Toshiba Satellite A505-S6020 TruBrite 16.0-Inch Laptop (Black/Silver)
Reviews for Toshiba Satellite A505-S6020 TruBrite 16.0-Inch Laptop (Black/Silver)
Great Laptop for the priceIt is a great laptop for the price. My only complain is the shinny glossy finish. You can see all your finger prints. But as far as performance, it is great, no complaints.
Worst Keyboard Ever....
This laptop has many excelent features, but unfortunately Toshiba decided to put all of that power inside a very cheap shell. If you need to do much typing, then you are going to be extremely frustrated with the keyboard that comes with the laptop. First of all the keyboard is pushed all the way to the left, because Toshiba decided to include a full size number key pad to the right (who in the world needs a number key pad this days?), so find your self having to seat further to the left in order to be able to type. This may sound like a minor thing, but you will know what I mean once you have to use this machine.
However that is not the worst part of the design. The keys are very smood and flat, bunch up against each other, so you can not tell if your fingers are in the correct position. In my experience 9 out 10 times you make mistake with the initial placement of your fingers in the keyboard. I never realize how many times I take my hands away from the keboard when I use my computer, until now.
Is a shame that a company like Toshiba would spend on making a laptop with great features, at a reasonable price, but could not design it in a way that it could be easy to use. I have an older Toshiba Satellite laptop, and the key board is very good. Why in the world would they change it? The reason why most keyboard have indentetions in the keys, and a way for the user to determine the placement just by feel is because after so many years it has proven to be the most effective way. Do not change what is working well, unless you are certain that you can improve upon it.
The experience using this keyboard has been so frustrating, that I most definatelly do not recomend this product. Pay the extra hundred dollars for another brand with the same features, but user friendly.
Good Luck with the purchase.... — IT Manager
Wonderful Laptop
I have had this laptop for over a month, and I absolutely love it. It is a replacement for my Dell Laptop that has decided to move onto greener pastures. This is my first Toshiba, and I use computers for work all day. This is a wonderful laptop it has plenty of power thanks to the i7 Intel Processor, which was the main selling point for me. I needed a laptop that would hold up and be able to handle the Adobe products (Dreamweaver and Photoshop) that I use regularly and so far no issues at all. The speakers are very good, considering this is a laptop and the speakers are built in. I LOVE Windows 7 it is SOOOOO much better than Vista! The Webcam is wonderful and does a very good job as well. Overall, considering this is a budget priced laptop, when you factor in the i7 chip, 500GB HD, and 4GB DDR3 RAM. I am very pleased and I without any reservation recommend this product and I would purchase it again if I had to do it over. — yendorpoet
It does not have bluetooth!!!
It says it has Bluetooth, BUT IT DOESN'T. The main board is not even prepared to manage a Bluetooth board. — Andres
Slot-loading DVD drive VERY noisy
The slot-loading DVD drive that comes with the S6040 model was so noisy and vibrated so much that I had to send the unit back. For comparison, I played the same audio CD's on a seven year old Asus laptop with a tray drive, and there was no detectable vibration or noise. Both the Toshiba and the older laptop were on the same, very stable coffee table.
The noise from the Toshiba drive was so loud it drowned out the music at normal playing volume. The vibration ran from my fingers/palms way up my arms; it was impossible to ignore.
This is a beautiful machine. The specifications are dynamite. (By the way, mine came with a 120W adapter, a good match for the Core i7 CPU.)
I can't say if the slot-loader was a lemon or typical. One thing that bothered me was that the laptop was delivered in its own box only; it was not packed within another insulated box. If audio-cables and paperbacks are well cushioned, shouldn't a laptop be too? (Maybe the laptop companies have decided this is the best way, so the UPS crews see right away they are handling fragile merchandise?)
— Acontius
Slot-loading DVD drive VERY noisy
The slot-loading DVD drive that comes with the S6040 model was so noisy and vibrated so much that I had to send the unit back. For comparison, I played the same audio CD's on a seven year old Asus laptop with a tray drive, and there was no detectable vibration or noise. Both the Toshiba and the older laptop were on the same, very stable coffee table.
The noise from the Toshiba drive was so loud it drowned out the music at normal playing volume. The vibration ran from my fingers/palms way up my arms; it was impossible to ignore.
---> Note that I went to a BigBox store and tried the S6033 model (same CPU, but slower GPU and only 4GB RAM). It has the TRAY-loading DVD drive and ran very smoothly and quietly.
This is a beautiful machine. The specifications are dynamite. (By the way, mine came with a 120W adapter, a good match for the Core i7 CPU.)
I can't say if the slot-loader was a lemon or typical. One thing that bothered me was that the laptop was delivered in its own box only; it was not packed within another insulated box. If audio-cables and paperbacks are well cushioned, shouldn't a laptop be too? (Maybe the laptop companies have decided this is the best way, so the UPS crews see right away they are handling fragile merchandise?)
— Acontius
Very happy with this computer for my needs, great price.
