Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite 2405-S201 Laptop (1.6-GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Amazon review did not get the memory information right but everything else is right on target. Here's the quick scoop on the memory:

This system has 256M of 266MHz DDR-SDRAM (AKA PC-2100 when referring to bandwidth rather than frequency). This means it is 2x faster than regular 133MHz SDRAM. This is very important on the P4, which requires very fast memory (it can handle a lot of data). Sadly some vendors do bundle 133MHz SDRAM with the P4 - avoid this combination! Your fast CPU will sit idle while it waits on the memory. Fortunately this computer doesn't have that problem. (Note: PC-133 is fine with slower PIII and Athlon systems that can't really take advantage of the faster memory.)

I should also note that this system uses a P4 desktop CPU not a true "mobile" (P4-M) CPU. Why does Toshiba do this?

A P4-M CPU cost more than a desktop P4 CPU. The main reasons are the packaging is more expensive (to dissipate heat better) and the voltage of the CPU is lower to save power and reduce heat (low voltage parts must meet stricter manufacturing standards).

Toshiba is using the desktop P4 in notebooks so they can sell a fast laptop for less money. The plus is you save money too. The down side is your battery life is shorter and the laptop will be larger and heavier to support the extra cooling requirements.

If you are someone who needs long battery life or has the laptop sitting on their lap for long periods of time (the bottom can get hot) then I suggest getting a P4-M system. If you have your laptop plugged in most of the time on a table then a desktop CPU is probably fine for you.

I bought this machine for both work and school. I'm running RedHat Linux (7.3) on one partition and XP on the other. First of all, anyone buying this machine should bear in mind that it does _not_ have a mobile processor. Therefore, as the other reviewers pointed out, it gets very hot. However, Toshiba corrected earlier problems with the processor overheating so the new cooling system works very well.

The extras on this machine are great: three USB ports, a firewire port, and the SD slot. For the money you will _not_ find a better configuration. I checked Dell, IBM, Sony, and Gateway, all of which barely came close to what the Toshiba has. The 15" monitor is fantastic as are the speakers.

Drawbacks? Of course. Again, it's not really a "laptop" because of the heat it generates. Also, the function buttons on the front of the machine are not intuitive or well-designed so you really have to squint to see what's on each of them. The ~ key is poorly placed (I'm a Linux geek and the ~ key is important--more of a personal gripe than anything else). Lastly, the battery life is mediocore.

However, if you do your homework you'll see that there's no other machine on the market that comes close to the config of this machine.

I've use many different brands of laptops, but if you are looking for a laptop that has power as well as performance, then this one is a pretty good choice for a reasonable price.

It comes with:
1)A P4 1.6GHZ processor (not the mobile version - which runs cooler)

2)256MB of memory (however, it is PC2100 DDR RAM, which is basically much faster memory than your conventional SODIMM memory you will find on a lot of other manufacturer's laptops.) However, I increased the amount of memory to 512MB, which is the maximum amount that this laptop can handle.

3)30GB HDD, which is a pretty good size hard drive - as oppose to some other laptops you see at similar prices with only a 20GB HDD.

4)8X DVD/ 8X CDRW drive/ 24X CD ROM reader

5)16MB Integrated S3 Controller Video adapter which is pretty decent, but some 3D games do not function as well compared to ATI or NVIDIA chips.

6)And of course your typical 56K modem and built in 10/100 NIC.

Those are the basic specs.

The positives are:
Features included and Price especially the built in DVD and CDRW player; PC2100 DDR memory; 30GB HDD; 3 USB Ports; 14.1" monitor; haven't had to call, but 24/7 tech support; volume control and extra one touch buttons are convenient; RCA video output port; can replace your desktop PC - or at least a replacement for your older desktop PC.

The negatives are:
Slightly heavy - but still manageable; Runs hot if you have on your lap but O.K.; Battery life is about average at about 1:30-2HRS.; No PS/2 ports; Trackpad is finicky; software included is weak - need MS Office, or at least MS Word; XP Home (instead of XP Pro - which you have to pay more for and hard to find); No built in microphone; SD memory slot reader - but more useful if it was a Smartmedia or CompactFlash instead.

