(If your not familiar with technology you can skip to the bottom of the review, where I have a "cheat sheet" for why this computer is defective.)
Toshiba Satellite A665-S5177X 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)I will start off by stating this computer had a few positives but several negatives.
The computer was beautiful and fast, I expect as much and that is why Purchased a computer with a sandy bridge processor.
The volume buttons, which are touch sensitive, were acting odd, I kept hitting it once or twice to increase the volume, every time i hit it it seemed to increase the audio by 1%, after hitting it 20 times, it jumped from 20% to 90%.
The Touch pad is raised to the height of the arm wrest areas, which often caused double touch and a confused pointer on screen, this could also be caused by me being used to the track pad being in the middle of the computer not to the left.
The last negative is the biggest one.
I purchased this laptop because I needed one before I started college in August. The problem was, I had to ship it back as soon as I received it. After I purchased the laptop I noticed the customer discussion for this product and decided to check if my laptop was defective. I called Toshiba tech support and Toshiba told me that the product did, indeed, need to be returned, because there was no X on the box or the computers label (an x on the end of the model number meaning it was the upgraded (non defective) version). When I registered the laptop with Toshiba, it automatically registered the laptop as the upgraded model x computer. This is because the original, defective version, has been erased from their system, and every computer registered as a a665-s5177 is changed to a665-5771x automatically, confusing customers. Before I decided to ship the item back, I used several tools to indeed confirm this item to be defective and belonging to the recall list. Below is the list of evidence that I believe proves amazon is selling a defective model and does not care.
- Using zpu-z I confirmed the products motherboard to use b2 stepping and the 6 series/c200 series chip set family. Intel, the board manufacturer has stated that 6 series/c200 is the name for the recalled motherboard.
- Windows Device Manager listed that one of the computers devices was hooked up to a sata port on the computer, a port that is defective. If I were to keep this computer, down the line in a year or two, any data being sent through that port could and probably would be significantly degraded (the reason for the recall of this computer is degraded data, which leads to computer errors, etc).
- I used a gigabyte brand (compatible with all motherboards) software tool, that checks your sata ports, the ports that could get degraded of time, and indeed my computer had a device hooked up to a defective port.
- Several shoppers on an amazon support forum for this product, have stated that after they returned the defective model, and received a new replacement, it was still the same defective A665-s5771. One member states that amazon support told them the computer is the fixed version, "it just has the old label on it", they also refer customers to register their computers on the official Toshiba website, which as I stated above, automatically registers the a665-s5771 as the fixed a665-s5771x, therefore confusing customers, and giving them a false sense of security.
- Amazon has "reviewed" the stock of this computer 2 times so far, after the 1 day "review" process, which took place before I was shipped my computer, the item went back up on sale with no changes. However, how can amazon review a product, deem it to indeed be the A665-s5571x, and then ship me the A665-s5771.
While I enjoyed my few hours with the laptop, I believe that because amazon is now, knowingly sending out recalled computers to consumers, this product deserves a 1 star rating. If amazon admits they have been sending out recalled computers then this review is void, however that admission proves they are guilty of fraud or at least misleading the consumers of their product. If amazon wont admit their stock is defective and on a recall list, then this review is valid, and deserves the lowest of all ratings.
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For all those without technical knowledge, I have included a cheat sheet below.
Evidence shows the computer is on the Intel corp. recall list. In 1 to 2 years of use, this computer could begin to seize up and 5-15% of your data, pictures of loved ones, movies, music, etc, could just disappear. If you buy this as a gift for a tech savvy child who might want to upgrade this computer, he/she wont be able too, because the connections on the computer are defective. Amazon continues to sell this computer, stating it is a non defective computer, however, it is indeed defective.
There are several other computers on amazon with similar specifications, look for computers built after March, or even April to be safe, you can find the date by looking for this on every product page, example 1, "Date first available at Amazon.com: June 19, 2011" That will be near the product details part of the item's page.