Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite A205-S5853 15.4-inch Laptop (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Bought it from Costco $599+tx+shipment.
2 gm of ram, 4 usb ports, SD card reader, S video, builtin wireless card - all here. I was scared by reviews here that machine does not have all those components.
keyboard is VERY COMFORTABLE by placement and by 'press feeling' for fingers, very good keyboard - perfect size of the buttons too. No comparison to terrible DELL machines Inspiron 1525 or HPs.

The screen is SUPERB - bright, clear pixels, excellent sharpness of font. Again, I compare to machines that I have tried for last month - DELL, Sony, HP in range of 1000-1100$.
I like color - silver and black - that 'feels' better than just black on black. I see smbd is smiling - color is not important...
It also has the port for cameras' usb and PCI 2.0 card reader.
battery life - first use from full charge - almost 3.5 hours and it is 50%.

Cons
I have tried many machines and most with Vista have kind of 'red shadow' for each letter on some web sites, dell.com for example. this screen does not have such defect. I'm not sure whether it had been caused by Vista and video card, or VIDEO CARD and LCD for other machines.

It is a little bit 'bulky' in comparison with new machines that have the same characteristics and price range but it does not matter for me.
There is no 'mouse bullet' on keyboard, as IBM or Dell Latitude have. I got used to it but from ergonomics it is not healthy and it might be good that this machine does not have it.
It heated faster than other machines that I have tried.
the screen is 15.4 but by height is lower than my Latitude Dell C830 (5 years old machine). However, on a positive note, it is very convenient to work with this screen as by design it is 'lowered' a bit - the screen goes lower than keyboard which creates better view from top to bottom for eyes.
Vista - so far it did not 'bluescreened' on me which it did for DELL and HP, and I have to mention - many times.

I am not sure about Toshiba support. I have heard it does not exist...
But if something goes wrong with this machine in a year or so COstco supposed to take care of repairs for first year. For me it is sufficient.
I don't want to put 500$ or so for support that DELL or IBM are providing - better to buy another machine for such price...
Really like the machine.
SCREEN and KEYBOARD are the best that I have tried so far.
Great powerful machine for only $649(total cost).

I actually bought this laptop in April of this year (2008) but my original review never made it on Amazon.com.....sooo,I guess I'll try again.

Anyway,if you're looking for a gaming laptop,Keep looking.This computer wasn't designed for that purpose.If you're looking for a inexpensive general purpose laptop then this is it.In the five weeks I've had it,I have had NO problems with it whatsoever.

I have always considered Toshiba as one the better laptop brands,and this one shows why.Yeah,they have higher models (with 17" screens,dual hard drives and gaming video cards),but I didn't need any of that.

Long story short:I like this laptop computer alot.

I am hypercritical about the quality of everything I buy so this basic laptop exceeded my expectations. I never play video games, so this is a perfect home use machine. I was encouraged by a computer tech friend to avoid the AMD chip, and was pleased to see that this model uses Intel.

~ On sale for $429
~ Super bright screen
~ Fast boot up time
~ Very good DVD playing quality
~ Intel dual chip

This is a great performance laptop for the price! Toshiba is a long lasting brand if used under normal circumstances. this is my second Toshiba laptop.
If you are not looking for many extras a Webcam or bluetooth..etc..
this is the best performance for the price!!

I purchased a Toshiba Satellite computer for > $1300. It had all the bells and whistles including fingerprint reader. Within six weeks after purchase I started having problems with it. It wouldn't boot up, it would crash, monitor would fail, etc, etc, etc. I called customer service after the first occurance and was told it was a software problem and they would do nothing about it. I repeatedly called, after each occurance, and was repeatedly told by customer service it was a software problem. Nine months later the entire system dropped dead. I called customer service again. Turns out it was a bad hard drive, not a software problem. This time I was asked to send it to one of their service centers (at my cost, $55 each way). Now, this product is still under warranty. They (Toshiba) charged me $250 dollars to retrieve all the info off the old drive, $200 labor, $250 to reinstall all the software and info that was on the old drive and of course, shipping and handling and insurance charges. When I shipped the piece of crap to then it had a 120 GB hard drive. When they returned it, it only had an 80 GB hard drive because they were out of the 120 GB hard drives. Nine months later the very same thing started happening again. This time, since the piece of crap was out of warranty, Toshiba would do nothing and I was treated VERY rudely by their customer service management team. Needless to say I didn't replace the hard drive, again. When I purchased my new computer I was told by the store manager of a major chain that he won't reccommend a Toshiba product to anyone because they are a piece of junk. He says the only reason he carries them is because the store chain tells him he has to. PLEASE, don't waste your money on any Toshiba products. They are JUNK!

i bought the computer a month ago, and no problems so far. I use for internet, email, word processor, and when I travel, so for that is an excellent computer, and the price is one of the lowest.

I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get with this model. I was impressed with the overall quality for the price. It has a crystal clear display with a cool running processor. It has plenty of power and the computer itself is quite quick. The only drawback is that it did not come loaded with much software. It had very little programs to start with on it. I recommend buying microsoft office or something similiar along with it.

Video and graphics is good. Good PC for the price. Processing speed is super. Be sure to delete the unwanted free software that comes with the unit

good fast service and awesome toshiba laptop its quick and trouble free .definetly recomend it

My first lap top and so far so good. A lot more bells and whistles than my desk top but they are all to the good. I am a novice in the computer world but I am able to do all I want with this.