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Hi. I chose the M55 Satellite because I wanted a ~thin and light "satellite" computer in addition to my desktop replacement Dell iXPS p4 notebook. So, I was expecting with my purchase a much more portable laptop that had decent battery life, average performance, and a low price tag.

The M55 satellite is very nice. I got mine from Circuitcity for $650.00 + tax = $720.00 w/ free shipping, (via $300.00 mail in rebate + 10% off e-coupon).

Overview:
Very bright screen, average wireless, large hard drive, and dual layer DVD burner. I was surprised by the dimensions, though. It has a very wide footprint, much wider than my Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 1. But, it's very thin. The weight is a little over 5 pounds, so heavier than an Apple 12 inch G4 iBook, but lighter than the 15 inch IBM T42 Thinkpad.
The laptop is also very quiet, usually silent. Toshiba included an acoustic management software for the hard drive and DVD player, which kinda works.

Screen:
The 14 inch screen is definitely smaller than any 15.4 wide aspect LCD, but Toshiba makes up for this with the glossy finish and Trubrite tech. When I sat the M55 next to my Dell iXPS, there was a very noticeable difference in brightness. All my friends agreed that Toshiba's Trubrite screen was brighter by a long shot. (With the brightness turned to lowest, the Trubrite still felt as bright as the brightest setting on the Dell 15.4 WUXGA screen.... although I know Dell came out with their glossy screens as well).

Sound:
Finally, the sound is pretty good on the M55. Toshiba pre-installed this audio driver that allows you to change the output type, i.e. headphones, internal speakers, external speakers, etc. It makes a big difference if you set the configurations appropriately, and the SRS surround sound has a noticeable effect on sound quality.

Gripes:
So far, I love every part of this laptop, except for the very wide dimension (wider than my Dell iXPS 15.4 widescreen notebook). It's also slightly heavier than I had anticipated a thin-and-light should have been. One last gripe:... the bottom of the laptop gets very hot! I have the Celeron M 370 (1.5 ghz). I don't know why, but the temp is comparable to my Dell iXPS's 3.4 ghz P4 Extreme Edition. Another note: the laptop memory came as 512 mb occupying 1 DIMM under the keyboard, so I don't know why the bottom would be as hot as the Dell, which has 2 512 mb memory chips installed on the bottom. I have the 6-cell battery, and the battery lasts about 2 and 1/2 hours - 3 hours.

Overall, I recommend this laptop. It looks very stylish, (I have the peacock blue color), and definitely looks more expensive than the retail price.

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Toshiba Satellite M55-S135, 1.5 ghz Celeron M 370, Trubrite 14'' WXGA, 80 g 5400 rpm hd, 512 mb memory 1 DIMM, 802.11 b/g Atheros wireless, Super DVD+/-R Drive, 6-cell battery pack, Intel Accelerated graphics ~ 128 mb.

Dell Inspiron XPS, 3.4 ghz P4 Extreme Edition, 15.4 WUXGA, 128 mb ATI Mobility Radeon 9700, 60 g 7200 rpm hd, 1 gig dual channel memory 2 DIMMs, Dell 1450 a/b/g wireless, gigabet ethernet, Truemobile Bluetooth, DVD+R Drive, 12-cell battery pack.

very nice for sure...

please as i am sure many others will say too get us some pics up. congrats on the new laptop and welcome to the NBF toshiba forums family....

Very nice, very nice indeed, and what a price!!!!

I also just bought this laptop. Its a great one. Originally wanted an i9300 but the price for this at bestbuy was great. It was the same price as circuitcity's. I dont even know why I wanted a gaming laptop in the firstplace now. The sound on this computer isnt half that bad. For 720$ you get a 5400 rpm 80 gig hardrive and a dual layer support dvd burning. The only bad aspect of this computer would be the processor. A 1.5ghz celeron isnt bad but a pentium m would have been better. The graphics card is an ati 200m/hyperexpress card with 128mb. It isnt bad and havnt tried any games yet. I am going to try Grand Theft Auto 3 on it and maybe Rise Of Nations. The computer is very silent. Ive ony heard the fan go on once or twice. I have no complaints with this laptop and I saved a ton of money. I recomend it to anyone that is looking for a decent laptop and that needs to save money. I will try to post my fps in those games and will post benchmarks later. Ill try to dig up my digital camera and post some pics.

I thought the graphics card on the M55-S135 was the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 w/ 128 mb shared video memory?... at least, that's what mine came with.

I'll have some photos up soon. Sorry for the delay.

there is not a model with ATI graphics for the m50 or m55 in north america according to both toshiba USA and toshiba Canada.... all m50 and m55 models come with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 w/ 128 mb shared video. thus leading me to find your machine a very odd and confusing thing....

Fidget:

Do you have an M50? and if so, how do you like it? There was a review of the M55 on another site and the reviewer is going to return it because of the keyboard flex and the screen flex. They basically said that the build quality is crap. Is this true? Please let me know. Thanks.

everybody has a different tolerance level that they can deal with for keyboard flex. so i'm taking my chances on the A5. I have seen the M55 at Best Buy and CompUSA and the flex is there but not the worst I've come across.

Scott

no actually i dont have an m50/55 i just tend to use alot of computers and different laptop models over any period of time plus i like being up to date and knowing what is out there.

in my (granted its limited) use of the m50 i didnt notice any undue screen flex and the keyboard flex was there although not nearly bad enough i would concider returning the machine. like it has been said every machine will have some flex its just your determination of how bad that is. personally i didnt find the keyboard to be bad at all. i found the build quality to be pretty good, it was solid enough for most use unless you are really putting it through hell. if you are going to really abuse your system i would say go for the tecra version as they are build tougher. they cost a bit more but can take an absolute beating far beyond the average user.

the comparable tecra model to the m50/55 is the tecra A5, it should be a great machine.

Thanks for the quick reply . This notebook will actually be used by wife for college and after that my 12 year old son for school. I will be ordering it with an extra 3 year warranty with the accidental coverage.

At $2499 before the extra warranty and taxes, the Tecra A5 is to expensive for me. If I do buy a Toshiba it looks like it'll be the M50, although, Best Buy has the M40 on sale for $1499, so who knows what I'll buy.

Thanks again.

either machine should do you just fine... the m40 will be better though if your son is wanting to do some gaming on it. i dont think he will be puching it really hard with doom3 or anything but fi that is a concern then i might say m40 otherwise the m50 is a great machine and is very portable.

Ya, but, the BestBuy M40 is has the EXACT same specs as the M50 except, of course, the 15.4" screen. It's the M40-JM8. Considering how I have a kick-ass desktop at home and my son has an X-box, I don't need a notebook that's tricked out, so to speak. I think I'll be waiting until August to buy a notebook, although, if the M50 goes down to $1599 ( a salesman at BestBuy told me that it was on sale for $1599 when I was in Arizona on vacation), then I may have to break down and buy it. Decisions, decisions...

Finally, I've managed to attach some photos. They're pretty small in size. Enjoy.

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Toshiba M55-S135
Apple iBook
IBM T42
Dell iXPS

that is one nice lookin machine, i hope you enjoy it... the pictures should be good for any of those out there who want to see what it looks like, also thanks for some comparison shots gives an idea of the realistic size for those who have not seen it in person.

Nice photos and yes, it does put the sizes of the various notebooks in perpective. Is it me or does the black IBM have an Apple logo on the cover, see the first photo.