Customer Reviews

Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1350 TruBrite 13.3-Inch Ultrathin Laptop (Black)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Purchased this laptop a couple of weeks ago for my son who starts college in the fall. Primary objective was a capable laptop with extended battery capability. Specifically, I was seeking a laptop which could readily run Microsoft Office 2010, but was not a "gaming" laptop; given there are already too many distractions in college! The other key feature for my son was a full size keyboard, as he has large hands - this ruled out most netbooks. The 13.3" display and 3.9 pound total weight is an excellent balance between capability versus transportability.

The T235-S1350 uses a next gen Intel CPU (U5400), which is among the most efficient available (i.e., very low power usage). Note this is a 'value' Intel CPU, which has virtualization disabled (i.e., hardware support for running a virtual PC with another operating system). The AMD CPU versions of the T235 (-S1340 and -S1345) have very capable CPUs, but are not very efficient compared to the latest Intel CPUs; hence their reduced battery life.

The product description incorrectly lists the battery rating at 48Wh - it is actually a much more capable 61Wh. The included software allows tailoring of "eco" settings to achieve extended battery use. Based on standard usage, my son has achieved 5-6 hours of actual use (rated at 8+ hours).

Only significant negative is the lack of Bluetooth, as a standard wireless mouse requires one of the three USB ports. The combo eSATA/USB port is a nice bonus for future growth. Would purchase again.

Many people will tell you how you can get more power, a longer battery life, a CD drive, etc if you purchase a different laptop, but the truth is you will have to buy a larger, heavier, or more expensive laptop if you want some or all of these things. This laptop is a great buy if you are looking for a thin, light, long lasting laptop. I find it plenty speedy for daily use, although I'm sure if you were trying to use it for things like gaming or video editing it wouldn't be the best choice.

The screen is very crisp and clear, the keyboard is solid and easy to use, and the whole laptop feels very well built. The description lists the battery at a 48W battery but it is fact a larger 61W battery.

If you're looking for a light laptop to bring everywhere and you're on a budget this is your best bet

I got last year's version of this, except in red. I loved the looks of it, its lightweight, and the long battery life (almost 7 hours). I found the screen plenty bright. However, over time, the touchpad became more and more sticky and nonresponsive. I notice someone is complaining about this on the current version too. What you really should be warned about is how bad Toshiba's customer and repair service is. A couple of months ago, I noticed a burning smell when my cord was plugged into the wall and read about a recall of some of these models. Given that the touchpad was still intermittently very unresponsive, I called Toshiba to send my computer in for repair. My laptop has been "in repair" now for almost 8 weeks, with no communication about when I may expect it back. It is difficult to reach anyone live on the phone if you want customer service instead of tech support. You get lots of recorded messages about going online for information (which is not easy if they have your laptop!). I've waited for several minutes on hold, just to get transferred around, all to be told nothing. The last time before I was transferred, I had been waiting on the phone, all totalled, about 45 minutes, so I asked the person for his direct phone number in case the call was dropped. He replied that they can't give out their direct phone number, but he took my phone number and promised that someone would call me if my call was dropped. Sure enough, my call was dropped, and no one ever called me back. That was over two weeks ago. I just checked online to see the status of my repair, and the message is still the same "waiting on a part, unknown eta" which is the same message I've had for the past 6 weeks. There is an email contact for the repair depot, but they just answer "sorry for the delay" and communicate no other specific information, other than to give me the customer service number to call. Each customer service rep tells you to check with the online "repair depot." Meanwhile I don't have my own laptop and must borrow one from family members.

I have had this laptop for about 30 days and I must say that this laptop is pretty nice. I love the keyboard compared to my last laptop and the mouse buttons are in a good location for me too. Only have 2 complaints: (1) Fingerprints on the case. (2) The battery life is no where near what is advertised. I have the brightness of the screen turned down and I don't overwhelm the laptop by playing streaming video / radio.... I'm just running normal MS office applications (although I am on the internet for most of the time too) - but I'm probably averaging only 4 to 5 hours of battery life. I plan to play around with the power settings to see if I can achieve a longer battery life. Overall though I really like this laptop and haven't missed the lack of a DVD drive at all. I would recommend this unit.

I've now had this laptop for about a week now and am feeling very good about the purchase. I'm a college student who uses the laptop primarily for:
1. taking notes in class
2. running internet and word processing (MS Office) applications, with occasional uses of engineering/programming software.

This laptop perfectly meets my needs. First of all, this laptop is incredibly light. Compared to my old laptop that weighed 6+ lbs., this laptop is really a joy to carry around. Paired with a super-long battery life (I actually got almost 8 hours of battery power once, when I turned down the screen brightness and was just running MS Word to work on my lap report), you can pretty much take this laptop anywhere.

Second, it's sufficiently fast. My main concern before purchasing this laptop was the low processor speed @ 1.2 GHz. But while using the laptop I actually haven't noticed any lags or slow performance. The boot-up is a tiny bit slow, but after a minute or two it'll catch up and perform very well. I'd imagine it'll slow down a little bit if you try to play games or watch a movie, but it stays sufficiently fast for other uses, even for the heavyweight engineering programs that I sometimes run on this laptop.

Some other pros to consider are the crisp display, a lot of ports for USB, memory cards, and display outlets, and some useful programs installed by Toshiba (some people hate them, but I find some of them very useful). Oh, and the keyboard feels very nice, too - soft, but has enough resistance so that it doesn't feel "mushy".

