ThunderThighs wrote:We're here to talk about this laptop. Not theirs. They have their own forums.

I am thinking about buying this laptop. The only issue I have right now is will it require a signature when it gets to my house.

My sound like a silly concern but I have had issues with that in the past.

dfunkmaster wrote:Apparently woot deleted my post about the Toshiba... What's up with that?

What TT said.
In any case, if you're comparing prices, you also have to take into account the Toshiba has a slower processor (like not much over half as fast), slower graphics, half the RAM, smaller hard drive, no Blu-ray, no USB 3.0, no Gigabit Ethernet, and appears to be all plastic. Not even comparable, at least at first glance. I don't have personal experience with either model but the specs and reviews differ significantly enough to not even make the comparison valid.

A family member is in the market for a 17" and this Woot! is one of the better options I've come across. Personally, I wouldn't even consider the aforementioned Toshiba, but I also can't help but wonder what else might pop up by Black Friday.
I had been looking up the specs and benchmarks and reviews on this Woot! because I'm still undecided. This is a good price, but if one adds in the extra cost of a 2-year warranty it's starting to get pretty close to the price of similar models direct from HP that come with a full warranty. I usually just fix things myself (having done laptop repair for IBM, Apple, Compaq, etc in a past life) so I don't consider the longer warranty essential, but it's still nice to have.

This deal seems legit considering the Beats audio, four speakers, and a blueray burner. The extras on this laptop really makes it appealing. This is a great price for an everyday laptop. The new Trinity AMD chip has been getting good reviews. For any serious gaming, just stick to a desktop or pay about 3x-4x more for a gaming laptop.

I almost pulled the trigger. Too bad it's so close to Black Friday when deals get a lot better.

whitenite wrote:
I almost pulled the trigger. Too bad it's so close to Black Friday when deals get a lot better.

I almost did a few times too. I have to keep telling my self wait.

ThunderThighs wrote:We're here to talk about this laptop. Not theirs. They have their own forums.

Ummm, ok. Don't people link to other products all the time?

LameO...

kmartind wrote:What TT said.
In any case, if you're comparing prices, you also have to take into account the Toshiba has a slower processor (like not much over half as fast), slower graphics, half the RAM, smaller hard drive, no Blu-ray, no USB 3.0, no Gigabit Ethernet, and appears to be all plastic. Not even comparable, at least at first glance. I don't have personal experience with either model but the specs and reviews differ significantly enough to not even make the comparison valid.

A family member is in the market for a 17" and this is one of the better options I've come across. Personally, I wouldn't even consider the aforementioned Toshiba, but I also can't help but wonder what else might pop up by Black Friday.
I had been looking up the specs and benchmarks and reviews on this Woot! because I'm still undecided. This is a good price, but if one adds in the extra cost of a 2-year warranty it's starting to get pretty close to the price of similar models direct from HP that come with a full warranty. I usually just fix things myself (having done laptop repair for IBM, Apple, Compaq, etc in a past life) so I don't consider the longer warranty essential, but it's still nice to have.

Thanks for talking about it anyway. Mission accomplished.

dfunkmaster wrote:Thanks for talking about it anyway. Mission accomplished.

That was already accomplished by posting a second time about it after the original post was removed, necessitating a response from the mods. At that point, it's already too late to not talk about it. As such, I went ahead and posted my reasons for not even considering that other deal, and why it's no comparison.
Posts containing actual useful information rarely get removed...

kmartind wrote:That was already accomplished by posting a second time about it after the original post was removed, necessitating a response from the mods. At that point, it's already too late to not talk about it. As such, I posted my reasons for not even considering that other deal, and why it's no comparison.
Posts containing actual useful information rarely get removed...

I know. I didn't really have time to do the research today.

So I knew someone would bite.

As such, thank you.

wuzzup with the $31 in TAX!! first time I have ever been charged tax on a woot item.

