Tesco €299 laptops 15.6" 4GB 320GB

Capt'n Midnight

A choice of two cheap n' cheerful laptops

Both have

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
4GB RAM
320GB HDD

15.6" LED screen
AMD Radeon HD 6310M

Numeric Keyboard
DVD Dual layer Read Write

Integrated card reader
vga output


Toshiba ( was €349)
AMD E300 Dual Core / 2 x USB 2


Compaq Cq57 420Sae3004/320Gb
Intel dual core / 3 x USB 2.0



So Intel vs. AMD or Compaq vs. Tosh

Digital Satellite TV

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

A choice of two cheap n' cheerful laptops

Both have

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
4GB RAM
320GB HDD

15.6" LED screen
AMD Radeon HD 6310M

Numeric Keyboard
DVD Dual layer Read Write

Integrated card reader
vga output


Toshiba ( was €349)
AMD E300 Dual Core / 2 x USB 2


Compaq Cq57 420Sae3004/320Gb
Intel dual core / 3 x USB 2.0



So Intel vs. AMD or Compaq vs. Tosh

Nice spot man. I'll check it out when I'm in doing the shopping later on. Could do with a bog standard one for the kids. Fed up of them using mine, can't get near it most of the time!!!

madmoe

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

A choice of two cheap n' cheerful laptops

Both have

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
4GB RAM
320GB HDD

15.6" LED screen
AMD Radeon HD 6310M

Numeric Keyboard
DVD Dual layer Read Write

Integrated card reader
vga output


Toshiba ( was €349)
AMD E300 Dual Core / 2 x USB 2


Compaq Cq57 420Sae3004/320Gb
Intel dual core / 3 x USB 2.0



So Intel vs. AMD or Compaq vs. Tosh

Wonder what the story will be with these and the upgrade to Windows 8 when it hits next month? Will the upgrade be free or hugely discounted?

Cheers,
M

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Gurgle

madmoe wrote: »

Wonder what the story will be with these and the upgrade to Windows 8 when it hits next month? Will the upgrade be free or hugely discounted?

Why would you want to?

madmoe

Gurgle wrote: »

Why would you want to?

LOL...cause it's Windows 8....the latest and greatest ;-) It may have issues I guess with drivers etc. but I always want the newest OS\Office etc.

Gurgle

madmoe wrote: »

LOL...cause it's Windows 8....the latest and greatest ;-)

What do windows and star trek movies have in common?

every second one is muck

madmoe

Gurgle wrote: »

What do windows and star trek movies have in common?

every second one is muck

LOL....well have been running it for weeks now and have to say there is very little muck that I can see!! It runs well on a 3 year old machine with only 2GB of RAM.....would fly on the ones listed above!!

channelsurfer2

i would be wary of the toshiba one from personal experience due to overheating issues. loads of threads if you google about overheating toshiba laptops after a few months.
the compaq one is not a bad spec for the price.

Up2NoGood

lads, the processor is terrible. remember you can always upgrade RAM and H/D never the processor, 1.6 Ghz. Why bother.

RedXIV

Up2NoGood wrote: »

lads, the processor is terrible. remember you can always upgrade RAM and H/D never the processor, 1.6 Ghz. Why bother.

Not suit for just word processing and browsing the web?

Up2NoGood

While any laptop will do that, You will be sacrificing speed and power. I would put more emphasis on the processor than anything else

bizz213

Hey guys, just looking to get a laptop to get me through college this year, want something half decent but cheap. I've heard Toshibas have overheating issues alright. Would anyone know if the Compaq is worth gettin or would the one ive posted a link to below be worth paying the extra €50 for??

Intel® Celeron® B815 processor
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Memory: 6GB
Hard drive: 500GB

Can upgrade to Windows 8 for €14.99 on all of them

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/COMPAQ-Presario-CQ57480SA-156andquot-Laptop-Black/310449/301

Up2NoGood

do your research and look into the Celeron....remember you get what you pay for

BostonB

Up2NoGood wrote: »

lads, the processor is terrible. remember you can always upgrade RAM and H/D never the processor, 1.6 Ghz. Why bother.

Why not? Once the bios supports it, you can. Assuming the CPU is socketed which it is on most laptops and the heatsink is good enough. I've done it before.

Zonda999

BostonB wrote: »

Why not? Once the bios supports it, you can. Assuming the CPU is socketed which it is on most laptops and the heatsink is good enough. I've done it before.

