I've had my Tosh 4030CDT for about 18 months now. It replaced a Macintosh Powerbook 5300 I'd had for 3 years and when the screen finally died, I migrated to this Windows laptop.

It does the job - Toshiba bill the Satellite range as cost-effective and functional, my Tosh has certainly been that. I got it for $1800 from Microwarehouse, and it's been lugged around the world on aeroplanes, up and down the country in the back of the car, and operated everywhere from my bed to a very bouncy bus in Scotland. OK it's not in a magnesium case like a Sony VAIO but it's probably just as rugged if not more so.

Nice features: the TFT screen, the built in modem, the "nipple" mouse, the built in CD and floppy (it saves some weight not having these but you always find you need them at the most unexpected moments, and if they're not built-in you're tempted to leave the add-on CD and floppy at home on smaller laptops!).

Minor problems: the modem door is very flimsy, it's survived so far for me but it's probably only a matter of time before it breaks off. The nipple occasionally has a life of its own and sends the pointer on a slow tour of the screen. It's a bit heavy (especially if you include the power brick + cables). The IR communication could be dodgy, it doesn't like talking to my mobile phone for more than a few minutes, but this could be the phone's fault, I haven't nailed it down yet. If the machine crashes while hibernating or waking up from hibernating it can get stuck in a limbo which requires a reset. Windows Explorer has recently started crashing on me occasionally, this might be an OS issue though.

Overall I'd say I've had no more problems with this laptop than with any other PC of mine running Windows, it's a rugged workhorse which should hopefully last another year or so until I get something more up-to-date.



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 1800
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: 201-300
Screen Size: 13"
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 4-6