I was about to order but that made me pause...

kmartind wrote:What TT said.
In any case, if you're comparing prices, you also have to take into account the Toshiba has a slower processor (like not much over half as fast), slower graphics, half the RAM, smaller hard drive, no Blu-ray, no USB 3.0, no Gigabit Ethernet, and appears to be all plastic. Not even comparable, at least at first glance. I don't have personal experience with either model but the specs and reviews differ significantly enough to not even make the comparison valid.

A family member is in the market for a 17" and this is one of the better options I've come across. Personally, I wouldn't even consider the aforementioned Toshiba, but I also can't help but wonder what else might pop up by Black Friday.
I had been looking up the specs and benchmarks and reviews on this Woot! because I'm still undecided. This is a good price, but if one adds in the extra cost of a 2-year warranty it's starting to get pretty close to the price of similar models direct from HP that come with a full warranty. I usually just fix things myself (having done laptop repair for IBM, Apple, Compaq, etc in a past life) so I don't consider the longer warranty essential, but it's still nice to have.

Kind of apple to oranges comparison. If you don't need the options, want a big screen- the 1saleaday deal for $300 is the way to go. The passmark may "only" be 2281, consider this would be fine for about 90-95% of users- this passmark is still close to the I5-520m 2.4ghz which is 2386. I wouldn't buy this if you do a ton of video editing/rendering or processor intensive gaming-but I don't think the Woot HP would be the best choice for that either. You are paying 73% more for the Woot HP computer vs the Toshiba- that's fine if you want the extras, but the Toshiba is a great deal that is adequate for most users.

ThunderThighs wrote:We're here to talk about this laptop. Not theirs. They have their own forums.

If Woot hired me as their buyer, they wouldn't have to worry about people comparing the other sites. Woot would be King once again.

gak0090 wrote:Kind of apple to oranges comparison.

Yeah, that was kind of the point. People in the market for this Woot! probably don't even need to consider that other option.
Perhaps if this was a G7 rather than a DV7 it might at least be worth looking at both. Those are closer to the Toshiba's class.

...the Toshiba is a great deal that is adequate for most users.

Maybe, but I can't help but cringe when I see such a large laptop that appears to be all plastic like that Toshiba, and cuts so many corners on features and specs. Doesn't seem like that great a value, even at a lower price. For an ultraportable, scoring in the 2000 range on Passmark is probably OK, but I tend to consider about 3500-4000+ to be a more adequate level to shoot for with a full size laptop, even a budget one. People looking for desktop replacements usually don't want it to be a downgrade from the older desktop being replaced. To each their own though.

markwolfe wrote:wuzzup with the $31 in TAX!! first time I have ever been charged tax on a woot item.

I was about to order but that made me pause...

Sales tax is always charged on shipping.
What state are you in?
Effective September 1, 2012, Woot, Inc. was required to begin collecting sales tax on orders shipped to destinations in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
Effective September 15, 2012, Woot, Inc. was required to begin collecting sales tax on orders shipped to destinations in California.

kmartind wrote:Maybe, but I can't help but cringe when I see such a large laptop that appears to be all plastic like that Toshiba, and cuts so many corners on features and specs. Doesn't seem like that great a value, even at a lower price. For an ultraportable, scoring in the 2000 range on Passmark is probably OK, but I tend to consider about 3500-4000+ to be a more adequate level to shoot for with a full size laptop, even a budget one. People looking for desktop replacements usually don't want it to be a downgrade from the older desktop being replaced. To each their own though.

What kind of processing are you doing that can't be accomplished with a laptop with a passmark of 2281? Office? Facebook? Internet surfing? Mediacenter? burning DVD's? youtube? Pandora? Skype? Email? Upload pictures and videos? Because this probably all that most people do with a computer. None of those are very processor intensive, you could probably simultaneously do all of those functions with a laptop that has a passmark of 2281. If you look at the company that processor is in, there are some very capable processors around the same benchmark http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+A6-3420M+APU

It's kind of a moot point now, since 1saleaday just sold out of that laptop. On a dollar per dollar basis, the Toshiba was a better deal than todays HP

I have been reading through this and seeing a lot of comments about the cpu. The cpu would be fine for me. In fact on every computer I have ever owned and used I have not used a massive amount of cpu power. I always seem to run out of ram before the cpu.

