Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite P15-S409 Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)

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

 

 

I own a small business (250 employees, $7,500,000 revenue) and have tried most of the mainstream vendors. I moved to Dell exclusivley about 7 years ago, but I have tired of the deteriorating service and support.

Toshiba caught my eye and I like each machine a little better. Nothing is perfect, but they have made some great products at very good price points.

I personally use a P25-S607 and love it. Fast, HUGE screen, GREAT graphics, and all the other things that others have stated.

The ONLY downsides to be aware of on these P10s. P15s, and P25s are low battery life (like complaining about gas mileage while driving a Ferrari), size and weight. These are PORTABLE desktops; not "laptops" or notebooks. Do not buy these if you carry your machine for hours at a time or need it to fit in a glovebox.

The only possible upgrades would be to are move to a larger (80 GB) or faster (7200 RPM) hard drive. I also wish Toshiba would offer a one-slot option for pre-installed memory. I want to be able to upgrade without losing pre-installed memory.

The Toshiba applications (ConfigFree, etc.) are much better than anything Dell ever gave me. I have been able to power these machines on and get on my wireless networks seamlessly with each purchase.

Today I issued an employee a P15-S409 to replace a 25 month old Dell that was showing incredible wear and tear that was past what it should have shown. The employee was greatful for the three USB 2 ports, the SD port, and especially the DVD-Burner married with a fire-wire port.

These machines are worth looking at in person before you make any decision. The fit & finish, screen performance, and solid feel in your hands cannot be conveyed in a pciture or on a website.

My P25-S607 is the first machine that I have owned that ever caused people to stop me and ask questions about in all the many, many, many laptops I have owned over the last 12 years.

I will continue to place Toshiba at the top of my list when I consider purchasing new machines. I still shop for every purchase based on merit. Toshiba merits first consideration at this time (I never offer any brand blind loyalty).

I bought this laptop because some business applications I must use required the graphics card installed. The applications ran beautifully. That done, I began to appreciate this computer for its other strengths. Although I have always been a small, light, tiny keyboard computer guy, I have now hopelessly converted to this "full size" laptop. Yes, it weighs more, but the display is fabulous (better than my old monitor at home), the keyboard is large enough to allow me to work all day, and the wireless connectivity is great.
This computer is good for a desktop replacement. It is also good for a traveling businessman like myself who needs real power and who enjoys a screen that allows relaxed viewing. Great for middle-aged eyes!

I purchased this laptop 3weeks ago. All I can say is--- it is absolutely a quality machine. Being a gateway customer for my previous computers, I was concerned about trying another brand. Well, NO LONGER.

The laptop is extremely quick (@ 2.8 HT p4) and the full-size keyboard is nice for long typing sessions. I can't possibly do the 15.4" widescreen justice with a description----you have to simply check it out at your local store! UNBELIEVEABLE! The look of the toshiba is sophisticated with a modern sleek look. The wireless 802.11g is backward compatible with b and worked easily with my d-links b router. The DVD player is as good as most home systems and the widescreen adds the extra flair of being in a theatre. You can't beat the rare front-loading DVD/CD RW-----finally someone figured it out! The DVD writer is essential, and being able to burn DVDs for back-up (wink, wink)is awesome. A 800mhz system front bus speed,60g HD, 512 MB memory,p4 hyper-threading and the numerous USB, s-video, etc... outputs makes this little man a portable media center. I have been plesantly surprised at the temp the laptop runs over long periods of time-----with a laptop table (a must to prevent overheating and to preserve your computer) it has yet to be uncomfortable

Yes, the battery life is short, but hey you're pushing quite a system here----buy an extra battery and "ta-da." The system is a little heavier than say a centrino system, but what is a pound or 2 when considering the ability of this machine. Tech support for questions about applications and specific info has been normal----call-in and on hold for 15mins, however, trouble shooting on-line is quicker.A warning to hard-core gamers the stock video card is not adequate for the ultra memory,video intense games. But then again, no hard-core gamer is looking at this type of system configuration! See alien-ware or sager.

Overall, I'm super surprised and satisfied with the p15. This is the total package. You must consider this before purchasing a laptop!

I have had this computer for approx. one month. It can completely replace a desktop. At 2.8 GHz the processor smokes and the wireless connection is great. I was able to easily connect with a linksys router. It will work with a 802.11b router but comes equipped with an integrated 802.11g wireless LAN. It comes with a DVD multi and I have successfully copied several DVD's for my personal backup. It has 512 MB DDR SDRAM which I specifically looked for. It is expandable to over 2GB RAM. It comes with a 60 gig HD.

This computer runs very cool. Most of the laptops I have experience with run pretty hot. The 15.4 in. screen is beautiful. The full size keyboard is comfortable and the computer overall feels light considering the screen size. The speakers aren't that bad, and actually put out pretty good sound as opposed to the usual tinny sounding speakers.