It is far less common though, in fairness. It would also cost a good bit more than upgrading RAM

Not sure what the chip is in the compaq but i wouldn't recommend a computer with that AMD E300 chip in it anyway. Having previously used a computer with an E350 chip in it

No idea what intel dual core chip is in the compaq but its probably a 2011 range pentium, in which case, it would be okay. I used a toshiba c660 laptop before too and found it to be fairly plastic'y tbh. Toshiba do generally make quite solid laptops though in fairness

I would definitely get the compaq in this case though, if it does have an intel pentium chip

BostonB

Whats far less common? Any laptop I've used in recent years had a socketed cpu. Perhaps low end AMD or Atom power netbooks don't.

Own a laptop for 2yrs or more and you see loads of broken ones being sold for parts and you can pick up a CPU quite cheap. You can upgrade now. But the flip side of things is usually you want a laptop to be cooler and use the least amount of power so getting a lower end CPU is often more useful in a laptop. More battery, less heat.

Personally I'd have to see the keyboard and screen before buying a laptop, hard to know if its worth buying unless it has good reviews otherwise.

bmaxi

The processor in the Compaq is an Intel Pentium Dual Core B960 2.2ghz., better than the AMD in the Toshiba.

kenyard

processor is the main thing. ram can always be upgraded, though most laptops nowadays imo dont need more than 2Gb ram but its the first thing people are told to look at... windows will use it on random crap if its available ofc... maybe windows 8 will require more also i dont know as of yet.
processor and graphics are major. you want basic graphics to have it look good and not have issues..causes serious lag in a lot of things that dont have one i find.
id go dual core processor any day.
tbh these laptops with a few tweaks are great for any thing you throw at them i reckon.
if i was buying a basic laptop id want dual core, 2gb ram, 720p screen, maybe basic graphics card, and thats kinda what these have...

Capt'n Midnight

bmaxi wrote: »

The processor in the Compaq is an Intel Pentium Dual Core B960 2.2ghz., better than the AMD in the Toshiba.

http://compare-processors.com/intel-pentium-b960-vs-amd-e-300/2055/

- In performance, the Intel Pentium B960 is much better, especially in the CPU area.
- The AMD E-300 is however, a low power ( 18 Watts TDP), low cost processor that has decent integrated graphics.
- If you are looking for entry level processor with good graphics that will give you good batter life and will fit in thin notebooks, the E-300 is for you. For better CPU performance B960 is better.

TerrorFirmer

The intel cpu is actually pretty decent- the amd one is frankly rubbish. I've one in my netbook and it's ridiculously slow using win7. Tdp is excellent though.

The_Conductor

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The intel cpu is actually pretty decent- the amd one is frankly rubbish. I've one in my netbook and it's ridiculously slow using win7. Tdp is excellent though.

Graphics in the AMD one- on the other hand- are a generation ahead of the Intel one (even if they are still ****e)......

If you're thinking of possibly upgrading- just save a few bob more and get a better system from the get-go, both these laptops are remarkable value for everyday computing- but throw anything out of the ordinary at them, and they'll stutter.

Re upgrading the processor- I've never had a laptop in this house that I haven't upgraded the processor on. You have to research chipsets, BIOS compatability (though you can normally get a whitewashed BIOS these days pretty handy), and of course ease of taking the machine apart (damn torque screws)- but it is a bit of a no-brainer anymore. Oh- also research the actual processor you're proposing to get- particularly steppings etc.

Personally- I'd have no issue whatsoever giving my sis one of these for use for college work. I wouldn't purchase one for myself under any circumstances though- they are cheap- and they do work- providing you're not doing anything out of the ordinary.

I'm crunching .mkv here at the moment- neither of these laptops would do it in a fit........

BostonB

What's tdp? For mkv encoding I think you'd need hyperyhreading i3 or a quad core. It's painful on my 2.0 core2duo

shadowcomplex

Would this laptop run diablo 3

kaizersoze

The Compaq is an excellent buy for the money and the Toshiba is fine too. I've set up 6 or 7 for people and they're a great little machine.
Forget this nonsense about processor, graphics blah blah. These are for people that want something for basic usage like Word, email and internet browsing. They're more than adequate for that.

These have been in Tesco for the last couple of weeks but are getting scarce.
PC World have the Compaq for the same price if anyone misses out.

Zonda999

kaizersoze wrote: »

The Compaq is an excellent buy for the money and the Toshiba is fine too. I've set up 6 or 7 for people and they're a great little machine.
Forget this nonsense about processor, graphics blah blah. These are for people that want something for basic usage like Word, email and internet browsing. They're more than adequate for that.

These have been in Tesco for the last couple of weeks but are getting scarce.
PC World have the Compaq for the same price if anyone misses out.

