Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite 1805-S274 Laptop (1.1-GHz Pentium III, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I just looked at the reviews for this laptop and was surprised when I didn't see a solid 5 stars. I've owned about 20 different Toshiba laptops since 1996 and without a doubt the 1805-S274 is the best I've owned at ANY price! It came with everything I needed (except XP Pro) and hasn't frozen once in 6 months of extensive use! The reason I've had so many different machines is that I'd use them for a while...they would get a little "buggy" and I'd give them to a new employee. I'm hanging on to this one because it's perfect. No Complaints at all!

... Great notebook for this price.
CD-RW/DVD works great. Battery life decent. Screen colors and size superb.

2 minor complaints:
1. The keys are not in standard place. Start key at top. Home,Bckspc,Del all at non-standard places.
2. Jack for Dial-up connection is again in a bad place. Just in front of DVD rom. So if you open the drive, it gets stuck by the phone wire.

I have recommended it to all my friends.

Just use google or some other search engine to verify that untold numbers of Toshiba 1805-S274 users have been disappointed by their systems. The notebook computer simply overheats and shuts down without warning. I have returned my computer to Toshiba twice for repair. They claim to have replaced most of the major parts in the system, yet it still shuts down.

Other Toshiba notebooks have the same problem, and Toshiba has issued a letter stating that they will no longer support their overheating notebook computers. I would avoid Toshiba all together.

When my parents bought me the satellite for my 17th birthday i was so excited since it was my first personal notebook. Now i am 19 and have suffered the last two years with this peice of junk. I don't even know where to start...first it randomly shuts down for no apparent reason. It constantly locks up when using the internet, my screen freaks out randomly at least a couple times a year to the point where it literally wont show an image, the speakers suck, it's slow as hell and i can't even remember everything else that is wrong with it.
On top of all of this Toshiba itself sucks in the customer service department. My father is now on their "beware of customer" list because he continually calls when the damn thing breaks down and ends up getting people who don't speak english and don't understand anything he is trying to explain. I promise you he and I are both fully capable of explaining a problem. Toshiba's solution has been multiple times to send the computer in for fixing - which i have done at least four times over the last two years.
- One example of Toshiba's poor service: I sent the computer in to fix a dimming screen and on their service sheet, i boldy stated NO to refragmenting becuase of all the saved work i had on it. Well they refragmented it, lost all my work over the last year, and on top of it as my luck would turn the back up CD i had didnt work. Though the CD part was my mistake, i was devestated considering Toshiba shouldn't have lost the work in the first place.
The other reason i hate this thing is that being a college freshmen i have to rely entirely on my computer. SO low and behold this thing decides not to show images on my screen two weeks before my final exams. I was forced to box it up and send it to a repair shop ASAP, in which the computer wasn't returned to me for over a week.
Thanks to Toshiba, i am forever turned off of Toshiba computers. i will never in my ENTIRE LIFE purchase a product from their company and i suggest to those reading this that they do the same. On top of it i am worried that Toshiba has completely turned me away from PCs which i have so dilegently used the last few years...looks like Apple has a new customer. THANK YOU TOSHIBA!

My boyfriend gave me the toshiba satellite 1805-s274 last december, 2001 for my birthday. After about 2 months my laptop started to shut off for no apparent reason. I took it to have it serviced, it took 1 whole month for them to fix it, I was told it had a problem with the systemboard, so it was replaced.
It seems to be working now, I hope nothing goes wrong, I like this laptop, but am very unhappy of what happened.

dont ever buy a toshiba pruduct. worst customer service. if something is wrong with the computer, they will hold it for months and then send it back "fixed". It never stays fixed and computer will repeat problem within months of being "fixed". i hate toshiba!!!

When i purchased this computer it was top of the line. It was released when P4 processors were only for Desktop computers due to power consumption and heat issues (Pentium m or Centrino didn't exist). The computer offers decent performance for office/home use and it is solidly build (have been carrying it arround for 6 years and the screen is perfect, no cracks in case and it just shows some discoloration in the palm rest area.) As you migth expect, battery is already dead, but now i use it for the kids to play, only with ac power (wise to remove the battery to prevent leaks)My 3 yers old daugther and her cousins keep playing kid's games in it and it has taken several hits due to frequent "it's-my-turn"fights and nothing has broken so far. The only thing i found really anoying for 2 days is that the Cyberblade Video Adapter is not totally compatible with xvid codecs so when you play xvid videos, frames freeze and the sound is choppy. The solution is to change the codec settings of the file to divx using a small freeware app (since they are compatible) and voila. Other option (maybe the best is to install ffdshow codec. Can't complain... hopefully it will loyally serve for another 2-3 years...!!! One of the best investmets i have made... even though i paid around $1400 for it in 2001. It was also one of the first laptops to come with windows XP on it. If you are looking for a remarket portable for using with XP on office or light multimedia use, this is a very solid choice.

Very solid performer with tech support to boot. I have had this machine for a year now and have not had any major service calls at all. I was recently given the opportunity by my employer to replace this notebook but I refused based on its performance and reliability. The sturdy construction is an added bonus. Congrats Toshiba for a fine product. Incidently I added the extended warranty just the other day because I absolutey intend to keep this machine for the long haul.

I have had this computer for 6 months and it has been nothing but a problem. It shuts down whenever it wants to. I have had the hard drive crash and 3 cdrom combo drives. As of now I have had no satisfaction from Toshiba. They just keep sending boxes and I just keep sending it back.

My parents got me this computer for my birthday with the intentions of it becoming my college computer. Being my first personal laptop, i love it. The screen is the size of a standard computer which is great for playing DVDS. I also like Microsoft XP and the built in CD burner. the only downside to this product, is that is will shut off for no apparent reason. I am always plugged in when this happens and it takes four or five tries to make it stop. By reading some other reviews, i also see that i am not the only one experiencing this problem. Overall though, great computer once it stays on!