Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite M35-S359 Laptop (1.40-GHz Pentium M 1400 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)

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

 

 

This is definately a nice machine and at $1450 after rebates, a great deal. I bought one a couple weeks ago, though I must admit I am tempted by the new Gateway M505 ($150 more). Here is my comparison between the two, though I still haven't personally seen one of the Gateway models yet:

- The Gateway may have better sound, given the included subwoofer. But the Toshiba has 2-way harman/kardon speakers, which in my opinion sound very, very good.

- The Toshiba has a 60gb hard drive (vs. Gateway's 40gb). They both run at 4,200 rpm.

- The Toshiba only has only 32mb of NVidia video memory. The video memory doesn't bother me a lot because I don't plan to do much if any gaming, but the Gateway has 64mb ATI, which is great for gaming.

- The Toshiba has a great, crisp screen, even compared to the Compaq/HP 15.4" widescreen models. Again, can't compare to the Gateway, so don't know what to think, but all reports are that the Gateway's screen is very nice as well.

- The Toshiba comes with Microsoft OneNote software, which I haven't tried using yet, but looks interesting.

- Toshiba laptops consistently are rated very high in terms of reliability and user satisfaction (along with IBM), whereas Gateway is just middle-of-the-pack. If anyone wants sources, let me know. Gateway, however, has the benefit of local service, though I don't know how good it is.

- The Gateway is a little smaller (.2" less wide, .6" less deep from front-to-back).

- The Toshiba weighs only 6.2 lbs including the battery, whereas the Gateway is 6.7 lbs.

- Toshiba claims battery life of 3:40, Gateway claims 4:30. When I unplug my fully-charged Toshiba, it reads only 3:13. Big advantage to the Gateway.

- Then there are the little things: the Gateway has TWO Firewire ports, and a USB port on the back (which is nice for some peripherals so the cable is out of your way). The Gateway also has a slot loading CD drive which is nicer than a tray, and has the programmable one-touch keys on the right side of the keyboard, and the DVD/CD media controls on the left with a nice little display.

My old laptop was creaking and I called the best computer nerd I knew. "Get the new Toshiba with the 1.4GHz M chip", he told me and am I glad I listened. This is a beautiful laptop. It is thin, light and the battery lasts seemingly forever. The XGA display is bright and crisp and the Harmon/Kardon speakers produce clear and rich audio.

My big concern was speed, but the reality is that the 1.4GHz chip acts like it is running at much higher speeds. The 15 inch wide screen makes word processing much more readable.

You cannot miss with this laptop!

I gave up multiple desktops a couple of years ago in favor of a single powerful laptop, but paid a price in terms of weight and battery life. I stayed with my last Toshiba Satellite 2805-S402 for years because it was such a reliable, solid workhorse. But, I needed to move up and must have purchased and returned at least five top-if-the-line laptops from several manufacturers (including a slick Sony TR2) before finding the Toshiba Satellite M35-S359. I've used it at least ten hours a day, every day for the last three months and am very satisfied with its construction, performance, screen and price. I'm very, very hard on a portable and, so far, this one stands up to my punishment and still shines.

A few pluses: Notwithstanding one other reviewer's comment, my machine feels very solid, almost like a rigid metal structure. It's lighter than its predecessor, with a generously sized keyboard (though I do miss a right CTRL key and keep hitting the @#$% Ins key! The complement of ports (3 USB 2.0 and one Firewire, plus IR, S-Video and a legacy parallel port) and features is ideal for me. I really enjoy the SD card reader since it matches the format of my digital cameras. I'm always giving speeches with PowerPoints and the M35-S359 handles projector connection and porting video output with ease. The 802.11b reception is reasonably good (perhaps too good, as it keeps picking up my neighbor's network 100 yards away). The metallic silver finish looks terrific and the case fits well into standard laptop cases (a problem for many other thicker widescreen models). The sound is great--not the subwoofer quality of my former Toshiba, but very bright and crisp, with little distortion even when cranked up to max volume) It even sounds good with the cover closed. Port placement is sensible, though I don't understand the decision to put the parallel port behind its own little plastic door. I'm always concerned those plastic doors are going to break off someday. To its credit, the door latches solidly, so I'll need to be really careless to lose it.

A few quibbles: The keyboard layout is`unnecessarily odd, but it's not a big problem. I miss the Touchpoint (eraserhead) pointing device, but you get used to those flat panel things that virtually every laptop now uses. The system runs hot on the bottom front left quadrant, but at least the fan discharges hot air out the side and not the back. My last Toshiba's rear fan occasionally left me feeling medium-rare. My biggest complaint--and it's pretty trivial--is that the volume control wheel is mounted horizontally across the front edge of the system so it's easy to inadvertently raise the volume if you use the laptop atop your lap. I compute in bed while my wife is sleeping, so the volume accidently creeping up to max is more a concern for me that perhaps for others.