This computer is an absolute great price for what it offers, and it delivers. I am a photographer who needed to upgrade to a computer with a faster processor and one that could handle the workload I put on it with CS4, and this one is great. Compared to my old laptop, this one zips right through loading enormous raw images and and processing in photoshop with ease. I spent a while looking to find a computer that offered everything this one does in a price range I could afford and also had a bigger screen size. My old laptop was a 17", so this one was a little bit of a downgrade in regards to screen size, but its still good enough and an acceptable trade off for the specs of the computer itself. I also do a bit of gaming, WOW particularly, and it runs better than my husband's computer in regards to graphics..which he isn't necessarily too happy with. :)
As for two other reviews about some negative aspects of the laptop:
One reviewer mentioned the DVD drive was extremely noisy. It is a little loud, I will attest to that, but I wouldn't say anywhere near as loud as I took from their review. I did not find it overly disturbing or distracting, and I could certainly hear the sound of the music or movie I was playing over it.
Another reviewer mentioned how he hated the computer because of the keyboard. I think the keyboard is great. I have no trouble feeling which key is which. Its bigger than normal though, or maybe, just the letter/numbers on each key are bigger than normal. I felt like I had ordered something designed for an older person or someone who may not be able to see well at first glance because of the size of the letters. The "L" is approx. 4-5cm long. So that was something I sort of laughed about at first, but now I don't notice it at all. I am picky about how my 'keyboard' feels, and normally would go to store and test out all the laptops, and if the keystroke didn't feel good to me, I would reconsider a purchase of any particular laptop. But I really like this keyboard, and I like the back-lighting, which I didn't have previously.
Overall, I think this computer is a steal what what you are getting.
Awesome laptop. A must have.
All right... this may take a while. Let me start by saying I have abstained from owning a laptop computer my entire life and have strictly been using and building desktop PCs. For the past year and a half I have been going to school for graphic design. Now I spend so much time in front of a computer that I just had to be able to separate myself from my desk. Granted, being a graphic designer, I get a lot of flak for not purchasing a MacBook, but I just couldn't fathom the inflated price for a machine with lower performance (why can't I get a MacBook with a Quad Core?). Don't get me wrong- Macs are great computers- but for those of us that actually know about computers, we don't fall into the scheme of "it must be better because it's more expensive", which most novice users are likely to do. I spent almost two months researching and testing laptops trying to find one that included as many of the features I was looking for. The first computer that drew me to laptops was a HP Pavilion Entertainment PC at Sam's Club. I was just playing around on their laptops one day and brought up a song on Media Player... and it sounded awesome (for a laptop). Sure enough, there is a mini subwoofer on the bottom of the laptop. Unfortunately, the HP didn't win the battle due to the lack of a backlit keyboard (come on, HP- this is the one thing almost ALL laptop owners and shoppers want in a laptop- WAKE UP!). Living in Duluth, MN, the only place with a decent selection of laptops on display is Best Buy. There, I was first introduced to a Toshiba Satellite which caught my eye because of the i7 Quad Core it had as opposed to the i5 of the HP... for the same price ($899). Audio is a big part of my decision making process since I listen to music 24-7. I specifically tried the audio on every laptop at Best Buy (which I had to set up their Media Player libraries for every computer myself- Best Buy actually sucks at making their displays useful- other than their stupid Best Buy demo, nothing else on any computer was set up) only to be disappointed by everything (Dell, Gateway, standard HP, Samsung, even Sony all have absolutely useless speakers) except the Toshiba with its harman/kardon stereo speakers. Now that I have one at home I turn the audio all the way up and it sounds awesome (for tiny laptop speakers, anyway). They have a decent amount of mid-range and moderate bass response and have yet to distort. They still have a little trouble with loud rock music with a loss of bass at maximum volume, but classical music is perfect as well as big band (my Swing Kids soundtrack at full volume is priceless). I spent a long time kicking around whether to buy a custom built unit from Toshiba Direct, which was pricing out between $1,500 and $1,800 with tax, or order a prebuilt model. I eventually decided on the Satellite A505-S6040 which had absolutely everything I wanted (minus 2GB of RAM, Bluetooth, and Windows 7 Professional instead of Home Premium) and I purchased it (from Buy on ebay) for $1,201 with free tax and shipping. Some minor features of this machine are: seamless trackpad with multi-touch (no border and blends with deck seamlessly, it's just textured, and multi-touch works like a touchscreen with pinch-zoom, etc.), responsive out-of-the way touch media controls, full numeric keypad (this is about the smallest laptop available with a full-size standard AND numerical keypad, all with nice, big buttons that are comfortable to type with), and hard drive impact sensor which can save your important information in the event of a drop or even just a bump.The major features that make this model perfect are as follows: Intel i7-720QM Quad Core processor at 1.6 GHz and up to 2.8 GHz with Turbo Boost (basically, it works at a lower speed for normal use to save energy, then seamlessly kicks into