Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 Laptop (1.60-GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive)

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

 

 

Depending on what you want, this is a great little system. I will be attending college soon and this is great. I can watch DVD's, burn CD's, and do anything else I need to. Having the flexibility of the modem and the ethernet port is great.
Now, if you want to do some intensive gaming, this isn't for you. But if you want to do some basic games (such as strategy) and all the other basic functions of a computer, I highly recommend it.

To the reviewer two below the hp shares its video memory with the main system memory. Plain and simple the Toshiba is head and shoulders above anything from hp in this price range. Reliablilty records show that. The Toshiba uses the NVidia graphics chip with 16mb of seperate memory. Seperate memory = better video and gaming performance. I will take the 15" anyday and the better feel of the toshiba keyboard. Buy this and you will not regret it. A great starter for the first time laptop user.

When I decided to buy a laptop for grad school, I made a list of requirements:
-20 GB drive
-network card
-CD burner
-nice-sized screen
-Windows XP
-Word
-cheap (under a grand)

This is the only computer that gave me everything I needed (except for Word), and from a company known for great laptops.
It's been a month now, and I couldn't be happier. Setup was quick and painless, the computer itself runs pretty fast, battery life is acceptable (2.5 hours), and the DVD combo drive is a nice feature.

Two caveats:
-It gets HOT. As someone's already said, don't plan on setting it on your lap for any length of time.
-The touch pad is tempermental. It works great sometimes, and takes some coaxing others. I'm buying a notebook mouse, since I hate touch pads, anyway :).

Overall, a great first laptop that I really recommend for students on a budget (like me). And about Word--I just downloaded OpenOffice for free and like it better!

I've had this laptop for over 2 years now and it still does everything I want to do without too much wait time. Im still running on the original 256 megs of ram which I dont recommend because it gets bogged down pretty easily. Another negative is that it doesnt come with built in wireless. You can buy this on ebay (Search 'toshiba mini pci') for about 20 bucks. It's super easy to install since there is a little removable panel on the bottom of the laptop where it plugs in. It's that simple. Like other people have said, it does get hot. Im not comfortable with it on my lap for too long. The touch pad really is crap too. If you use it for any extended period of time (like a minute straight) it becomes desensitized to your touch and will not respond until you let the pad cool off.

The best part about this laptop is it is a Toshiba for cheap. I got mine for seven hundred 2 years ago. DO NOT listen to people who logic out that an HP and Toshiba are comparable at any level (previous user). HP's are crap, plain and simple. It may look good on paper but HP saves money by manufacturing crap motherboards in their cheaper products. If anyone has ever used a low end HP desktop and compared it with a computer with similiar specs you will know what I mean. A real sign of intelligence on this design is that when you close the monitor the speakers are then still located outside the case. And these speakers sound great for what they are (that is to say not in any way comparable with any pair of speakers that you can later purchase).

This laptop has a lot of positives and really is a great machine, but at this point I dont think you should be looking to buy this when there are newer options out. Laptops have a very high resale value so do yourself a favor and buy a good laptop (IBM or Toshiba). It will hold its dollar value for a long time and continue to provide your needs long into the future (as long as you don't expect a gaming machine).

I've had this laptop for about 11 months now and I really can't say anything bad about it.

loads of features that are listed in the other reviews but one that's been missed is the BUILT IN wireless antennae. That means you install the card inside the laptop and don't have to deal with an antennae sticking out the side ready to break off.

I have found I can get nearly the 2.5 hour battery life if I don't use the cd-rom drive.

I ended up paying only seven hundred fifty dollars after rebates from best buy.

I would recomend the upgrade to 512 meg of ram though.