The only complaint I have so far is the speakers, which have a somewhat tinny sound at high volumes. But if you use headphones more often, then this shouldn't be a big problem. Also, I don't use an optical drive all that much so it didn't matter too much for me, but keep in mind that this laptop doesn't have an optical drive and you would have to purchase an external CD/DVD drive separately if you need it.

Overall, very portable and capable laptop. This would be an ideal choice if you need something for average everyday computing needs, or if you need a very portable laptop but don't want to use a netbook.

Pros:

- Excellent screen, very sharp and clear
- Speed is very good. I run Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server, Open Office ect, I have no complaints about speed. Keep in mind the CPU is a somewhat "crippled" Core i3. I'd take this over any Core 2 Duo at a similar frequency any day. Don't underestimate the integrated memory controller.
- It's pretty light and compact. With a slim notebook sleeve you could easily carry this around without it being a burden.
- Sound is pretty good. I've yet to see a notebook that's great though.

Cons:

- Battery, the duration isn't too bad. I'd say on average I get 3.5-4.5 hours. I don't jockey with the power settings too much, when it gets low and I want to keep running I lower the screen, but that's it. Other users are correct, if you run it in Toshbia's Echo mode you can hit 5+ hours. My biggest COMPLAINT is if I shut the machine down (that's power off, not hibernate or sleep) say at 40% and go 4 days or so not using it, I turn it on and it's just about dead. This is REALLY annoying. I realize there will be some drain while the battery sits, but this seems excessive or abnormal.
- Finger prints and streaks are pretty noticeable as is dust and particulate. I knew this going in, I don't care much you just gotta clean it up.
- WHY OH WHY do notebook makers still put air intakes ON THE BOTTOM of the notebook, that's just idiotic. I realize it's probably an engineering challenge but that's not my problem. This machine does get pretty warm, not hot but close. I put a hard flat surface under it so it can suck air in, and if it does have good flow the heats reasonable.

Overall a decent well rounded machine. I think anyone coming from older generation mobile CPU's or single core CPUs at a similar frequency will be satisfied. If your coming from a ridiculous Core i5 or i7 forget it. I came from a 1.6Ghz Turion64 (single core). This machine runs circles around it.

Note - Don't worry about the lack of an optical drive. I hardly notice it, let alone miss it.

I don't use this laptop for more than internet and Microsoft office. It functions perfect for those purposes. It is very lightweight, so carrying to and from school has been easy. It is designed in a way that makes in comfortable to type on. I don't have the issues with the mouse that some reviewers mentioned. The only flaw is that the fan sometimes is loud. The fan is the loudest when I am streaming movies. For simple functions, the fan is pretty quiet.

I had never wanted a laptop, but finally broke down and and decided to get one for school, because I needed something portable.

Looking around at laptops, I realized I didn't want a netbook, despite the price and battery life, because of the tiny screen and keyboard. Then I saw a 13.3 inch laptop at the store, and decided that was the perfect size. Not too small and not too large. My Toshiba is light enough to stick in my backpack and not worry about breaking my back, and it's small enough to fit as well. The keyboard is decently sized, though it's missing an actual number pad. The number pad is a small section of the keyboard used with the Fn key.

I have not tested the limits of this laptop, as I only meant it for school work. Typing and internet use. It does great at both of those. The only game I've tried on this laptop is Minecraft, and I can say that that doesn't run all that well.

I've noticed that the speakers can be amazingly loud sometimes. It's nice when you want to show a video or song to some people. Even in a noisy room, it's possible to hear.

I am pleased with the battery life, as I can get out of my three hour class with about half the battery left, if I've got the brightness set down. I'm sure I could do more to get more battery life.

The downsides to this laptop? Every now and then, it's been a disappointment that it doesn't have a cd drive, but that isn't too bad a problem. However, I do dislike the mouse pad(mouse pads in general, this is a pretty good mouse pad. I just dislike using it). That was one of the big issues I've had with laptops. I haven't got around to buying a usb mouse yet, so I try not to complain much.

Overall, I'm glad I went for this Toshiba. It was well worth the price, as I will be using it for a foreseeable while, and have already used it for a semester and a half. If you are looking for a decent laptop at a decent price, one that is lightweight and not too big, one for school work, then I would definitely recommend this one.

I got this laptop to replace my Lenovo T60p which was too bulky for my purposes (I commute a lot). I wanted something bigger than those small 10/11" netbooks, but smaller than the bigger 14+" laptops. So I thought this would be a good alternative. Here's my summary:

PROS
* light (3 1/2 pounds)
* very thin
* love the keyboard (full-size and good feel)

CONS
* seems a bit slow (even though I have 4gb)
* microphone doesnt work in ubuntu (there might be a workaround, but havent found it yet, it's a known bug for this chipset)
* very small viewing angle
* audio freezes when you slightly move laptop (very sensitive)
* sleep/hibernate is weird sometimes. if i close laptop and plug power cable in, it will turn on the computer even though it's closed. but this might be software glitch

It seems like there are more cons than pros, but overall it's not a bad computer. For my purposes it's not bad.

Only had this a week and, so far, I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Only doing email and web work so don't know what the power is like for video editing, etc. I just needed a small, light machine for carrying and this does it. Great (5-6 hr) battery life!