high gear when needed), 6GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB 7200rpm hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 1GB graphics, slot-loading DVD/CD drive with Labelflash (like Lightscribe direct disk labeling), Edge-to-Edge display (the glass covers pretty much the whole screen- still with a black bezel around it- but it's seamless and much nicer looking), LED BACKLIGHT KEYBOARD WITH NUMERICAL KEYPAD (this was awesome and definitely a selling point), HDMI port (connect right to a bigger monitor or TV easily- with Hi-Def audio as well- also has standard RGB out, too), integrated 1.3mp webcam with microphone, 802.11n wireless (which, once set up, finds and connects to wireless networks perfectly and quickly), wired LAN connection for extra speed, and enough USB ports an one eSATA/USB combo port to connect anything. The only very minor drawback to this or any laptop is battery life (but Toshiba's Eco Utility makes it easy to change to a minimal-power-consumption mode for when you're away from an outlet). And I really wish someone other than Apple would make an aluminum unibody- it just helps make it thinner, lighter, and better at dispersing heat. Final notes: the charger is a bit heavy and bulky- not very portable- get yourself a Targus APA6922US (it's smaller and more portable than a MacBook charger) which can charge your laptop and cell phone or other electronic device simultaneously; like all laptops, battery life is so-so, just buy another battery- you can switch it on-the-fly; portable mouse- I have a Microsoft Arc- super portable, full sized, and Laser responsiveness so it works on just about anything- no mouse pad or desk needed; this laptop is a little large- doesn't fit in two of the three messenger bags I own, and barely fits into my school backpack which is made for laptops, but it makes for a perfect combination of keyboard and screen size! As for speed and multitasking- I was running Pandora streaming music, Adobe Photoshop, had two internet windows open, and ripping a DVD to the hard drive at one time with no system lag at all! Oh, and for all you die-hard Mac users... I tested my Toshiba A505-S6040 laptop side-by-side with several Macs... I loaded Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Bridge simultaneously in less time than any Mac (laptop or desktop) took to load just Photoshop (but the Mac still boots up from power-on faster, darn that Microsoft). BUY THIS LAPTOP. I AM DEFINITELY GLAD I PURCHASED IT! INFINITELY USEFUL, POWERFUL, AND PORTABLE WITH A PLETHER OF FEATURES!
hotoshiba
Easy to use and convenient to set-up. Response is good.
16" is just the right size for people like me over 65 with eye sight no as sharp as used to. We bought it for new processor and big hard drive for photo-processing. I does the job well.
Good machIne for Designers
I bought this computer for speciallity Adobe aplications,website and internet tools and work without problems.
Is very beauty, glossy finish, shine black
- Have all the ports that I need (firewire-sata-hdmi)and memory card reader
- The screen is a little more big that 15.4 inches.( i am wait the new video carddriver)
- For see correctly you have that move angle screen
- The weight is light in relation with the screen and numpad keyboard, also is thin.
- The webcam is normal.
Bad Things
The sound is very good but Poor volume
- the power connector is to the right(could be better in the back position)
- The zone cooler is to the left position. (could be better in the back position)
I bought the next accesories for work correctly
- Keyboard silicone protector
- Screen protector (anti glossy)
- Stand with cooler
Toshiba A505-S6030 is Awesome!
I am stationed overseas so I had to purchase mine through AAFES(military shopping). When my HP Pavillion TX2510 decided to become a doorstop, I did a lot of research with the S6009 which is sold exclusively to AAFES, 2 Sony Vaio models and the HP Pavillion DV-6. I owned a 17" Toshiba previously and in the end, the S6030 won. I am a true road warrior, constantly traveling. Moving from a 12" to a 16" was not as difficult as I thought it would be. The weight is about the same. Startup is a breeze compared to my old HP. Windows 7 is a blessing compared to Vista. The sound of the speakers and the quality of the video really sold me on the A6030. I listen to audiobooks and watch movies and videos, so I needed a laptop that had the best quality I could afford. The speakers are so good that I don't need to carry an extra set. I set up my Dolby and surround sound for the speakers and boosted the natural bass. The sound is great in a large hotel room. I tested my DVD drive with one of my favorite films, "Without A Clue" starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. No Bluetooth is not an issue since I rarey use it. If I should change my mind, I can add a small adapter and software later. The position of the keyboard is normal because they included the numerical pad, so everything has to flush left-no problem for me. I loved my HP TX for as long as it lasted but Vista was too frustrating. I wanted to get another touchscreen slate computer, but brands like Fujitsu are so expensive and HP's TM series does not include the DVD drive. I want to carry one piece of equipment for all my needs. This Toshiba series fits the bill for all my needs. — WriterGirl
Highly recommend - great laptop for the price
Many of my thoughts are covered in previous positive posts, so here's a summary:
Pros:
--Speed (processor/memory are great for the price)
--Start up/shut down is extremely fast compared to my XP desktop
--Backlit keyboard is great (and does not cause excessive heat). This feature is only on the A505-S6040 model. You pay extra for this and 2GB more RAM, and if you can afford it, do it.
--Laptop stays rather cool. I don't use a cooling fan when I use it; my work computer could fry an egg.
--I use the number keypad all the time, so I find that as a huge plus on a laptop.
