- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 6 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Good Laptop, BAD OS."
Pros: Design, price, features, CONS can be overcome.
Cons: Windows Vista, Toshiba software slow it down. Battery life is just under 2hrs.
Summary: With Windows XP installed, the s6237 is quite good & plenty fast. It is available only w/ Vista, though. The PC as set up from the factory runs slow. Stop all the Toshiba 'tweak' programs, like "Flash Cards", etc, using msconfig & see a dramatic increase in speed. It runs fine after that. It may still seem a bit slow at times, but that's just Vista. There is no hesitation w/ XP. Vista is also horribly organized. It was designed by blind monkeys, it seems. Windows Vista is the worst thing about this laptop.
The CPU is not the cause of the slowness, contrary to the CNET review (why would a 1.73 GHz dual core processor be 'slow' for normal operation?)
Unfortunately Toshiba does not support Windows XP on this machine. All XP drivers can be found online, though. Most hotkeys cannot be made to work under XP, but everything else will work. If XP drivers are out there for a laptop, trust me you'll find them. Vista is not well liked & there are plenty of sites on 'downgrading' to XP for practically every make of laptop.
The battery life is short, but a bigger one is available from Toshiba.
There are cheaper laptops, but if you want a Toshiba because they're slick, go ahead on this one. I got mine for $800 after rebates at Office Depot. I recommend the S6237, but be aware, that the factory configuration needs to be adjusted slightly. If you really want to see it run well, grab that old Windows XP disk & remove Vista from the HDD & your life...or at least dual boot.
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