This is great notebook, not stabilty problems.
Runs nice and smooth, does not get hot as 2.2 or 2.4Ghz Notebook!
Good quality Laptop, happy costomer

This is a reasonably priced desktop alternative - NOT a mobile workstation. You'll strain your shoulders if you carry it around for more than a few minutes as it weighs a heavy 7.5 lbs. Aside from that, there is little that you'd feel lacking in this big performer with awesome muscle and features. The fan is quiet and the performance of the laptop is awesome.

I have had it for more than 6 months now and the only - point aside from the weight that bothers me is Windows XP Home - it cant run Microsoft IIS, which I really need to use. I am selling this because of this problem. (I need Win 2K or Win XP Prof).

The screen is bright and crisp and I haven't yet had a single dead pixel. The speakers are placed cleverly near the hinge of the screen to aim directly at your ears. The touchpad is sometimes annoying when it just copies text (Word) or goes back to previous page (IE) and so on and you will have a hard time when this happens several times in a row as it did today for me.
DVDs play great and the screen catches up fast with the action on the disk and movies are a delight to watch because of the 16 MB graphics memory.

All in all, except for the Win XP Home issue, I love this laptop and would definitely recommend it.

Highlights: Look and feel. Cools from topside (you can lay it anywhere and not worry about it being able to breath/ cool). Durable as He11
Downside: Sucks batteries even when off. 512MB memory limit. S3 16MB video. USB 1.0 SD card reader will not read High Capacity SD cards (2gb max)

I found it in the rain next to a dumpster -- victim of an angry divorce (ex-wife to be destroyed the keyboard stripping keys from it before tossing it in the dumpster pad. I cleaned it up, put the keys back on (was able to find/ reinstall all of them) Wiped the drive, and it worked like a champ. I tried to give it to the church secretary. She is clumsy -- dropped it on a tile floor and kicked it across the hallway trying to recover it. She wound up not needing it, so I took it back. It does accept a mobile cpu. I installed a P4-M 2.2 ghz i got on ebay for $20, and it works faster than most other single core CPU laptops I've come across. It takes in air from the topside as opposed to the bottom, making a laptop cradle unnecessary (it will breath even if it's sitting on a bed. Memory limit of 512MB makes Windows XP SP3 a bit sluggish. Ubuntu Linux 9.10 works great! It's so easy to get software on this latest edition of linux. But be forewarned -- 16bit graphics only, for lack of Toshiba modified graphics drivers for this unit. If you have one of these or plan on buying one cheap, just make sure it comes with 512MB of ram, and a 2.0 ghz or faster cpu. Factory shipped internal wireless 'B' adapter is not suitable for home use, for lack of WPA2 Passphrase support. If it comes with this internal, plan to buy a PC-Card adapter, or the Mini-PCI adapter off ebay mentioned elsewhere in this review. For Wifi, you can get an Atheros mini pci card off ebay from a Toshiba Satellite A45 (Wireless G MIMO = 108mbs vs 54mbs of the typical adapter/ internal card. Battery life is average for your typical $500 laptop of comparable performance (1.5~2.5 hrs). Special note: This laptop has a feature that allows you to turn on the CD subsystem of the Motherboard even if the laptop is off and the lid is closed by pushing one of the multimedia buttons in the front of the case, making this thing function as a dumb CD player. This kills your battery, even when it's off -- draining a fully charged battery to 0 in a matter of 3 days (Toshiba really flopped with this one.) I've discovered that by sliding the battery out of it's mounting point just enough for the terminals to break contact for a moment (laptop off and unplugged) that the subsystem powers down and battery life is much longer when stored unplugged (4% per night). I'd say if you can get your hands on one for $80~120, and it's cosmetically and mechanically in good shape, it's a good deal for someone looking to run office apps, journal, develop software, or just web browsing under Ubuntu Linux -- especially since it can take so much abuse. "Take it on a hike ... if nothing else, you can use it as a seat or a hammer to drive tent stakes with." It's cheap enough to not worry too much about, dragging it places it might get stolen or damaged.

