Toshiba Satellite Lap Product Review

I just purchased a new Toshiba laptop because the old HP dual core just died. Actually it is in the process of dying. It is having mini-strokes. When I boot it, it doesn't boot. It doesn't POST. It just sits there and the HDD disk light flashes orange. This usually flashes orange when the accelerometer detects that the laptop is moving and parks the disk heads. After a while, the thing boots up, runs for awhile and then dies again. It is a crapshoot as to whether it boots and how long it takes.

So onto the Toshiba. It has a dual Core i3 genuine Intel processor and the hard disk is half a terrabyte. It should scream, but it comes with Windows 7 so it just marches. Nothing like an old XP for speed. (Did I mention that Microsoft sucks?).

Well, I am generally pleased with the laptop except that for human factors engineering, it is a FAIL. The keyboard is all wrong. When I am typing without looking and want to hit the shift, I hit the control. The shift on the left is way too small, and way too high. The return key is small below but enlarges into the row above, where the little pinkie on the right hand can't reach it. It is a pain to type on.

Other ergonomic things bug me. It takes me forever to find the little button to eject a DVD or CD. The delete button isn't handy. The track pad is over too far left. It is not centered like on any other normal computer.

The other thing that is slightly ticking me off, is that it regularly makes weird noises like a chirping for a few seconds then quits for a couple of minutes. I have to debug this one.

So while the computer seems okay, it is a bit of a pain to operate it. I have to learn to live with it, because Future Shop, where I bought the thing, had the wrong price on it, and they honored the tag that said it was $120 less that it should have been.

Update: The keyboard is huge pain, but I love the way that it runs cool compared to the HP.

And it really boots up fast and shuts down fast unlike the HP. I used the like the HP, but this

one is growing on me. The keyboard is still HUGELY frustrating though. But there are no more cooked skin marks on my thighs from an overly hot laptop.

Update 2: The speakers on the Toshiba sound tinny compared to the HP laptop. Still having difficulty with the keyboard, and now the sound sucks. But I really like how cool it runs. The HP actually left burn marks on my lap when I took the computer outside to program on the balcony overlooking the water.