Customer Reviews

Toshiba PPR50U-02M01W Portege R500-S5004 12.1" Notebook

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

 

 

The DVD drive has been broken almost since I got it. It's been to warrenty repair three times. The keyboard is weak and hard to type on. all in all a expensive pain in the neck.

This was a big disappointment. The light computer casing is so flimsy it scares you. Easily flexes, kinda like paperboard. The CD-ROM drive broke within a few months, even with almost no use. The display is not very bright, and the plastic cover over the screen has marks from the keyboard after about a year. Toshiba refuses to offer any kind of downgrade Vista to Win XP, or to install the 128 GB upgrade to the 64 GB disk. After working with the Better Business Bureau of California, I found out that Toshiba says they have "no control" over the (misleadingly positive) ratings displayed on their website - which is apparently why mine was never published, even though it was actually pretty even-handed at the time. I will never, ever buy another Toshiba laptop computer product!!! Try a Sony or Dell 1330 instead - they may not be quite as light, but both are much better engineered, and better all around. Stay away from Toshiba!

This is my 4th Toshiba laptop. However, after the R500, it will be hard for me to buy another Toshiba in the future. The worries and complaints of other reviewers are exact and true. The body case is so flimsy that it cracked and is coming apart (and I don't remember every banging it). Yes, the speaker is near worthless with continuously rolling volume control. The screen is dark even with the brightest setting and movies are hard to see (you have to get the screen at an exact angle and even then it isn't satisfactory). The mouse pad is too large and you have to lift your palm in the air to avoid touching it while typing, otherwise it will cause the cursor to shoot somewhere else in the screen or erase what you have typed so far! Heat dissipitation is extremely poor and the computer quickly gets very hot causing the fan to be on 100% of the time which often runs at full speed. This in turn slows the computer significantly and the computer frequently stalls. Moreover, the constant fan noise is very annoying. I bought this computer early and paid over $2,000. However, other than being light and having a built in DVD-R, I find the computer worse than netbooks that are much cheaper. I kick myself everytime I see the computer for paying that much money. The computer is not only bad for value/dollar, but it's just plain awful no matter what the price. I wish Toshiba would at least provide updates so one can at least downgrade to XP (this machine just was not built for Vista).