Wal-Mart's $348 Toshiba 17'' Laptop is a Steal

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One of the best ways to spend $348.

Remember that $300 Compaq laptop that Wal-Mart was selling? Those sold out in a hurry. Now Toshiba is next up to offer an ultra-value-based laptop this coming Sunday, August 16.

Laptop Magazine reviewed this budget notebook and gave it four stars out of five along with its editor's choice award thanks in large part to price.

The specs for this $348 model are as follows:

CPU: 2.2-GHz Intel Celeron 900
Operating System: Windows Vista Basic (32-bit)
RAM/Expandable to: 3GB/4GB
Hard Drive Size/Speed: 250GB/5,400 rpm
Optical Drive: 8X DVD+/-RW
Display/Resolution: 17 inches/1440 x 900

At $348, it does sound like quite a steal. It sure makes netbooks look a little outclassed.

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
44 Comments Comment from the forums
  • spaz480
    not too bad, but the processor is a huge downside, but at the price its plenty for the market its aimed towards.
    Reply
  • scook9
    I will assume Intel x4500 graphics since you failed to mention them?

    and yes, beats the hell out a netbook, except for that portability part...toshiba 17" laptops are HUGE
    Reply
  • ricardok
    A Celeron?? No, thanks.. I will keep on using my Turion X2..
    Reply
  • Belardo
    er... Netbooks are a different market.

    You can fit about 5 Netbooks into the area of that huge 17" notebook.
    Reply
  • megahunter
    intel GMA 4500M graphics... 2h:30m battery, not so bad for that price
    Reply
  • tayb
    A netbook is basically a cheap crappy notebook. That certainly fits the bill here.
    Reply
  • sot010174
    Perfect gift for grandma.
    Reply
  • lifelesspoet
    I have been seriously disappoint by toshiba lately. 3 out of the 4 people i know who have one hate it and have serious driver issues. The forth one, my father, is running one that I installed ubuntu on. He is still occassionally annoyed but no longer 3 seconds sort of throwing it through a window. I won't outright blame vista, but rather toshiba's driver/bloatware software they ship with the machine. Its almost once a month i have to reinstall drivers.
    Reply
  • decoppel
    Heh @ those knocking netbooks.

    I know from firsthand experience Vista will bog down that Celeron, my netbook runs quite snappy with a pre-tweaked XP OS, not to mention is a fraction of the weight and size with a large keyboard. I wouldn't trade it in for this garbage.
    Reply
  • webgrunt
    tayb 08/13/2009 9:52 PM wrote: "A netbook is basically a cheap crappy notebook. That certainly fits the bill here."

    With the main difference being that a netbook is usually small and light, whereas the Toshiba 17" is big and heavy--so it gives up the only real advantage a netbook has in the first place.
    Reply