What is a good price for Toshiba Portege R835-P89?

I want to buy this Toshiba [microsoftstore.com] Portege R835-P89 from Microsoft store for personal use. It is selling for $699. I have a coupon for $200 from their previous screw up. With tax the cost to me will be $528. Please help me answer the following questions:

1) I know $528 is a good price for that laptop but how hot is it? On a scale from lukewarm to smoking?

2) The coupon expires in June. MS store comes up with promotions every month or so right? Should I wait for a better deal? Do you think this 13 inch ASUS zenbook [microsoftstore.com] with 128GB SSD will fall below $999 price on their website?

3) I am looking for an ultraportable laptop within next 2 months. Do you think I might be better off buying X-Box and cashing out may be $150 or so from my $200 coupon and buying a laptop elsewhere?

Thanks for your advice. Reps guaranteed.

Bump!

Toshiba Direct and Microcenter have this computer for $850, so you're getting a laptop for 40% off, which is a great deal. Laptops are such a competitive market that any amount off is a good deal; obviously the cheaper laptop you start with, the better deal you're going to get from the coupon. So something like the Toshiba will be a very hot deal since its MSRP is so much lower, the coupon is a larger % off effectively. The Zenbook was on sale for $850 a few months ago for Labor Day, so I think that Microsoft will have more sales during the next holiday. I think that your coupon will be better served going towards a laptop than an XBOX, which you can always find various deals at certain stores (I think I bought mine at Target, when I got a $100 gift card back to spend on something else that I got on clearance as well).

So, overall, if I were you, I'd use the $200 coupon towards a laptop at the Microsoft store. I think I'd roll the dice and wait; I don't know when in June your coupon expires, but the last weekend in May is Memorial Day weekend, so that's when I'd be planning to buy. Just see whatever they have on sale there at the time, and pick up whatever looks best.

Quote from shnitz : Toshiba Direct and Microcenter have this computer for $850, so you're getting a laptop for 40% off, which is a great deal. Laptops are such a competitive market that any amount off is a good deal; obviously the cheaper laptop you start with, the better deal you're going to get from the coupon. So something like the Toshiba will be a very hot deal since its MSRP is so much lower, the coupon is a larger % off effectively. The Zenbook was on sale for $850 a few months ago for Labor Day, so I think that Microsoft will have more sales during the next holiday. I think that your coupon will be better served going towards a laptop than an XBOX, which you can always find various deals at certain stores (I think I bought mine at Target, when I got a $100 gift card back to spend on something else that I got on clearance as well). So, overall, if I were you, I'd use the $200 coupon towards a laptop at the Microsoft store. I think I'd roll the dice and wait; I don't know when in June your coupon expires, but the last weekend in May is Memorial Day weekend, so that's when I'd be planning to buy. Just see whatever they have on sale there at the time, and pick up whatever looks best.

Thanks much for your reply. Repped. My coupon expires on June 24th so I will wait for an even better deal. Hopefully on a Zenbook because those things look really slick. On reading reviews it seems this Toshiba Portege might have a noise fan problem too.

1) In the range from 1(cold) to 10(smoking) I give it a 7. The reason for this is because I have seen similar deals come once every 2-3 months for a similar spec'd laptop at around the same price. For $529 though, I still believe you can't go wrong with it, especially for quality Toshiba laptop. However, if you plan to game on the laptop I say this laptop [microsoftstore.com] may be a better option for $100 more. It has Radeon HD 7690M XT switchable graphics which I believe will be sufficient enough to play most of the newer games on med settings. Keep in mind though, this is an HP laptop so I can't say the build quality is up to par with the Toshiba. If you want you can read this good review [pocket-lint.com] on the HP to have a better idea of what you are getting.

2) If the coupon expires by the end of June I say it may be better to wait. I can see the Microsoft store possibly offering a slightly better spec'd laptop for around the same price soon. I can't say for certain it'll be a Toshiba though. Also, don't take my words too heavily on your decision though, I do not regularly check the Microsoft Store website often to know their patterns.

3) I say it comes down to what you need more at this moment.


Good luck on your purchase.