Summary: I was trying to find the perfect notebook for work purposes (butthat I could lug around) and although I liked the 17" widescreen, I wanted a 15" for its more compact size and lighter weight. My requirements: excellent graphics, 2GB of RAM (expandable to 4GB), 200GB hard drive, and a good reliable name brand.
I first had my sights on the Sony Vaio's...excellent graphics, but got horrible reviews mostly due to the crazy heat it produces that could sizzle your lap. (I then learned about the recall..so I stayed away). After reading alot of reviews and asking the repair center at a local computer store their opinion of which brand had the fewest problems...I determined that Toshiba was the way to go.
I narrowed it down to 2 Toshiba's, the 15" A105-S4344 and the 17" P105-S9722- liked the 15", but loved the 17"...just couldn't justify the extra $$. So, I settled on the 15" A105-S4344 and bought it in Dec. It had the memory and hard drive I was looking for, compact to fit in my briefcase and some cool Media Center software installed on it. Overall a great little notebook and reasonably priced. But, I still had the 17" P105-S9722 floating around in my head. A week later, I found a great deal on the P105-S9722 at Circuit City for the holidays-- notebook was on sale PLUS I got a free Canon Pixma photo printer, free D-Link wireless router, and free CA Internet Security Suite (3 User)! I couldn't pass it up...so I bought it, too (knowing that I could return the first notebook in an open box and without restocking fee.)
When the P105-S9722 arrived, I carefully compared the 2 notebooks...more to make me feel better about the extra money I spent. But, hey...how often do you buy a new laptop? The 17" looked huge next to the 15", with an obvious difference in weight. And, yes, Toshiba chose to squish the right side on the keyboard (specifically the shift, arrows, brackets, and punctuations keys) as alot of people reported. But, like anything else...you get used to it. There is a very god reason why they did this...(and this is one of the things that sold me on this notebook)...they put in a full size numerical keypad. To me that's key! Then, when you power on the 17" you can't help but notice the incredible graphics...thanks to the Nvidia GeForce graphics card. NICE! Not that the 15" had a bad picture, but you could really see the difference side-by-side. There was also a difference in the battery size, life, and heat. The 15" had a 6-cell vs. the 9-cell on the 17", but honestly I think the battery life was better on the 15" (the 17" poops out pretty quickly) and it didn't get as hot as the 17". I then learned that if you place your computer on a soft surface (your lap, bed, couch, etc.) there's not enough air circulating under the notebook and it gets hot. Imagine that...they call them laptops and you shouldn't even put them on your lap!!! It didn't get hot enough to burn me (like the Sony's), but pretty hot nonetheless...the brick gets hot, too. I've since learned to use a lap-desk (basically a piece of wood with a cushion under it) and what a huge difference!
So here's what else I like about the P105-S9722...
- The mousepad has a scroll (down-up) feature...great, but i still bought myself a mini-mouse.
- The fingerprint reader (although it doesn't accept your print all the time- there's a method to it) has a cool feature that you can register your username and password on any website of your choosing and the next time you visit that site, all you have to do is swipe your finger and it fills in all your data for you. Very cool feature for the bazillion websites you log-onto with different user/password info and are too scared to click that "Remember Me Next Time" box that would make your life so much easier, but could open you up to security issues. The fingerprint reader really does know the difference betwen peoples' fingerprints.. very new age, very cool!
- 5-in-1 Memory card reader
- Play, Stop, FF, RW buttons for music or videos above the keyboard.
- Harmon/Kardon speakers- good sound...not the best, but hey...it's a notebook.
- Has Bluetooth, although I don't use it too much yet.
- Super Multi-DVD drive
What I'm not thrilled with:
- Again..the weight and size and the fact that there are no nice-looking computer bags that hold a 17" widescreen!
- The battery life and heat.
- Wireless modem- could have better range, but does the job ok.
- OS: Win XP Professional--not a big fan of it. Like Media Center Edition much better (that's what I missed when I returned the 15" model).
Overall, I'm very happy with the machine. I've got used to the size, weight, and the squished keys on the right side (and lovin' my numerical keyboard!). And, all the bad things I read about Customer Service...I've had to call in for a few things...very little hold time on the phone and, wouldn't ya know it, they helped me.
Great buy!!!
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