Computer gurus - is this a good deal?

[SportsFan68]

Or would I be buying a piece of junk that I'll have to replace in a year? I tried to research it but could find company sites only.

Here's the deal from Office Depot:

$429 for a Toshiba Satellite A205-S5803 notebook computer with Intel Pentium Dual-Code Processor T2330. (Online price $584.99)

All opinions welcome.

[Bob Juch]

Or would I be buying a piece of junk that I'll have to replace in a year? I tried to research it but could find company sites only.

Here's the deal from Office Depot:

$429 for a Toshiba Satellite A205-S5803 notebook computer with Intel Pentium Dual-Code Processor T2330. (Online price $584.99)

All opinions welcome.

It's a minimal system. You won't have to replace in a year, more like three.

Check this out and make sure it's the exact same system. Also is the store price after a mail-in rebate or is it in-store?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev ... Technology

[SportsFan68]

Or would I be buying a piece of junk that I'll have to replace in a year? I tried to research it but could find company sites only.

Here's the deal from Office Depot:

$429 for a Toshiba Satellite A205-S5803 notebook computer with Intel Pentium Dual-Code Processor T2330. (Online price $584.99)

All opinions welcome.

It's a minimal system. You won't have to replace in a year, more like three.

Check this out and make sure it's the exact same system. Also is the store price after a mail-in rebate or is it in-store?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev ... Technology

It's $35 in-store savings, $135 mail-in rebate. Is that important?

[SportsFan68]

Check this out and make sure it's the exact same system. Also is the store price after a mail-in rebate or is it in-store?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev ... Technology

It's the exact same system.

[Bob Juch]

Or would I be buying a piece of junk that I'll have to replace in a year? I tried to research it but could find company sites only.

Here's the deal from Office Depot:

$429 for a Toshiba Satellite A205-S5803 notebook computer with Intel Pentium Dual-Code Processor T2330. (Online price $584.99)

All opinions welcome.

It's a minimal system. You won't have to replace in a year, more like three.

Check this out and make sure it's the exact same system. Also is the store price after a mail-in rebate or is it in-store?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev ... Technology

It's $35 in-store savings, $135 mail-in rebate. Is that important?

Not to me. Just wanted to make sure you knew.

[Bob Juch]

Check this out and make sure it's the exact same system. Also is the store price after a mail-in rebate or is it in-store?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev ... Technology

It's the exact same system.

It's one I'd buy to travel with, but wouldn't want it to be my main (or only) system.

[SportsFan68]

Check this out and make sure it's the exact same system. Also is the store price after a mail-in rebate or is it in-store?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev ... Technology

It's the exact same system.

It's one I'd buy to travel with, but wouldn't want it to be my main (or only) system.

Thanks, Bob, your input is very much appreciated.

That's what I want it for -- to travel with. For starters, I'm going to Texas soon to keep SteelersFan company on another turkey hunt (yeah, yeah, I'll stay outta Dick Cheney's way). I can look in on y'all (not that you can't get along perfectly well all by yourownselfs), play bridge, E-mail interesting people like Governor Ritter (kidding!), keep up with Clinton and Obama (not kidding), and on and on...

Mostly, though, I'm getting tired of things like reading my own writing when I transcribe my notes into minutes for my local Red Cross Board which I am secretary of. With a nice laptop, the minutes will be done at the end of the meeting. How efficient! You'd think so too if you had to read my handwriting . . .

[TheCalvinator24]

My wife bought one of those because we needed a Windoze machine for the software she's using for homeschooling. It has been fine so far, but we've only had it a short time.

[SportsFan68]

Thanks, Cal, that's helpful. If it's been fine so far, I'm sure it will work out for you in the long run.

[MarleysGh0st]

It's a minimal system. You won't have to replace in a year, more like three.

Check this out and make sure it's the exact same system. Also is the store price after a mail-in rebate or is it in-store?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev ... Technology

It's $35 in-store savings, $135 mail-in rebate. Is that important?

