IS this a good laptop for school work (microsoft office), games, music and basic web surfing? cost $599.99?

Toshiba Satellite 15.4" Widescreen Notebook PC (A215-S4697)
TOS A215S4697
鈥?AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52
鈥?160GB hard drive
鈥?Burns DVDs and CDs 鈥?1GB of DDR2 memory
鈥?Built-in 802.11bg wireless
鈥?Windows Vista Home Premium

Toshiba Satellite 15.4" Widescreen Notebook PC (A215-S4697)

Mid-size notebook: The Toshiba Satellite A215-S4697 is a mid-size notebook, perfect for light traveling or staying at home. This notebook has more than enough dual-core processing power for basic computing, entertainment and online communication鈥攅verything most people need.

Dual core/64-bit processing: The 1.6GHz AMD Turion鈩?64 X2 TL-52 has two processing engines that work together, providing much more power than standard 1.6GHz processors. This processor can also process 64 bits of information at once, twice as much as older 32-bit processors. AMD PowerNow! enhances mobile performance and extends battery life.

This notebook features 1GB of advanced DDR2 system memory鈥攅nough to easily handle most computing tasks.
HyperTransport technology works like a fully-integrated frontside bus that increases bandwidth, reduces bottlenecks and enables processors to work more efficiently.
L2 caches keep data neat, organized, and nearby so processors can retrieve it quickly. This 2 x 512KB L2 cache will give the processor a little boost.
Hard drive: This 160GB hard drive has more than enough room for the typical collection of music, movies and multimedia. This drive鈥檚 data disks spin at 5400rpm. The faster they spin, the faster the data is read and written.

Go wireless: Built-in 802.11bg wireless LAN gives you a fast connection to the most popular networks and wireless peripherals.

DVD SuperMulti drive: Burn DVDs and CDs to share your files, music mixes or home movies. You can even burn DVD-RAM discs鈥攕pecially-formatted discs that let you drag and drop, or write and rewrite your files up to 100,000 times.

Widescreen display: This 15.4鈥?widescreen features 1280 x 800 pixel (WXGA) resolution, providing sharp detail and plenty of room for whatever you want to view.

Microsoft庐 Windows庐 Vista鈩?Home Premium: This is the operating system for homes with advanced computer needs. And Vista Premium features the elegant new Aero interface. You鈥檒l be able to use your notebook more effectively and enjoy new entertainment experiences鈥攁ll with the benefit of added security and reliability.

Graphics and audio: This notebook features ATI Radeon庐 X1200 graphics and 319MB of shared video memory鈥攄rawn from system memory. You鈥檒l be ready to enjoy fast-moving games and video. Built-in stereo speakers round out your multimedia enjoyment.

ExpressCard/54 slot: ExpressCard is an emerging standard in smaller, faster PC card solutions. This slot is compatible with ExpressCard/54 as well as ExpressCard/34. Use it to add memory, graphics upgrades or security devices.

Media card reader: Seamlessly transfer images from your digital camera, MP3 player or camcorder. This 5-in-1 reader is compatible with Secure Digital, xD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and MultiMedia Card.

Get connected: One FireWire, one S-video and four USB ports let you connect to TVs, cameras, peripherals and more.

Software bundle:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Works 8.5 and Office Home and Student 2007 Edition (60-day trial)
Sun庐 Java鈩?2 Runtime Environment
Adobe庐 Acrobat庐 Reader
Google鈩?Desktop and Toolbar
McAfee Internet Security Suite (30-day trial)
Ulead庐 DVD MovieFactory庐 5
Yahoo! Music鈩?Jukebox

should be good all around ... i like it for the money ... the battery life may give u greif if u need it on battery all day tho ..

For the price yes. But you will have to buy MS office 2007 which costs like $150. Or you can get it somewhere else for free...

It also depends on what kind of games you will be playing. Some of the large web based mmorpg take up a lot of memory... or so im told.

it's good for what you need except the gaming.... you need a vid card that is more robust and has dedicated memory at least 256. other than that you are all good.

Yes, I think this is a great computer because it has all the programs that you need to so you can do your work. plus the computer is secured with mcafee. you also have alot of hard drive which its great to save homework and you got 1gb of ram which will make the computer run fast

Yes it is a good laptop for the price. Toshiba has a good reputation and is reliable.

SInce it is running Vista Home Premium, I strongly recommend that you get and extra 1GB of RAM (for a total of 2GB).

Usually you can order the extra memory when you buy it online, or it can be installed after. If buying From Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. they can install the estra memory for you.

Or you can do it yourself - its easy.

I would say that its a fine machine for office, music, web surfing, etc. but if you are planning to play any sort of high-end games you'll probably be disappointed.