My M55-S3294 has arrived!

I just found out my refurbished M55-S3294 from Costco has arrived at my parents house. Too bad I'm at my college apartment right now and won't be returning home to use it until Friday.

I'll be sure to post a nice review of the machine in this thread when I get my paws on it.
Too bad I don't have a camera to take pictures of it but I'll review it to the best of my ability.

 

Congrats! I hope everything goes well with your new Toshiba! So, what are you going to do with your HP?

 

I returned my HP DV4015cl to Costco last Saturday and ordered the Toshiba the next day. I chose the express shipping, which stated it would take 3-7 business days and so took 3 days to get to my house from California.
Its been a hassle this whole week in college without my notebook. I've had to go to my library's computer lab and its been a pain sometimes. Can't wait till I get the notebook so I can just use it in my apartment.

The last two Toshibas I used back in 1998 and 2003 were rock solid and performed amazingly but am unfortunately, hearing more horror stories and dissatisfaction from Toshiba users. It seems as though they aren't the respected notebook manufacturer they used to be.
I've heard several complain about the M55s build quality but found no issues in several display models I've used. Luckily, I do have Costcos 6 month return policy in case anything bad happens.


I hope everything goes well with whatever new notebook you get.

 

I just talked to my brother last night about it. All I know so far is that the lid is orange and that the only blemishes are two nicks on the lid where the Toshiba logo is.
I was expecting a black lid but oh well, at least my notebook will be quite unique from all the Dell 6000s and 700Ms the students are carrying around.

 

i like the orange, my friend has an orange m70 and i just love the colour. the grey on my m60 sucks, although it does look professional

 

How does the mist gray "suck"? I really, really wanted that color lid, even if its only just a silly color of a lid but I suppose I'll just have to live with the orange. Its pretty unique though, I'll give it that.

ARRRGHHH!!! Just 24 hours before I can go home and finally use it, the torture is killing me! Man, I should have had Costco ship it to my apartment!

 

I have finally got home and have just powered on my refurbished M55-3294 and am typing this out right now.

I am right now EXTREMELY impressed with the notebook, I love it!!!
It is considerably smaller than the HP DV4015cl I returned to Costco.

There is absolutely NO flexing anywhere, especially on the keyboard like some users have complained about, though I did notice their reviews were from summer 05 so I guess Toshiba fixed the problem. This notebook has very good build quality, better built than my HP. I'd say probably only the Thinkpads and Powerbooks would best it at quality, but of course they cost a lot more as well.

For a refurbished model, it sure is in excellent condition, the last owner took care of it like a baby. The only blemishes I've noticed are two scratches on the lid where the Toshiba logo is. Otherwise, this notebook could pass for new. In fact, it still has the new notebook smell, wow!

The screen is extremely bright, brighter than my HP and I'd go as far as to say its as bright as some of the Sony screens like on the Vaio FS.

The ONLY complaint I have about it, and its extremely minor, is the lid color, which is orange or as Toshiba calls it "Sunlit Copper". I was hoping it would be black or "Mist Gray" as they call it. I have of the highest specced, newest M55s out there and thought that these models would come in black. I know that the older M55s from last year came in Peacock Blue. The orange I find pretty ugly but I guess I can live with it, I have to actually.
At least its very unique compared to all of the Dell 6000s, 700Ms and Apple Ibooks students carry around at my university.

I paid $1120 for this with shipping and for the specs and condition its in, I feel I got a heck of a deal. The ones in parenthesis are the specs of my old HP

2.0 ghz Pentium M (1.6 ghz Pentium M)
1 gig ram (1 gig ram)
100 gb 5400 rpm hard drive (80 gb 4200 rpm hard drive)
Dual Layer DVD burner with DVD-RAM functionality (Same but no DVD-RAM ability)

I'm sure the faster hard drive and processor will make a world of a difference. Every notebook I have ever used in my life has used 4200 rpm hard drives, so thats what I've always known, I'm curious to see how fast this hard drive is.
The only worries I have about this notebook is about the keyboard being worn out and getting shiny. I know this eventually happens to all notebooks, but I feel that the 1.5 months it took to happen on my HP was way too quickly. Its palmrest also wore out, due to it being made of textured plastic. I like how the palmrest on mine is smooth and I hope the keyboard doesn't wear out too quickly. My other worry is having this notebook lasting me 2 years before I can get another one. Although considering I mostly just surf the internet, play old 2d games and watch movies and listen to mp3s, this should last me a bit.
I really wish it could have had a dedicated GPU for gaming. I'm like the only one here who hasn't gotten to play Doom 3, Half Life 2, F.E.A.R, Unreal Tournament 2004, etc.
I'll have to settle for my old 2d games and emulation for two years and play my PS2. Well, I am busy with college so maybe not having a GPU is a good thing.


