Toshiba Satellite U405-S28

Customer Reviews:

Both XP and Linux have problems [Posted on 2008-05-02]
Purchased this laptop to primarily run *ubuntu linux but also need it to run Windows for travel.

It comes with Vista which I tossed within a half day. Because I knew I wouldn't want Vista, I had already purchased a copy of XP off eBay. I figured an XP (SP2) install would be a no-brainer. Wrong. At first when I booted the install CD, it wouldn't even see the harddrives. Went into the Bios and changed the drives to 'compatibility' mode and then XP would install. After installation, neither the LAN chip nor the wifi would work. Found a driver for the Marvell Yukon LAN chip and the LAN then worked. Spent a lot of time looking for drivers for the wifi and the other features this machine. Had some success on Toshiba's site but I have yet to find any drivers that will load for the Intel chips. The driver software tries to load but hangs and the drivers never get loaded. So after a week or more, the wireless still doesn't work under XP.

Linux had an easier time of it. It saw the HD's in both compatibility and AHCI mode and installed just fine. After install, the wifi worked after being configured but not the LAN chip. (just the opposite of XP) Looked for a driver for the Marvell chip but found most people having problems with Marvell/linux over the past several years! I finally contacted Marvell and they were very responsive. They have a driver for linux but the code needs some work for the latest kernels and they are working on that. I am working with them to get this fixed and I expect to have the LAN working in a week or two.

The laptop seems well built and has a lot of features for the money. Once I get things working, I will be very happy with it. I *did* call Toshiba and asked for some help with the XP problems and although they wanted to help, they said a downgrade to XP was not something they could do much about and they referred me to the Intel site. There I found the same files for the chipset and XP that Toshiba had and I had the same problems trying to load them. I don't have much hope getting the wifi to work under XP because no one seems to
care.

The only problem with the laptop is that the touchpad is VERY sensitive and as you type along, you will find that things happen on the screen (because the touchpad did something) when you didn't expect it. Writing this review, there were many times when the cursor would jump to a different section of the review or do a paste into what I was writing. There is code under XP to dumb it down a little... but I haven't yet looked into linux to see what can be done. If there are major errors or incomprehensible stuff in this review, it is probably due to a 'touchpad runaway'.

Pro: A lot of features for the money and seems to be well built.

Cons. Can't easily be downgraded to Windows XP. Touchpad is way too sensitive.

Hot little number.... [Posted on 2008-05-06]
A well built and compact machine for travel that does just what I need it to. Only complaints are ones you've read before: 1) the touchpad (now renamed the 'youchpad') and the case get hotter than any other laptop I've worked with in 15 years, and 2) the keyboard seems unnecessarily flimsy. But the computing power and video capabilities are better than average, all of my XP programs loaded and the externals I've plugged into USB and Firewire worked w/o problems. The overall package is excellent for the price, which is about $1K less than the U405's slightly slimmer competition. I'll carry the extra pound for the savings.

The one glitch was getting the Draft-N WiFi to work with a Belkin N-1 Wireless Router (ver. 2000). Had me baffled for a bit, but I upgraded the firmware on the router and voila - - it connected. The N card's range and speed are what I'd hoped for - - I'd held off buying the small Toshiba until they incorporated the wireless N spec.

I'm not a fan of the blazing Toshiba name on the lid or the lighted Satellite logo on the case. Nor of the new, shiny surfaces on the unit which show every stinkin' fingerprint. If Toshiba could go back to matte surfaces, cool the youchpad and case and buttress that keybaord, I'd give it a 10. Right now, it's about an 8.5.

And yep, Vista's pretty miserable. Please, Microsoft - - stop dumbing down your OS GUIs because you're just succeeding in making everything two+ clicks more difficult to access when needed. Like shutting down, for instance. Maybe after a month of occasional tweaking I'll get it set up the way I need it, but that's too much wasted time.

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