Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5107 15.6-Inch LED Laptop (Fusion Finish in Helios Black)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Overall good laptop,

To the contrary, it seems well made. No keys have popped off. It is fast and efficient, light and compact. I have two complaints though, one is the constant fingerprint marks and smudges, that won't come off the high gloss body (someone has suggested using baby wipes, which I have yet to try). But more importantly the battery life is no where near what the "up to 5.3 hour" test rating. On average I get about 2.3 to 3 hours of battery life per charge, and I have only been using it for web browsing and microsoft word/powerpoint. I will be talking to a company rep from Toshiba in the near future, but I don't expect a replacement because the description of battery life uses the key words of "up to." lol, yeah probably in hibernation mode.

I am the type of person that does a lot of technical research before buying s piece of electronics. For this laptop, I spent about 8 hours researching the features and prices before the purchase. I bought this for personal 'couch' use. Surfing, email, facebook, music, videos etc. I went with the i3 processor for the battery life. I think a lot of people get caught up in thinking they need the fastest processor to get a 'fast' experience. I'm not editing videos or doing CAD drawings, so the i3 does just fine. The other nice feature here is the 4GB of DDR3 RAM. The cheaper ('doorbuster') laptops have less and slower memory. Low memory is a common cause of unresponsive systems, this laptop has a lot of fast RAM. This model also has a 500GB HDD - much more than comparable models. The HDD is only 5400 RPM, but again, if you are not planning on editing videos, I'll take a little slower HDD for increased battery life. The screen has a LED back light which is also supposed to increase battery life. Over all the system is snappy, boots relativity fast, and has the features to maximize battery life.

The keyboard is full size, with large lettering. Does not look sleek, but is easy to use with my fat fingers.

The touchpad is the only thing I can complain about. Seems toshiba went through great lengths to make the touchpad seem like it is part of the case. Its like its painted on. I would rather have a raised edge around it so you can feel where the edge is. This is a very minor issue that I am sure I will get used to over time.

The speakers are ok for built in laptop speakers, they actually sound fuller than I expected.

The size, weight and screen size are just about perfect for using 'on your lap' on the couch. The 15" screen is just right for my 40-something eyes. One more thing, the wall power supply is small and light too.

When I finally picked this model, I check to see what I would get for a little more money. I found that the laptops in the $700-$800 range actually had inferior features compared to this one.

In summary, as of December 2010, you will not find a better laptop for under $600.

I purchased this laptop because it was inexpensive and a great value for the money. I've had it for about a month now. In my opinion, technology moves too fast to invest a great deal of money in a laptop.

I have been extremely happy with it. I use the laptop for multiple hours everyday and it works great for me. I am not a power user. I mostly do word processing, e-mail, web surfing, and watch TV on-line. I have played a few older games on the computer which have worked well. I have also done some PowerPoint presentations and some statistical work which the computer handled well.

I am a linux person, so I really didn't expect to like Windows 7, but it is surprisingly good. The computer is responsive and fast for my needs. The battery life is surprisingly good in my opinion. The 5 hour estimation I'm sure is for optimal conditions such as the screen brightness turned down, wifi turned off etc. I get about 3 hours when on battery power surfing, e-mailing, writing, etc. Watching videos will shorten that time.

The downsides of the computer for me are that is does not run linux well. I tried several linux distributions and none of them recognize the computer when on battery power. I'm sure there is a solution for this, but I did not find one in my searches. The linux kernel will not recognize the wireless driver automatically, but there is a linux driver available at the realtek website that is easy to use (the readme file has the instructions). I've actually decided to stick with Microsoft on this laptop which is a huge change for me.

The speakers are rather underpowered. The sound is weak and the quality is not great. I get by on the laptop speakers, but don't expect much from them.

I did have a problem with the computer crashing suddenly. This happened several times and I am just guessing that it had to do with my instillation of linux on a separate partition (there were some errors when installed). While I took some time to create boot DVDs when I purchased the computer (and it took a long time to create them), I just used the toshiba recover tools to return the computer to its factory defaults. This erased the linux partition and seems to have solved the problems.

Thats it. Good computer, cheap, don't expect a great deal of support since that is how the keep the cost so low, weak sound, not a good computer for linux, runs Windows great, for basic computer needs it has been outstanding for me.

The L640-L655 Toshibas have a serious software and BIOS issue with the cooling fan. The issue is well-documented on the official Toshiba forum. The cooling fan runs fast and loud (you will not be able to use this computer in airplanes, libraries, classrooms, group work sessions, etc. due to fan speed). The loud fan will prematurely wear out the fan spindle, and uses excessive battery. I am encouraging anyone even considering the purchase of these lines of TOshiba computers to do online research and search these words: Toshiba forum cooling fan constantly. You will see many threads, but the main one has now thousands of views and elucidates the problem well. If you don't wish to look at it now, you will be looking at it intently once you purchase this model of TOshiba. Thus far, there is no fix for this cooling fan software issue. I am posting here as an owner of a Toshiba in this product line and simply as a method to help my fellow Amazon shoppers with a known issue. You certainly can buy or pass based on your own experience and research. Thank you and happy computing.

