TOSHIBA Satellite P305-S8919 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T9550(2.66GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA+ 4GB Memory DDR2 800 400GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 - Retail

Reviewed By: wittangamo on 5/15/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Fast cpu, roomy hard drive, next-gen ATI graphics for gaming and multimedia. Beautiful 17-inch display, full keyboard, harman/kardon speakers better than most. Toshiba's Fusion finish is beautiful and tough. Maximum connectivity options: ExpressCard, Bluetooth, Firewire, HDMI, etc. The standard battery is a 9-cell that runs two hours on performance settings and three on power-saver.

Cons: Vista 64 is larded up from the factory with bloatware that needs to be uninstalled, and you need to burn your own recovery disks. Although there is a second hard drive bay with SATA 2 connector, the cover has plastic spikes underneath that need to be clipped off and filed down to make room.

Other Thoughts: I did a fair amount of comparison shopping before ordering. Even with substantial discounts, sales, and coupons I couldn't touch these specs from Dell or HP without spending hundreds more. Best of all, it had the expandability I needed.

I was fast out of the box, but after adding an OCZ Vertex 64gb SSD with a clean install of Vista 64 SP2 and updated drivers, the boot and app launch times are fantastic. I added an ExpressCard TV tuner from AverMedia to take full advantage of the Media Center functions, and formatted the original 400gb drive to hold data and video files.

Bottom line, it's a good machine right out of the box, and with a few tweaks you can turn it into a great one. Thanks, Toshiba.

I do need to mention that Newegg initially shipped me the wrong model, one with inferior specs. They issued an RMA immediately, but it took several days to get the warehouse to confirm the item number. A customer service supervisor shipped the replacement overnight and all is good.

19 out of 19 people found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!

Great value for a quality laptop

Reviewed By: Average Joe on 6/12/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Extremely fast. I ran COD4 at high settings no problem, and crysis is very playable at medium to low settings (much better once I updated the drivers from ATI). WIFI is outstanding. VISTA 64 instead of 32. Does not get noticiably hot. The speakers are pretty good for a laptop. Battery is ok, (2 hrs 50 minutes on battery saver / wifi) but I expected more for a nine cell? Bang for the buck you can't beat it. I took this on our vacation and the family beat it up pretty good, but I can't see any visible scratches? The case is very sturdy and the screen is very good. Full keyboard is really nice, and the touchpad is very responsive. I have owned seven laptops over the last 15 years, and I'd say this is the best one for the price.

Cons: No bluetooth, 5400 rpm hard drive(bottleneck), and lots of bloatware. No recovery disks. Facial recognition is somewhat difficult to use, and a fingerprint reader would have been better. As mentioned in other reviews, this laptop is a fingerprint magnet for sure. Glossy keyboard is hard to see at night with minimal light. Sometimes the touchpad interferes with typing, but not annoying. Could be because I have huge hands?

Other Thoughts: I spent two months looking for the best notebook under $1,300.00. This was the by far the best of the bunch. I really like Apple laptops, but my son likes to play FPS games. OK, I do too. The ATI 4650 was what tipped this one over Apple, HP, ASUS and Dell. Sure they have models similarily spec'd, but not with a T9550 processor for this price. This laptop is a great desktop replacement / multimedia computer. It's a great deal!

11 out of 13 people found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!

Great Laptop

Reviewed By: KoldEagle on 7/30/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Best laptop in it's price range. Fast, big screen, dedicated graphics, lots of ram, wireless N, big HDD, and great speakers. I also love the built-in flash card reader. I use it all the time with my camera's flash card.

Cons: HDD is somewhat slow. Maybe I'm just spoiled by my desktops twin WD raptor Raid 0. ;)

The glossy finish is a fingerprint magnet.

Other Thoughts: This is my second Toshiba laptop. My first one is 5 years old and still runs great but it's getting too slow for newer software, HD video, and games. I love Toshiba... Great quality products.

BTW, In reference to the other reviewer having problems with BF2 (game). I installed BF2 just fine and the Project Reality mod. Works great. Just install all Vista updates and current GPU drivers first.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!

Best laptop for its price!

Reviewed By: awesomecakes on 7/29/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: THIS LAPTOP IS THE BEST FOR ITS PRICE! I literally spent weeks looking for the perfect laptop that can hard-core game and perform normal mundane tasks. YOU WILL NOT REGRET BUYING THIS LAPTOP. The screen is nice and crisp, and the speakers blow me away.

Cons: none so far :D

Other Thoughts: The laptop's design is breath-taking. I LOVE TOSHIBA.
Also, 2.66ghz?! That's crazy! I went on HP's site and customized a laptop for fun and the price there would've costed about 400 dollars or more. THIS IS THE ONE FOR YOU

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!

B-I-G

Reviewed By: chaser on 7/17/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Yep, dug this beauty out of the box and it just kept coming....a big laptop, but nice. It fired up with no issues and jumped right on the Internet. The screen is clean (no dead pixels) and it's clear and sharp. The battery made it the full two hours and that's good considering the hungry processor. It seems to do very well with normal tasks on low power. Also, it has enough onboard RAM to handle Vista without lagging. I thought the bloatware was minimal and easy to uninstall. Large keyboard and large keys with big letters....great for guys with lots of thumbs.

Cons: Hummm, have to be picky to find any. Brightness is very (as in very) bright. Turning it down all the way is not enough in a dim room. Keyboard has some "flex" to it. That is, pressing down will cause it to flex or sag a bit. Something to think about if you tend to type with authority....a light touch is all that's needed.

Other Thoughts: First mod will be to add the remaining 4 GB's of RAM giving 8 total (nice). That feature was one of the reasons I chose this model.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for the valuable feedback you provided!