the best laptop in $1500 range
Written: Aug 25 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
 |
|
|
Pros: CENTRINO, all-inclusive features can satisfy anyone
Cons: toshiba tech support, can be frustrating if you don't realize you can customize touchpad
The Bottom Line: Get this laptop for any use except gaming, but particularly for student computing! Wireless compatability with almost any network with excellent extra features.
|
|
|
| imadok's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite Pro M15-S405 (PS630U-G205HV) PC ... |
i bought this toshiba a week ago, after spending quite a while reading reviews and looking at specs for every laptop out there (excluding compac and hp which i despise). i was looking for centrino, DVD/CD-RW, 40GB hard drive, and 512 DDR. it was mostly a choice between dell 600m and this. i went for this because i paid $1449 after rebate at Circuit City, and I got it the day I purchased it, and their customer service is readily available and great to work with.
beyond price, i liked being able to see it in the store first, toshiba seems like a better brand as far as technology they are pursuing (can't wait until their tablets are cheaper), the sound from these speakers is better than my tv, even with a noisy window air conditioner in the background. i have a dell inspiron 2600 also, and always have to turn of the air conditioner to watch dvds.
the wireless on/off switch on the front is very cool, and the machine (dvd/cd-rw drive) runs almost silently.
others have noted the screen resolution is too low, but if you aren't a heavy gamer, this doesn't really matter in my view. also, note that there is an external volume wheel on the left side. this confused me for several days where i thought my sound driver was defective and was about to call tech support. nice feature, but there is really nothing to notify you that it's there. you just have to notice it, or run into a random listing of specs like i did (a cnet review).
i haven't burned any cds, but am satisfied with everything else. WinDVD 4 has this annoying bringht green wording anytime a new function starts (eg 'play' or 'pause') but i am sure i can turn this off if i tweek with it.
overall, this price was right for the amount of features it has - the one downside is it is heavy (7 lb), but this is mainly because of a very powerful battery (5+ hrs life running multiple applications) (9-cell - i think dell batteries are a measly 4-cell). it is all about trade offs.
i also like being one of the only law students on my campus that has a non-dell. okay, i will write a better review when i have had it a while.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1449
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium
Processor speed: 201-300
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
imadok
|
|
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.