--Lots of ports
Cons:
--Loves to collect fingerprints
--No Blu Ray Drive
--No Bluetooth (although I personally don't care, this is typically in comparable models)
Nice "Surprise":
--Speakers are especially clear for a laptop (but not as loud as I would like)
--Windows 7 has some features in it that save you some time/frustration, which I find more helpful for work-related purposes
--Mahjong...sweet sweet mahjong
Fast Fast Fast
First time buying a Toshiba - run 15 Dell computers at work but the last laptop I got from them was a true lemon. Finally, after 2 years of crashes and such, I bought this laptop off of the reviews. It is a fast, solid, and reliable computer. The only small complaints I have are that the DVD player is loud and the finish shows lots of fingerprints - but this is small stuff as I use this computer for heavy graphics, website design, accounting programs and other business uses. It has not crashed in the week I have had it and it does every task much faster and smoother than before. The keyboard is very nice with a full number pad and ample typing room. The screen is beautiful. A great product for the price and in all honesty, with an i7 chip and 6GB of RAM, I don't think you can get a nicer computer for the money.
Great Laptop
The computer arrived in great shape. There have been absolutely no problems with this computer. It is so much faster than my old computer, and the graphics are great. There is plenty of RAM and plenty of hard drive space. I run some large apps for school projects without any of the problems I had with the old machine.
If I had to find something bad, and it isn't really bad, is the battery life is not as good as I would like, but like so many things, everything is a compromise. If someone was a clean freak, the finger prints will drive them crazy.
Toshiba did a right fine job with the product: A505-S6030.
RWR — ol' student
Satellite A505 Laptop
I am a novice user of computers and really enjoy the laptop over a desktop.
The Toshiba Satellite A505-S6030 laptop is very easy to use, I particularly like the 10 key addition to the keyboard. The A505 16" screen is clear and easy to read, the DVD drive works well and produces excellant sound through the harman/kardon speakers. The A505 has plenty of memory and hard drive space for most anyone.
I have used a Toshiba satellite A105 laptop for the past 4 years, the A505 is a big improvemen,has many more features and is easier to use.
I would reccomend this computer to anyone.
Jerry
PS I saved quite a bit by buying through Amazon
Awesome Laptop
2yr young Vista HP Pavilion laptop vs Toshiba
>The full key pad! The keys are slick, and firm vs HP 'floated' and rattled (and if you did not hit directly in the center the key would stick or not respond). Love the number pad!! The location of the side keys(shift, ctrl...) are located within easy reach, HP located them lower so moving from a desktop key board I would miss the side keys. Toshiba I can move between no problems.
>A working touch pad! Does not interfere when I type (and I type a lot), does not 'jump'. Very easy to 'thumb' operate while typing. I haven't enjoyed a touch pad since my Dell. HP's was so sensitive I always carried a mouse so I could turn it off!
>No damn remote control! HP had no option to turn the remote OFF and was so sensitive the neighbor's remotes would activate the horrid Vista Media center. Our TV remote would turn the laptop on or change programs. I finally covered the 'eye' with duct tape!
>Pre-installed programs. There is no way to buy a computer without the junk, but HP drowns you in junk! It took me 2 weeks to clean the Pavilion and have a usable laptop. Toshiba, maybe an hour.
>Speakers, tops ===for a laptop === (HP's were OK)
>Vista vs Win 7 Vista is so bad I am upgrading the HP for my son. Win 7 loads and shuts off under 15 secs! Sleep & hibernate WORK! on a laptop. So far everything works.
>>>buyer beware! Please get the word out that Win 7 does take special processors (not all Intel processors work! [...])The main focus is if you plan to upgrade for the XP mode, but I have friends having problems with cheaper processors for games and applications. If you want to use Win 7 you will need to buy ram, a good video card, and a high end processor (AND watch the sales! I found that Office Depot would remove ram or downgrade the video card then offer the "amazing $100 off" sale price. Always read the specs before you buy)
>Power cord... wow, big! But this is a 16" Luckily I did plan to get a cord for home and a spare to leave at work. It is twice as large as the HP's but the Toshiba is quiet. The HP sounded like it was on the edge of overheating and exploding.
So far no Cons with the Toshiba, HP/Vista had me constantly Googling for solutions right out of the box. If it was not a Vista problem it was a HP problem.
— Hay
Toshiba Satellite A505-S6030
Good value for money, screen is nice and bright. Specs are decent for the average user and for your normal everyday usage. HDMI output is 720p.
Toshiba A505-S6030 - A Great All-Around Laptop
Hello everyone! This my first product review EVER, so here goes... something!
I'm the type of person that prefers to hold off on technology purchases, simply because something better is always just around the corner. Well, my old laptop finally died, and I was forced to make a purchasing decision; I chose the Toshiba A505-S6030.
I bought my laptop from a major electronics store in the San Francisco Bay Area, rather than online. This turned out to be a good decision, as upon opening the laptop and turning it on, I discovered a lit pixel right smack-dab in the middle of the screen. Since the store I bought it from had a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, exchanging it was no problem, and I had the second laptop within an hour. You can see how purchasing this online would have been rather annoying. The laptop was on-sale for $849 (no rebates required).
