Toshiba Satellite A205-S47

Customer Reviews:

I don't believe it [Posted on 2008-03-19]
I recently bought this computer, the first time that I turn on the computer everything seems to be working just fine. The second time the computer put itself a BIOS password and now I cannot access my laptop, I researched about this and apparently this is a well know Toshiba issue and they don't do anything about it. I call costumer service and they told me that I should take my computer to the support company in my country and wait for their solution.
THIS IS THE FIRST AND LAST TIME I BOUGHT A TOSHIBA. DELL is much better concerning new computers and costumer support.

Toshiba became better [Posted on 2008-06-02]
I've been using various companies' laptops to test.

A215-S4757's only flaw is that it doesn't have a bluetooth built-in. You can have an add-on, which is not a big deal.

The HD is abundant - 250GB. Though the screen is big, it is light compared to others.

I understand some people's coomplaints about the mouse-pad that makes typing fast annoying and time consuming because the mouse-pad is too sensitive and often knocks off what you have been working on.

(TIP: Uninstall he current driver and install "ALPS" mouse pointer software instead of "Synaptics."

blue screen of death!!!!!!! [Posted on 2008-08-24]
I bought the laptop a year ago. After two weeks the computer would crash at random times. I thought adding more Ram would help so I upgraded to 2 gigs.....still happened. I called tech support and they told me to reinstall vista. I did this and the problems still occured. I then sent the laptop back to Toshiba for service....problem not fixed. The warranty has now expired and this piece of junk is worse now than ever. The computer has crashed 28 times this month (Aug 08) I would give this laptop 0 stars if possible. Save your money!!!!!!

Excellent for simple tasks...horrific for anything else [Posted on 2008-09-24]
I've had this laptop for over a year in college (it survived my dorm room, so kudos for that), and the fact that I had bought it for about 650 dollars is a pretty good deal. But like the title suggests, this laptop is really only suitable for simple tasks, such as typing essays and doing basic research on the internet. The screen is bright and there are no bubbles or discrepancies of any kind, and the fact that the LCD panel is on one giant hinge basically ensures you won't get a flimsy hinge (common to Dell laptops, with two small hinges positioned at each end of the panel), and the battery is sufficient for small tasks (excel sheets, writing essays, watching movies on a plane, etc). I've had no boot up problems, no black screen or blue screen of death, and no software issues.

But that's about it.

The fact that Toshiba would even consider creating a laptop which runs the increasingly idiotic Vista on only 1 gig of ram can be considered a sin to the modern consumer, but making the ram shared with the integrated graphics card means Toshiba has made the prince of darkness look like a pansy. The shared graphics card makes the graphics absolutely terrible for any type of gaming or movies, and the compromised ram results in slow and often non-responsive performance. When doing research, I usually have several tabs on firefox open at any given time- between 4 and 5. I always cross reference my research, so it takes a lot of websites to make sure what I'm getting is at least valid to the extent that two websites agree. This and the fact that I run music, am usually typing on Microsoft Word, and I need to switch between programs quickly makes the laptop's ram wheezing for breath. Literally. I can hear the heatfan rev up every time I start typing.
But then again, I play video games and type pretty fast, and always click things fast when working on the computer. I'm more used to a high end desktop, I guess.

Oh yes, and when I first got this laptop I had to clear out the junk programs (including the vile McAfee virus "protection" that further leeched my ram and eventually kept bothering me to purchase their full year protection for a nominal 89.99-what kind of college student would dish out ninety bucks for virus protection when there are better ones for free on the internet?) or else the computer just wouldn't start up within the first week you press the power button. And when you type, be sure to press FN + F9 to disable the over sensitive finger pad so that your cursor doesn't jump around. The slightest heat or vibration from the keyboard when you type makes the cursor whiz around the screen, highlighting text while you type so you naturally type over the text and have to painstakingly press ctrl+z to undo the keypad's overzealous malfunction. Press FN + F9 to start up the pad again. I ended up just shutting the pad off permanently, disabling Toshiba flashcards to save ram (it controls the finger pad) buying a readyboost drive to help cope with the ram deficiency, and buying a portable mouse.

But if you're just an average joe or jane who needs a versatile, affordable and easy to use laptop for typing up drafts and e-mailing consumer reports, this is a laptop for you. If you're at all not, I don't recommend this laptop for you, because there were many times where I just wanted to throw this laptop out my dorm window.

EXCELLENT PRICE AND PERFORMANCE [Posted on 2008-09-30]
I have had the A215-4697 for almost a year now, i purchased it Nov 07' during a sale at circuit city. The price was unbelievable..Paid 550. I have never had a problem with a blank screen, or with Vista. The only upgrade I performed was to add memory (my machine came with 1GB, the minimum to run Vista). However, a friend of mine has an older model, A135----, and she has had problems with the power cord and shutting down, and missing hibernate, and a over-hot touch pad. I had her download the bios for her model and it seems to help. My point is that I think toshiba makes an excellent laptop, although they had problems in the past. I previously owned a Dell Desktop, which was trash in comparison.

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