I agree but the sheer amount of bloatware these laptops have on them day one, I reckon they would be slow for even basic tasks. If these were to have standard bloatware free windows, they would be fine.

The Compaq is by far the better buy because of that chip though, IMHO

Tommay

If buying from Tesco, make sure to double check the specs on the box. I saw one advertised with 4GB of RAM but checking the specs on the box it only had 2GB.

kaizersoze

Tommay wrote: »

If buying from Tesco, make sure to double check the specs on the box. I saw one advertised with 4GB of RAM but checking the specs on the box it only had 2GB.

They've been upgraded to 4 gig. There's a sticker on the underside of the laptop itself.

kaizersoze

Zonda999 wrote: »

I agree but the sheer amount of bloatware these laptops have on them day one, I reckon they would be slow for even basic tasks. If these were to have standard bloatware free windows, they would be fine.

The Compaq is by far the better buy because of that chip though, IMHO

Very little on the Compaq surprisingly. They're pretty quick out of the box.

Capt'n Midnight

Zonda999 wrote: »

I agree but the sheer amount of bloatware these laptops have on them day one, I reckon they would be slow for even basic tasks. If these were to have standard bloatware free windows, they would be fine.

The Compaq is by far the better buy because of that chip though, IMHO

1 http://pcdecrapifier.com/ - remove crap
2 http://ninite.com/ - get the essential apps - tip - use Microsoft Security Essentials for the AV for ease of updating compared to AVG etc.
3 http://filehippo.com - only if you need other apps
4 set windows update to auto
5 http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/ - to auto patch all the other applications

You now have a low maintenance system

Belle Morte

I was looking to get one of these for a friend, FYI there's none in stock in Tesco Galway Headford Road, Oranmore or Ballinasloe.

Sorry meant to say all the Compaq ones are OOS, lots of Toshiba's left however.

cailineile

All gone in Galway, Headford, I got the last one, not too bad as laptops go, only for use in the house, its huge in comparison with the 12.5" one I use for work.

Deleting all the crap that is on it as we speak

melekalikimaka

kenyard wrote: »

if i was buying a basic laptop id want dual core, 2gb ram, 720p screen, maybe basic graphics card, and thats kinda what these have...

720p screen? also unless you are gaming gfx isnt overly needed, maybe a little for movie decoding thats bout it, 2gb is BARE minimum you need for a windows laptop, 2gb will be slow tbh and you'll upgrade it quick quickly, realistically you would want a i3 too, they are falling in price, avoid anything below it

antocann

iv been using one of these Toshiba ones for the past two weeks , cant fault it for the price .

so fare works perfect , not slow or sluggish , screen is good quality screen is good , while using it constantly with WiFi etc... battery last a good 5 hours on a full charge

Belle Morte

Which one did you get, the Compaq or Toshiba?

cailineile wrote: »

All gone in Galway, Headford, I got the last one, not too bad as laptops go, only for use in the house, its huge in comparison with the 12.5" one I use for work.

Deleting all the crap that is on it as we speak

jwof2006

How long would the compaq be expected to last if it was being used for word and the internet. I have 500 to spend but would get the compaq if it would do the job.:)
I think the same compaq in pc world is AMD??
Does this tesco compaq come with microsoft word?

melekalikimaka

is there hdmi out on these?

antocann

melekalikimaka wrote: »

is there hdmi out on these?

Toshiba has no hdmi out , doesn't bother me

cailineile

Hi got the compaq. Seems to be running ok. Hdmi port too

ben36

Anybody know if there's any of the compaqs left on Dublin northside?sold out in Clearwater.

The_Conductor

Tesco Maynooth have both (or did on Sunday in any event)
Tesco Lucan have the Toshiba
Tesco Celbridge have both.

kaizersoze

cailineile wrote: »

Hi got the compaq. Seems to be running ok. Hdmi port too

No HDMI port on the Compaq CQ57.

Sonic_exyouth

Gurgle wrote: »

What do windows and star trek movies have in common?

every second one is muck

I've heard that from a lot of people, but it's irritatingly not true!

Windows 3.1 was brilliant for its time, and significantly easier to use than any PC OS that went before it.
Windows 95 was then revolutionary brilliant. (Some say a MAC rip off, but, wayyy more adaptable and open)
Windows 98 was then god-awful, and ME was similarly terrible. (I suppose, the brilliant NT 4.0 came between those two, but, that was a business orientated release, so, not sure if it counts)

Then Windows XP arrived (Which was NT based) and was awesome. Most machines that I am aware of in workplaces have yet to see the need to upgrade, despite the OS being 12 or so years old. In our place, our stats indicate that XP remains the most used OS in Ireland. There's no other OS that I am aware of that boasts that type of longevity.