The machine comes with Windows 7 Home Premium already installed, and I was pleased to see very little bloatware; mostly proprietary Toshiba software to utilize the custom Toshiba media buttons. Since I had a license for Windows 7 Professional through my college's MSDN academic alliance program, I did end up re-partitioning and formatting the drive for my own custom install. All the drivers and software needed for a custom install and readily available for download at Toshiba's website. After getting the laptop loaded with software, it was time to see what it could do.
Let me start off by saying that this machine is a great value for the cost. The Intel i7 720qm processor is great! 4 cores clocked at 1.6 ghz with 8 processing threads make for a very quick machine. This machine also has turbo boost technology, and can increase the speed cores independently up to 2.8 ghz. I should note, that you cannot have all 4 cores operating at 2.8 ghz, as there would be too much heat produced. You might get 2 cores at 2.4 or 2.2 ghz. The machine also has 4 gigs of RAM, which is definitely acceptable (although I plan on upgrading to 8 gigs around the end of the year), a decent on-board video card, the Nvidia 310m, and a 500 gig hard drive for plenty of storage space. Other nice additions are the built-in web cam with microphone, 3 USB ports, wireless N networking, dual-layer DVD writer with label-flash (similar to light-scribe), fire-wire, eSATA connection, 10/100/1000 RJ45 network connection, VGA, a touch-pad with multi-touch capabilities, a modem (who even uses one anymore), and HDMI output. Also, the harman/kardon speakers are the best I've ever heard on a laptop. Quite impressive.
Now, getting back to the Nvidia 310m... this laptop is NOT a gaming machine, nor did I purchase it for that reason... however, being a casual gamer, I had to try out a few games just to see how they would perform; and I was quite surprised. While you won't find me logged on to World of Warcraft, you might see me on Runes of Magic from time to time (a free 3d MMORPG). With most of the graphic settings on medium-high to high, it was running very smoothly! Amazing! Dragon Age: Origins also ran pretty smooth with graphics at medium settings. This graphics card is listed as an entry level, 3rd class mobile video card, so perhaps the i7 was doing the brunt of the work, but nevertheless, this machine can run 3D applications fairly well. Just remember, if you are primarily interested in a gaming laptop, this isn't the one for you. Also, don't plan on playing any games with the touch-pad, invest in a USB mouse.
Now, this machine has a lot of power under the hood, and its easy to see where Toshiba made some sacrifices to keep the price low. While the keyboard does have a full numerical pad on the right, it also has a somewhat cheap plastic look and feel. The LCD display is bright and colorful, and overall looks nice, but is only 1366 by 768 resolution... so if you have any applications that require a window height of 800 pixels, you're out of luck (or you'll be moving the window up and down a lot). The battery is 6 cells instead of 9, so you will likely get 1 1/2 to 2 hours of battery life. Lack of Bluetooth was not a deal breaker for me, but still a minor inconvenience, and the 500 gig hard drive spins as 5400 RPM instead of 7200.
Finally, while the appearance and design of the laptop is very nice, it will collect fingerprints and smudge marks quite effortlessly.
Overall, I think the A505-S6030 is a tremendous value! You get great processing power, good video capabilities, and overall awesome performance and portability, all for a great price. If you've been waiting for a laptop able to do bit of everything, this might be the one for you. I am pleased to say that I won't need a desktop machine for the next few years. For those of you who are in the graphic design business, a nice wide-screen LCD monitor and a USB mouse would be a great companion for this laptop.
The windows experience index rating for this laptop is as follows:
Processor: 6.9
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 4.7
Gaming Graphics: 6.0
Primary Hard Disk: 5.8
Also, one final note. If you purchase this laptop, be sure to correctly break in the battery to get the best possible life. This would entail:
1. Charging the battery completely with the laptop off. The charge light will change from orange to white when charged.
2. Using the laptop until you drain the battery completely.
3. Removing the battery from the laptop for 30 minutes or more, then again charging to full while the laptop is off.
I recommend doing this the first 3 times you use the battery, and then at least once a month to keep the battery in good condition and increase longevity. By customizing the eco power-saving mode settings, I am getting about 2 1/2 hours per charge. Not bad for such a powerful laptop.
— Nathan
Toshiba A505-S6030 - A Great All-Around Laptop
Hello everyone! This my first product review EVER, so here goes... something!
I'm the type of person that prefers to hold off on technology purchases, simply because something better is always just around the corner. Well, my old laptop finally died, and I was forced to make a purchasing decision; I chose the Toshiba A505-S6030.
I bought my laptop from a major electronics store in the San Francisco Bay Area, rather than online. This turned out to be a good decision, as upon opening the laptop and turning it on, I discovered a lit pixel right smack-dab in the middle of the screen. Since the store I bought it from had a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, exchanging it was no problem, and I had the second laptop within an hour. You can see how purchasing this online, would have made for a rather annoying buying experience. The laptop was on-sale for $849 (no rebates required).
