Customer Reviews
Vista is not ready todo my work 
2007-05-13
I love Toshiba product. I bought this model to replace my M55/S3293 which I had to return to my previous employer. I love everything that the U205-S5057 has to offer, light, compact and powerful. My biggest mistake was to purchase it knowing that it is pre-loaded with Vista which after 2 frustrating weeks I realized that it does not work with most applications that I need to do my work. Also, my broadband card from Verizon does not support Vista. Finally I returned the unit to Amazon which was easy to do. And purchase again from Amazon (shipped from Tiger) a U205-S5034 which has Windows XP. I am happy now.
Very good cost-benefit relation 
2007-05-12
Very good buy with very good performance. I have problems with the optical disk driver after installing specific programs, but i could fix with Iris help. Lightweight. Nice and bright screen but not the best. I still don't know how to configure the media buttons, when i press the buttons the system start up and its suposed that it could not happen.
Decent laptop, but has its quirks 
2007-04-30
I purchased this laptop as a temporary laptop while mine was in for repair, and as an eventual gift for a friend. Having used it for a month, I felt I had enough time with it to give a thorough review.
Before I go through it, you should know that most of these companies do not manufacture their own laptop. They are manufactured by Original Design Manufacturers (ODM) such as Quanta, Compal, Clevo, Mitac, Asus, AOPEN (Acer), Uniwill, and TwinHead. So for the most part, when you buy a laptop, the difference for the most part comes down to service, support, and the loads of junk that they load onto your laptop.
The laptop first caught my eye when I saw it at WorstBuy. It is compact and fairly feature-packed in a light package at about 4 pounds. As with any laptops I look at, to test the durability of the laptop, I press down firmly on the lid of the laptop to see the flex of the lid, and if it causes any distortion of the screen. This is a fair indication of whether or not its using cheap plastic, or if it could withstand the occasional fall.
The laptop is fairly quick for normal applications. With the launch of Vista, Microsoft has developed a new rating system for all computers which rate your system's processor, memory (RAM), graphics, gaming graphics, and primary hard disk. Below are the ratings given by the system, and can be good for comparing other laptops.
Processor: 4.7
Memory (RAM): 4.5
Graphics: 3.2
Gaming Graphics: 3.1
Primary Hard Disk: 4.9
System Base Score: 3.1
What the base score means, according to Microsoft's description, is that you can confidently purchase software that has a base score of 3.1 or lower. With Vista Home Premium, which has the much publicized AeroGlass capability, this system runs it perfectly fine (though I have yet to even put it to use). Because this system has integrated graphics, it should NOT be expected to blaze through graphic-intensive games or applications (e.g. CAD).
Because this is a 12" notebook, they had to shrink the keyboard a bit and get creative with the placement of keys. Perhaps I'm just not comfortable with it yet, but I hate how the keys are placed. The insert and delete keys are just to the right of the space bar, the Windows key is at the top right. I know that this is rather subjective, but I like the feel of the keys as it does have some click.
This laptop does not get too hot, even running 24/7. This would most certainly be OK for putting on your laptop as it barely even gets warm! The heat vent is on the left side of the laptop, which is GREAT for all the right-handers out there that use an external mouse. Left-handers need not worry, it doesn't get that hot (at least not in my experience). This laptop is SILENT, except when you're running some resource-intensive application that will make the fan run a bit faster.
Connectors: The power, network, firewire, modem, one USB 2.0, and PCMCIA is on the left side. On the right, we have 2 USB 2.0, external monitor output, card reader, and DVD-writer.
Bundled Software (mostly trial bloatware junk): Yahoo! Music Jukebox, Google Desktop, eBay (for some reason, theres a shortcut to an eBay executable file), Intervideo WinDVD, Microsoft Money Essentials, Microsoft Office 2007 trial, Microsoft Works, Ulead DVD MovieFactory, McAfee Internet Security trial, Protector Suite (for fingerprint reader).
Strengths:
- Compact & Lightweight
- Built-in microphone (contrary to a previous reviewer, there IS a mic)
- Built-in fingerprint reader
- Glossy Screen
Weaknesses:
- Is fairly thick for a compact notebook at about 1"+
- Keyboard layout isn't that great
- Weak speakers, no bass. Common in lightweight laptops. The speakers are built-in just below the LCD.
- No bluetooth. Haven't seen any of the U205 models with that option, thuogh their website says it should be available.
- Bundled software
- Battery life has been around 3 hrs or so.
If you don't plan on playing lots of games, or running graphic-intensive applications, and can easily adapt to the keyboard, I'd most certainly recommend this laptop. Before you decide to take the plunge, you may want to check it out at WorstBuy for yourself as they should have a display model.
Quite a good package with couple of wrinkles 2007-04-10
I bought a product that is almost the same as this one (U205-S5058 instead of U205-S5057) at another store ($1200 before tax; the same specs except Vista Business), and I have been using it for about three weeks now. I thought I write a short review, as this is an interesting laptop with slightly annoying imperfections.
