Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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Russ,

I have an external USB Floppy and it does work as A: drive, I can even set the bios to boot from it, but at any rate try it as it should work for you even in XP were I've used it successfully there too.

You could run without AHCI it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world and you seem to have good through-put but give it a go with the external, it should work.

Stevo

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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Russ,

If you buy the Pro (x86) you can use the key to for (x64) as well as they work both ways. So if you have a x64 version around it would be cheaper to buy the $90 Pro over the $101. Also if you install Pro or Enterprise on a system it will not install the Windows games by default so you will need to go into the "All Control Panel Items/Programs and Features/Turn Windows features on or off" and add them.

It's too bad I'm not closer to your location as I have a FDD controller and some floppy drives around you could use, provided your board would still have a old PCI slot which is going away of course. The motherboards I've used my USB Floppy on you could still designate use of a floppy drive in so maybe that is your problem because like I said I've specifically bought and used my USB Floppy for that reason on Servers, Notebooks, and Desktops running 2K/XP/2003.

NOTE: You may already know this but I thought I would point a few issues out just in case.
XP Mode
1) I love having XP VM(s) but there is a snag on architecture that could cause you problems. Any device that works on XP but only has drivers for XP will probably won't work in your Windows 7 (Ultimate/Pro/Enterprise) XP Mode because Seven needs to see it first to share it with XP Mode.

2) USB devices other than the mouse and keyboard have to be mounted and unmounted in XP Mode as you can't share devices across both platforms at the same time. So if you don't unmount a device in XP Mode when you exit back to Seven that device will still be reserved for XP and not usable in Seven.

The nice thing as you have mentioned is that XP Mode will allow you to run certain programs that might not run on Seven still. The programs once installed in XP Mode can then be run right from your Seven Start menu without entering XP Mode first which is also very nice.

Hope that helps,
Stevo

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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That is one of the notebooks I was considering but I'm also looking at this one too which has 4GB RAM. Both can be upgraded to 8GB so really either would work fine however Win7x64 does prefer 4GB's RAM even though you can run it on as low as 2GB's.

TOSHIBA Satellite C655-S5339 Notebook Intel Pentium B950(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics $379.99 free shipping

So do you like your Acer are there any issues that really bother you?

I too saw the eBlast deal and new you would get it to as you are a subscriber as well. That is a real good deal!

Stevo

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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I sold the first one to someone (can't remember who) on AD.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Originally posted by sammorris:

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I'd take Toshiba over most laptop brands like Acer, Advent and the likes. I'd probably take them over Sony Vaios as well.
The Dell laptops can be good, but the keyboards on the modern ones are frustratingly ductile. The best ones seem to be the HP Compaqs and Lenovo, but I have nothing against Toshiba laptops, better than most. One bad product is not sufficient to condemn the entire brand.

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Originally posted by sytyguy:

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Originally posted by theonejrs:

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I sold the first one to someone (can't remember who) on AD.

Best Regards,
Russ

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I believe that would be me, surprise!!! Oh, and it is still running great.

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Quote:

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Russ:
As greensman says, the grass is still below, and not above me.

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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:

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Russ,

Even if we disagree I don't take offense but I happen to agree with you although I thought Toshiba was still good as they use to be. It is good to know that that has changed before I dive in and buy one so thank you for the input which is always good! :)

The B950 is a dual core processor see;
Intels Specs

I need at least a dual core but would like a quad as I also use the notebook with VMware and the extra cores become important there.

I've had good luck with Acer's too and prefer them when buying an inexpensive notebook, I will not buy another HP of course. I'm not a Dell fan but I've been looking at them as well but what bothers me about Dell is their lack of web support. I had a very difficult time trying to find a Insperion IM5030 Athlon II X2 that WorstBuy has to get specs and drivers on so I may scratch them off the list too.

Thanks for the good feedback Russ,
Stevo

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