The machine comes with Windows 7 Home Premium already installed, and I was pleased to see very little bloatware; mostly proprietary Toshiba software to utilize the custom Toshiba media buttons. Since I had a license for Windows 7 Professional through my college's MSDN academic alliance program, I did end up re-partitioning and formatting the drive for my own custom install. All the drivers and software needed for a custom install and readily available for download at Toshiba's website. After getting the laptop loaded with software, it was time to see what it could do.
Let me start off by saying that this machine is a great value for the cost. The Intel i7 720qm processor is great! 4 cores clocked at 1.6 ghz with 8 processing threads make for a very quick machine. This machine also has turbo boost technology, and can increase the speed of each core independently, up to 2.8 ghz. I should note, that you cannot have all 4 cores operating at 2.8 ghz, as there would be too much heat produced. You might get 2 cores at 2.4 or 2.2 ghz. The machine also has 4 gigs of RAM, which is definitely acceptable (although I plan on upgrading to 8 gigs around the end of the year), a decent on-board video card, the Nvidia 310m, and a 500 gig hard drive for plenty of storage space. Other nice additions are the built-in web cam with microphone, 3 USB ports, wireless N networking, dual-layer DVD writer with label-flash (similar to light-scribe), fire-wire, eSATA connection, 10/100/1000 RJ45 network connection, VGA, an SD/XD/MMC memory card reader, a touch-pad with multi-touch capabilities, a modem (who even uses one anymore), and HDMI output. Also, the harman/kardon speakers are the best I've ever heard on a laptop. Quite impressive.
Now, getting back to the Nvidia 310m... this laptop is NOT a gaming machine, nor did I purchase it for that reason... however, being a casual gamer, I had to try out a few games just to see how they would perform; and I was quite surprised. While you won't find me logged on to World of Warcraft, you might see me on Runes of Magic from time to time (a free 3d MMORPG). With most of the graphic settings on medium-high to high, it was running very smoothly! Amazing! Dragon Age: Origins also ran pretty smooth with graphics at medium settings. This graphics card is listed as an entry level, 3rd class mobile video card, so perhaps the i7 was doing the brunt of the work, but nevertheless, this machine can run 3D applications fairly well. Just remember, if you are primarily interested in a gaming laptop, this isn't the one for you. Also, don't plan on playing any games with the touch-pad, invest in a USB mouse.
Now, this machine has a lot of power under the hood, and its easy to see where Toshiba made some sacrifices to keep the price low. First, Toshiba opted for a DVD writer combo drive, rather than a Blue Ray reader/DVD writer combo. Also, while the keyboard does have a full numerical pad on the right, it also has a somewhat cheap plastic look and feel. The LCD display is bright and colorful, and overall looks nice, but is only 1366 by 768 resolution... so if you have any applications that require a window height of 800 pixels, you're out of luck (or you'll be moving the window up and down a lot). The battery is 6 cells instead of 9, so you will likely get 1 1/2 to 2 hours of battery life. Lack of Bluetooth was not a deal breaker for me, but still a minor inconvenience, and the 500 gig hard drive spins as 5400 RPM instead of 7200. Finally, while the appearance and design of the laptop is very nice, it will collect fingerprints and smudge marks quite effortlessly.
Overall, I think the A505-S6030 is a tremendous value! You get great processing power, good video capabilities, and overall awesome performance and portability, all for a great price. If you've been waiting for a laptop able to do bit of everything, this might be the one for you. I am pleased to say that I won't need a desktop machine for the next few years. For those of you who are in the graphic design business, a nice wide-screen LCD monitor and a USB mouse would be a great companion for this laptop.
The windows experience index rating for this laptop is as follows:
Processor: 6.9
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 4.7
Gaming Graphics: 6.0
Primary Hard Disk: 5.8
Also, one final note. If you purchase this laptop, be sure to correctly break in the battery to get the best possible life. This would entail:
1. Charging the battery completely with the laptop off. The charge light will change from orange to white when charged.
2. Using the laptop until you drain the battery completely.
3. Removing the battery from the laptop for 30 minutes or more, then again charging to full while the laptop is off.
I recommend doing this the first 3 times you use the battery, and then at least once a month to keep the battery in good condition and increase longevity. By customizing the eco power-saving mode settings, I am getting about 2 1/2 hours per charge. Not bad for such a powerful laptop. — Nathan
Toshiba A505-S6030 - A Great All-Around Laptop
Hello everyone! This my first product review EVER, so here goes... something!
I'm the type of person that prefers to hold off on technology purchases, simply because something better is always just around the corner. Well, my old laptop finally died, and I was forced to make a purchasing decision; I chose the Toshiba A505-S6030.
I bought my laptop from a major electronics store in the San Francisco Bay Area, rather than online. This turned out to be a good decision, as upon opening the laptop and turning it on, I discovered a lit pixel right smack-dab in the middle of the screen. Since the store I bought it from had a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, exchanging it was no problem, and I had the second laptop within an hour. You can see how purchasing this online, would have made for a rather annoying buying experience. The laptop was on-sale for $849 (no rebates required).
