A laptop from Toshiba, or a Dell Mini. What's the verdict?

I have used Toshiba for years. They stand behind their product.

Both companies make a really good quality computer. You’d have to ask yourself how important having a DVD drive is (something that the Dell Mini lacks). You might think that it would be easy to wean off of because flash drives are so prevalent now, but you might want to burn a CD for the car or make a DVD of home movies sometime.

As a supplement to a desktop computer, the Dell Mini is a definite winner. The form factor and the huge hard drive capacities make it portable and actually functional. It is the perfect size for travel and the keyboard is surprisingly comfortable to use.

You’d have to consider what you will be using the computer more for, travel or everyday, and this will help you weigh the differences and decide, but you really can’t go wrong with either computer.

I don’t know if you carry it around, but if you do I can tell you that I quit lugging my laptop, and I rely on my netbook for school. I installed Jolicloud as an OS, and I am very happy with it.

@pdworkin jolicloud.com

Toshiba makes a really good notebook. However, I have a Dell Mini and love it. I think it all depends on what you want in a laptop. I love my Dell because of how portable it is. It’s just so damn small I can take it anywhere. The downside is the keyboard is not full-size and it doesn’t have all the features that a full-sized notebook has. I do have a portable DVD r/w I can hook up to it though.

thanks

I’m looking for disk space, photo and video and music capacity/capability. And I just looked at the Jollicloud, and it looks awesome. The Toshiba Notebooks? Do those go for a lot of monies? And even so, does it matter if its Toshiba? ‘cause I’m sure that they are full of quality anyway, right?

Is this in addition to a real computer? Or to be one? I would shoot myself in the face if I had to use a 10 inch screen for everything.

@johnpowell its an addition to my iTouch and Desktop. And I would go ahead and shoot myself in the head too if I had to work all the time on a 10”

Yup it’s just for when you’re on the road.

I still stand by my Acer Aspire One as a solid second machine. Most laptops are too big, heavy, and expensive for my tastes. When I can’t be on my desktop with it’s 20” monitor than chances are that I need portability above all, and most laptops can’t compete there. And amongst the netbooks, the AAO is pretty zippy compared to many of the others I’ve seen/tried while also being amongst the most comfortable (at least for me) and cheapest.

Like most Dells, the Dell Mini is unjustifiably pricey. Toshiba tends to be a better value; the same computer as Dell for less money, so if I were stuck with only those two choices, I’d lean towards Toshiba. However, I think that Acer generally beats them both if price means anything, and if not then Samsung makes a couple of decent netbooks.

However, I think my next rig will be an Acer 1410

@jerv- I have an Acer too. Not a bad notebook for the price. Still quicker to startup my Mini.

@AstroChuck My downstairs neighbor has an HP Mini 1000 and I swear it’s only half as fast as my Acer. I don’t understand why the big difference since its the same CPU and chipset; I wouldn’t expect such a dramatic difference in speed.

I can’t stand Dells. I’ve had two and hated them—especially the technical support. I switched over to HP small business and have been really happy. I don’t know anything about Toshiba.