6/8/2011 Still issues: Some Toshiba laptops have a fan and cooling issue that is software related.
Google "Toshiba forum cooling fan constantly on", or highlight and right click what I have type here to see the 13 page thread on this subject. The most recent 5 pages are 3-4 non-Toshiba computer programmers trying to solve the problem as Toshiba has been uncaring and useless. The key is to read the thread from the beginning to review all the people who first define the problem. I encourage anyone seeking a Toshiba computer to review the thread to see if their model is affected before purchase--most models are with AMD processors, but some are Intel latest chipsets (e.g. i5). It is not "a few bad computers", it is computers in each of the series specified. The post on the Toshiba Forum from FunkeA dated May 30, 2011 at 4:11pm has a list of Toshibas affected by this issue.

This post is totally informational for you, a potential buyer, so that you can make your own informed decision about which computer to buy before making the purchase. Whether you buy Toshiba, one of these models, a different model, or a different brand, is completely up to you. Thanks and have fun time computer hunting.

So unhappy about this machine. I ordered it to take the place of a lap top that stopped working in the middle of a book contract.Within a day it had popped off the h key, all of it's own. It feels cheaply made and it is not an overly fast computer, even with the i3 processor. It's going back tomorrow, and I've ordered an Asus.

Since I bought this laptop, it has been back to Toshiba 6 times. Once for the hard drive inexplicably dying, and FIVE TIMES for the back light of the screen going out. I have sent it in repeatedly for the exact same problem, and every time it has been returned to me without the problem being resolved. When I call back, they tell me to send it in again to a "newer, better repair facility" that (again) fails to fix it. They refuse to let you speak to a manager or offer you any other recompense besides continuously sending it in for the same repair. I have been without my computer for months. I will never purchase another Toshiba, even if it had the seal of approval of God himself, because the customer service is horrendous.

Toshiba is fine as long as you don't have a problem as they will NOT stand behind thier warranties. They placed a hard drive password on my machine that caused a problem rendering my computer useless (I couldn't access with out putting in a "HDD password" -- very odd). So I call customer service expecting some help i.e. the password to unlock the hard drive. All I got was the run around: "It is a software problem, not hardware", blah, blah. The unfortunate thing is I never went into the BIOS system and put a password on the machine. Frankly, I didn't even know a guy could do this. Anyway, "Matthew", the completely inept "Case Manager", proceeds to tell me there is nothing they can do about it and I would have to go get it fixed at my own cost. I plan on calling my attorney to file a complaint in small claims court for recovery...we'll see if Toshiba America shows up in court... Net, save yourself time, money, and aggevation and go with a computer company that cares as much about their consumers as the earnings they made for the year. I have purchased many things Toshiba over the years: projection tvs (remember those?), vcr's, dvd players, etc. and they have turned me from a loyal customer to an enemy by not honoring a simple warranty issue. Purchase Toshiba and buyer beware: If you have a problem with your purchase (and you probably will as they have cheapened their products dramatically), they will deny the warranty expecting you not to pursue it legally. A pretty good short-term strategic tactic to save money until folks catch on to the game. BUYER BEWARE!!!

the laptop is really nice, i like it. also the delivery time is earlier than 1 day right at the time i need it, thanks for that. the laptop look nice in its shape, except for the battery life is not long enough- full 3.5 hours for suffer internet and about 1.5-2 hours for playing games. But anyway i am please with it and its price.

Buy at your own risk.
I purchased a Toshiba A660 directly from Toshiba. It shipped in September, 2010. In November I got the message "the hard drive was failing, repair or replace immediately"

Toshiba's policy, and my only option, is to send a box for me to ship to them and repair. The process could take 4 weeks or longer depending on part availability. If you can spare the time, have at it.

Think twice if you plan to use their equipment for business!

And by the way, the i3 and Windows 7 ran my contact management program (Act! 2010) MORE SLOWLY than my old desktop with an AMD 2191 MHz processor. Ouch!

Unless you have the budget to buy a computer every two years, save your money and look elsewhere. The adaptor is faulty and burned soon after I got it. I had to hunt for a new one and when I finally got it replaced my computer screen went black. Now I have to get a new Laptob screen. Wonder what else will fail once I fix that. Piece of crap. The adaptors have a history of being faulty. A simple google search will show that to you. Yet nothing is being done about it. I guess they're making money with customers having to buy all these different parts. This is the last computer I will be buying from them.