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"Good product" on by bspitz
Pros: Sturdy; comfortable keyboard; good touchpad; good speakers; good looking
Cons: A little thick and heavy; large AC adapter
Summary: Actually, I bought an A200 customizable with the "Santa Rosa" chipset, not the A205.
I had originally purchased an HP dv6500t special edition, but I returned it due to noise/fan issues. The A200, so far, is a clearly superior computer. Factoring in the discounts from each company, I paid about $100 more for the A200 than the dv6500. This included a step up in processor and video card, but a slightly smaller hard drive.
My initial positive reactions of the A200, compared to the HP:
-Although the fan does run most of the time, it is very quiet in comparison, and it rarely kicks into "higher gear"
-Although the screen is the same resolution as the HP, my photos do not appear as grainy
-The keyboard is comfortable to type on, and not particularly loud
-Toshiba's fingerprint and password managing software is simpler and less annoying
-The touchpad is quite good - my finger moves smoothly even with slight moisture (unlike HP); and, the horizontal and vertical scrolling areas as well as the customizable shortcut tap areas work well
-Although the power, shortcut, and media buttons aren't as flashy as the HP, I prefer their physical feel to the touch-sensitive ones on the HP
-Harman/kardon speaker upgrade gives pretty good sound, for a laptop
Negative impressions:
-Big TOSHIBA logo is a little tacky, as is the blue "Satellite"
-Feels heavier in my backpack than the HP, and seems a little thicker
-Fingerprints show easily on the outside case
-AC adapter is much bigger than HPs...maybe this has something to do with the 2-prong (instead of 3-prong) plug.
-USB port placement is a little less than ideal, but not awful. The cord from a USB device tends to block the CD/DVD drive -
"Great laptop for those who want mainstream." on by hoganman
Pros: Not too heavy. Finger Swipe security. Draft N capabilities.
Cons: Media buttons work only while window is on top.
Summary: I think this laptop has good features for the price. Granted I purchased the A200 (customized), I assume it's close to the other A205's. The media buttons aren't as handy to me. Play/Pause, Stop, Back, and Foreward song only work while media player is the top window. I would recommend FoxyTunes for Firefox and IE users during Internet usage.
The installed software can be annoying. I turned off some startup programs and Vista's Window's Defender in the Tray would not leave the issue alone until I turned them on or deleted them from the startup registry. Related to that, startup is slow, but that can be expected.
On average, the laptop uses significant amounts of one's RAM. I average on 800 MB out of 2 GB. I would say go 2 GB when purchasing any Vista machine.
Finger pad is comfortable, though the scroll wheels on the bottom and right side are too close to the edge for total ease.
The security finger swipe is a great tool to instantly login to accounts on the web by assigning your finger print to the login area.
I purchased the Nvidia Go 7300 Graphics Card, and overall, I'm content with it. It's better than the standard Intel intergrated 945G series that's for sure. But the driver Toshiba provided has issues of properly displaying it's own rotating "3D image preview"; too Nvidia doesn't support the Go 7300. Don't expect much modern gaming if you go Intel, but Nvidia can do most what you throw at it. I can run Halo 2 on lowest setting and C&C3 at Low.
In all, a great machine. Does get hot. I'm not sure I would recommend the customer service, but I haven't contacted them yet. But if you read the other reviews, many people have problems with Toshiba and customer service. Not a bad choice to purchase if it's on CNET's Editor's Choice for mainstream -
"TechSupport is a scam if your laptop is out of warranty" on by JimDHart
Pros: It worked (for a while).
Cons: Battery life.
After TechSupport promised to fix our problem with our A205 and paying them $35, they didn't offer anything we hadn't already tried (and told them before paying them the money). They'll say anything to get you to pay for their support! -
"slowest comp i owned even slower than my old comador 64" on by biggerben69
Pros: it looks good, the speakers are good and thats about it
Cons: it says it has a battery life of so many hours on the box but that is a load of bull mine even with all the power savers on only lasts at best 50 minutes thats with volume down and turned on and not in use,its a joke.and its slow slow slow
Summary: bottom line if your gonna spend money on a laptop do some research and get a decent one i wish i had now im stuck with an over priced piece of ****
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"junk,junk,junk" on by rippedofff
Pros: none,junk,junk
Cons: support is garbage i will never buy a toshbia again 8mon old screen went bad clouded up they said it wasnt covered by my warrenty and was my fault,
Summary: i use it 9 or 10 times it sits in a case in a warm spot in my house,so if your thinking of buying one buyer bewere they will do the same to you,i payed 650.00 for a labtop the wanted 450.00 to repair but still under warranty,hmmm a few words of advise dont waste yor money on a toshbia get a hp dell compaq gateway they stand behind there warranty....................
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