Rating: Summary: There's a reason this Notebook was discontinued Review: I was just about to buy a very nice Dell Inspiron when I came across an ad for the new S507, the first Notebook to sport the nVidia GeForcemx440Go. I had been having problems with ATI video cards in my desktops (ATI had a history of driver problems), so I suddenly changed horses in midstream and purchased the S507 on impulse.As always, my impulses were lousy. First off, the positive: the Harmon-Kardon speakers are GREAT for a laptop. Not great for anything else, but they absolutely blow away the sound of any other laptop I've heard. Sadly, they are connected to a none-too-great Yamaha sound card instead of a Creative Labs Soundblaster product with EAX or strong audio accelleration. That's the beginning of the bad. I soon found out that the MX440 is not a REAL GeForce4. It is in fact a "souped up" GeForce2 -- two generations old -- and the 32mb of video memory were quickly surpassed in the marketplace by 64mb laptop cards. Meanwhile the ATI Radeon mobility that I shunned has proven to be a champ. Then there's the CPU issue. I didn't know until I read these reviews that there was a desktop CPU stuck in this thing, all I knew was that when the machine got hot, the performance PLUMMETTED. There are frequent sudden shutdowns, and games (only games, so perhaps the GeForce card is also a culprit -- I don't know because Toshiba tech support refused to help me) often won't run... they start to open, then minimize to the taskbar, teasing me with the audio while I can do nothing to get them to open back up from the taskbar. At those times, Task Manager shows that my CPU is running at 99% load. I mentioned Tech Support -- there is none. I sent in a tech support request and two weeks later got a snide email from Toshiba stating that they can't reasonably be expected to test their product with every piece of software on the market, perhaps I should file a tech support request with the software maker. This ignored the fact that it happened with every game I ever tried to play on it. In short, this was a waste of money, and it will take a lot to ever get me to try a Toshiba computer product again. My next laptop will be a Dell.
Rating: Summary: A Desktop CPU in a Notebook Computer; Is Toshiba Nuts! Review: Some of the clone manufacturers do this, but Toshiba??!! Toshiba has done a good job of hiding the fact that this notebook computer does not use a Mobile Pentium processor. No wonder they overheat and have terrible battery life. The 5105-S607 is very similar in features but uses a Mobile Pentium 4. Don't consider the 5005-S507 (or S504) computer, at any price!
Rating: Summary: Love at first sight Review: The best looking piece of hardware in the business. Absolute state of the art performance. I'm in love.
Rating: Summary: Overheating problem fixed Review: The problem has been fixed. A new bios will be available on 3/4/2002. Check out the article on the PC World website.
Rating: Summary: Makes the desktop obsolete. Review: The Satellite 5005-S507 reaches new heights in mobile computing with enhanced graphics performance, made possible by the NVIDIA GeForce4. Superior DVD playback, increased frame rates and breakthrough 3D graphics must be seen to be believed. Dolby Digital Optical out, DVD/CDRW, and even a subwoofer is included in this cutting edge machine. Better yet, they purposely left out 802.11b and Bluetooth because both will soon be replaced by 802.11a (wake up Dell). If you can live without a floppy drive and serial/parallel ports, and you can live with the UXGA font size, this is the perfect laptop.
Rating: Summary: No Battery Life - BAD OVERHEATING PROBLEM Review: This is a great piece of machinery, if you can get it to run for more than 20-20 minutes before it overheats and shuts down. When used on my desk, would last about an hour without overheating, but the battery is almost dead by then anyway. Good idea, not enough research before production. Video and Audio are THE BEST for a laptop though. Even Toshiba admits that there is a problem now (they wouldn't before). Mine was a newer model, purchased about a month ago.... Better Processor, and included an external USB 1.44 floppy too. If you can stand buying a fan to blow on it all the time, good machine, but I give it 1 STAR because a laptop/notebook should be able to be used as one, not have to be on a desk with extra fans. Oh, and Toshiba reps are AWFULL when they're at fault, but great when just need a little help.
Rating: Summary: No Battery Life - BAD OVERHEATING PROBLEM Review: This is a great piece of machinery, if you can get it to run for more than 20-20 minutes before it overheats and shuts down. When used on my desk, would last about an hour without overheating, but the battery is almost dead by then anyway. Good idea, not enough research before production. Video and Audio are THE BEST for a laptop though. Even Toshiba admits that there is a problem now (they wouldn't before). Mine was a newer model, purchased about a month ago.... Better Processor, and included an external USB 1.44 floppy too. If you can stand buying a fan to blow on it all the time, good machine, but I give it 1 STAR because a laptop/notebook should be able to be used as one, not have to be on a desk with extra fans. Oh, and Toshiba reps are AWFULL when they're at fault, but great when just need a little help.
Rating: Summary: Portable PC To The Max! Review: This is a very cool laptop. I wanted a laptop with would match my desktop computer. This matches it and then some. 32mb G-Force 4 graphics, 512mb memory, 8x4x cdrw drive! The top of the laptop is a nice metallic blue. The touchpad has more feature's than i imagined. The whole laptop has so many features it is unbelievable. The battery life only lasts about 1 hour and 40 minute at normal power. The button to eject the cdrom is rather small. Those are my only two gripes about this machine. Very good value for the price. I am very satisfied.
Rating: Summary: First notebook Review: This is the first (and probably last) notebook I've bought...with it, I've learned a few things: I don't need a notebook, notebooks are expensive, you can't upgrade a notebook; that being said, let me say that I truly love this computer; it is by far the most beautiful computer I've ever seen; it sounds great; the video/graphics are fantastic. After buying this comp, I've re-discovered my artistic side; I've been using it teaching myself MAYA PLE as well as painting and texturing. It's pretty good for gaming, but I don't really use it for that much (yet; when I get the 802.11b set-up, that'll change)...they say this is a 'desktop replacement'..I disagree entirely; it's good to use in-place of a desktop, but since I build my own 'desktop' computers, I'd never replace one with a notebook; but if you are looking for a computer or a 2nd computer, this is definately worthy of the role: it has ample room for storage, plenty of usb connection points, the ability to use 2 monitors or just a separate one, the cdrw/dvd drive is wonderful (I never knew you could have both!) I think overall, this is a wonderful computer. In retrospect, I sort of wish I'd waited a bit to get the next version (s607) but at this time, I don't think the extra cost is worth it...this one works just fine for me and after a month of use, I've had no problems whatsoever.
Rating: Summary: Overheating problem fixed Review: Toshiba announce on 2/28 that they will be releasing a new bios that fixes the overheating problem on 3/4/2002 on their website. They say the overheating problem was reported by less than 1% of users. For more information about the problem and the fix, search for the 2/28 article on the PC World site.
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