Toshiba Pentium 4 laptop

I just heard about these new Pentium 4 laptops (using standard Intel desktop chips) and would like to hear from anyone who's used them (Toshiba or otherwise). Toshiba has the Satellite 1905 that runs at 1.6 ghz fully loaded for under $2000 ($1700 on ebay). Don't they have trouble overheating? Are they very bulky? It seems like a good idea, but I wonder why they didn't think of it before. Thanks for your comments. Here's Toshiba's page on them:

<a href="http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/pc/pc_prodDetail.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1576659362.1013 619650@@@@&BV_EngineID=fadcdfdfmeikbfekcghcfmfdglj .0&comm=CS&plin=Portable%20Computers&" target="_blank">http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/pc/pc_prodDetail.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1576659362.1013 619650@@@@&BV_EngineID=fadcdfdfmeikbfekcghcfmfdglj .0&comm=CS&plin=Portable%20Computers&</a> pfam=Satellite&poid=206828&Adoid=159149

but Intel also put out a warning about them:

<a href="http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-835047.html" target="_blank">http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-835047.html</a>

-Justin

They just came out so nobody has had any experience with them. The two issues that I would be concerned with are heat rejection and battery life. P4's suck a lot of juice and put out a lot of heat.

according to the specs, the battery life on that model is 3 hours. I don't necessarily believe that, but according to their documentation it is on par with the rest of their notebooks. As mac stated about heat, we'll just have to see about that.

I have one comming in for a customer in a few days. If I get a chance to play with it before he picks it up I will let you know my findings.

I needed drivers for an old Hyperdata laptop and found these cool P4 laptops. They look nice.

Another Hyperdata product, the 5in1 usb card reader, looks pretty cool too.

<a href="http://www.hyperdatadirect.com/start.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hyperdatadirect.com/start.htm</a>

<a href="http://www.usasunrex.com/PRODUCTS/8100.html" target="_blank">http://www.usasunrex.com/PRODUCTS/8100.html</a>

<a href="http://www.discountpcsales.com/" target="_blank">http://www.discountpcsales.com/</a>

<a href="http://www.hyperdatadirect.com/start.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hyperdatadirect.com/start.htm</a>

<a href="http://www.dell.com/us/en/dhs/products/model_inspn_1_inspn_8000.htm" target="_blank">http://www.dell.com/us/en/dhs/products/model_inspn_1_inspn_8000.htm</a>


Just thought it was interesting to point out that all 4 of these laptops are model 8100.

When talking to a Toshiba rep about the 5005 Satellite series (which have a PIII desktop chip), you do have a big sacrifice in battery life. The mobile processor is able to step down performance and conserve battery life when not connected to an AC circuit. The desktop processor laptops only really last about 1.5 hours (according to Toshiba but the actual numbers are probably less) compared to the 3+ hours of a stepping mobile processor. I've been in the market for a laptop for the past couple of months, and after some heavy thought, I'd rather have the stepping processor for a laptop since I'm buying it to be mobile and in most cases not close to an AC power supply. I've noticed a lot of "barely used" laptops with the desktop processor with "only a couple of hours" on them on eBay the past few weeks. Maybe the power draining processor is the reason.. Just an opinion....