Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba Satellite Pro M15-S405 Laptop (1.40-GHz Pentium-M(Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 40GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

I am very happy with the Toshiba M15-405. I have a Mitsubishi 18" LCD monitor at home and the Toshiba looks just as good. Sharp lines and crisp colors.

I am finding the Wi-Fi capabilities to be satisfactory as well. Battery life according to the onboard indicator is over five hour fully charged, I have yet to run out of battery power. The keyboard is comfortable and the unit does not get hot, the left side does warm up but not to an uncomfortable degree.

The speakers are nice, loud in a quiet room, acceptable in a moderately noisy environment but I would still suggest headphones for this or any laptop to avoid annoying others. You can definitely hear the speakers in a conference room full of people.

My first and last Toshiba product.

I was happy with this computer when I got it and I recommended it to everyone who asked my opinion about laptops. After a few months, it started to crash on me very often. I did clean installs of the operating system but that didn't help. It would crash repeatedly and then finally it wouldn't boot at all. It would crash when the computer was moved or the screen angle was adjusted, or for no reason at all. I brought it to the local Toshiba Service Center. 15 minutes after I got it back it started crashing again, and the problem continued. There was some additional damage caused by the service center, in that a piece was loose and the computer would crash if the piece was wiggled (the plate that goes over the power switch). It wasn't doing that before I brought it to the service center.

Toshiba had me ship it to a larger service center. I told them that I didn't want the same computer back because it was an obvious lemon, and especially after the additional damage caused by the service center. After about 10 days I got the same computer back. It had greasy finger smears on the plate that covers the power switch, and a big new scratch. I turned on the computer and the operating system wouldn't even boot. I just got a blank screen. The second time I turned it on, the computer booted, but before I was finished configuring Windows, the computer started crashing again. Now, several weeks later--an *immense* amount of wasted time, and with unfinished projects that I couldn't work on without my computer--I still have a non-functioning computer. How many more days or weeks is it going to be before they fix this problem? I heard that Toshiba had great laptops and great service but this was a terrible disappointment. I am very unhappy with Toshiba. I wish I had bought a Dell.

This is a wonderful little notebook and i would recommend it highly. especially to any of you who might also be considering a Dell (like i was). the reason i went with this one was because i was able to get it at [a local store] with 0% for 12 months (same price after rebate as here at Amazon). but dealing with the goofballs at [the local store] is no picnic and if you could get the Amazon Visa with no interest financing then i would go that route as Amazon is a much better company to deal with in my opinion.

now to the M15-S405:

it has a great 15" XGA (1024x768) screen. and it is definetly the way to go if you don't want to spend all your time squinting at a higher resolution display like Dell offers on their systems (go to the Dell community forums to hear the support and hardware horror stories too!)

the wi-fi capability is awesome! i currently have it running on a wireless network with my desktop and i am able to access my DSL, share files, and share the desktop's printer with ease from anywhere in the house. also, you can use wi-fi in places like Starbucks for an additional fee. check out T-Mobile's website for more info.

this computer also has great battery life, very good Nvidia graphics card and plenty of memory (512mb) and a nice 40gb hard drive (5400rpm). and at just under 7 pounds it is not to heavy to carry around.

for accessories i recommend a wireless router , optical notebook mouse, and of course a case of your choice. i got a Samsonite L35 that is slim and fits the notebook nice and snug.

if you are in the market for a great all-around notebook, you can't go wrong here.

Toshiba may make good products, but their support is the worst i have ever come across. They have lost my laptop for over a month now and do not care a lick about it. They're tech support team is in Turkey and they dont care a thing about anybody. They kept hanging up on me and refused to help me saying it will take some time. When i called back- no one knew anything and had zero updates. DO NOT BUY TOSHIBA PRODUCTS! Get a Gateway or Dell instead...two companies that actually care about their customers.

I wrote another review about this computer previously which I will briefly summarize here, and tell you the continuation of the story:

I bought this model of Toshiba laptop. Several months later it began crashing. I brought it to the local service center in Honolulu. It was returned unrepaired, and with additional damage caused by the local Honolulu service center. They told me I had to send it to the Depot in Kentucky. When I got the computer back a second time, it was STILL BROKEN and there was even more damage--a large scratch and greasy fingerprint (literally, there was grease on my computer). I argued my way all the way to the head of the 'customer relations department' in Istanbul. She is a terribly rude and unhelpful woman named Linda. She told me flat out that "Toshiba does not ever give replacements." I told her that my legally-binding warranty gave me the right to a replacement. She said "Toshiba does not ever give replacements."

(Think carefully about that before you buy a Toshiba product: they do not honor their warranty.)

So they made me send my computer to CPU Repair in California. I sent my computer to California, and didn't get it back for three weeks. I use this computer for business and cannot afford to have my computer gone for over a month (in total).

When I got my computer back after an immense amount of time, it finally worked. But about a month later the new CD/DVD drive that the repair center installed stopped working. It won't read or write CDs and it just makes a grinding noise. I called Toshiba again and was transferred again to 'customer relations' in Istanbul. They told me to bring it to the local service center. I went to the local Honolulu service center and there was a sign on the door saying that it had closed three months ago. I called Istanbul again. They told me to go to the downtown Radio Shack which is an "authorized Toshiba repair center." I called Radio Shack and the guy on the phone told me that his store doesn't repair Toshiba computers that are under warranty! When I called Istanbul again, they told me "he HAS to repair your computer! Tell him he HAS to repair your computer!" I told the lady in Istanbul to call them for me and tell him that. She put me on hold and when she returned she said, "I'm sorry, Toshiba doesn't have an authorized service center in Hawaii. You will have to ship your computer back to the depot."

Last time I shipped my computer in for repairs it took three weeks to get it back. I can't do that again for a broken CD/DVD drive. They want me to ship it back to the same depot that didn't repair my computer the last time.

Do not buy Toshiba products. The service is terrible, the repair centers send things back unrepaired, and in my case the products have failed multiple times. The computer is less than a year old and more than 10% of its entire warranty period was spent in repair. I will never buy anything built by Toshiba again and recommend that you don't either.

As far as my computer goes, I will have to wait a couple of months until I go to the mainland where there is a Toshiba Service Center, and in the meantime I will not have a working CD/DVD drive. I can't install programs, I can't install my digital camera software, I can't tranfer spreadsheets and documents on CDs, or do any other task that requires a CD RW drive.