Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite A215-S5825 1.8GHz Athlon 64 X2 TK-55 1GB 120GB DVDRW X1200 15.4" WXGA Vista HP PSAFGU-05200

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Before you buy this or any other Toshiba laptop please read of my thwarted efforts to make this laptop run to it's potential.

Yesterday I spoke to three different levels of support trying to get this machine adapted to my level of use. Surprisingly enough this two hours were all talking time. No waiting in que.

Firstly, this 64 bit system comes with the 32 bit version of Vista Home Premium. In order to get this puppy to work you have to pay for an upgrade to 64 bit Vista. Umm, that's nowhere in the write-up. But you are paying once for a 64 bit operating system. After you've invested extra money to get the 64 bit operating system you must pay again to get it to work to it's potential.

Secondly, unless you want to spend days searching the internet for drivers you can not down grade to Windows XP in any form. You have to know how to get the brand name of each device then if you're lucky you may find a XP 64 bit driver. Even then I never did find them all because many of these devices were made to run on Vista ONLY.

Thirdly: I was told by the top level I spoke with that XP is no longer supported by Microsoft so any laptop with Windows XP as the operating system was manufactured at least a year ago and probably more like two years ago. Do they believe that? Could be but I don't believe I do.

Toshiba and Microsoft entered into an agreement which has targeted your wallet or credit card. Frankly, I'm totally disgusted with their business practices. My next laptop will have both Windows and Linux and I will become proficient with Linux and then it's goodbye to the greedy business practices of such companies as mentioned above.

My advice to anyone considering Toshiba is to know exactly what you are getting before you buy. Call their tech support to be sure you are getting exactly what you want and are paying for.

This is the 4th laptop I've owned in the past 9 years and is by for the most reliable and best performing. I just bought a new ultrathin laptop and because I am so happy with this one I am going with Toshiba again. I knew it was a heavier model so I am not docking it points for that. Battery life was decent. I used it for 2.5 years and can vouch for it's performance. All around great computer.