new (budget line) Toshiba laptop I bought for $900 which I like a lot.

Supposedly, Toshiba has bad tech support if I was to believe some of the negative user opinions on the internet. How many of those are due to fanboish mudslinging, I don't know. I take online user reviews with grain of salt.

My wife's cousin has been a longtime Toshiba laptop owner (since 1996) and she's been happy with every one she's bought.

As for Compaq.... Those I've seen have been decent although I've never personally bought one for myself.

The specs on my ($900) Toshiba:
Satellite A215-S4757
AMD X2 Turion 1.8ghz dualcore
2gb ram
15.4" widescreen WXGA with Trubrite
8x Pioneer DL DVD Burner with Labelflash
Mobility Radeon X1200 (slightly better than GMA950)
250gb Fujitsu 4200rpm SATA150 hard drive
Atheros WiFi b/g wireless
SD Card/6-in-1 reader
4 USB2, 1 4-pin FW, S-Video Out, VGA Out, Expresscard slot
Windows Vista Home Premium

The lcd screen is especially vibrant and the 250gb 4200rpm hard drive doesn't seem to lag that much. I feel the finish is too glossy. But it goes well with the PSP.

san mo sir nabili ang toshiba laptop mo? ok ang specs nya.

[Stoner]

In terms of laptop survivability, Toshiba has a better record than HP. Had mine for 4 years going on 5. Sold it to my company as a service unit, and it still works like a dream. Ang nasira lang sa kanya once are the LCD light bulbs.

I have to warn you though, Toshiba's certified (official) service center here in the Philippines has much to be desired (experienced it first-hand).

[Jun aka Pekto]

hi... i'm also planning to buy a toshiba A215 laptop (almost the same features as yours but with built-in webcam). would you highly recommend it? how long is the battery life? how about gaming? i'm just a casual gamer, need for speed games at most. TIA

Mine also has a 1.3mp webcam. I guess I forgot to mention it. Battery life with internet surfing is around 2.5 hours. The Mobility Radeon X1200 is ok for games like Warhammer Dawn Of War (rts). Forget about OpenGL based FPS games like Doom 3/Quake 4.

That's ok. I never intended to game much on mine. Plus, the resolution is fairly low (1280 x 800). Many games should run fine on it.

san mo sir nabili ang toshiba laptop mo? ok ang specs nya.

I got it for $900 (regular $940) at the military base nearby. My wife got a discount of some sort.

But, Newegg and others sell it at similar price, I think. The only weak component is the 250gb 4200rpm SATA150 hard drive. But, even it isn't as slow as I expected. It's much quicker than the 40gb 4200rpm IDE hard drive in my HP Pavilion ze5270 lappie. I find its speed acceptable. In fact, I thought at first it's a 5400 rpm hard drive.

[meldy12]

i have an old 1999 toshiba P3 notebook and it s still working. no repair yet except for new battery pack.

[shotokan]

if you have to choose between the two options... i've prefer the Toshiba,,, than the HP-Compaq laptops...

[fireblade]

Currently using a Toshiba and used to own a Compaq.

Toshiba, hands down!!!

[Jun aka Pekto]

In terms of laptop survivability, Toshiba has a better record than HP. Had mine for 4 years going on 5. Sold it to my company as a service unit, and it still works like a dream. Ang nasira lang sa kanya once are the LCD light bulbs.

I have to warn you though, Toshiba's certified (official) service center here in the Philippines has much to be desired (experienced it first-hand).

I have an older HP Pavilion ze5270 (which theToshiba A-215 replaced). It seemed to be an ok laptop except for the glacially slow 40gb 4200rpm IDE hard drive. It's now acting flaky ever since it fell off the roof of an SUV. Outwardly, the chassis seem fine. But I'll bet the motherboard has a hairline crack somewhere because it would stop working and the screen would go blank after a few minutes (as it warms up).

I'm not sure if the Toshiba is any more durable than the HP. Not many laptops can survive a fall from say..... 7-8 feet down on to asphalt and still work perfectly.

[Stoner]

Good to hear that your HP is durable and able to partially withstand that kind of shock. That most definitely is a motherboard problem. A relative of mine encountered the same symptoms with his Sony VAIO T-series laptop. He had to ship it to the US to have them repair/replace the board under warranty. Total damage? Around Php 8,000.00.

Maybe I should've worded my statement differently. What I really meant by laptop survivability is the rate of which a laptop will 'mysteriously' develop some sort of hardware glitch or failure even without doing anything radical to it. Personally, that how I grade the durability of each laptop brand. Anyway, one should not drop a laptop under any normal circumstance. Mostly it's up to luck whether a laptop will be able to survive those kinds of falls (at least, this is applicable for the generic consumer models)

[Jun aka Pekto]

Good to hear that your HP is durable and able to partially withstand that kind of shock. That most definitely is a motherboard problem. A relative of mine encountered the same symptoms with his Sony VAIO T-series laptop. He had to ship it to the US to have them repair/replace the board under warranty. Total damage? Around Php 8,000.00.