Then again my old computer I had at work could not run firefox as firefox would eat up all the cpu cycles. But I just ended up switching to google chrome. If I remember correctly that was a 1 core cpu with either 800mhz or even 1.3 ghz.

The 8gb of ram is one of the reasons this laptop is so inviting to me. I have 7gb of ram on my hp desktop and have only used 5 or 6 of it. Cpu on my desktop is not an issue though and I think it is only a dual core. It is about 5 years old now too.

gak0090 wrote:What kind of processing are you doing that can't be accomplished with a laptop with a passmark of 2281?

Can't be accomplished? Perhaps real-time transcoding, depending on format and settings. But that's not really what I'm saying. For the most part, you can accomplish the same tasks with a slow processor as a fast one, but it takes longer and can get more frustrating.
A surprising number of people actually do process or render video in some way, or compile code, etc, but even among your list of common tasks is "Facebook," which reminds me, on Facebook there are several popular Flash-based games that are surprisingly CPU-intensive (mostly due to Flash being super-inefficient, combined with people insisting upon writing Flash apps very poorly, but the user can't really do anything about that, they just want their farmville or what have you to run smoothly at the same time as another game or two).
And of course, for any light PC gaming, CPU performance is second only to GPU performance. The Toshiba is lower on both and could end up making the difference between playable and unplayable for certain games.
A faster CPU will make everything feel more snappy in general, as will extra RAM. This HP also has double the RAM.

On a dollar per dollar basis, the Toshiba was a better deal than todays HP

Disagree. IMHO, a better overall deal usually means more value per dollar, not just the lowest number of total dollars. How should one compare the two? On CPU performance, the Woot! laptop would have to cost at least $50 more than it does to have the same cost-per-Passmark as the Toshiba. That makes the Toshiba a worse value in that respect.
On build quality, there's no comparison, just look at them. If it's built twice as well, then it could have a 27% value advantage in build quality.
Then you get into features, including 10x faster LAN port, 10x faster USB, Blu-ray versus DVD, etc. So I think this is still probably the better overall value, if you have the available budget. If not, you have to make more compromises.

I'm all for determining what is "good enough" but I think the other sale set the bar a little too low, and suspect a number of people would likely become dissatisfied with it much sooner.

AMD? Pass. Someday we will have intel i5 systems show up and then I would consider one.

gak0090 wrote:It's kind of a moot point now, since 1saleaday just sold out of that laptop. On a dollar per dollar basis, the Toshiba was a better deal than todays HP

Shhhh...We're not here to talk about the laptop that sold out. Woot doesn't approve...

kellic wrote:AMD? Pass. Someday we will have intel i5 systems show up and then I would consider one.

And it'll probably be slower than this one.

kmartind wrote:Disagree. IMHO, a better overall deal usually means more value per dollar, not just the lowest number of total dollars. How should one compare the two? On CPU performance, the Woot! laptop would have to cost at least $50 more than it does to have the same cost-per-Passmark as the Toshiba. That makes the Toshiba a worse value in that respect.
On build quality, there's no comparison, just look at them. If it's built twice as well, then it could have a 27% value advantage in build quality.
Then you get into features, including 10x faster LAN port, 10x faster USB, Blu-ray versus DVD, etc. So I think this is still probably the better overall value, if you have the available budget. If not, you have to make more compromises.

I'm all for determining what is "good enough" but I think the other sale set the bar a little too low, and suspect a number of people would likely become dissatisfied with it much sooner.

