Hello all,
First off great forum here. thanks for all the info!!

I have an opportunity to purchase a brand new toshiba a105-4384(never been opened). Price would be $700. I would be using it for internet, dumping video from my camcorder to the laptop with some light editing, burning dvds, watching movies and some moderate games World of Warcraft(for sure) and possibly everquest II. the specs are as follows:

Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology featuring: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5500, 1.66GHz, 2MB L2, 667MHz FSB
Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset
15.4-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT active-matrix LCD display at 1280x800 native resolution (WXGA)
160GB (4200-RPM) Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disk drive
DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive supporting 11 formats: Up to 24x CD-ROM, 24x CD-R, 10x CD-RW, 8x DVD-ROM, 8x DVD-R Single Layer, 2x DVD-R Double Layer, 4x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R Single Layer, 2.4x DVD+R Double Layer, 4x DVD+RW and 5x DVD-RAM
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g) Integrated Wi-Fi compliant wireless LAN
Intel PRO/100 VE Network Connection - 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet
Memory is configured with 1GB PC4200 DDR2 SDRAM with 4GB (Max)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 8MB-128MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
Toshiba Express Media Player: Quick access for CD and DVD watching
Built-in stereo speakers, SRS TruSurround XT virtual surround sound, SRS WOW stereo enhancement
One PCMCIA - Type II/Type I Card Slot
5-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter: Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Multi Media Card, xD Picture Card [shared slots]
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Vista Premium Ready
Dimensions: Width 14.2 x Depth 10.5 x Height 1.17 / 1.45 inch (36.8mm) without feet
Weight: 6.0 pounds (2.72 kg)


My questions are as follows: 1) Is Toshiba a quality and trusted brand for laptops(I.E. stand behind their warranty, hold up for a long time etc..)
2) will this machine meet most if not all of my needs?
3) would it be worth my time to buy this now, wait for a better deal in jan or wait for the quads?

thanks in advance for all your time and input.

hello again,

Just found out if I pull the trigger and buy this laptop today, I would get a free, all be it cheap, canon pixima all in one machine with it. ooooh I think this is a tough decision.
thanks for your time

It will do everything you asked for EXCEPT for gaming, because it has integrated graphics.

However, it looks pretty good for everything else.

thanks for the reply,
so overall a decent buy, but does the integrated graphics mean that it will be poor for all games or just mmo and higher end 3d texture games. thanks

It'll do poorly on anything that is in 3D. Can you upgrade it to at least a 128 mb discrete? If so, then it would definitely be worth it.

My Compaq I bought last July of 05. Will play BF. If you don't mind the slowww rate frame. Intergrated are not the great for onling gaming.