More Positives: The screen is very bright and, unlike some other models, easy to adjust as needed. Battery life is adequate and DVD performance is pleasing. In summary, this model is handsome, solid full-featured and not overweight. A very, very pleasing buy.

I'm a software developer / musician and I'm good at breaking Windows. I've had this laptop for about a month, and I absolutely love it. It's the first name brand (and non-pieced together from individual components) system I've ever owned. I was considering one of the Pentium 4 15.4" systems or a 17" display, but the battery life on those was unacceptable. I liked the appearance of this one better anyway...it's very sleek and attractive. And now for the actual review..... It took me about 5 minutes to take it out of the box, power it up, and start surfing the internet WiFi style through my DSL line with a Linksys wireless access point. Seriously, it was simple. I noticed that some people were complaining about the WiFi being 802.11b compliant instead of 802.11g. That shouldn't be an issue for anyone who just wants wireless internet access, since 802.11b (54 Mbps) is faster than any residential internet service out there (most are around1.5 Mbps). After testing it out a little, I upgraded the OS to XP Pro. It was not a smooth upgrade, and I ended up rendering the system unusable. So I formatted the hard drive and installed XP Pro from scratch and re-installed all the drivers, service packs and bundled apps that I wanted. Toshiba includes a DVD that lets you either do a full from-the-factory system restore or install any included apps individually. Thanks to Toshiba for that....I like to know exactly what is installed on my system and not have any traces of things that I don't want, and I hear that some companies do not provide separate software installations for people to do that. I had to call tech support to find out how to access the BIOS (to boot from the CD), since that info wasn't in any documentation. Once I got through (after waiting about 45 minutes), the person on the other end told me what I needed to know right away (Press F2 at boot in case you were wondering). I called support one other time (the contrast adjustment seemed to have a mind of it's own....it was because of a power saver setting) and got through much faster, and once again the Toshiba tech was helpful and speedy. I spent the first 3 days mostly installing and configuring things, and since then it's been running really smooth...probably better than if I had kept the factory installation. I'm running MS Visual Studio .NET with IIS and the SQL Server desktop engine...no complaints about performance. Photoshop runs well too. Everything about this system is awesome, except....It doesn't have a stereo line in (I'm gonna get a USB audio interface) and it feels very fragile (like if it were dropped it might explode into a hundred pieces). Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase.

This is a review for the Toshiba Satellite M30-SY39. In appearance, it's identical to the M35-S359. But the specs are quite different. It has a PM-1.6 GHz chip instead of 1.4GHz, and has a DVD-RW instead of the DVD/CD-RW.
I've had this computer for a month now, and apart from one or two small niggles, I find it a joy to use.
PROS:
* The screen is AMAZING!!!
* I have a lot of files that I need to backup. Previously, I'd use 4 CD-RW disks each time I backed up. It only takes me one DVD-RW now! :)
* I recently tested the wireless capability of this computer at a Wi-Fi enabled cafe. It worked flawlessly.
* The Microsoft OneNote software that's pre-installed on this computer is very handy. I'm finding it to be a godsend during meetings. I guess it doesn't really have anything to do with Toshiba, but I'm glad they decided to bundle it with this computer, as I doubt I would have purchased it separately.
* I have a Pentium IV 2.4GHz desktop with 768 Meg RAM at home. I'm finding that my laptop sometimes "seems" faster than my desktop comp. I'm not sure if this is the case, and I can't be bothered to do benchmarks. :-P
CONS:
I just have one...the KEYBOARD!!!
Whoever designed it should be made to use it for life! :-P
I tend to use the right CTRL key a lot, and the fact that it's not there makes my typing life a bit of a chore at times...And why the INS and DEL keys are placed right next to the SPACEBAR is beyond me. Toshiba really should've provided a standard keyboard on this laptop, since there's more than enough space.

All in all though, apart from the imaginative keyboard design, I love this laptop, and will enjoy using it for quite some time.
Although you people in the US don't have this higher spec model, I'd nonetheless recommend this computer to anyone.

I have just bought a new M35-S359. This is my first laptop and I have thought very much about the brand and the model of it. Toshiba was a very good choice for me. In this price range it offers a Centrino Processor which has indeed a very good performance with low battery consumption. Also its Widescreen feature makes you to watch DVD's in great quality and comfort.
All software comes within a DVD and you don't bother much with tons of CD's.
It has international warranty and an universal frequency adapter which allows you to use the laptop anywhere around the world.
It has got quality Harman/Kardon speakers which sounds very good. The keyboard layout is very comfortable.
I can say in this price you won't find any model with Centrino processor and with the quality of Toshiba..