This is an amazing notebook and I think only hardcore gamers would really be dissapointed by it, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!

 

If you dont like the color you could mask it off very well and take it to a custom painter. Lots of possibilities and you'd have a one of a kind.

 

I think I'm already starting to grow on it. I'm already broke after getting this notebook, can't afford a paint job.
At least its very unique, I've only seen one other Toshiba M55 at my campus which was peacock blue. Everyone else carries around Dell 6000s, Apple Ibooks and Powerbooks and especially Dell 700Ms, I see at least a dozen of them at the study loungue at my library, so boring!

Everything else about my new lappie is amazing, I LOVE IT SO MAAAACCCHHHH!!!!!!

For me, the smaller the notebook, the better. I absolutely cannot use a notebook bigger than this and it would have been even better if I could have gotten an ultraportable like the Vaio TX, but alas, my budget just didn't permit. The size is still nice and I mainly returned my 15.4" HP DV4000 because of its size. My last notebook was a 10.6" Fujitsu Lifebook P5020D and I've been spoiled by ultraportables.

I'll keep updating this thread as I use my baby more.
The keyboard, screen and powerplug are much better than the ones on my HP. The powerplug is securely stuck in the slot and takes a bit of effort to pull out, whereas on the HP, I felt as if it would pull out at any moment, though it never lid. The screen is very solid and shows extremely little to no flex when I tap on the back of the screen. I have to use a LOT force to see even a very, very tiny microscopic ripple. This is even better than my friend's IBM Thinkpad!!!

I'm so glad for a refurbished notebook, it has no stuck/dead pixels, picture perfect screen.
I'm just very, very anal about my keyboard and I know its a fact of life for them to all get worn down and shiny looking but I still don't want that to happen to my baby. If it happens, I hope it takes at least 6 months for it to happen instead of only 1.5 months on my Toshiba. On my Lifebook, the keyboard never showed any signs of wear or tear when I had owned it for 5 months before accidentally killing it.

I swear to goodness, you guys have no idea how much I love this baby, its so amazing, much better than my old HP. Stick a dedicated gpu and make the lid black, and I got just about the perfect notebook for me!!!

I am amazed at how fast the optical drive opens after I push the eject button, it literally opens instantly after I push the switch whereas it takes maybe 1-2 seconds to happen on all my other notebooks.

I just want to tell everybody who maybe scared off at getting a Toshiba M50/M55 because of complaints about build quality that mine doesn't have them, I bet all the newer models have had this fixed, or maybe I'm just very lucky. I just want to scream to the world that I love my new notebook!!! I am estatic baby!

 

An additional minor complain I have is about the power button to the very right top side of the notebook. When I'm watching the screen with the lights off, I at least find that bright light very distracting, but thats what tape is for I suppose, still a minor inconvenience though.

Overall, the positives FAR outweight the negatives, for like every negative about this beauty, there's 10 more positives to smother it.
The harmon/kardon speakers on it are very nice and just as good as the Altec Lansings on my HP, though I'm far from an audio conniesuer but I say all but the most diehard of audiophiles will be quite happy with the speakers.
I like how there's a display that tells you how bright the LCD is, unlike on the HP and I like the volume scroll wheel instead of the two volume buttons on my HP.
I had a bit of fun on the HP, but there's nothing about it that bests my new Toshiba. Still a good computer, just too big for my tastes. Wireless cards are also equal on both notebooks.
So far, no heat issues like a few users have complainted about.
I remember a user here complaining about the touchpads on Toshiba and how easily you could push them down and feel the plastic touching something below the touchpad. My touchpad doesn't budge a milimeter when I press hard on it.

The battery on this charges EXTREMELY fast, much faster than on my HP. When I first powered on the notebook, its capacity was at 56%. After 45 minutes, its at 92%, very fast if you ask me. It would take at least 1.5 hours for my HP to do that.