The machine comes with Windows 7 Home Premium already installed, and I was pleased to see very little bloatware; mostly proprietary Toshiba software to utilize the custom Toshiba media buttons. Since I had a license for Windows 7 Professional through my college's MSDN academic alliance program, I did end up re-partitioning and formatting the drive for my own custom install. All the drivers and software needed for a custom install and readily available for download at Toshiba's website. After getting the laptop loaded with software, it was time to see what it could do.
Let me start off by saying that this machine is a great value for the cost. The Intel i7 720qm processor is great! 4 cores clocked at 1.6 ghz with 8 processing threads make for a very quick machine. This machine also has turbo boost technology, and can increase the speed of each core independently, up to 2.8 ghz. I should note, that you cannot have all 4 cores operating at 2.8 ghz, as there would be too much heat produced. You might get 2 cores at 2.4 or 2.2 ghz. The machine also has 4 gigs of RAM, which is definitely acceptable (although I plan on upgrading to 8 gigs around the end of the year), a decent on-board video card, the Nvidia 310m, and a 500 gig hard drive for plenty of storage space. Other nice additions are the built-in web cam with microphone, 3 USB ports, wireless N networking, dual-layer DVD writer with label-flash (similar to light-scribe), fire-wire, eSATA connection, 10/100/1000 RJ45 network connection, VGA, an SD/XD/MMC memory card reader, a touch-pad with multi-touch capabilities, a modem (who even uses one anymore), and HDMI output. Also, the harman/kardon speakers are the best I've ever heard on a laptop. Quite impressive.
Now, getting back to the Nvidia 310m... this laptop is NOT a gaming machine, nor did I purchase it for that reason... however, being a casual gamer, I had to try out a few games just to see how they would perform; and I was quite surprised. While you won't find me logged on to World of Warcraft, you might see me on Runes of Magic from time to time (a free 3d MMORPG). With most of the graphic settings on medium-high to high, it was running very smoothly! Amazing! Dragon Age: Origins also ran pretty smooth with graphics at medium settings. This graphics card is listed as an entry level, 3rd class mobile video card, so perhaps the i7 was doing the brunt of the work, but nevertheless, this machine can run 3D applications fairly well. Just remember, if you are primarily interested in a gaming laptop, this isn't the one for you. Also, don't plan on playing any games with the touch-pad, invest in a USB mouse.
Now, this machine has a lot of power under the hood, and its easy to see where Toshiba made some sacrifices to keep the price low. First, Toshiba opted for a DVD writer combo drive, rather than a Blue Ray reader/DVD writer combo. Also, while the keyboard does have a full numerical pad on the right, it also has a somewhat cheap plastic look and feel. The LCD display is bright and colorful, and overall looks nice, but is only 1366 by 768 resolution... so if you have any applications that require a window height of 800 pixels, you're out of luck (or you'll be moving the window up and down a lot). The battery is 6 cells instead of 9, so you will likely get 1 1/2 to 2 hours of battery life. Lack of Bluetooth was not a deal breaker for me, but still a minor inconvenience, and the 500 gig hard drive spins as 5400 RPM instead of 7200. Finally, while the appearance and design of the laptop is very nice, it will collect fingerprints and smudge marks quite effortlessly.
Overall, I think the A505-S6030 is a tremendous value! You get great processing power, good video capabilities, and overall awesome performance and portability, all for a great price. If you've been waiting for a laptop able to do bit of everything, this might be the one for you. I am pleased to say that I won't need a desktop machine for the next few years. For those of you who are in the graphic design business, a nice wide-screen LCD monitor and a USB mouse would be a great companion for this laptop.
The windows experience index rating for this laptop is as follows:
Processor: 6.9
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 4.7
Gaming Graphics: 6.0
Primary Hard Disk: 5.8
Also, one final note. If you purchase this laptop, be sure to correctly break in the battery to get the best possible life. This would entail:
1. Charging the battery completely with the laptop off. The charge light will change from orange to white when charged.
2. Using the laptop until you drain the battery completely.
3. Removing the battery from the laptop for 30 minutes or more, then again charging to full while the laptop is off.
I recommend doing this the first 3 times you use the battery, and then at least once a month to keep the battery in good condition and increase longevity. By customizing the eco power-saving mode settings, I am getting about 2 1/2 hours per charge. Not bad for such a powerful laptop.
Excellent Laptop at a great price.
This laptop is great! It has all the features you need at the perfect price point. Great feeling keyboard and mousepad. Screen is bright and crisp. Windows 7 installation makes this computer fast. This is a must buy for budget conscious consumers.
Almost as good as the reviews
This computer is very powerful and does all the things that the previous reviews said that it was capable of doing. My biggest disappointment is in the life of the battery. I even called the support center to make certain that my computer did not have a faulty battery. I was told that mine was exactly as it should be. On battery power alone, the computer will work for only 1 and 1/2 hours, essentially making it a better desktop than a laptop. I was told that the powerful equipment drains the battery and that I could buy a better battery if I wanted it to last longer. Give me a break! At the price of this computer, I shouldn't have to purchase additional equipment to make it work correctly. I would not recommend this computer for that reason.