First of all, I think the Windows Vista OS that comes with it seems a bit too much for this laptop. Despite the RAM upgrade to 1.5 Gb (which may or may not be important?), it did not run at a comfortable speed, and it felt a bit slow all the time. After I realized that a few of my important programs (including a rather expensive CAD program) simply would not install in Vista, I finally decided to downgrade to Windows XP SP2. What a change! I definitely would recommend XP instead of Vista, as you can really feel the difference in speed. If I am not doing anything, then XP claims about 350 Mbyte memory, while Vista claims about 800 Mbyte. XP boots up faster and user interactions are simply more responsive. I suspect that (1) the graphics card is not so fast, (3) Vista is a memory hog and (3) not installing all Toshiba programs in XP also helped a little maybe. While unfortunately virtually all new PCs now come with Vista, I would definitely advise against using Vista at this point for the above reasons and more importantly this: what is the added security, if your important programs just don't run on it?
The other slightly annoying problem that I am experiencing with this PC (after installing XP? -- not sure) is that for certain events, there is an unfortunate feedback to the sound card -- it gives a sort of a static noise (two to four low frequency popping noises in succession) that is weak but audible and thus annoying. The noise comes up when pages change in Internet Explorer, when views change in file manager, and when certain warning/information dialog comes up. I am not sure what to do now having installed up-to-date drivers downloaded from Toshiba web site.
Overall, though, I think this laptop is quite decent, and is recommendable. It's got quite reasonable specs for the price. Screen is quite good, and appears to be free from imperfections. I like the motion sensor protection for the hard drive, and the (semi?) spill-proof keyboard. At first, I did not quite like the fact that you have to open up the keyboard to upgrade RAM, but then once you figure it out, it is fine (despite the manual saying "contact Toshiba service person to do it"). One might say that a built-in microphone, a built-in webcam, and/or a built-in blue tooth would have been nice, but these are not essential for me. Again, though, because of the slight noise problem that I described above, and because of the Vista OS (not Toshiba's fault, I guess), I would not give it 5 stars. Additionally, I am not so crazy about the Toshiba support website. I haven't yet found any information that is useful there, except drivers.
Note added: The above noise problem seems to be gone after tweaking the soundmax configuration to have "No Power Savings". It must be that the popping noise that I heard was coming from the sound chip powering down or something like it. Also, I am sure now that the events that led to this noise was a temporary turning on of the sound device as windows make sounds on certain events. I hope that the audio driver is revised to circumvent this problem.
great size at great price 2007-03-26
it's a great device althoug it might require more ram memory to speed up windows vista, but i'm happy with it
Five Stars for $700 2007-09-27
I found this laptop in a store for $700. For 700 dollars this laptop deserves 5 stars. Vista is a little slow, but runs great. You might want to upgrade the ram to speed up Vista. This laptop is so tiny and fairly light weight. I bought this after my 12 inch G4 powerbook died. It is much lighter then the powerbook. Great for travel. I wanted a cheap laptop to surf the web and do my music on. This laptop works great! It doesn't have the built in webcam that most toshibas have, but it has a fingerprint reader. The fingerprint reader works flawlessly and makes me feel all futuristic. I have had no problems with this computer. It is not worth $1300, but if you can find it cheap like me, it is a great buy. My advice if looking for a laptop is buy a Mac if you have the money. If you are poor like me then shop around for a cheap PC that does what you want. If you shop around or look online you can find some great PC bargains! :)
Not good enough.... 
2007-07-27
I wanted a small laptop, with good HD, speed and RAM. Of course didn't want to invest much and after careful search bought S5057.
1st - THE BAD
I tought I would get used to the touchpad but I couldn't. After half and hour it starts to give pain. Fan is noisy, fingerprint reader is not really accurate (swipe swipe swipe).. BATTERY IS TERRIBLE - by all means. I tought I would be fine, but it is really not handeling the notebook, which was the major reason I decided to get rid of this laptop and get an other one. Thick and heavy, with the charged and cables it is not a compaq portable laptop anymore.
2nd - THE GOOD
You get your money's worth with the specifications. 160gb HD and 1gb RAM is good. I believe the price will go down further. If you can deal with the battery problem it would take care of you. Screen quality was really good and keyboard is fantastic.
Toshiba S5057 would be good for a student who doesn't require advanced options, but i don't think it is good for business. It is not "really" portable and battery is a big issue. The price tag should go down to $700-800, than it is a great deal.
easy to use 2007-07-01
This is my first notebook. My dad gave it to me and i absolutely adore. it is cute and sleek and very easy to use. The screen is nice and glossy and is not at all dead. i like how the overall notebook is built nice and light and it does not overheat. when i first got the laptop i felt like it had no flaws at all, but i do have to say that the only weakness is the speaker. other then that i am very very satisfied with this laptop and would not choose another. I would give it a 4.5 star.
a dud 
2007-05-16
this was the first unit I got -it was returned because the bed was warped
The second unit came from j&r it was returned as part of hard drive was corrupt
j&r were very professional -I gave them the Toshiba i.d. service number and they credit my account shortly after they received the unit it their facility. A very satisfactory ending to a horror story of Toshiba
good companion for traveller 2007-05-14
This Toshiba is small, light, gets you a wireless connection anywhere. Great for the road.