Maybe I should've worded my statement differently. What I really meant by laptop survivability is the rate of which a laptop will 'mysteriously' develop some sort of hardware glitch or failure even without doing anything radical to it. Personally, that how I grade the durability of each laptop brand. Anyway, one should not drop a laptop under any normal circumstance. Mostly it's up to luck whether a laptop will be able to survive those kinds of falls (at least, this is applicable for the generic consumer models)

It's kind of hard to judge the survivability of a laptop because we don't know the history of what a laptop went through getting from the manufacturer to the store to the owner.

The laptop may have had a rough trip or it may actually be a manufacturing defect, or even substandard components.

Let's see.... We have a Sager laptop (wife's), an iBook 800 (daughter's), the dying HP, and my new Toshiba.

The Sager has been problem-free and my wife loves it even though it weighs 10 lbs.

The iBook 800 went through 2 bad batteries before finally having a good 3rd battery (all free from Apple via Applecare).

The HP was fine until I dropped it. As far as I know, it's a goner. The screen goes blank a little sooner each time I turn it on.

The Toshiba so far has been a delight. Of course, it's less than 2 months old.

[juntzo]

I have a p3 toshiba i bought in 2001 and it is still working up to now. only the battery has problems but this is the original that came with it. it only holds charge for about 5 mins. my gf uses it at home for word and excel and it still has vibrant colors.

for work i have an hp pavilion. so far so good and i use it for autocad and internet like right now! i've been using it for a year now and no complains so far.

[Stoner]

Of course, you cannot discount the fact that each of these two brands' products are still subject to delivery and handling woes, as well as manufacturing defects. But I think that's beside the point, as those aspects are all known factors on any sales company (hence, the need for warranty). However, historical product statistics indeed have indicated that there were lesser reports of hardware failures for Toshiba laptops than HP. That in itself, is saying something for me...

Putting it in that sense, I just answered the question of the thread starter of which brand is better to the best of my knowledge. Still, like anything posted in the Internet, everything should be taken with a grain of salt…

So zeyvier, don’t just take my word on the matter. Go and conduct more research for yourself.

[zeyvier]

Of course, you cannot discount the fact that each of these two brands' products are still subject to delivery and handling woes, as well as manufacturing defects. But I think that's beside the point, as those aspects are all known factors on any sales company (hence, the need for warranty). However, historical product statistics indeed have indicated that there were lesser reports of hardware failures for Toshiba laptops than HP. That in itself, is saying something for me...

Putting it in that sense, I just answered the question of the thread starter of which brand is better to the best of my knowledge. Still, like anything posted in the Internet, everything should be taken with a grain of salt…

So zeyvier, don’t just take my word on the matter. Go and conduct more research for yourself.

Thanks for your advise sir. Anyway so far wala pa naman akong nakikita or naririnig na negative comments sa toshiba kaya am planning to get one, but as youve mentioned, am still conducting researches.

[akal]

I'm still using my compaq presario for over 4 years na. It was subjected to very harsh condition such as sandstorm. I brought it with me every day from camp to my site office when I was still working in the desert. Medyo nag-loose lang yung memory holder nya so I have it re-soldered. Gulat nga yung technician pagbukas nya at puro buhangin nasa loob . On it's 2nd year, nag fail na yung cd-writer so i have it upgraded to dvd-writer. Although ok pa naman sya, I decided to have an upgrade. I just placed an order online for an HP Pavillion dv2500t (customized). It will be delivered on the 30 october. Normally, base price for this model is only $800 but opted to upgrade the processor, memory, graphic card, HD and added fingerprint reader and bluetooth kaya umabot sya ng $1,350 inc. tax.

Ito na yung specs nya.

HP Pavilion dv2500t customizable Notebook PC
GN169AV
– Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
– Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
– 14.1" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
– 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
– 64MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
– HP Imprint (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone
– Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
– 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
– FREE Upgrade to LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support!!
– 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
– System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
– Microsoft(R) Works 8.0
– HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

TOSHIBA is a good brand but too pricey.

[zeyvier]

Thanks sa inputs mga bro. I already purchased a toshiba m200 e410 for 65k sa glorieta (a week before the explosion ) during bpi madness ba yun? upgraded na OS from vista basic to premium (kaya I have 2 licensed Vista OS), memory from 512mb to 1Gb, plus optical mouse with built in cam na sya.

[phat_azz]

*Jun aka Pekto
does your A215's screen black out? mine does... it seems that it's a common issue for A215 laptops. fortunately there's a work-around until toshiba releases a BIOS update.