Review: Toshiba M55-S325

[TheNeck]

This is my very first laptop, so you could say i'm a virgin when it comes to laptops, but this is how I would rate the Toshiba M55-S325

Overview:
The 14" widescreen it very nice, love, and the wireless is excellent, hdd is extremely fast, and the dual layer dvd burner has worked flawlessly. Overall I love my new laptop, and it might actually replace my desktop pc, which is a P4 2.8gig(800) prescott, 1gig ddr400 dual channel, 12x DVD+-RW, 6800GT 256mb, 300gig sata hdd and a 19" crt monitor, as I don’t play video games that much anymore, and the performance for this laptop is really good except for gaming.

Screen:
The 14" screen is a lot smaller compared to my 19" crt monitor, but with its trubite technology and that its widescreen, I actually like the 14" screen a lot better especially for dvd movies.

Sound:
The sound is perfect for a laptop, the sound is crisp and clear especially for a laptop.

Hard drive:
The hard drive runs extremely fast, I think the 16meg buffer helps a lot, also that is 5400 rpm, the only problem is the hard drive does get hot, when the hard drive is working really hard, I run hd tune and the hard drive gets around 50c, but never above 50c.

Memory:
512megs of memory I thought might not be enough, since my desktop has a 1gig, but since im not gaming with this laptop, so far 512meg is plenty of memory.

DL DVD burner:
I havent burnt any DL dvds yet but so far cds and dvds have had no problems and dvds seem to be more compatible with my standalone dvd player, then when using a DL aopen dvd burner, sony 530A dvd burner.

Video performace:
This laptop using the Intel 900 series integrated video, so its not meant for hardcore gaming, I did run 3DMark05 which it got 195 on it. :-) But the dvd playback is excellent.

Express media player(aka Intervideo InstantOn):
This option lets you watch dvds or listen to audio cds without booting into windows, this feature is really nice especially for watching dvd movies.

Problems:
So far I have not had any problems, but I have had the laptop that long, only since september 30, so its still to early. The only problem at least I think it’s a problem is the temperature of 50c with the hard drive, so I got a notebook cooler, which I will see tonight if it helps cool the hard drive at all.

I would defineately recommend this laptop to everybody except for hardcore gamers

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Toshiba Satellite M55-S325, 1.73 ghz Pentium M 740, Trubrite 14'' WXGA, 100gig 5400 rpm 16meg hd, 512 mb memory 1 DIMM, 802.11 b/g wireless, Super dual layer DVD+/-R Drive, 6-cell battery pack, Intel graphics media accelerator 900, Windows XP Home

[g00nter]

Congrat's and thanks for the review! I'm looking into a very similar one (the tecra A5) and it's good to hear happy stories. Enjoy the toy.

[Smw72]

I purchased my M55-S325 18 days and enjoy using it. The screen was the selling point for me as it is very nice. I did add another 512mb of ram and noticed a great difference in speed. There are 2 negatives about this machine that got to me.

1) The screen has already gone bad and tried to exchange it at BB, but it was 3 days past the exchange rate. So i am now taking it to the toshiba repair center this week.
2) There is a flex in the keyboard near the arrow buttons.Not a huge deal though.

All in all, this laptop is very fast and gets the job done.

--scott

[g00nter]

@Smw72: Glad you like it too, too bad about the problms though. When you take it in for the screen ask them to look at the keyboard and check that all the cables are properly tucked away and all. There's a post by a guy obsessed with the KB flex in his laptop (toaly different model) and in the end is seems that is was a cable that didn't seem to have been tucked away properly.

[TheNeck]

Smw72,
Did the screen totally die on you? That sucks for only having it 18 days

[Smw72]

I just spoke to toshiba customer service and some other nice british sounding lady that is talking to corporate about my screen. She told me to go back to best buy and raise hell, lol. I already did that and she said she will look into it and call me back. I will be tickled to death if i do get an exchange and not have to take it to the nearest service center(had bad service from them before).
The screen works like it should but has a vertical line on the right hand side that drives me bonkers.

ps. sorry to clutter your thread

--scott

[TheNeck]

Smw72,

What brand of memory was the 512meg that you added to your system? And how much did it cost?

[Smw72]

I purchased the kingston 512mb value ram from BB for $59 on sale.

Toshiba corporate called and told me to take it back to BB and raise more hell about my screen. The odd thing now is that the screen is fine. I booted it up lastnight and it had the vertical line and about 45 mins later it was gone. I am leaning towards a possible short or wire getting pinched? Anyway, this problem could happen again and i am taking action to get a refund by my mother's credit card. She purchased the laptop for me as a gift and she called her credit card company to filed a dispute. They are sending her some paperwork to be filled out by me and they will not pay BB until the problem is fixed. I would still like a refund or a new laptop so i don't run into this screen problem again.

--scott

[TheNeck]

here is an update about the hard drive temp. Before the notebook cooler, the hard drive temp would get as high as 50c, but not higher, but now with the notebook cooler, the temp never goes above 42c.