Not to me. Just wanted to make sure you knew.

I haven't heard any complaints specifically about Office Depot or Toshiba, but people have been known to run into snafus trying to get their mail-in rebates. And are you paying sales taxes on the full price, including on that portion that is supposed to be rebated to you?

IMHO, they should simply be saying its normal price is $585*, on sale for $429 and that's what you pay right there. All that rebate red tape is nonsense.



*And don't get me started on that 99 cents pricing.

[earendel]

It's $35 in-store savings, $135 mail-in rebate. Is that important?

Not to me. Just wanted to make sure you knew.

I haven't heard any complaints specifically about Office Depot or Toshiba, but people have been known to run into snafus trying to get their mail-in rebates. And are you paying sales taxes on the full price, including on that portion that is supposed to be rebated to you?

IMHO, they should simply be saying its normal price is $585*, on sale for $429 and that's what you pay right there. All that rebate red tape is nonsense.



*And don't get me started on that 99 cents pricing.

It may be nonsense but it's profitable nonsense. I read somewhere that only about half the people who qualify for a mail-in rebate actually bother to send in for it, so that helps the company.

[MarleysGh0st]

Not to me. Just wanted to make sure you knew.

I haven't heard any complaints specifically about Office Depot or Toshiba, but people have been known to run into snafus trying to get their mail-in rebates. And are you paying sales taxes on the full price, including on that portion that is supposed to be rebated to you?

IMHO, they should simply be saying its normal price is $585*, on sale for $429 and that's what you pay right there. All that rebate red tape is nonsense.



*And don't get me started on that 99 cents pricing.

It may be nonsense but it's profitable nonsense. I read somewhere that only about half the people who qualify for a mail-in rebate actually bother to send in for it, so that helps the company.

Exactly. Which is why, to use a stronger word, mail-in rebates are a scam. And that doesn't even consider the instance where they say your rebate request, along with your original receipt, was "lost in the mail".

It's humbug!

[earendel]

I haven't heard any complaints specifically about Office Depot or Toshiba, but people have been known to run into snafus trying to get their mail-in rebates. And are you paying sales taxes on the full price, including on that portion that is supposed to be rebated to you?

IMHO, they should simply be saying its normal price is $585*, on sale for $429 and that's what you pay right there. All that rebate red tape is nonsense.



*And don't get me started on that 99 cents pricing.

It may be nonsense but it's profitable nonsense. I read somewhere that only about half the people who qualify for a mail-in rebate actually bother to send in for it, so that helps the company.

Exactly. Which is why, to use a stronger word, mail-in rebates are a scam. And that doesn't even consider the instance where they say your rebate request, along with your original receipt, was "lost in the mail".

It's humbug!

No, just "sound business practice." I'd have thought that the proprietors of Scrooge & Marley would approve of such.

And why was Scrooge's name first, anyway?

[ladysoleil]

FWIW, I bought a similar laptop (not the same model, don't remember off the top of my head) 7 months ago for a similar price and am having issues with it.

If you buy it, I'd strongly advise that you buy another 1 GB of RAM to start with. I have 1.5 GB of RAM in mine and it crawls like a handicapped snail under Vista Home Basic.

My specific problems may just be my bad luck, but so far, the system restores aren't working on my system, my antivirus is causing all sorts of conflicts and problems, and my MP3 player and printer don't work with Vista. I haven't had any sort of luck getting it to work well, and I'm not an IT person, but I'm not computer illiterate, either.

Currently it is unusable. I tried to install VPN so I could connect to my company's network, something got corrupted somewhere, and because the System Restore isn't working, I can't fix it. I haven't had the time to nuke the entire drive and install XP instead. I have all my files backed up to a portable hard drive, so, no real harm done, fortunately.

On the bright side, Office Depot did get me my rebate in a timely fashion.