This is my second Toshiba laptop. Number one is around 4 years old and still works well.
This review is more about the A355 chassis, than this exact spec laptop, and should apply to just about every one of the laptops in this series whether they run AMD or Intel chips.
The first view is that the materials are just plain flat out gorgeous. From the shiny exterior, to the semi rounded base, the two large chrome mouse buttons, the nicely integrated Harmon Kardon speakers, the illuminated touch areas, the big beautiful monitor, and those shiny keys. Yes this is one very pretty computer.
Under that pretty hood are some interesting specs. It used to be incredibly rare to see an eSATA port on any computer, let alone a laptop. Well this one has exactly that an eSATA port that doubles as a USB port. Nice option to hook up external hard drives. It also includes an iLink, Firewire, or IEEE-1394 port an incredible rarity (even Apple dropped this port). The audio ports and volume control are on the front, nicely placed. There's absolutely no ports on the rear. There's also an express card slot (not a PCMCIA slot, but EXPRESS card slot) and a multi flash memory card reader (they've dropped CF from the list). It does not include Bluetooth a very strange omission since every single bluetooth adapter uses the Toshiba stack to run. Use either of these adapters, they work perfectly: IOGear GBU421 Bluetooth 2.0 USB Micro Adapter or Cirago BTA3210 Class 2 Micro Bluetooth Adapter (Black Tip) both are outstanding miniscule adapters.
Toshiba stuffed 4Gb of RAM and a 320Gb hard drive into this big baby. Those are some pretty nice features in a laptop this inexpensive. Those Harmon Kardon speakers sound very nice.
You'll either hate this or love it, and fortunately you can turn this off if you hate it. The Toshiba name, a little band above the scratchy navigation pad, and the media buttons all light up white (pretty bright at that). I think it looks pretty cool, but others have hated all those lights.
The monitor, oh that monitor is gorgeous. Movies pop, they look absolutely fantastic on this computer. It's a nice big screen. Yes it is a gloss finish and you do get some reflections here or there, but generally it's not bad.
The keys are all glossy and the fanatical among you might not like all the visible fingerprints, but I think most will get over that quickly. There is just a ton of room to put your hands to type and use the computer. That surface in front is sweet for a palm rest.
Function-wise, this computer is a decent performer. Nobody is buying this to run heavy games or render video it won't do those things. But for the occasional game, the occasional video edit, you'll score well here.
Do note, this computer runs Windows Vista Premium 64-Bit. Please don't be afraid of that operating system. I'm running 64 bit on two computers and it runs just beautifully. There is almost no new hardware that won't run under 64 bit these days. It's a rock solid platform. And that OS allows all 4Gb of memory to be seen and used (32 bit tops out at 3Gb). And if you don't believe me, type this into google pcmag 64 bit computing. Read the first article in that hit list.
This is no lightweight computer. It's a big, pretty heavy laptop. Great for around the house. Not something you would travel everywhere with. But it is portable. Heat generation is nothing extreme. It does pull air in from below, so be careful about couches or beds plugging those holes.
It's a good solid fast computer. There's a bit of fan noise, nothing huge, but you will know the machine is running. I hate to comment on battery life, that's so dependent on how bright you make the screen, processor speed settings and the like. I got a good solid 2 hours of hitting it very hard at max everything. You could probably get a good 3 hours, maybe 4 at more conservative settings.
Something to keep in mind, Toshiba ships all their laptops full of bloat-ware. It's a really good idea to remove it all. Almost none of it is necessary. There are two websites that will clear all that garbage out of your computer. It's explained in a great article at PCMag. Type this into google, PCMag make the most out of your new pc. The first hit will be a fantatstic article on how to remove the garbage.
Overall, this is a big, beautiful, good sounding, heavy, hard working, well priced laptop.
June 2009 Update well my son managed to crack the screen. He has no idea how this happened, but it's certainly not Toshiba's fault. I will admit the top is somewhat flexible, but that's not how this broke. He probably fell asleep and rolled over on top of it and doesn't remember that. I am super happy I bought the 3 year no fault warranty. Just a word to the wise, displays in general have gotten more fragile. Use care or buy a warranty (just be sure it's backed by the right kind of company).
This Toshiba Satellite replaced a four-year-old Dell Inspiron. As a writer, I use my laptop every day and wanted a comfortable keyboard and touchpad. This Satellite delivers with a sturdy keyboard, enough space to rest your palms comfortably while typing and a textured touchpad.
