Ten days ago my Dell Dimension desktop started heading south. The screen froze and I was forced to turn off the power strip because I couldn’t reboot the computer. I let the computer cool off a bit and rebooted successfully. I googled “dell dimension froze” and found I was not alone.
Time to start looking for another PC.
I checked the usual suspects: CompUSA, BestBuy, MicroCenter, and Circuit City. I decided that I wanted a cheap laptop. As you probably know laptops are pretty cheap now and offer great options.
I found just what I wanted at Circuit City: a Toshiba Satellite A105-S2071 for $599.99. Standard features include:
-
Nice 15.4″ wide screen display
-
512MB of DDR2 SDRAM
-
80GB hard drive
-
DVD SuperMulti drive – read/write dvds and cdroms
-
4 USB2 ports
-
Ethernet port
-
PCMcia slot
-
S-video port
Not bad for the price.
It also came with a bunch of applications aimed at the family / student market (which I removed). It also doesn’t have the greatest battery life but I was looking for a desktop replacement.
I’ve used to own a Toshiba notebook and it was great: sturdy and reliable.
This weekend the Circuit City ad offered the same laptop for $549 (after a $150 rebate). I dropped by Circuit City and they immediately gave me a refund for the difference. They had a special on Kingston memory so I picked up and additional 512MB for $35 (after rebate).
