Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba Satellite 5205-S705 Laptop (2.4-GHz Pentium 4-M (Media Center), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive)

Having come from a sat 2805-s603, this new laptop is carried from home and work every night and I leave it on all day. I'm very happy with it so far. There's more to this laptop than the casual mobile user would ever need. This is not a barebone system, so it will weigh more, use more power, and get warmer than the rest.

SCREEN: Impressive clarity with the 15" (CASV) screen. As a test at the store, I was able to read Terminal 6pt font from a distance of about a yard. It's that sharp. If you truly multitask with apps, you'll appreciate this. DVD viewing is fluid and stutter free. SOUND: Crisp and loud, the internal subwoofer is a bonus. No internal Dolby AC-3 processing but it will let you offload it to your home amp with it's S/PDip plug. Which is sold separately :) PROCESSOR/RAM: Out of the box, it ought be good enough for most application development for the next couple years. QUALITY: Solid overall build, some flimsy plastic port covers that must be used with some care. I'm sure this system will be rendered obsolete long before i wear out it's construction. DRIVES: No floppy drive (gonna take some getting used to). So I'm starting to use the integrated SecureDigital (SD) drive. If you get yourself SimpleTech's Bonzai Flash Drive, it takes an SD card and can be connected to anybody's USB 1.1 port. Gonna taking some getting used to but floppies are dead. VAIO and DELL owners in the office are green with envy. RAM: Shipped with two 256MB chips which take up both available slots to make 512MB; any mem upgrade will require excessing one of them. SIZE: Bigger than average cases, shop around for a good case. REMOVABLE DRIVES: Not sure why the SD drive doesn't go past 256MB. Just thinking ahead. O/S: Media Center seems a bit buggy with the TV tuner and winDVD running side-by-side. Needs another software build/patch it feels. PORTS: Note only one PCMCIA slot available.

I'm a professional software developer, and I was looking for a notebook computer that had enough oompf to serve as a mobile software development workstation. My new Toshiba is IT. This thing kicks butt, period. As for the guy whose computer froze up after watching a DVD... this is one guy. Forget him, it can happen to ANY COMPUTER. If you're a pro, and want the best, this is currently it. Come on... a 1600x1200 ultra-bright screen that you can see in direct Silicon Valley sunlight... a 64MB GeForce card that makes this system rival top desktop video game PCs... great for Direct3d and OpenGL software dev too... a *very* loud speaker system with a SUBWOOFER for real bass... a 2.4 GhZ P4... I mean come on. If this isn't more than enough for you, nothing will satisfy you. Stop wasting your time looking for something better - it's not out there (as of Sep. 2003).

I have had the laptop for more than a year and had no problems what so ever with it. Works great and together with 400 GB external memory drive it is a true replacement to a good desktop.

I have used it to convert my analog video collection into digital format. I have worked the machine 56 hours continuously and there wasn't one single glitch.

Pity it has been discontinued. It had a promising future to be replace quite a few desktops out there.

I've had this notebook for about a year now. I use it 8+h/day and It's a workhorse. My old dell notebooks HD crashed after 1mo! and the lcd had to be replaced after a few months. I've had no problems with this Notebook so far! It's not something you want to carry around, but it's perfect around the house, and it's awesome to play high end computergames on which require a decent machine.

Good Points: Nice, Sharp Screen

Bad Points: Flimsy port covers (my ethernet cover snapped off). Another annoying point are the CD/DVD controls at the front. Sure, it allows you easy access to CD's and DVD's. But let's say that you accidentally trigger it when your computer is off and your laptop os in its case. You'll have to take it out and power it down again.

I think the worst point that no one mentioned is its weight. It's a monster. It must be close to 9 pounds with the battery, 10 pounds with the AC adapter, and 14-15 pounds with you lap top bag and all the miscellaneous stuff you carry around. Hope you never have to run to catch a bus or train! As someone who's travelled extensively with this laptop and also commutes daily with it, the weight is enormous. The photo above makes it look thin, but it over 1.5" thick on one end. The most hilarious thing about it is the included concept video which shows that the "designers" wanted to create a wing shaped design. It's about as aerodynamic as a cargo plane.