The touchpad has touch scrolling on both the right side and bottom (handy for scrolling along large spreadsheets), so you don't have to hold down the left-click button to scroll--much easier on the hand. The touchpad scrolling settings are adjustable and can be removed.
The click buttons are large and placed so that your palms don't brush them while you type.
I also wanted a laptop with excellent video quality for watching DVDs and Play Now features from NetFlix. Videos are crisp and colorful on this 16-inch screen and it's easy to see from several angles (unlike my old LCD-screen where the screen had to be tilted just exactly right to avoid the black shadow effect).
If you like to watch movies in bed on the computer with your honey, this computer is great for that since both people can see the screen without black shadowing. The light-up DVD controls on the top of the keyboard are also a great feature for watching DVD's in bed.
The speakers are very good quality, with excellent range and can be turned up loud enough to enjoy music or watch a movie from another part of the room.
My most favorite feature of this computer is the volume control. Located on the front, next to the 5:1 memory card reader and headphone jack, is a small wheel that turns left and right, like the volume control on a radio.
It's so simple, it's brilliant! When you have music blasting and the phone rings with a call from a client, a quick flip of the dial and the sound is turned down or off. No more hunting on the keyboard for the Function Key + a picture of a muted speaker.
The Satellite has a built-in webcam that is easily activated with a click. The webcam controls appear whenever your mouse hovers near the left side of the screen.
Speaking of hovering controls, whenever you press the FN (Function) key, a large legend appears at the top of the screen with function controls, which is handy when you don't have your glasses.
All four USB ports are on the sides near the front, as is the network port. It is easier to plug and unplug components, but it's also easier to bump my USB drive when picking up something from my desk.
Did I mention that this computer is blazingly fast? Wow! Need to have five different programs running plus several web pages open? Not a problem for this zippy laptop.
I've been very happy with the Toshiba Satellite and would highly recommend it.
Buy Toshiba Satellite A355-S6940 16.0-Inch Laptop Now
I spent way tooooo long researching and reading and thinking about which laptop to buy and then bought the Toshiba. I'm sure other choices would have worked for me as well, but I'm VERY happy with the Toshiba.
It looks good, which, while not a big factor, is a nice bonus. It's fast. I've used a number of other PC's running Vista and they've all been pretty slow, so I think the 4GB of memory is a big help. This laptop has built-in DVD control buttons in the housing above the keyboard and while I wouldn't have bought it because of this feature, it turns out to be REALLY easy to use and helpful!
I've been surprised at how much I like it! I've used products from Dell, HP, Compaq, IBM, Lenovo, Apple and Sony and this Toshiba is, so far, better for me than anything I've used before.
Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite A355-S6940 16.0-Inch Laptop Here
Warranty limitations of Toshiba were created to avoid change or repair one laptop if it has few bad or damaged pixels (dead black pixels, always white or colored pixels...). I did not know this when I bought my laptop and I am thinking never more buying one by Internet (it is better see in the store if it has some damaged pixels)
I am an international customer. I bought this Toshiba from Amazon and I am out of US in this moment. I have used a lot of HP computers without problems and this was the first time I selected a computer of other brand. I did this because of the "Toshiba international warranty" [..]
But my computer has an UGLY white point in the screen. I bought it for photo and video processing and I am very disapointed. You can read a lot of information (other customers with the same problem) searching in google toshiba dead pixels. The computer performance is good (4.9 Vista score) but this problem with the screen caused my laptop to be a waste of money... BE CAREFULL BECAUSE THEY CONSIDER FEW DAMAGED PIXELS TO BE ACCEPTABLE!!!
Want Toshiba Satellite A355-S6940 16.0-Inch Laptop Discount?
I bought this machine a month ago because its hardware config looked good at a good price, I thought. I thought I can live with Vista, maybe upgrade to XP7 later this year. I rated it highly at Toshiba's web site and here at Amazon. Now, after a month's experience, I have buyer's regret.
Toshiba's pricing strategy of near-zero pre-loaded software (Vista only) means a lot of the cost of ownership is 'shifted forward' meaning you have to buy almost everything, including a bluetooth stack. This is an excellent example of nickel and diming customers to death -not a good marketing strategy.
