Toshiba - Satellite Laptop with AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-60 - Onyx Blue

I bought it because of the huge screen, great dual processors and full keyboard that I need for heavy application and web development. Problem is, nothing I have runs on Vista. Reviews say Toshiba made this unit very easily downgrades to XP and they were correct. I posted directions to do so on my specific unit here: forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=276007 Everything will run in XP with full drivers if you make the driver/apps CD that includes XP drivers and copy the system drivers to a backup unit ( to reference after installing XP) before erasing Vista. I also hear that because of its full 3rd party brand name components that it will support linux distros as well. Great deal for tinkerers at this price and you are looking for a strong XP compatible laptop.

This is a great notebook. I actually purchased it for a friend of the family as a surprise. She wanted something that would run MS Office but also for occasional video/photo editing. This laptop turned out to be quite the performer. Being a 17in display, 1440x900 is great. Now, performance in general, this notebook has received some not so great reviews, but, you gotta remember, this is a budget-friendly notebook. It's not perfect, no notebook is, and the ones that come close are like 10+lbs and cose $2000+. I have a better than average desktop, and, honestly speaking, the laptop was very responsive. I tested out the dvd playback as well as did some optimizations and it's better than it gets credit for. Forget benchmarks, this notebook will get it done. Now, in terms of gaming, you might want to look elsewhere. It's not actually an ATI x3100, but intel x3100. ATI doesn't make a x3100, so, that might be a good thing to take note of. Well, why take my advice..? simple..i HATE notebooks, and, keeping that in mind, i enjoyed my time with this one. I don't have a need for a notebook, i love the power of a desktop, but if i ever wanted one, i would get this one or one like it.

I've had my laptop for about a month now and I must say truely the capabilities are endless. I love multitasking and with the new Window's software along side the great processing system: getting homework done, surfing the net, and downloading a couple of tunes are a complete breeze!!! Let's not forget that now all my college mates would rather watch movies on my huge high definition 17 inch screen. For my first laptop, I must say the investment I've purchased is a very great one indeed!!!!!

i really needed a good labtop for school n all. somthing fast n easy to access. I luv listening to music n watching my favorite movies on here. Its the best for those kind of things. I dont have to wait for anything the downloads are always fast n easy for me, which is a major plus for me. Because i hate waiting on slow computers. lol But ya overall i really am satisified w. this labtop. Im very happy w. the choice i made. :)

I've this laptop about a month now. I was going to get the Toshiba that was $100 ($499) less but they didn't have it at my local store. They sent me 20 miles out to another town and when I got there, they had THIS one as well for $599. For the extra $100 I got Radeon 3200 graphics with dedicated ram (for gaming, which works great so far. I don't think I would have been as well off with the on board graphics of the other laptop) I got a AMD processor instead of intel, a 17" display and a fullsize keyboard! TOTALLY worth it. In my opinion the laptop runs cooler than most, but I only have my mother's and sister's to compare to. It's kind of haevy, but it's beast, so what do you expect? It's hard to find a case for it though, I still don't have one! It runs world of warcraft, spore, and the movies without a hitch! I haven't experience any locking up or other software flaws I was expecting and dreading with windows vista. However, my boyfriend worked at circuit city in the firedog dept. and as soon as we pulled it from the box he did the $60 optimization thing they offer at circuit city and we IMMEDIATELY installed AVG virus protection!!! I was a little disappointed that the cheaper one had a 200gb HD and this one only has 160GB but hey... I can always get an external drive if I need one later. The processor is adequate, as a gamer with a desktop that is top of the line, I do notice some wait time (miliseconds) online and such, but I'm certainly not complaining. I think that's a vista thing, or my wireless internet, not anything to do with the laptop's hardware specs...

This laptop is a fantastic value: 160GB HDD, 3GB DDR2 RAM, 17" 1440 x 900 LCD ... all for less than most much less capable laptops. The display is gorgeous with great color, though it does have a reflective surface (like a plasma TV) which can be annoying in some lighting conditions. The ATI 780V Northbridge (Radeon HD 3100 IGP) provides decent graphics performance...better than the Intel GMA x3100 that comes with most cheap laptops. The 802.11g performance is excellent; better than most other laptops I've used. The only downside is the older QL-60 processor which is less energy efficient than newer Turion or Core 2 Duo processors, but isn't that big of a deal. Battery life is about 2.5 hours, which is decent considering the huge display. Some minor nitpicks: having the power/ethernet/VGA connectors on the sides instead of in the back makes things kind of messy but I guess you can buy a docking station to take care of that. Having to remove all of the trial software is a little tedious. The AMD & Vista stickers are right under your left palm which is annoying, and they can't be easily removed without damaging the glossy piano black finish. This laptop is perfect for what I bought it for: a surrogate desktop workhorse that I can easily transport around. The large display and keyboard make it very easy to work with.

Toshiba Satellite L355D-S7815 is a great computer for those of us who have less than perfect eye sight. The 17" WXGA+ TFT-LCD widescreen display with TruBrite technology and 1440 x 900 resolution; has great clarity and is large enough that if you need to do a Power Point presentation on the road for a meeting you don’t have to drag a projector with you. Today's compact is better generation may laugh, but it does have it’s practical uses. It’s thin and not heavy at all compared to my old laptop for it’s size. I also love the fact that the key board is set up just like a desk top, which makes it easy for number crunchers or the inexperienced user. The downside is the 6 cell lithium-ion battery that comes standard is quickly eaten up by the AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor. It needs a 9 or 12 cell battery. Also, the touchpad has some kind of strange tick, where the curser will all of a sudden jump from where you have placed it to the bottom right of the screen. I use a wireless mouse and disable the touch pad.

I bought this along with the ultimate upgrade and it works excellent. I had a machine that had homebasic on it and I can tell a major difference. One thing i relly like is the placement of the AMD and vista sticker, I use my mouse on my laptop and having to drag my mouse over the stickers all the time wore out the stickers. I was also able to get a case for fifty cents from goodwill,so the case shouldnt be an issue if you no where to look. I also like the graphics card, I had a laptop before this that had shared graphics, and my games and some college related programs would skip, on this machine I havent had a skip yet in about a month. The main thing I do not like about this laptop is the battery,but that is easily made up for everything else. I dont no anyone who needs a bigger hard drive, so that wasnt an issue for me. You cant have everything when you are paying this little for a 17 inch laptop.