To sum it up: Unless it has 512MB system ram, 2.0GHZ for faster Pentium 4 Mobile, and a 30 gig 5400rpm hard drive, it's useless for anything. It's not worth the cost of upgrading if you're about to buy one with less. This thing has taken a beating that would have killed just about any other laptop, yet it performs flawlessly. Microsoft has updated XP till with less than 1GB of system ram, XP is nearly as clunky as Vista, but under the newest version of Ubuntu Linux (9.10) it surpasses Vista utility and old XP performance despite its 512MB system ram limit, but you give up 24bit graphics. Wifi performance is nice with an Ahteros mini-pci adapter out of a Toshiba Satellite A45. It's very comfortable to work with, like the comfortable ink pen you'd rather buy refills for than replace. For a $120, you'd probably be happy with it if you're looking for a cheap laptop to Journal with, browse the web, manage email and office work, keep in the trunk, or to leave behind in the locker at work. Don't let someone sell you one for more.

My computer is about a little over a year old. It is a great computer and I have had no problems with it. I have bought a new hard drive for it (there was nothing wrong with the original one, but i just needed a little more memory).

The only thing I dont really like about the computer is that my laptop came with lotus word pro instead of microsoft word. Thus making it harder to share word documents with other people who have microsoft word.

But besides that I am really pleased with the computer.

My computer is about 1 year and 3 months old; thus lasting longer than an old Gateway desktop; that only lasted about a year. I like that it has a dvd/cdrw drive,pentium 4, 256 mb ram.

The good: dvd/cdrw, 16 mb pc card, touch pad is very good for me, since i have small hands and it copes well with other people using the touchpad. The touchpad movement changes according to user. Cd and manual are very useful. The 3 usb ports are very good when you want to connect a printer, a web cam and pen drive. You could also use a video cable to connect it to a tv/monitor/projector and watch movies. The keys are very good for the way I type and I like the scroller, because I don't have to use the up and down keys. You have many features that are good for its prize. The speakers are very good. I've seen movies in my room and the speakers sound very good; but try not to put it maximum volume.

concerns: microphone and earphone "holes" are in front, which sometimes is sometimes irritating when I have the laptop on my lap. It gets hot at times, but the fan seems to reduce the heat and it allows the computer to stay up longer; however, it doesn't freeze as much as other desktops. In actuality it probably only freezes about ones a week or more. Sometimes that occurs because of the website or I have to many programs running. Windows xp home edition, I mostly prefer professional because it contains an internet server and more tools. You also need to buy microsof office or any other word processing software. the computer is somewhat heavy, but you could deal with it.

Other than those learning experiences it has worked way better than my desktop computer that I bought the year before my laptop and it cost me, 300 and 250 three year guarantee for any hardware repairs, more than my gateway desktop. The quarantee allows you to replace the battery without paying for it, saving about 250 dollars.

customer servive: Please read your quarantee contract, because they only help you with hardware problems not software.

Toshiba may make good products, but their support is the worst i have ever come across. They have lost my laptop for over a month now and do not care a lick about it. They're tech support team is in Turkey and they dont care a thing about anybody. They kept hanging up on me and refused to help me saying it will take some time. When i called back- no one knew anything and had zero updates. DO NOT BUY TOSHIBA PRODUCTS! Get a Gateway or Dell instead...two companies that actually care about their customers.

Overall this is a good notebook, but there are nagging problems with it in my opinion. One, the ackward placement of the microphone/speaker input. It is located on the front of the notebook and when either a microphone or speakers are plugged in to it, it can get in the way when typing . The standard notebook speakers are very mono sounding. If you happen not to like Windows XP, don't plan on using either Windows ME or 98 SE, Toshiba doesn't make finding drivers easy. This computer can also get hot and slow down or even freeze if it gets to hot. It is a bit on the heavy side too. Battery life is also short. I have also found the standard cd burning software that is included, Drag N Drop, to be ackward as well. In the overall picture, these problems are minor. If you are just looking for a good entry level notebook, this one is fine. Just be aware of the little quirks.