Very satisfied with this product
I bought this about a month ago and I am very satisfied with the purchase. I was just looking for a computer that was pretty powerful and not expensive because I was sick of my old PC being so slow. This definitely fits the bill. I have had no problems with it.
Pros: Fast and powerful for the price
Excellent speakers. The sound fills the room.
Very nice looking
Good amount of ports/inputs
Battery life - about 2.5 hrs(given the power of this computer I feel this is pretty impressive)
Excellent features (full numberpad, multitouch pad, etc.)
Cons: Power button presses easily. If my finger just grazes over the button the PC turns on. This is annoying when I don't
actually want to turn the computer on, but its minor.
For the price a backlit keybooard and slot loading dvd tray would have been nice.
Overall, the pros greatly outweigh the cons and I would not have changed my purchase in any way.
Great laptop
Simply to the point, another great laptop from toshiba. One thing though, it does not have the keyboard backlight as promised.
Lousy Keyboard
OK I like mos things about this computer but .... the keyboard seems especially insensitive to me. I really have to mash the keys to be more likely to get them to respond. Now I admit I am a lousy typist
(2 finger) and I have to watch my hands ... but more often thn not when I look up at the screen characters ae missing. It isa pain to go back and fix everything. Is thee a sensitivity setting? 've had a number of HPs and they seem easier to type on. I really want to like this machine but am having a hard time. — SoCalCaliente
Runs fast - and is beautiful
I got a great deal on this. I was waiting and waiting for Dell to build my new computer and they kept putting the shipping date off and so I looked on amazon and saw this open boxed item and it was pretty much the same computer with better speakers but $300 less than I was paying. So I cancelled my order with dell and bought this. I am taking a class and needed it fast - that is why I was so frustrated with Dell - it had been over a month. I got the Satelite the next day. My online classes are streamed in and I have no problem with them. It downloads video quickly also. I haven't figured out the face recognition yet - how to add more than one user - but have only had it a week. I wish it came with more instruction books but that may be because it was an open box item. I will look online for what I need. I was in perfect condition - it cam from the Amazon wharehouse and they checked it over and made sure it looked great before they sent it out. I read their policy on taking back computer and they usually refuse to if they have been opened - so this computer must have been sent back to them unopen or something. Eitherway - I got a really good deal. It is really big and is supposed to be 6lbs. It feels heavier - but I might just be a wimp. I bought a keyboard protector for it - and it does show finger prints - but who cares. — cheart
Buyer Beward
I purchased this laptop not even a week ago and had to send it back. I was all excited to use my Amazon Prime free 2 day shipping. I took it out of the box, set it up. Loved windows 7 by the way. After about 30 minutes, the laptop froze up and made a loud humming sound. I had to do a hard shut down. I restarted it and thought maybe it was just a fluke. Nope. From 3pm-11pm that night, it had freeze on me about 8 times. Very disappointed. Each time, I had to do a hard shut down. All I had running was MSN messenger and youtube playing videos. Nothing that should cause a complete system freeze. I did some research on my own and found out that this is very common in Toshiba laptops. I guess I am saying is, do a lot of research before you buy such a pricey product. Don't buy it off the specs and reviews.
This laptop crushed me.
Ive had so many problems with this laptop Im giving up on serious pc use. From the motherboard to the screen you name it its broke on this within the first month. I still will recommend it, If you got one that worked its probably great. I will say the first repair was good and fast but now they wont even fix the screen. It came back damaged and toshiba says the warranty does not cover the screen.. I did send it again and came back with same problem and i also found food it the part of the screen that turns like somebody at the depot spilled food on it. Im not dumn when it comes to computers i know a lot about them and there is a problem. Ive lost all my money on this purchase and i even got a 2 year extended warranty. I will not be buying another computer for a long time after this and i will not buy a toshiba again unless its a good deal.
I also want somebody to comment and tell me how stupid a laptop warranty is if it does not cover the laptops screen?? what the hell is that about. Im serious that is what they told me and idk if they people i talked to are lying or what but i cant believe that its like that if its true lol.
Everything great besides Graphics Card Glitch
Great Computer. Read other reviews regarding that. I wanted to write that if you look at forums, you'll see many people complaining about Kernel Mode Drivers. Every now and then with a nVIDIA G330M (and others I believe too) you can get this error that says "Display drive NVIDIA Windows Kernel mode driver, version 188.29 stopped responding and has successfully recovered. For certain applications, this can just be a jarring noise and the screen gets all glitch-y. However, for certain programs, it may close the program you were using, so you better hope your progress has been saved. Not sure how many people have complained yet to NVIDIA about this but it's an ongoing problem. Reinstalling the drivers (after talking to service rep for half an hour) didn't fix the problem. Not sure what to do next. Again, great computer, but this is a very bothersome glitch so be advised. — Henderson
