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Author Topic: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.  (Read 8269 times)

rcavictim

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Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« on: June 17, 2007, 02:31:36 PM »
Stan,  you have this as your signature line.  OK, I and I`m sure others would like to know what you have to share on this subject.  I have had a toshiba Techra 8100 (700 MHz P-III, 1/2 GB RAM, 40 GB HD, CD/DVD reader, CD burner) now for about a year and some with no problems....yet except that the battery is shot and I need to find a replacement at low cost.  My CD ROM drive seems to have a flaky connection.  I often have to slam the drawer in aggressively to make it work.

Besides Stan, anyone else have issues with Toshiba laptops?  Care to vent, advise?
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haganes

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2007, 07:07:23 AM »
all laptops are a problem.  yes, you can find some people who say they own a good laptop - but they are a small minority.

usually within one or two years of manufacture, there are no spare parts (most parts in laptops are made just for that model).

with the boating community, most ships under 65 feet are run by laptops due to space, wireless communication and power constraints.  laptops have very short lives.  keyboard and lcd screens are the first to go - they usually make it through the one year warranty before they die.  i guess the salt air doesn't help or the heat or the humidity.

i found religion 8 years ago and switched to a full size pc.  the case is rusty but the machine keeps going.  over here we have almost broadband speeds with our 3G cellphones which can be used as a modem for PC's.

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Stan

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2007, 12:23:49 AM »
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=toshiba+laptop+overheating&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Have a read!

Both my daughter (who bought one on my recommendation) and I have had the same problems.  I take mine apart now on a regular basis and blow the sucker out with my compressor!  It seems to work but why do I have to do this?  (it doesn't take much brainpower to supply the appropriate answer)
Have a read!
Stan

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2007, 12:08:34 PM »
I've had to blow out my wife's Dell a few times, I've even had to blow out my desktop's CPU heatsink and power supply several times.  It's a problem with anything that has air moving across it and changing direction rapidly-  the dust suspended in the air drops out and clings to the surface, building up and as a side effect insulating the heatsink until it no longer functions properly. 
BTW, if your computer gets slower the longer it is on, clean the CPU heatsink.  Guaranteed to pick up your speed with a cooler CPU.
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rmchambers

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2007, 01:35:28 PM »
not just the CPU heat sink, if you're in there with compressed air give the power supply a good going over, it sucks in air all the time and can collect a lot of dust.  Video cards are sometimes equipped with a heatsink and fan.

CD drives and floppy drives (if you have one) collect dust as well.  If you're taking the PC outside to blast it with compressed air get as much of it cleaned as you can.

Robert

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2007, 02:21:10 AM »
Some dumb ass thought it would be cheaper and easier to use lap tops in big aluminum enclosers as dispaly terminals where I work over proper HMI terminals. About once every two months they fail. Aparently they don't like heat, dust, vibration, concussion from explosives and being a mile below sea level.
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twombo

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2007, 03:19:39 AM »
Gee

My Titanium Powerbook is almost years old and is still plodding along without a fault! Bought my niece an iBook 2 years ago and it survived her undergrad studies at UNL (Go Huskers!). Just upgraded it to a new MacBook for dental school. # 2 niece will take on ownership of the iBook. I hope she make it to grad school too!! Smart young ladies and purty as  pictures, both!!

Admittedly, the Apples cost a bit more, but the new ones run windows AND the Mac OS (at the same time)!!.

I had a Dell,  a Toshiba, and an an HP and, without exception, they were all pigs!

Once you go Mac, you will never go back!!

Mike


rbodell

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2007, 03:25:13 AM »
Once you go Mac, you will never go back!!

Mike

I have a friend who is a MACadict. I have messed around with his a few times and I have safari on this computer. This computer is only a year old, but when it dies I am going MAC.

twombo

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2007, 04:44:07 AM »
Actually, more like a cult of Steve (Jobs)!! Heh!!

Come to think of it, slow speed diesels are a bit like that, eh?

Interestingly, Apple pricing has become a lot more attractive in the last few year , very comparable to other premium lines of equipment in the Windows world... and no virus/spyware issues!

Cheers

Mike


captfred

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2007, 11:11:59 AM »
Lets not forget the Linux systems for virus/spyware issues.

Started out with OS2 warp but  been a windows user since;  IBM, Compaq, Gateway and Dell Laptops and desktops.   Have partitioned my hard-drives on some computers and experimented with  Linux OS - in particular Simply Mepis and Ubuntu.

Also have a Mac g-4 - lovely computer.

Even with the issues, i'll always have a laptop but XP is the  last Microsoft OS system I will run:  my windows days are soon to be over, Vista scares the s#@t outta me. 

Cheers, Fred

dieselman

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2007, 10:21:16 PM »
Ditto on Vista.
I bought a new Dell laptop in january, before Vista was available, but they were kind enough to offer it to me for about $10 as soon as it was released. Nothing but problems now. 

Message saying to restart my computer to acess the internet.

Computer will start up on its own in the middle of the night and I use power on button to shut it down.

Much slower than with XP

sometimes have to click icons 2 or 3 times to start a program

And on and on.  Every time I use it is a new adventure in computer hell.

Wish I had XP back.

I see NO advantage Vista.

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2007, 03:55:24 AM »
I'm seriously considering going with an Apple product next time around, but the problem is you can't build a reasonably quick Mac for $400.  The system I am using now cost me about $325 software included, and is quick and rock solid.  I still think Macs are cool though-
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listerdiesel

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2007, 08:58:36 PM »
We have a couple of Toshiba Libretto mini-laptops, not super-fast but really good if you have baggage size limitations!

We took one to Portland this year, downloaded camera memory sticks onto it each night and it worked fine. One is a US model one is UK.

Our other machine is an IBM Thinkpad 600E, super-reliable and we use that for PLC programming and dumping programmes into the PLC's on some of our fancy battery discharge testers. Not fast but very good screen and more than adequate for our uses.

All take a Wi-Fi card on the road or a network card at home, although we can use the home wireless network if we want to.

Got a couple of oldie Tosh lappies as well, 486 or less if I remember rightly.

Never had any problems.

Peter

John Bartley

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #13 on: September 10, 2007, 02:39:13 AM »
Hmmm ... we have two Toshiba laptops, each about 6 or 7 years old .... batteries lasted about 4 years ..... no other troubles at all ... both still work fine ... one has ME, one has XP Home .... both are running wireless network cards ... one spent about three years running the roads with my teenage son before he bought a "faster" one (in my day it was faster cars we wanted ...) ...

cheers eh?

Holter

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Re: Don't ever buy a Toshiba Laptop!!! Ask me why not.
« Reply #14 on: September 10, 2007, 10:07:03 AM »
The best means against overheating is to get low power eqipment and more space to distribute the heat.

The Thinkpad 600 Series is really nice, if you do not need the last bit of Portability and a little bit more power go with the A22p. I have yet to find a centrino Laptop, that can keep up concerning Display quality and mechanical stability.
I tried newer Thinkpads, but the A3x Series and the R series are significantly weaker, the T4x-series seem to have Problems with their Mainboards and have worse Displays.

Every Laptop, that I broke was "my fault", but I did not manage to break the A22p, and it had to endure quite a bit. I could not count how often it has fallen down from the cars passenger seat, the cars roof, the desk when you trip over the power cord (which is more throwing than falling), my bed,...
And the stability of the Display is something else: ever driven in a bus/car while using the laptop? And now imagine you did not need to lean your Display against the front seat because the hinges are stable...

Christian