Customer Reviews
It's the BEST! 
2007-03-19
I have had this notebook for a month now and it's everything that's promised. The only problem that I had was the pointing device would go on its own but that problem was easily solved. On the bottom right there is a little box which you have to click off and then the pointer works normally. I love the 17 inch screen and the Windows Vista premium is excellent!
So far this laptop is great 
2007-03-18
First of all, it's a beautiful shiny machine. As the salesman slipped it out of it's white felt cover, it was like I was buying expensive jewelery! The case is a beautiful deep blue...I love it!
I have only been on it for 5 hours, so I need to really review
it more...the only downside that I am experiencing is the keyboard:
the keys and space bar do not respond very quickly. The main keyboard
is more to the left and there is a number keyboard that takes up room.
I don't like being 'off center'. The space bar doesn't respond on the
ends, I have to hit the center.
I like it, I just need to get used to it.
Éxcellent Product, but............ 
2007-03-15
is fast, slim, the win vista wow is excellent, but only bad is not have the fingerprint Reader!
no doubt, a very good deal 2008-02-23
The laptop is great for me. My son picked it out and I have a smart son. When I thought there was a problem I sent an e-mail and was answered within 24 hours. The problem resolved itself but further assistance was offered.
Love it... Much better than "Cats." 2008-01-22
I've had this since the end of May 2007. Got it for $899 + a
$200 gift card with which I've purchased a 3 year warranty. (Best Buy) I love it... I think I will end up maxing out the ram, and the 120gb hard drive is a bit small for the type of photography (amateur!) I'm learning to work with... but...the screen is amazing, Vista is less annoying than most people say and otherwise... life is good! It surfs the web and made my trip to Hawaii quite easily--although don't even try to open it up on most planes as it IS too large :) (It's pretty light for as large as it is!) I will say that the power cord is showing wear and will probably need to be replaced... Let's hear it for the service plan!
Worth for price! 2007-09-06
I bought this for $1099 about 5 months before and it was worthy for that amount at that time. The laptop didn't gave me any problem yet! But for an small issue the OS installed was vista home primium and was bit slow with all the pre-installed other things such as viraus guard, and other toshiba components. I removed (uninstalled) lots of unwanted thigs from it and now it works fine. I installed windows XP in a seperate partition and there were no drivers for the devices for XP to download. I used some other driver for VGA and it works fine. I couldn't get a driver for the audio device yet. XP is doing really fast with this machine but without sound.. (Hope i may able to find a driver for it sooon..)
My Toshiba Experience: Poor reliability, poor service 
2007-05-31
I bought the previous version of this 17" notebook (M65-S809). I had previously purchased only HP notebooks, and had high expectations for Toshiba.
When the machine works, it's great. The screen is fantastic. Only complaint would be the keyboard which sometimes misses a keypress and the right shift key is way too small. But...
After 3 months the motherboard failed. For repair, Toshiba referred me to a local "authorized service center". This turned out to be a small local repair shop that contracts with Toshiba and other companies. Naturally when using these local repair shops, you have to carry your unit in to the shop. No big deal, but a little less convenient than HP where they use FedEx to overnight a box to you, then overnight your notebook to the repair center.
They replaced the motherboard in a few days (had to order parts). I took it home and it worked for one day and failed again. Took it back and they put in another motherboard (again a couple of day wait).
When I picked up my notebook I noticed a couple of scratches on the outer case. These were noticeable, but pretty minor with the worst being less than an inch long. I mentioned it, but didn't officially complain or make a big deal of it. I figured if the machine works, I can live with some minor scratches.
The machine worked well for the next 12 months. Then another major system failure. This time, during periods of high disk activity (defrag or even chkdsk) the system would fail and start to reboot (screen would go blank and reboot starts from BIOS). This time I asked them to send it to a central repair depot instead of the local shop. I was thinking they wouldn't have delays for ordering parts and wouldn't scratch the case (just to make sure I also put a little note on the outside saying "please don't scratch the case like the local shop did - thanks".) Unlike HP, they require you to carry it in to a UPS store, and it ships 2nd day air instead of overnight.
The machine came back promptly.... they had replaced the hard disk, and added a new, large, noticeable 3 inch scratch on the outer case!! The system worked for less than one day and began to fail again! This time the screen would go blank except for one line at the top that says "DISK READ FAILURE". Apparently they either gave me a bad disk or didn't diagnose the problem correctly.
I called tech support and they opened a new repair case number. They said I should call the repair center directly about the scratch. I called and they said "Sir, the technician noted that the case was already scratched when it arrived". I said "Yes, there was a small scratch from the previous Toshiba repair shop, but it was minor compared to what you did to it". They refused to do anything about it and referred me to "customer service".
I called customer service. I explained the whole story and they said "Sir your warranty does not cover physical damage to the machine". I have an extended warranty so the DISK READ FAILURE is covered for repair, but they apparently think I am telling a lie about how their repair centers scratched the case. My next step is to contact Toshiba America corporate offices. Depending on how that goes I may start up a Blog to document my Toshiba experience in more detail.
Anyway, I always had an image of Toshiba as a great company with great products and service, but alas... looks like my next notebook definitely won't be a Toshiba. While my HP machines have needed repairs, I never had problems with faulty repair work, and physical damage to the machine while it was being repaired. So next time I'll either go back to HP, or maybe I'll switch over to a Mac.
Great value and performance 2007-04-05
For the price, this laptop is a great value with its features and performance. The 17-inch screen is clear, crisp and big, and actually clearer than the comparable HP model. I also like the design of the rounded front edge, which makes it comfortable for your palm to rest when using the trackpad. It comes with Vista and you get to enjoy the aero-glass, sidebar and other new features. The dual processors are great for running demanding applications. The 2GB memory is plenty and the 120GB HD is just right to store pictures and music. I purchased a separate WD 160GB portable external hard drive, which gives me the extra space I need for backup, etc. My only complaint is the short battery life, but this is because of the heavy graphics that Vista requires. I also wish the keyboard had softer touch like the older Toshiba laptop that I replaced. I also agree with others that the small right Shift and Arrow keys are bad keyboard design when typing, but not a big deal if you are not doing heavy typing.
