Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 Laptop (1.60-GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive)

Amazon Customer Reviews

(3 out of 5)

Not the best value in my book

The Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 can't beat the cheaper HP x125 on any grade except for sceen size (and there is a catch to that).

Let's compare these two models:

HP Pavilion xt125
CPU: 1.6 GHz Celeron (Built on a P4 core with a smaller cache)
RAM: 256 MB DDR RAM - Good
20GB hard drive - Good enough
Graphics Card: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 7500C w/32MB - very good
Display Diagonal Size: 14 inches - Fine
LCD Resolution: 1024x768 - Good for a 14"

Toshiba Satellite 1415-S105 (cost 10% more)
CPU: 1.6 GHz Celeron
RAM: 256 MB DDR RAM - Good
20GB hard drive - Good enough
Graphics Card: nVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go w/16MB - pretty good
Display Diagonal Size: 15 inches - Good
LCD Resolution: 1024x768 - Not great for a 15"

Summary: The xt125 has a better graphic chipset, and a smaller screen that uses the same number of pixels as the Toshiba. What does that mean? Well the better graphics chipset on the HP will run 3D games and applications better. The larger screen on the Toshiba uses the same number of pixels as the 14" screen on the HP, so the image on the Toshiba won't be as sharp. So if you really want a 15" and you don't care about screen quality, this might be okay for you. Personally I think a 15" LCD screen aught to have 1280x1024 pixels.

My vote in this price range is for the HP xt125. It will probably phase out soon as HP rolls out some new lines for the year, but right now it's a great value. I think that the HP xt125 is easily the best low cost notebook offered on Amazon.

(5 out of 5)

A Great System

Depending on what you want, this is a great little system. I will be attending college soon and this is great. I can watch DVD's, burn CD's, and do anything else I need to. Having the flexibility of the modem and the ethernet port is great.
Now, if you want to do some intensive gaming, this isn't for you. But if you want to do some basic games (such as strategy) and all the other basic functions of a computer, I highly recommend it.

(5 out of 5)

Toshiba is your best budget buy!!!

To the reviewer two below the hp shares its video memory with the main system memory. Plain and simple the Toshiba is head and shoulders above anything from hp in this price range. Reliablilty records show that. The Toshiba uses the NVidia graphics chip with 16mb of seperate memory. Seperate memory = better video and gaming performance. I will take the 15" anyday and the better feel of the toshiba keyboard. Buy this and you will not regret it. A great starter for the first time laptop user.

(5 out of 5)

great features from a reputable company

I've had this laptop for about 11 months now and I really can't say anything bad about it.

loads of features that are listed in the other reviews but one that's been missed is the BUILT IN wireless antennae. That means you install the card inside the laptop and don't have to deal with an antennae sticking out the side ready to break off.

I have found I can get nearly the 2.5 hour battery life if I don't use the cd-rom drive.

I ended up paying only seven hundred fifty dollars after rebates from best buy.

I would recomend the upgrade to 512 meg of ram though.

(4 out of 5)

a great buy

When I decided to buy a laptop for grad school, I made a list of requirements:
-20 GB drive
-network card
-CD burner
-nice-sized screen
-Windows XP
-Word
-cheap (under a grand)

This is the only computer that gave me everything I needed (except for Word), and from a company known for great laptops.
It's been a month now, and I couldn't be happier. Setup was quick and painless, the computer itself runs pretty fast, battery life is acceptable (2.5 hours), and the DVD combo drive is a nice feature.

Two caveats:
-It gets HOT. As someone's already said, don't plan on setting it on your lap for any length of time.
-The touch pad is tempermental. It works great sometimes, and takes some coaxing others. I'm buying a notebook mouse, since I hate touch pads, anyway :).

Overall, a great first laptop that I really recommend for students on a budget (like me). And about Word--I just downloaded OpenOffice for free and like it better!