An Excellent Multimedia/Business PC. Beautifully designed, light weight, nice color, very good keyboard, amazing Screen Quality and Sound, Fast, good battery life, good price for centerino, and made by Toshiba.
If you want to get a new laptop or to replace the existing one, just take a look at this and then read some reviews, you have to see it for yourself and play with it for a few minutes and compare it to others, then you will see what I meant and why I very much recommend it. Good Luck!

I recently purchased a Windows laptop to be shared with another person. It's a Toshiba...one of the Centrino based, wide screen models (M35-S359). The closest Apple choice would be the 15" Powerbook w/combo drive. The Toshiba has some definite advantages along with a lower price tag.

From a hardware standpoint, I am quite pleased with this machine. The keyboard/trackpad design, in particular, is very good...full size dedicated page navigation keys, a dedicated key to bring up contextual menus, another one to call up the Start menu, a two-button trackpad with scrolling support...
Battery life has been solid, the screen is sharp and the built-in SD card slot matches the format used by my digital camera.
On the down side...as expected, battery life hasn't quite matched the published specs and the optical drive is a bit noisy.

For an extra $230US, Toshiba added a 3 year warranty with "express" pickup/delivery and coverage against accidental damage. The total cost, with spare AC adapter, was approx. $1860US.

As for the software involved, things are different. The bundled extras are useful, but Windows XP doesn't quite match up with Mac OS X. Visually and aesthetically, XP is a bit of an eyesore. Also, the process of setting up the computer to our liking has been a chore. Much of the system has a clumsy, awkward design. In contrast, the System Preferences application in OS X is a joy to use.
One example...the laptop shipped with two different power saving utilities. One from Microsoft and the other from Toshiba. Each had different settings for the same usage and each insisted on adding its own battery meter to the Taskbar. I finally discovered that the Toshiba version was calling the shots.
Another hassle has been the tedious chore of protecting the system against viruses, worms, spyware, Microsoft come-ons, pop-up's, etc.

Once past the setup stage, I've found that actually using the Toshiba isn't all that bad. The Windows "experience" isn't as polished as with the Mac, but it's serviceable. I can still run iTunes, QuickTime Player, Mozilla, Quicken...along with the wide range of Windows-only titles. Word and Excel, for now at least, share essentially the same file format across platforms. The machine won't be used to edit video or audio or high-res photos. If it can handle my digitized Ramones collection, then I'll be happy;)

Had this computer been bought for my use only, I might well have gone with the 15" Powerbook (the iBook isn't quite enough). I'm not certain of that, though. It is a tough call.

Just bought the Toshiba M35-S359 after much debate and research on which laptop will best benefit needs of wireless connectivity and good processing power without being penalized by the short battery charges of many laptops. Centrino is just a marketing ploy by sticking a less powerful Intel chip then some of the more readily available of 3.0 Ghz and around that, but that didnt concern me...Processing doesn't need to be so powerful anyway, unless you're manning a mission to Mars. Admit it, the majority of your time will be spent on a basic application like Word or the Internet. If you're a gamer, buy a Playstation. Anywho, what sold me on this laptop was the widescreen...Period. It's beautiful and a much needed change from the square screens the corporate world of design has left us with over the years. Using an nVidia GeForce FX graphics controller with 32 MB of dedicated video memory, the screen display really makes your mouth water even if your stomach is full. The 512 mg of RAM should be standard on all computing devices by now, which is true for this well designed machine. Everyone is watching their weight and figure more then ever now, and the M35-S359 is on the same track as us weight watchers. It's not heavy around 6 lbs at all...I don't mind carrying around this 6 lb diamond. It looks just as pretty, but actually is just a more practical gem to have then what's out there right now. One broohaha as I would call it is the lack of a manually operated volume dial around the outside of its' waistline. Ah, who cares! Another negative is lack of a 802.11g wireless networking. I know 802.11b is the standard right now, but the "G" is much faster and the 'future'. Even the lower priced laptops you find in stores have the "G". Hmmmm, what was Toshiba thinking?? Oh, and the keyboard layout could have been just a little bit more sensible. You'll get used to it after a while, but don't be surprised when you goof to your conventional PC keyboard and find yourself lost looking for the Windows button. This thing is gorgeous to look at though. The negatives seem to fade away quickly after she looks at you with that twinkle in her eye. So if you're looking for a Cindy Crawford with a brain and muscle to match, she's the one for many of us. The right balance of practicality and luxury, she may just be right one for you.
One last tid bit though...Hunt around for the price...I paid 1399 after rebates, so don't pay more then that! If you're wondering where I got it, due to Amazon's interest I can't say it's circuit ci...Whoops! Don't wanna upset Amazon now;)

Excellent product - really slick - works well - is quite light - and has a great design. I would highly recommend it - and it's as cheap as $1400 on some sites right now (all inclusive!) - with $100 Toshiba discounts..