XP was followed by Vista, which was poorly thought out and rushed to suit a deadline. It was buggy and slow and full of problems.
7 was just vista, but with more time to fix the issues, bugs etc.

8 looks as revolutionary compared to 7 as Windows 95 did to 3.1, so I am very excited about it!

Sooo...
Rather than every second one (Great, rubbish, great, rubbish...)
it has been more akin to Great, Great, Rubbish, Rubbish, Great, Rubbish, Great..

Gurgle

Sonic_exyouth wrote: »

I've heard that from a lot of people, but it's irritatingly not true!

Windows 3.1 was brilliant for its time, and significantly easier to use than any PC OS that went before it.
Windows 95 was then revolutionary brilliant. (Some say a MAC rip off, but, wayyy more adaptable and open)
Windows 98 was then god-awful, and ME was similarly terrible. (I suppose, the brilliant NT 4.0 came between those two, but, that was a business orientated release, so, not sure if it counts)

Then Windows XP arrived (Which was NT based) and was awesome. Most machines that I am aware of in workplaces have yet to see the need to upgrade, despite the OS being 12 or so years old. In our place, our stats indicate that XP remains the most used OS in Ireland. There's no other OS that I am aware of that boasts that type of longevity.

XP was followed by Vista, which was poorly thought out and rushed to suit a deadline. It was buggy and slow and full of problems.
7 was just vista, but with more time to fix the issues, bugs etc.

8 looks as revolutionary compared to 7 as Windows 95 did to 3.1, so I am very excited about it!

Sooo...
Rather than every second one (Great, rubbish, great, rubbish...)
it has been more akin to Great, Great, Rubbish, Rubbish, Great, Rubbish, Great..

You've left out lots of versions:

Win 3.1: Great
Win 95: Crap (originally, much improved with SP1)
Win NT 4: Great
Win 98: Crap
Win 98 SE: Great (It was so dramatically different, I'm counting it as a separate version :P)
Win ME: Crap
Win 2K: Great
Win XP: OK, Great-ish. This one broke the trend.
Win Vista: Crap
Win 7: Great
Win 8: ... pending ...

BostonB

I'd argue that list is so flawed. Win95 was not crap, especially it dominated the market, and killed off OS many other OS'es along the way, even Apple was in deep trouble at that point. Win98se I'd argue is not a different version, though I agree most preferred it. ME and Vista were bad, but everything else worked pretty well.

Capt'n Midnight

BostonB wrote: »

I'd argue that list is so flawed. Win95 was not crap, especially it dominated the market, and killed off OS many other OS'es along the way,

we are getting way off topic here,
but the killing of other OS's was achieved by illegal conditions imposed on manufacturers , in short if you wanted a different OS you still had to pay for windows as well - M$ got fined heavily on multiple occasions over this

anyway these come with windows 7 so

Media999

Every OS is just a bridge to the next.


But back on track here.

Anyone have a link to view the laptops?

antocann

Media999 wrote: »

Every OS is just a bridge to the next.


But back on track here.

Anyone have a link to view the laptops?

http://ie.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/product/Satellite-C660D-19X/1112993/toshibaShop/false/
thats the toshiba , it has been upgraded to 4gb ram

ahnowbrowncow

Would you not be safer get this laptop with an i3 processor, way better than amd's.

http://www.computeruniverse.net/en/products/90470966/packard-bell-easynote-ts11hr.asp

Passmark Results
Intel's i3 2310: 2623
Intel's Celeron B815: 1486
Amd's E-300: 589

Intel's processors are so far ahead and also intel's hd 3000 is far better than amd's 6310.

Intel's hd 3000: 3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024 = 1360
Amd's 6310: 3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024 = 584

Edit: doesn't have windows

kaizersoze

Media999 wrote: »

Every OS is just a bridge to the next.


But back on track here.

Anyone have a link to view the laptops?

CQ57-450SA seems to be the first batch.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ie/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329742-89318-89318-5186820-5214896.html?dnr=1

CQ57-450EA is the current batch.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ie/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329742-89318-89318-5186820-5214896.html?dnr=1

No difference that I could find.
Upgraded to 4gig of RAM from 2.

kaizersoze

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Would you not be safer get this laptop with an i3 processor, way better than amd's.

Of course you are but that's more money.
The Intel in the Compaq is plenty good for the price.

The AMD in the Toshiba is supposed to be poor alright.