This machine does NOT come with bluetooth support, you have to add a dongle. But I thought that like Windows XP SP2, Vista has the stack included. Sadly, no, it is not true. The situation gets worse. Toshiba does not use the 'standard' Windows stack but has a proprietary stack. If it detects a non-Toshiba dongle, the Toshiba OEM license expires. You have to uninstall the Toshiba stack and find/install a compatible stack. Sigh.
It gets worse. I was pretty unhappy that I was unable to install the official Microsoft Office Suite. After going a few layers deep in hardware configuration dialog boxes, I find that the CD-ROM driver is in error, it could not find a fix and, maybe this is a separate problem, the system cannot detect the drive!!!!! No driver download available from Toshiba's tech support web site. Talking to a live agent, she pointed me to a secure site where I was able to download a filter that seemingly fixed the problem. This is NOT the way a new PC should be. I have never encountered such a problem before, in 20-some years of using computers.
I now rate this PC only 2 stars because of the stupid Toshiba policy of NOT including a free to the end user, perpetual end user license to its bluetooth stack. The CD-ROM driver problem worsened my opinion. BTW, a third-party driver diagnostic program detected 26 out-of-date or erroneous drivers.
Toshiba's stupid marketing made two more bad mistakes:
1. The license to the stack is for the manufacturers of bluetooth dongles, not for end-users like me, so end-users are at a dead end. I suppose I could buy a new dongle that has a Toshiba license instead of using the dongle I already own.
2. End users who are not IT-savvy won't know what the hell this licensing esoterica means. There is no link from Toshiba's 'expired' message to ANY help for end users to solve this problem. On Toshiba's user forum, the question "How to buy a license..." is posted, but 'locked' so no one can post comments. There is NO ANSWER given, such as "buy xyz dongles because they have the necessary Toshiba license." That's a missed opportunity to co-market with OEMs that have bought a Toshiba license. I've searched the web and THERE IS NO ANSWER elsewhere.
Fortunately, I know that BlueSoleil, a vendor of bluetooth software, will support the dongle that I already have. After registration, I downloaded BlueSoleil 6, a stack that does all the things that the Toshiba stack does. And it doesn't seem to conflict with the Toshiba stack which I did not uninstall. Unfortunately, BlueSoleil is available for free for only a 15-day trial after which BlueSoleil will transfer files of up to 2 MB. The good marketing practice demonstrated by BlueSoleil is it gives you a link to its online store where you can buy a license for $29.99. They help you to solve the problem, not like Toshiba.
I am shocked and disappointed that Toshiba, a well regarded consumer electronics brand, does such a poor job of end-user marketing and support.
Oh, while I'm at it, let me warn you that Toshiba tech support, while free, is NOT AT ALL KNOWLEDGEABLE. F'instance, I called to say that I couldn't find the pre-loaded free trial of Microsoft Office. My call got dropped, no call-back. Had to go through the n-level deep voice messaging, call another number, again, to get to another random support person who suggested searching the hard drive for hidden sectors. The software was there. AND, after hassling the guy for a recovery disk, threatening to talk to his supervisor, he said he'd waive the rules and send me one. A month later, no disk arrived. Finally, a friend told me that that I don't need to buy Toshiba's recovery CD because the machine has a utility for you to create your own recovery CD. Sigh.
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It is now about 6 months after writing the review above. In all this time, I have used this computer for more than 10 hours a day, every day.
The system has never crashed which is good news. I've cleaned and defraged it religiously. (The auto-defrag calendar doesn't work. Have to manually initiate defrag each time.)
New problem: the touchpad is unreliable. It often gets hung during which you can only move around by using the arrows and 'enter' key. Mostly, it recovers after a few minutes which is a very long time. There are no updated drivers and no help for the touchpad. Believe me, I've looked.
Another glitch that's the REALLY really ANNOYING is the cursor jumps to another area because it's picking up charge from your thumb or some such. About 3 layers down the touchpad's 'advanced' settings is a checkbox that should automatically deactivate the pad while typing. Guess what? The cursor jumps around anyway. So if you're a touch typist like me who sometimes isn't looking at the screen, you might be typing jibberish and not know it.
The touchpad's 'tap' feature is often 'inoperative' and I must resort to double-clicking the button. That button is hard to click. This means I have to do it with my index finger. So, in order to operate the touchpad, I have to use fingers from both hands.
I've removed the touchpad's 'special areas' such as left upper corner for 'back,' etc. because it's so unreliable that it's not worth it.
Cons:
