Customer Reviews

Toshiba Mobile Satellite M505-S4947 14.0-Inch Laptop - Black/Silver

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Have been shopping for a new laptop for a while and decided to choose this instead of the A500. It costs a couple hundred more but has all the features that I need and want. The big selling point for me is the modern and sleek style. It is beautiful to look at and not chunky like the A500 with the extra number key pad that I do not use. Greater mobility with the 14" backlit led HD screen and a better Intel Core2 duo P7350 processor. The 400 GB hard drive that I can carry everywhere and no need to bring an extra storage device. The build in 3D sensing is a plus so if you drop your labtop the hard drive is protected. The backlit keyboard is really cool and the touchpad also have multi-function. The touchpad looks small but it is the same size as my 14" IBM thinkpad T43 so it works okay with me. The multi-function touchpad is easy to use and you seldom need to use the click bottom. All you need is slightly move your fingers across the touchpad and slightly tab on the touchpad instead of clicking the left button. It also come with the extra 12 cell battery for extended use compare to the standard 6 cell and it does not extend outside the labtop like others. The harman kardon speakers is also a great value and sounds great. All these worth the extra couple of hundred dollars. I tried to customize the same build at toshiba and it cost a lot more than this and Amazon ship free and tax free and no recycling charge so it is a very good buy. The fingerprints and dirt is easy to see and clean with a wipe after each use and it is not that bad to keep your labtop sanitize especially if you have multiple users to spread germs around.

The labtop come with a few bloatware and easy to remove using windows uninstaller. Would recommend to install a good registry cleaner and defragmenter free ware to optimze your labtop after the uninstall. The Window Vista Premium 64 bit is easy to use bur in my opinion still runs slow even with the 4 GB of ram and the newer Intel processors. You definitely need to remove the extra bloatware to lighten the load. I am looking forward to the free upgrade to Window 7 to make this work better. The RAM is expandable to 8GB so it is a plus for upgrade when the RAM gets cheaper in the future. I just upgraded and double the RAM of my 4 year old IBM thinkpad and it runs a lot faster than before with Window XP Pro.

I highly recommend this Toshiba mobile labtop for good looks, mobility and usability in this price range. It does not come with bluetooth but I am planning to get a bluetooth adaptor and it is very inexpensive. Overall, I am very happy with this labtop. I am glad I got this last week because I saw the price increase already.

I did a lot of research on different brands and configurations. I was all set to buy a Toshiba (with an ugly chasis) for its functionality at a big box store when I came to Amazon. This laptop had all the configurations I was looking for at the same price. My only complaint is that I wish it had more usb ports and built in blue tooth. But I added a usb blue tooth dongle and it works fine (other than tying up one of my limited usb ports). The biggest feature for me was that it came standard with a 12 cell battery. Lifts up the back just slightly but actually makes the unit easier to type on because of the angle.

Fast shipping, secure packing, and overall great value for the money I spent. Thanks!

I was very dissapointed that the battery life was not as advertised. It was advertised in all the stores to have a battery life of 8 hours. When I called Toshiba, They said they were not responsible for that advertisement. After fully charging the battery I get a little over 5 hours of battery life instead of 8 hours. When I told the toshiba representative I wanted to return the product and get my money back he said he would have somebody call me to arrange this. He took down my number but nobody ever called.

Editing my earlier review because the problems I had with this computer - the shoddy case design, and the touchpad not working - are dwarfed by the fact that the computer overheated, the case partially MELTED, and now the computer will not boot up. We put the laptop back in the box and are sending it back to Best Buy with a request for a full refund. I feel fortunate that we were home when the computer overheated and it didn't burn our house down, or burn our four-year-old son when he accidentally touched it. Toshiba is no longer selling these laptops and there is a recall because of the overheating issue - the solution being that you install a piece of software that will force-shutdown the system when the computer gets "too hot." What a travesty. Toshiba should do right by consumers and issue people full refunds. This is not only a useless product, it is dangerous and should be recalled by the CSPC.

I got this in 2 days time no hassle. First let me say that it looks great but it is a real fingerprint magnet. the gloss just makes you look like you've just eaten and put your greasy finger all over it. Nothing a cloth can't fix. Thinking about getting a skin and that will solve all the problems. It works like a charm now that I've gotten rid of all the bloatware.

Cons: When I first got it, all I got was this mind numbing static, so loud it made the dogs howl. However, after uninstalling all sound drivers, rebooting and then letting windows install new ones, all problems solved. Tech help is a bust but hey, that's why there's genius like mine! maybe I should apply for the job there! JUst a thought. Despite the bumps, I recommend this machine. It's cool, light (despite the 12cell battery) and just pretty to look at. I'm still testing out the battery life so I can't say if it lives up to the hype as yet. Meets my needs....

Frankly I am disappointed, this Toshiba Satellite m505 runs much slower than the other 3 year old laptop that I own of a different brand. In fact the other laptop has a slower processor speed and just 2GB of memory. The reason why I was attracted to this one was due to your claim that the battery will last up 8 hrs, and that is not exactly true. I noticed at full charge it may perform well for just 2 hours. Could it be I have a defective battery? Sad to say no bluetooth. On the other hand the sound system and a lighted keyboard are a plus.

This a horrible laptop for what they charge for it. And I am not the only one who has had issues. In the f'rst year of own'ng the (brand new) laptop, I had to send 't 'n for repa'rs tw'ce, and 't was gone for more than two months. The f'rst t'me was w'th the f'rst month of ownersh'p, and 'nstead of g'v'ng me a new laptop (wh'ch 's what ' pa'd for), one month later, they sent me a refurb'shed one (wh'ch 's s'gn'f'cantly less expens've).
I have owned the Satell'te laptop for just over two years now and have had to have the hard dr've repa'red FOUR t'mes. And each t'me talk'ng to customer serv'ce 's about as helpful as talk'ng to a recorded vo'ce.
Bad Technology AND Bad Customer Serv'ce. Why would anyone buy th's when the market 's full of many other opt'ons. Check those out f'rst.

I've bought 2 of these. One runs without any problems and one gave me problems with booting. I suspect it has to do with the memory. If possible, order the unt with 4MB memory. It has a great suite of software and can be used easily at home and at work.

I purchased this Toshiba laptop for my niece's high school graduation. Her mother my sister said the set up was fast and she has not been off the machine for the past 3 weeks. it looks like a good computer for a college bound student. john f