Toshiba Satellite L505D-S5965

Pros: -Good Value
-Sturdy Design
-Lots of Memory/Storage
-DVD Re-Writable

Cons: -Vent design causes it to run hot, will unexpectedly shut down b/c of this.
-Very sensitive (and almost invisible) mouse pad, also won't register or will skip movement sometimes
-Battery life significantly reduces after about a year to an hr tops, even in

Summary: This is not technically my first laptop, but the one I owned before it came out in the early 90's, so it might as well be. I came across this site looking into an issue with the PC suddenly shutting down on its own. It seems that it will do this when it gets too hot, which happens after any use longer than 15-20 minutes, unless you have it magically suspended in the air. The vent 'in' is on the bottom which is only suspended about a quarter inch from a flat hard surface, so not a good "Lap" top. The vent 'out' is located on the side directly beside it, so it's essentially just sucking a lot of that hot air it's blowing out right back in. It's not very user friendly for PC novices like myself, who just understand the basic functions and don't know the difference between a megabyte or a gigabyte. I got this Laptop for school and the deciding factor honestly was mostly b/c of the 10key pad. The speakers are also very quiet, which becomes worse when compounded with the loud fan. I don't have external speakers so sometimes I have to put my ear to the speaker, plus the volume seems to not stay at the level you set it to and will steadily decrease every time you get on.The 'finger' mouse pad is level with the rest of the keyboard and the only thing distinguishing it is a clear rough square. It's sensitivity sucks and will sometimes skip across the page with little movement or start auto scrolling a lot when using both mouse buttons and finger scroll. Battery last up to 3 hours on eco setting when brand new, a year later luck to get even one, though the indicator will say over two. Toshiba/Vista has a lot of start up programs and over time more begin running at startup making it very slow sometimes. Even when it was only a few months old it started taking forever to shut down or not at all (I would shut it down and walk away to go to bed, only to open it the next afternoon to see a rotating circle that said shutting down) and the only option is to manually by holding down the power button, seems to increase in frequency over time. Also heavy to lug around, but has big screen. No indirect screen black out or webcam. And the DVD button location makes it annoying b/c it gets hit or tapped often causing it to 'pop out'. *BREAKDOWN* If you want basic functionality and compatibility for current technology this is a good deal. Note though that its problems tend to increase in frequency and functions reduced after a while, so don't expect to own it for 5+ yrs. Otherwise, for the price this "Lap" top makes for a very good compact "Desk" top if you know what I mean. Can't recommend or not on the Toshiba brand, but do not recommend this model.