<p>So im looking to get a new laptop soon for college (my current one is old and slow, screen isn't very bright also). I want to spend around $600-800 so i was looking at some of those toshibas, as they were highly rated by consumer reports. First off i'd like to ask if those would be the best? (Macs too expensive and im already familiar with the Microsoft and windows) I use it for basicly everything, music, internet, school, gaming.. ect. </p>
<p>Now the reason i made this thread was the new operating system Windows 7. I want to get a new computer before school starts (late August i believe), but i have been hearing about this Windows 7 and how it is set to be released some time this year, and how it is much better and improved from Windows Vista. So does anyone have a clue when this will be released? Also is it something worth waiting for, and how much would it cost to upgrade it after it is released, if i go ahead and buy now?</p>
<p>I would personally advise you to stay away from Toshiba. Those consumer report ratings are worthless in real life situations. Personally, I would go with a mid-range or top-range Dell or HP if you want Windows. Lenovo or Sony are solid choices if you are looking to spend more. Just make sure you get the warranty and Accidental Damage package. It is 100% worth it.</p>
<p>I believe that if you buy a laptop with Vista installed on it after July 1st you should get a free upgrade to windows 7.</p>
<p>Personally I think it is worth the wait. I’m running the Beta right now and everything is working well.</p>
<p>Chris2k5 - Well i am willing to pay a bit more if it means much better quality, but from what i have seen you can get a quality laptop for around $700. I don’t know much about the toshibas i just went with Consumer ratings because they are usually pretty dependable. </p>
<p>Chipmoney-I heard that if you get it within 30 days of the release date you get a free update. Not sure if thats right, you got any idea of the release date?</p>
<p>I’m considering purchasing a new laptop within this month, and doubt I will push the purchase back for windows 7. Is there any speculation regarding how expensive an upgrade would be, and also, is it worth putting vista ultimate on my new laptop (for $60 student cost) if I might just be upgrading to 7 within half a year? </p>
<p>Sorry if these questions are unanswerable right now due to lack of information, but thanks to those who respond!</p>
<p>I am running Windows 7 right now.</p>
<p>Another Adam - Thanks for that that helps, i was hearing from certain sources it could be early 2010 so that reassuring. Any idea if you can get a free upgrade if purchased before the release, and what would the stipulations be behind that?</p>
<p>Compactrunner - Im also wondering how much it would cost, if its not free.</p>
<p>Iamsounsure - How are you running it now, is it just beta?</p>
<p>^ A public release candidate is out and works till mid 2010 i believe.</p>
<p>The release candidate will work until march 1st 2010.</p>
<p>how do you get that?</p>
<p>It says only experienced PC users should install this. Im knowledgeable about the computer but i don’t think im an expert. Is it really a big risk to install it, i really want to try it out, and there is really nothing on this computer i care about. Is it easy to remove if it turns out i don’t like it? Or should i just wait till the real version comes out?</p>
<p>If there’s really nothing on your computer that you care about or want to back up, then there’s probably no harm in installing it. Remember that this wipes out everything on your hard drive - as if you’re buying a new computer.</p>
<p>Just make sure you know how to install vista or xp or whatever you’re using at the moment when you’re done testing out windows 7</p>
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<p>No. It is not a big “risk” to install it. It is just a really big HASSLE to install an OS. The first thing you will need to get IN ADVANCE are all the drivers for your system. If you don’t know what that is, then don’t bother to try.</p>
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<p>Not difficult to remove. You just have to install the original OS that came with the machine. Assuming the PC comes with install disks, this should not be that difficult (it should come with all the drivers you need). However, in my experience, the install disks are not identical to what you first received. Thus things may not work exactly the same as before. Sometimes it works even better because a lot of extraneous software is not installed. Things like codec’s licenses to decode video may not be included. etc.</p>
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<p>Unless you really like to spend an afternoon installing Windows, I would recommend waiting.</p>
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<p>I would recommend creating a new partition and installing it on the new partition so you can use either OS if you want.</p>
<p>Dukefan,</p>
<p>You mentioned you were looking at some Toshiba laptops in the $600 to $800 range. I would also recommend against a Toshiba laptop at that budget. My suitemate bought a sub-$500 Toshiba laptop in 2007. Compared to my and my friends’ laptops, his ran much louder and much hotter. As an example of just how bad it was, his laptop temperature when idle was about the same as a MacBook Pro’s laptop temperature after an hour of WoW.</p>
<p>^ Wouldn’t the step up from sub-$500 to $600-800 be a substantial difference, especially taking into consideration the technology advancement in the last 2 years.</p>
<p>I’m not 100% sure why his laptop was so much hotter and louder than ours. His laptop was the only one that used a Pentium Dual Core instead of a Core 2 Duo, though.</p>
<p>Isn’t it possible that Toshiba computers are much improved over the last few years? Plus im not going to be buying the lowest end laptop, there is only a few toshibas that are rated well, i will be doing some more research before i make my final decision, but its quite unfair to rule them out just because your friends laptop from 2 years ago and a cheaper model was hot and louder than the Macs</p>
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