 [Larger view] | Toshiba Satellite P15-S479 Media Center Notebook PC (2.80-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)
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Average user rating:  | |
 Great notebook and excellent value! | |
| This was my first notebook and only my second computer so I put a lot of research into it. Bottom line was this Toshiba was the most bang for the buck. I've had it now for about 2 months and haven't had a single problem with it. Media center is great. What did I do with out it? Most anything with music or video can be controlled via the included remote control. you can even put the noteboook into standby mode with it. The tv tuner is great and the ability to record to HD is icing. Media center does use a lot of memory and processor power though. It's also a little buggy. Nothing closing and reopening wouldn't fix. After hearing the built in speakers in the store I was a little worried, but once I got it home, they did the job better than expected. Of course ext. speakers most of the time, but in a pinch the built in speakers aren't that bad. Maybe another 20G on the HD would be nice but now I'm just getting greedy. All in all I have no regrets, it is everything I expected. | |
| Great Product | |
| Pros. I'm a pretty technical computer and this is my second laptop. All the bells and whistles are great. Fast speed 800FSB is the best of it's kind right now. The screen is very bright and big. Also, the ram slot is expandable up to 2048.. this is great because you can update it. most laptops max out at 1024. Buring CD's couldn't be easier... takes around 7 minutes with verification process, around 4.5 minutes without. * This laptop is everything you would expect for you money... Shop around, this laptop has a great range of 2500 to 1600.. yeah..so wouldn't want to be ripped off... I got mine for 1600 after 400$ rebate. :0 Cons. You need to buy an external mouse. I think all laptops need external mouse cause the touchpad is just weird, and most pep don't want to re get use to somethings else. Windows MEdia Center is buggy, so just download updates from www.microsoft.com.. update often. The machine is a power sucking beast.. but you could get 4 hours plus if you adjust the power management. depend on how birght the screen you want. I use mine in normal, so it lasts about 3 hours. | |
| Actually I would give it 4.5 stars given the option! | |
| This is a very solid machine. Bought this a few days ago as I have been looking for a while. After review of several other machines Dell 8600, Gateway 17", IBM Thinkpad, and Apple Powerbook 17" this and the Apple really stood out. As I chose to go Windows it was this. I also looked at the 17" version of this but it is REAL big, as are all the other 17" machines. This is almost too big as it is to be really portable anyway. IE....I wouldn't want to travel too much with the 17" of any of them. If you're an apple fan, get the Powerbook. I am also impressed with the overall build quality. Very good in a world of cheap crap. The Dell is garbage in comparison and to get anywhere near the same Video, HDD, P4 etc on the Dell is several hundred more. Everything is very sturdy. Even the power cord is above average. ... My only complaint is the keyboard. The top of this thing is PLENTY big enough that Toshiba could have fit a full sized board. Instead there are some idiot lights that let you know the HDD is spinning and wireless is working etc. I could easily do with out that for a full sized board. Few keys in some funky places too. It also has a remote and TV tuner that are external but I will never use them Could be a good idea for a college dorm or similar though. I'm using it for portable video editing and so far so good. Ripping and burning a full (4.38 gigs) DVD takes a bit over an hour. Streaming from camera over firewire no problem. HT technology on the P4 2.8 with the included 512 ram seems to handle video processing better than my desktop AMD 2.8 w/ a Gig of memory. Haven't done any 3D gaming or such but it wasn't bought for that. Had a question before I bought it so I tried tech support. They shipped some of them with "32 meg video" stickers (removeable) but they all have 64. Just a typo. A quick check of the system confirmed that it really did indeed have 64 as the specs say. Got through in literally 90 seconds, answered my question right away. Maybe a fluke but hey, when was the last time you got a tech support question answered in under 3 minutes? So Toshiba if you're reading this....BIGGER KEYBOARD would have gotten you 5 stars! |