First off [money] is way to much for this computer, I got mine from [my local electronics store] for [money] after rebates. Although you probably won't see if for under [money], don't pay [money]. This computer is awesome for the price I paid. The Geforce 420 go will play ArmyOps which is a game that says it requires 32mb of video memory, but I can run it at about 30fps on this computer. I have had absoultely no problems with it so far. You can really squeeze all the life out of this baby, you can make it work really hard. The hard drive is a little small by today's standards but it's all right. I recently bought a pc card to give me usb 2.0 for my external dvd+r/rw drive, and it cooks off the dvd's like a top. It has an option to play cd's and digital media files with the cover closed and the computer off, and I have really taken advantage of that. Don't hesitate to buy because you don't think it will perform, It has done anything i have asked it to do and it did it fast and well; and i ask some pretty demanding things. With the proper software it will compress and convert digital media files, this is the only place I have ever maxed out the processor. It can burn cd's, play movies, play some fairly decent 3d games, however I doubt it's ability to play future graphic intensive games. After I upgraded the memory to 512mb it has been much better about recovering from full screen games etc. I feel that because it has a geforce 420 go card it does outperform my sisters toshiba laptop with 32mb integrated intel video memory, with games anyway. Again this is an awesome bang for the buck computer. It probably won't run AutoCAD 2004, but it is an awesome laptop for anything the average, or even technical person can throw at it.

The Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 can't beat the cheaper HP x125 on any grade except for sceen size (and there is a catch to that).

Let's compare these two models:

HP Pavilion xt125
CPU: 1.6 GHz Celeron (Built on a P4 core with a smaller cache)
RAM: 256 MB DDR RAM - Good
20GB hard drive - Good enough
Graphics Card: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500C w/32MB - very good
Display Diagonal Size: 14 inches - Fine
LCD Resolution: 1024x768 - Good for a 14"

Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 (cost 10% more)
CPU: 1.6 GHz Celeron
RAM: 256 MB DDR RAM - Good
20GB hard drive - Good enough
Graphics Card: nVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go w/16MB - pretty good
Display Diagonal Size: 15 inches - Good
LCD Resolution: 1024x768 - Not great for a 15"

Summary: The xt125 has a better graphic chipset, and a smaller screen that uses the same number of pixels as the Toshiba. What does that mean? Well the better graphics chipset on the HP will run 3D games and applications better. The larger screen on the Toshiba uses the same number of pixels as the 14" screen on the HP, so the image on the Toshiba won't be as sharp. So if you really want a 15" and you don't care about screen quality, this might be okay for you. Personally I think a 15" LCD screen aught to have 1280x1024 pixels.

My vote in this price range is for the HP xt125. It will probably phase out soon as HP rolls out some new lines for the year, but right now it's a great value. I think that the HP xt125 is easily the best low cost notebook offered on Amazon.

...

The Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 can't beat the cheaper HP x125 on any grade except for sceen size (and there is a catch to that).

Let's compare these two models:

HP Pavilion xt125
CPU: 1.6 GHz Celeron (Built on a P4 core with a smaller cache)
RAM: 256 MB DDR RAM - Good
20GB hard drive - Good enough
Graphics Card: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500C w/32MB - very good
Display Diagonal Size: 14 inches - Fine
LCD Resolution: 1024x768 - Good for a 14"

Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 (cost 10% more)
CPU: 1.6 GHz Celeron
RAM: 256 MB DDR RAM - Good
20GB hard drive - Good enough
Graphics Card: nVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go w/16MB - pretty good
Display Diagonal Size: 15 inches - Good
LCD Resolution: 1024x768 - Not great for a 15"

Summary: The xt125 has a better graphic chipset, and a smaller screen that uses the same number of pixels as the Toshiba. What does that mean? Well the better graphics chipset on the HP will run 3D games and applications better. The larger screen on the Toshiba uses the same number of pixels as the 14" screen on the HP, so the image on the Toshiba won't be as sharp. So if you really want a 15" and you don't care about screen quality, this might be okay for you. Personally I think a 15" LCD screen aught to have 1280x1024 pixels.

hi

my friend is offering me this very laptop for $450/-. his is under a year old and in good shape. do u think this is a not-to-be-lost offer or can i get a better deal elsewhere with the same one or a new one of similar configuration? mail me
ramtanuj at yhoo dot comm

thx.