I compared price to options, etc, and found this to be an excellent deal for the money.

The only dissapointment is battery life, which seems to be about 1 percent loss per minute no matter what I might be doing on the computer, streaming (audio/video), or just surfing the internet. It is supposed to have about a two and a half hour battery life and that is not the case with mine. I considered dropping my rating to 4 stars because of the battery, but I am so pleased with overall performance that I stayed with 5 stars.

I searched and compared, high and low, came up with this and am extremely pleased overall.

I recently bought the Satellite P15-S409 and I'm very happy with it so far. The system configuration is excellent, the screen size and picture definition are very good, and the price beats most competing brands offering the same features. I considered buying the Dell 8600 which is a great machine too but the Toshiba P15 offered the 2.8GHz Pentium IV processor with HT, a SD memory card slot, and an extra USB2 port which is always useful.
There are only 3 issues with the P15 that if corrected would make of this a kick ass laptop: Replace XP Home with the Pro version, improve the sound system, and make it a little less bulky.
Other than that, the Toshiba P15 is a great buy and will most likely satisfy the needs of demanding users like myself.

I purchased this model online about a week ago, and I'm already in love with it. This model comes with a desktop-class Pentium 4 processor with hyper-threading technology...you can feel the power as you cruch through the most complex applications. While I can't call myself a hardcore gamer, I did watch several DVDs on this notebook. Toshiba loads the PC with software that makes this widescreen notebook a portable theartre. The beautifully crisp picture looked awesome on the widescreen display.

The only "constructive critisms" I could think of...the battery life runs only over an hour-and-a-halfish, on maximum performance mode, but this is to be expected, as this little devil crams a lot of bang in a small package. Other than that, this is a great computer, and I'm very happy that I choose Toshiba, and will likely again in the future.

Well, I bought this laptop for all the obvious reasons like the processor, wide screen, RAM etc...There is a basic flaw in the design....There are these 2 large fans that are located below the laptop..So when you place this on your lap, the hot air blows right onto your lap....Next when you place the laptop on a couch or a mattress, the cloth seem to block the fan and the machine gets superheated and powers down....So I called up support to fix this problem of powering down...They sent me a box to send the laptop to the depot after 10 days...and guess where your laptop gets fixed? At the UPS depot in KY by UPS guys....The guy uninstalled and reinstalled windows and sent it back to me...The overheating problem was never fixed...

TOSHIBA SERVICE AND SUPPORT STINKS

So if you buy this and if you have any problems take the laptop personally to the local service center and get it fixed.

The other problem that I have is this fan makes a very loud noice all of a sudden and then its back to normal...I think it is so annoying.

This is a great notebook for all my applications. I even got great customer support when I messed up some settings. I got this to be able to more seemlessly have my work files available for those inspirational moments. It worked great out of the box and is actually better than my work PC. Not bad for most games either. Beautiful screen. Get one now for an upgrade!

Two points have been brought up that should be addressed.

1. There is a workaround to upgrade to XP Pro on the Microsoft web site. I've not done this yet but it is nice to know it can be done. It involves shutting off a couple of apps, loading the system, and turning them back on. The Toshiba script kitties are not qualified to tell you the details. Do a google search!

2. For it's price this laptop stands up well. The next computer in this line I would buy costs at least $2K, and I shopped hard and long before selecting this model.

This is not the top of line laptop for all purposes. It does what I need (business apps, most games, graphics) for less money than I would have spent elsewhere. It's that benefit/cost ratio that got my attention. It just suits my immediate, and foreseeable, needs.

My laptop had broken down within the one-year warranty period.
I was not getting any video output. I had received authorization from Toshiba to return it. The laptop returned from Toshiba broken!
The keys were falling off. The back of the screen had pieces missing! The case was severely damaged. Toshiba claimed that this was caused by the user, and REFUSED any service to the DAMAGE THAT THEY CAUSED. There was NO VISIBLE DAMAGE when we sent it. I am a University Professor, and had no reason to lie them (I could have just gotten another one!). Despite several phone calls from people who confirmed that there was no physical damage prior to us, sending it to them, all we got was very rude handling of the complains. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANY TOSHIBA LAPTOP TO ANYONE.

I have had this laptop for over 6 months now. Here's my review:

PROs:
- Good lookin!
- Nice wide screen
- P4/ 2.8 GHZ/ 60GB HDD is great
- Love the DVD/CD burner

CONs:
- It comes with XP Home. It SHOULD have XP Pro. I had to upgrade mine, but you have to take care to upgrade it before you install SP1. This was a big issue for me.
- Battery life is about an hour. With P4 and all the applications, this is expected I guess.
- No INFRARED port!! I was disgusted when I found this out recently.
- Toshiba Support is NOT good. They do not even have a decent user forum on their site!!!

EVERYTHING else is fine. I love this laptop, despite its 3 shortcomings above.