Toshiba Satellite P205-S6237 user reviews (Core Duo 1.73GHz, 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD, Vista Home)

Pros Design, price, features, CONS can be overcome.

Cons Windows Vista, Toshiba software slow it down. Battery life is just under 2hrs.

Summary With Windows XP installed, the s6237 is quite good & plenty fast. It is available only w/ Vista, though. The PC as set up from the factory runs slow. Stop all the Toshiba 'tweak' programs, like "Flash Cards", etc, using msconfig & see a dramatic increase in speed. It runs fine after that. It may still seem a bit slow at times, but that's just Vista. There is no hesitation w/ XP. Vista is also horribly organized. It was designed by blind monkeys, it seems. Windows Vista is the worst thing about this laptop.
The CPU is not the cause of the slowness, contrary to the CNET review (why would a 1.73 GHz dual core processor be 'slow' for normal operation?)
Unfortunately Toshiba does not support Windows XP on this machine. All XP drivers can be found online, though. Most hotkeys cannot be made to work under XP, but everything else will work. If XP drivers are out there for a laptop, trust me you'll find them. Vista is not well liked & there are plenty of sites on 'downgrading' to XP for practically every make of laptop.
The battery life is short, but a bigger one is available from Toshiba.
There are cheaper laptops, but if you want a Toshiba because they're slick, go ahead on this one. I got mine for $800 after rebates at Office Depot. I recommend the S6237, but be aware, that the factory configuration needs to be adjusted slightly. If you really want to see it run well, grab that old Windows XP disk & remove Vista from the HDD & your life...or at least dual boot.

Pros Display for wide movies.

Cons Battery! Battery is major setpack. Mine is 2 years old and I can't run it more than 30minutes.Slow processing.

Summary Have enjoyed this around the house; a bit heavy for travel. Doesn't fit my old case.

Pros It looks nice. In the Auto Biz we say: "If it won't go, chrome it"

Cons Slooooooow. Support Stinks

Summary It is slower than my first laptop, a Zenith 256 back in the early 80's. Customer support is a joke. It took by my watch, 28 minutes to reboot after downloading just one Vista update. Customer support said "I'm sorry you are having trouble". They don't get the part. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND it even to people I hate.

Pros Performance, Display, Full Size Keyboard

Cons Battery is Terrible

Summary This a beautiful desktop replacement. I really think the folks at CNET were just too harsh in their opinion on this. I see absolutely no performance issues. This is a case of benchmarking software showing something that no user will ever really notice or care about. The only question you really need to know is will it do what you want? It will. I am burning a DVD as I type this without the slightest indication of performance issues. I am even running the original installed Windows Vista and I just do not know where folks get off saying Vista is bug laden. Not at all. I have it running with pretty much every option on (including Aero Glass), high color, and maximum resolution. Again not an issue. Just because you did not take the time to learn how to use the software does not make it bad software. The display is awesome, from game play to watching DVDs it does a fantastic job. And the speakers are great too, real nice rich sound. And as for office software and work related activity, it does me well there as well.

The only issue I can see is the battery. Plainly put, this is terrible. It is a weak performer at best and often loses its charge. Maybe I just got a bad battery, but then again I have seen too many complaints online about Toshiba's batteries. Overall, though I really do not rely on the battery much, so this matters little to me.

In short, if you want a great desktop replacement, you like this design, and this is affordable to you then go for it. At this point, benchmarks are almost worthless. The fractional gains of performance that get cited as significant are ludicrous. The P205-S6237 does what it needs to with ease.