Toshiba Disappointment
Written: Sep 21 '02
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Pros: Good looking, light and thin. Excellent screen quality
Cons: Pointing device, conflicts between devices. Lack of common ports. Placement of IR port/indicator lights.
The Bottom Line: Toshiba have taken the 3110 and improved on its weaknesses, mainly TFT resolution. But the incompatibility with devices is worrying. Excellent build quality remains though. A solid buy.
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| netmanste's Full Review: Toshiba Portege 3480CT (PP348C-4PU82) PC Notebook |
I looked forward to my 3480CT arriving, the replacement for my much loved and used Portege 3110. I relished having more power from the 600mhz P3 processor and the 192mb RAM (upgraded). The 12GB hard drive would also be a bonus, as my 3110s 6GB unit was filling fast!
The laptop arrived running 98, but I didn't want to run this, as I find Microsoft's 2000-based systems to be more reliable. I wiped the hard drive and installed the copy of XP Pro I'd bought to put on this great-looking ultraportable offering from Toshiba.
Installation went fine, and I used the CDR of Toshiba drivers I'd made from downloaded available on their website to install support for all the devices. All seemed well.
I have just installed DSL and home and added wireless capability to it, so I could use this new laptop anywhere around the house and still pickup email etc. I purchased a 3Com X-Jack Wireless 802.11b card in the knowledge that they make decent hardware and have a wide-range of drivers. But the card just refused to work under XP. Loaded all the 3Com software up, altered driver settings - everything, but it still wouldn't connect to the wireless AP. And the card had worked fine on my trusty old Portege, and also a Compaq M300 running XP that I borrow from work occasionally.
I tried installing 2000, ME and the original 98 back onto the 3480, with a fresh drive each time and still no joy. Yet my PCMCIA CD drive worked faultlessly in both the 3480's slots. A mystery....
I'm still working out what I should do, as the laptop is excellent in all other areas. I find the keyboard to be very good, if you allow for the obvious design sacrifices in fitting everything into a ultraportable laptop's frame. The screen is superb, displaying crisp colours and legible in nearly all conditions, at 1024x768 resolution, a marked improvement from the max res of 800x600 on my old 3110, which this model is supposed to replace.
Battery life still remains good; I'm getting around 2 hours from the supplied battery which suits me fine.
The laptop also looks very stylish, with Toshiba continuing the Portege styling cues of dark gray solid, well-made plastics coupled to a magnesium-alloy silver back to the TFT. As with my 3110, it looks built to last.
I don't think this incident has put me off buying another Toshiba, as I believe they make the best laptops in the world. But I will certainly test the next model I buy throughly with devices I will use with it, before I buy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 750
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 501-600
Screen Size: 12 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
netmanste
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Reviews written: 1
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