nurseypoo5 Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 My daughter wants to buy one of these, (i have entrance already) but which one is the best deal? We really dont need the printer, i have 2 laying around and getting one again with the emachine deal.... I notice the toshiba has more memory and hd space, but the HP brand is drawing me in also. Can someone with more "guts of the machine" experience tell me which might be best? She will be using it for work (she does the books for a company) and downloading music etc. thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dogg Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 There is no HP at BB for $350. The cheapest is $500. If she is using the computer for "normal" purposes (and from what you write, I think she is) the toshiba will be a good choice. We have had 2 that have been just dandy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nurseypoo5 Posted November 28, 2008 Author Share Posted November 28, 2008 There is no HP at BB for $350. The cheapest is $500. If she is using the computer for "normal" purposes (and from what you write, I think she is) the toshiba will be a good choice. We have had 2 that have been just dandy. no, there is now an hp on for 350, i guess added today. comes with printer and stuff. No specs as of yet but some buttheads already selling what they dont have on ebay as "black friday hp from best buy" lol, go check the front page of the black friday add on best buy.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TazErase Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 I got both the $379 Toshiba and the $349 HP, but the the best is actually the $479 Toshiba (using my new one now). I had enough people with me to get 4 laptops and 2 desktops. I am personally keeping the $479 Toshiba and the $299 eMachines. It might be a bit late to help you decide which to get now since you already made your purchases but I'll show the comparisons any way. HP 2GB RAM.... Toshiba 3GB RAM HP no web cam.... Toshiba web cam Personally I have 4 laptops that we use, 3 of them are Toshibas and 1 is an old Compaq (made by HP). Once I bought the first Toshiba I have never seriously considered any other brands. HP has improved over the past 5 years or so, but I have been so happy with the Toshiba brand and never had any problems with any of them. Also, again it might be controversial but I prefer the AMD processor over the Intel. Of the 2 deals you were asking about, the HP has an Intel dual core while the Toshiba has the AMD dual core. Both are nice machines and depending on who answers you will get conflicting answers although I have not seen any posts here yet saying the HP is the better deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paketel Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Thanks Taz. I was debating between the HP and the Toshiba ($479 package) and I went with the Toshiba although I have two HP desktops that have given me minimal problems over the years. Your information gives me relief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sracer Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Taz gave some good solid advice. After getting skunked out of the $379 Toshiba deal (my local Best Buy erroneously double-counted their $379/$479 notebooks... The $479 laptop is actually part of their $379 laptop allocation, it is the add-on package that had a separate quantity), I did manage to get the HP/Canon $350 combo. I'm not a fan of HP. I had a dv9000 battleship of a notebook whose wifi died after 10 months and then went casters-up 3 months later. (their own support forums show that the defective wifi issue is epidemic across the HP line) In contrast, the Compaq that my stepson has been using for 3 years (was a pre-Black Friday special 3 years ago) has been running flawlessly. So I'm hoping that this low-end HP (which will replace that Compaq) will be just as reliable. Maybe it is like some car companies.... there are some companies that make great inexpensive economy cars, but their high-end models are error-prone. I DO love Canon printers though. And while the combo scanner/printer/copier uses 1 black tank and 1 color tank (my Pixma ip3000 has separate color tanks) I know that it will be a dependable device. Given an option, the Toshiba $479 was the best deal, the $379 next best, but I don't think that the $350 HP/Canon is a bad deal. Time will tell though. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rb22982 Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 $479 wasn't really a much better PC than the $379. The extra gig of ram cost best buy maybe $5 or $10 more as did the bigger hard drive. Rest of the price was basically labor and a crappy anti-virus software. You could buy that case + mouse for $27.99 seperately if you really needed that. The average person will not be able to tell the difference between the 1 GB of RAM and the extra HD space so I'd say the $379 is a much better deal for the average joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sracer Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 $479 wasn't really a much better PC than the $379. The extra gig of ram cost best buy maybe $5 or $10 more as did the bigger hard drive. Rest of the price was basically labor and a crappy anti-virus software. You could buy that case + mouse for $27.99 seperately if you really needed that. The average person will not be able to tell the difference between the 1 GB of RAM and the extra HD space so I'd say the $379 is a much better deal for the average joe.True (and the $379 notebook is perfectly fine as it is), but it isn't about what it costs Best Buy to do it, but how much it would cost an individual to upgrade the $379 notebook to the $479 specs. To bump up the RAM and harddrive space alone would cost more than $100. That A/V software is worthless so I don't count that. But the mouse and case ARE worth something, so one could turn around and sell it, or give it as a gift, or use it. I DO agree that it is a subjective choice and depending upon the purpose, one is better suited than the other.... price vs. capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rb22982 Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 SRACER--99% of the people who would buy that laptop wouldn't need the HD upgrade or the increased ram. They had a better mouse & case for $27.99 seperatedly (407.99). Most people would be better off with the $379.99 (99%+) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sracer Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 SRACER--99% of the people who would buy that laptop wouldn't need the HD upgrade or the increased ram. They had a better mouse & case for $27.99 seperatedly (407.99). Most people would be better off with the $379.99 (99%+)I completely agree. But in the context of "which was the better deal" I still feel that what you got for the extra $100 was worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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