Customer Reviews
Very pleased 
2008-01-19
Very pleased with this product! It is well made and sturdy - especially in comparison to some other brands and models I looked at. I was surprised by the sound quality. I also like the convenience of the volume switch - a dial on the edge of the unit instead of up & down buttons. I was referred to this model by a friend who works with electronics. Again, I am very pleased with my purchase and highly recommend this model.
Best Buy 2008-01-18
I shopped around quite extensively looking for a good notebook for my daughter and son, as Christmas presents.
This Toshiba Satellite did the trick, my kids love me again, and my ex-wife thinks I'm a gentleman.
The power-to-price ratio is the best I've found in a name brand notebook, and the graphics, sound and user-friendliness are all top notch.
The HP Pavilions are fine, too, but in the end Toshiba just gives you more for your money.
Without XP Drivers, this is the least functional computer I have purchased 
2008-01-13
I had heard that there were compatibility issues with Vista and older software. However, since most of my software is from Microsoft and developed for XP, I assumed this was only an issue with third party vendors who did not follow proper software development recommendations.
Boy was I wrong. I found out that Vista had compatibility issues with all of the tools I used from MS in my first couple of hours. I then did some Internet research and found a great article on creating dual boot machines. I did this and had XP and Vista running on this thing within a few hours. I then found out that there were no XP drivers for this computer. One article quoted Toshiba as saying "XP" is obsolete and they had no plans for providing drivers for it.
I am using XP for work and Vista for play only. I am probably going to return it.
If you are purchasing your first computer and intend on purchasing all new software and don't need to run any software developed over a year ago, this may be a good system for you. On the other hand, a Mac might be also.
If you are not sure Vista will meet your needs, don't buy this computer as Toshiba does not appear interested in helping you.
Great computer, one annoying problem 
2008-01-11
This is a great computer, very easy to use and logically arranged. The problem is that the computer shuts down without warning. I think it has something to to with the Vista operating system and the perception that the machine is overheating. Hopefully there will be a downloadable fix for this problem soon. Lost data is never fun.
Toshiba Satellite A215-S7437 15.4" Notebook PC (AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core Processor TL-58, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Vista P 2008-01-08
For my purposes (internet, word processing, music listening, DVD watching and burning, substitute desktop) it is great. The best value I could find except it is missing Microsoft Word.
SLOOOOW! 2008-05-04
Product too slow. Vista needs min. of 1gig of ram and thats all this computer has. I thoght toshiba would lighten up on the software to run vista but I guess when are going backwards in technology.
I wouldn't buy again, but not a complete waste. 2008-04-20
I've had this computer for 4 months now. I was told that the computer was purchased for around $600. I see on here it's going for as much as $850! THIS COMPUTER IS NOT WORTH THAT MUCH MONEY. $500 maybe. I have a couple of minor peeves about this computer. First, you cannot burn CD's with iTunes. I have been trying since i got it to burn CD's and eventually I just gave up and figured i must have been wrong in thinking in could burn CD's. Well come to find out that Toshiba just isn't fixing the problem and selling the computer for way more than it's worth. Secondly, you cannot play the Sims 2 on it. I was devastated when i found this out. All that money on expansion packs down the drain because once again Toshiba is overpricing this laptop and putting in crappy hardware. Thirdly, it runs somewhat slow. If I've got photoshop open AND I want to open a game AND go on the internet... well.. you could be there for a while. Also, THE BATTERY LIFE SUCKS BIG TIME. Heaven forbid you have a two hour class with no plug nearby! I can tell you right now that with ALL the settings turned down to their lowest and the battery life fully charged that this computer gets EXACTLY 2 hours and 10 minutes. Lastly, it's pretty ugly. It has ZERO ZERO ZERO cool or visually pleasing aspects about it's appearance. Don't even get me started on the black cover with a WHITE KEYBOARD.
My mom just bought an HP for $750 and it is 20 times more decked out than this computer, AND CHEAPER than it is selling for on here. Even so, mine was $600 and it would be worth it to you to drop the extra $150 for something that will have everything that a basic needs computer should have.
This is an overpriced piece of ugly junk that can't burn cd's in itunes, play the sims 2 or multi task and will probably die when you need it the most.
I only gave it two stars because it's never blue screened or blacked out on me like I've heard that it's done to other people.
Does not burn cd's with itunes, difficulty connecting to dial up and little battery time.. 2008-03-31
In general a good laptop, but has a few problems. First it has a firmware problem that doesn't let you burn cd's with itunes (when you try you get a 2131 error message) and the people at toshiba have not shown any intention of solving it (dell laptop using the same drive had this problem but dell solved it months ago). Also the modem doesn't seem to work right, when trying to connect to dial up i have to uninstall it and then re install it in order for it to connect. no solution from toshiba either. also battery life is lousy (about one hour in power saver mode). So if you are an itunes user, are planning to use dial up or use your computer on the move, this laptop is probably not the best computer for you. Other than that it is a good computer for non advanced users.
Avoid this crash prone machine. 
2008-02-18
I bought this machine for a general purpose laptop and in that regard it sometimes works, however the stability of the machine is very low. I have had multiple BSOD, boot errors, and windows loading errors since getting this machine. If I try to run Virtual Box to host a virtual machine the ATI driver crashes and brings down the entire machine with it. I've reinstalled the OS multiple times, it seems a bit more stable on the last time but I still get BSOD errors due to the graphics driver crashing, I think its a hardware issue since driver updates don't fix it. Toshiba told me to adjust the power settings as others have stated, but it only causes the battery life to run down faster as the CPU never throttles down. And there are no XP drivers for the graphics, the ATI drivers from the ATI site do not install. So this is Vista only, which isn't a good thing. The keyboard is not as responsive as it should be either, typing can be error prone due to poor key response.
Avoid this machine, its cheap but you get what you pay for. I'd return it if I could but its too late for the store to take it back. Its reached the point where I'm ready to write off the money spent and buy a different notebook.
Nice all-AMD system 2008-01-20
This unit replaced a old Celereon system that was a Frys replacement for a system orginal purchased at Frys. The system is fast and setup was easy. The 200GB of storage should last for a long time. I did have some black screen scenarios mensioned by others, but since I adjusted the power management properties, the system was worked without any issue. Screen is bright. Toshiba makes a good laptop. Will get another next year.
