Monster Technology

Frankly I am disappointed, this Toshiba Satellite m505 runs much slower than the other 3 year old laptop that I own of a different brand. In fact the other laptop has a slower processor speed and just 2GB of memory. The reason why I was attracted to this one was due to your claim that the battery will last up 8 hrs, and that is not exactly true. I noticed at full charge it may perform well for just 2 hours. Could it be I have a defective battery? Sad to say no bluetooth. On the other hand the sound system and a lighted keyboard are a plus.
Rating: 3 / 5

I owned three different Sony Vaio laptops over the course of 8 years. All of them had their quirks, but all of them were ultimately serviceable until technology advanced to the point they were outmoded. I am admittedly very tough on laptops – I take mine more or less everywhere I go and my laptop is my only computer. I’m self-employed so my laptops get a lot of heavy use. I really liked Vaios, but they’re a bit expensive for the price these days. When the last one died, I decided to look at what else was out there. After shopping around, I decided on this Toshiba M505.

I was sucked in by things like the integrated webcam with facial recognition software (barely works), better audio (that’s fine), the light weight, ample internal memory, and fast speed.

The speed of the laptop and the portability are as expected, no problems there. But this computer is about to drive me to drink. And while I like a good drink every now and then, I don’t want my laptop to frustrate me into drinking.

There are two major problems for me with this, which seem minor but are affecting the way I use the computer, day-to-day.

-For some reason, Toshiba put the power cord port on the RIGHT hand side, next to the USB ports, not the left or the back. I’ve never had a laptop with the power port on the right. I’ve never even seen one like this, and my husband hasn’t either (he’s a computer guy). I guess it would be fine if I wasn’t right-handed, sitting on the couch with the computer plugged into an outlet to my left. The power cord gets tangled in my (and my son’s, and my husband’s) legs because it cuts across the back of the computer. The computer has been pulled off the coffee table now several times; thank goodness for the “processor stabilizer” Toshiba builds in because I’m sure otherwise this thing would be toasted right now. The power cord got pulled out of the port so many times I had to buy a new power supply because the cable’s metal end piece got so bent I couldn’t fit it into the port any more. I have never had this problem through THREE Sony Vaio’s and my husband has been through three laptops in that same timeframe (a Compaq, an ASUS, and an Alienware) and he’s never had this problem either. Bad design.

- The touchpad would be a joke, if it wasn’t so frustrating. The touchpad is integrated into the laptop’s case, so there’s not a separate touchpad that’s not made out of the case material, which is what I’m used to. The material for the case is not appropriate material for a touchpad, apparently, because the touchpad basically doesn’t work. We’ve replaced the touchpad driver twice and the mouse arrow will still randomly jump around, select things that it’s not supposed to even when my fingers are not on the pad, not respond to light or heavy touch, etc. I have gone into the advanced pointer properties more times than I can count – I can’t get this stupid thing to work at all. Just to keep the pointer from uninstalling software and randomly selecting things and deleting them I had to turn off most of the functionality I used to use with my pointer device. Now I have to carry around a small-size USB mouse and a mousepad with me everywhere so I can use the computer without dealing with the touchpad. This issue’s been reported by a lot of other owners but unless there’s some way to replace part of the computer case, or completely retool the driver (which I think Toshiba’s already tried to do), I don’t see a fix for it. It’s usable as-is but for the money I spent I expect to be able to use the computer the way I’ve used EVERY OTHER LAPTOP I’VE OWNED, that is, without having to carry a mouse around.

I am honestly hoping this laptop develops a warranty issue and I can send it back to be replaced by something better. I have never hated a laptop so much within the first few months of ownership. It’s a sexy-looking but poorly designed product, and yes, ultimately it is my fault for getting sucked into the hype. As soon as this laptop bites the dust (sooner rather than later, please God) I will be going back to Vaios, no matter how overpriced they are. This whole experience with Toshiba has been a major disappointment.
Rating: 3 / 5