You are missing my point. Basically I said 9/10 people would not need (nor notice the difference) between the Toshiba and the HP. Real time transcoding- really? how many of your non tech friends even know what that means, let alone need it. If I needed anothther laptop I would buy todays woot over the Toshiba 1)because I'm a techie and like the extra junk in the trunk 2) I have adequate disposable income. I work on PC's all the time for friends- I know what they do, for the most part last generation dual cores are still plenty of power. For most everyday tasks a quad core (even if some consider it pseudo quad) with a passmark above 2000 is plenty of power. If you needed something as a mediacenter piece I would say todays woot has a distinct advantage because of the blu-ray and USB 3.0. If you are just going to use it as an everyday workstation and want a bigger display- buy the cheaper Toshiba and upgrade it sooner if need be.

dfunkmaster wrote:Shhhh...We're not here to talk about the laptop that sold out. Woot doesn't approve...

I know how you feel- I've had what they consider "advertisement" posts taken down. I feel that it helps keep them sharp and in business with us contributing competing offers.

gak0090 wrote:If Woot hired me as their buyer, they wouldn't have to worry about people comparing the other sites. Woot would be King once again.

That may be the only way to get you to buy something!

liquidblue1 wrote:I'm a laptop snob and I would buy this if I didn't just buy a new boutique laptop. Slap a SSD in this and it will be your new best friend

Yah i must agree! Put an SSD in that thing and it will be an ultimate Computing machine. Lots of fun!

gak0090 wrote:You are missing my point. Basically I said 9/10 people would not need (nor notice the difference) between the Toshiba and the HP.

You might also be missing part of mine. I'm of the opinion that the Toshiba in the other deal looked poorly built, is definitely slower, and perhaps not even worth the lower price. My 7 year old uses a similar all plastic laptop I got from someone who had paid about $300 new and then cracked the LCD due to the excessively-flexing/weak plastic construction. I did put an SSD in it to make it perform decently though.
I think many people actually could notice the difference between this HP and the Toshiba, even if they aren't extremely demanding. If not, worst case the HP still looks much better built and is a little more more future-tolerant.
For people on a really tight budget, I'd recommend skipping the 17" and just getting a well built 15" unit.

HP = RunAway !

halnwheels wrote:Nooo... in the specs it says:
Webcam: HP TrueVision HD

Oh, sure, NOW it says that :P

gak0090 wrote:You are missing my point. Basically I said 9/10 people would not need (nor notice the difference) between the Toshiba and the HP. Real time transcoding- really? how many of your non tech friends even know what that means, let alone need it. If I needed anothther laptop I would buy todays woot over the Toshiba 1)because I'm a techie and like the extra junk in the trunk 2) I have adequate disposable income. I work on PC's all the time for friends- I know what they do, for the most part last generation dual cores are still plenty of power. For most everyday tasks a quad core (even if some consider it pseudo quad) with a passmark above 2000 is plenty of power. If you needed something as a mediacenter piece I would say todays woot has a distinct advantage because of the blu-ray and USB 3.0. If you are just going to use it as an everyday workstation and want a bigger display- buy the cheaper Toshiba and upgrade it sooner if need be.

So true story, I write books. And screenplays, but I still suck at that.

The other day I happened to be streaming the Green Bay game, as well as running chrome and Final draft.

The experience was not. pleasant.

In addition, I found myself trying to juggle windows so I could see my research, the screenplay, the original story it was based on, and at times flipping back to the game.

Turns out normal people do get a use out of a bigger screen and lots of power.

I hopped online to see if we had gotten a tracking number yet, nope. And then the laptop arrived! SWEET! Thanks Woot for faster than fast service.

vwlights wrote:I hopped online to see if we had gotten a tracking number yet, nope. And then the laptop arrived! SWEET! Thanks Woot for faster than fast service.

There's a hopeful thought. I ordered this for my aunt, and I swear to god she's been asking about it every couple hours. (Please get here soon so she'll stop...)

I just received my new dv7 today from woot. This thing is pretty awesome compared to my old Win XP notebook. I can't wait to load up a cool game on it and see how it performs. I wish the keyboard was back lit.