Toshiba vs. Dell laptops

by Dean
(Melbourne, Australia)

I am looking at purchasing a new laptop. I do live in Australia so all my research has been done from looking at TOSHIBA and DELL's Australian website which obviously means all figures such as RRP are in Australian dollars.
I use my laptops daily and am on it for at least 8 to 12 hours a day because there is very little I can do because of my disability being a C4 Quadriplegic with no movement from the neck down. I use my computer with a stick in my mouth and yes I have typed all this using the stick in my mouth. lol
I need computers that have the accupoint, which is the mouse that looks like a little button between the G and H keys. I have always used Toshiba (Tecra) laptops for the last 15 years and I've purchased 4 of them over that 15 year period and have NEVER had any sort of problems with my laptops. Not all Toshiba laptops have the accupoint and the same applies with any other brand of laptop computer unfortunately.

On the other hand a cousin of mine has always used DELL. He is younger then me but he has used quite a few DELL computers over the past 10 years but he swears by DELL laptops and he told me about them and also insisted that I do some research on the Dell laptop's because he said they are quite a lot cheaper then the TOSHIBA brand.

After doing quite a lot of research I don't see how DELL are cheaper in anyway at ALL, every time I have tried to customize a DELL laptop to have it as close to the Toshiba's STANDARD specifications that I'm looking at, the DELL has always cost a lot more and in most cases still the Toshiba has at least one or more specifications that are better then the customized Dell laptops, whether it be the processor, screen size, Hard Drive the list goes on.

Below shows the Dell Latitude E6500 (R721114AU) with extras vs. Standard Toshiba Tecra P10 (PTSB3A-00S001) As far as I'm aware you cannot costomize Toshiba laptops from factory although I stand to be corrected on that.

Dell Latitude E6500 (R721114AU) with these extras below.
*Intel Core 2 Duo T9400. $601.70
*Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate Basic Experience $215
*15.4'' Widescreen WXGA (1440x900) $151.80
*4GB (2x2GB) 800MHz $168.30
*160GB SATA (7200RPM) $145.20
*8X DVD+/-RW Drive $53.90
*NVIDIA Quadro NVS Dedicated 256MB $236.50
*FIPS Certified Fingerprint Reader $158.40
*Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth 2.1 $30.80

TOTAL RRP $ 3,960

Standard Toshiba Tecra P10 (PTSB3A-00S001)
comes with ALL the options in the Dell Latitude E6500 (R721114AU) Better still it's screen resolution is better & the hard drive is bigger in the Toshiba. Below shows what the Toshiba Tecra P10 (PTSB3A-00S001) comes with at no extra cost.
*Intel Core Duo T9400 1066 MHz
*Genuine Windows Vista 32bit Business SPI OEM with *Genuine Windows XP Professional Media downgrade
*15.4 WSXGA + TFT Active Matrix (1680x1050) resolution
*4GB (2x2GB) 800MHz
*200GB 7200RPM 2.5" SATA
*8X DVD+/-RW Drive
*NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M Dedicated 256MB
*Biometric security with advanced Fingerprint sensor.
*Integrated Intel 802.11 a/g/n, and bluetooth V2.1+EDR

TOTAL RRP $3,190

I want to make note that DELL Latitude E6500 (R721114AU) do have a 250GB hard drive and a 15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200)screen option, but you will need to add a further $245.30
So if you want these extra options on your Dell Latitude E6500 (R721114AU) the RRP will end up $4,206.51 as opposed to the RRP $3,190 for the Toshiba Tecra P10 (PTSB3A-00S001)

In conclusion I tried to Customize the DELL Latitude E6400 (R721110AU) as close as I could to the Standard Toshiba Tecra P10 (PTSB3A-00S001) and that still TOTALLED $3,406.90

Yet the DELL E6400 best screen option for the E6400 (R721110AU) was the 14.1" WXGA (1440X900) The only thing was it's hard drive was 250GB compared to Toshiba's 200GB

I personally would prefer the Toshiba P10 (PTSB3A-00S001) over both DELL's Latitude E6400(R721110AU) or the Latitude E6500 (R721114AU) because it comes standard with more then what Dell models have to offer for allot less cost.

The Toshiba Tecra P10 (PTSB3A-00S001) also has a better screen than the Latitude E6400 (R721110AU), The Toshiba has the 15.4" WSXGA (1680x1050) and it also comes with a water resistant keyboard and a 1.3 inbuilt megapixel webcam.