I am just amazed by the build quality of this, especially with so many complaining about the decline in quality of Toshibas, especially their Satellite line. Either I'm very lucky, or Toshibas working hard to address your concerns.
I have become a Toshiba convert again after a long while, GO TOSHIBA!!!!

 

I'm glad to hear that you love your notebook so much, you got an awesome deal, about the only thing that could have been better is if it would have a dedicated video card, but for your needs, that rocks. Those spec's sound pretty awesome for that price. I agree, I think Toshiba has solved their build quality over the M35's and M40 series. I'm happy with my M60 and I've had it for about 3 months now. Hope to get my review done tonight or tomorrow afternoon and get it on here. Keep us informed .

Matt

 

Thanks a lot! I'm starting to wonder if its even refurbished or not. Only a couple of scrathes on the Toshiba logo, otherwise the notebook is in absolutely mint condition. The scratches may have even happened during shipping. The last owner must have either used it for only a couple of hours or kept it sealed in a vault the whole time.

Wonderful machine. I don't care at all about the battery life really, as I am never away from a power outlet, just glad to carry it around. A 2.0 ghz Pentium M is actually far overkill for the things I do with my notebook, considering my Lifebook with a 1.0 ghz Pentium M ULV was plenty fast for me, but at the price I got it, I can always sell it later for a bit I hope considering all the dual cores and 64 bit processors coming out.

I'm hoping I can get used to the orange color lid, its a bit garish, I had really wanted a black lid, but I should be thankful that my dad let me return my HP DV4000 in the first place to get this.

The only thing I'm cringing about is having my keyboard keys getting worn out and shiny, but its inevitable unfortunately. Thats the biggest worry on my mind, even though its quite silly. I just like the textured feel of the keyboard and didn't like it when the keys on my HP got all smooth and shiny, wasn't as comfortable to use as well. I hope this one lasts as long as it can without it getting worn. I should really get myself a keyboard skin....

With every letter I type on the keyboard, even as I'm typing this on my new notebook, I'm just freaking out at the though that the coating on the keys is slowly wearing away....
I'm pretty sure I'm taking this WAY too seriously and will get used to it in time.

 

Well, the Toshiba's keyboards have been one of their main weak points in all the years I've used them (my busted Satellite had a TON of flex). However, they seem to have gotten better over the last couple of years - my dad's Qosmio doesn't flex at all and the keyboard hasn't grown shiny - yet.

 

How long has your dad used his Qosmio? The keys on my HP DV4000 got very shiny and worn down within 1.5 months of use, which I think is far, far too quick.


My keyboard is just perfect in terms of typing, its a pleasure to type on it. Zero flex, zero problems, I really couldn't ask for a more perfect keyboard right now.

My only concern is of the keys getting shiny and worn down, its going to happen eventually, it happens to all keyboards, but I don't want it to happen, I want it to stay textured as long as possible, I must be crazy, since I haven't seen any body out of the thousands on these forums complain about their keyboards getting worn down and shiny.

I'm actually thinking of wearing gloves or something when typing on it so my finger oils won't get on the keys and wear it down.

 

hey rahul congrats man, im happy for ya and welcome to toshiba. i wouldnt worry about the keyboard, jenson and I both have M60s, and our keyboards have not worn out at all yet. Ive had mine since august and the keyboard is still like new. BUT, let me tell you that my other friend, who has an M40, his keyboard is somewhat shiny but its most likely due to the fact that he eats chips and uses his gready hands on the keyboard. Also, one of my professors has a toshiba satellite A50, and you can see little reflections of yourself in the keyboard lol. In any case, you can always just replace keyboards too.

"I am amazed at how fast the optical drive opens after I push the eject button, it literally opens instantly after I push the switch whereas it takes maybe 1-2 seconds to happen on all my other notebooks."

Yeah, I totally agree its instant. Even when im playing a DVD, it opens instantly. I also agree that toshibas quality is not all that bad, my M60 has been holding up very well. My previous A70 was also built very well too. As for the orange...i would kill to have the orange. I like to be unique, not all professional looking and all that but the mist grey does look professional. Ill eventually paint mine but that wont be for a while because im too lazy. Best of luck with your toshiba

 

My dad's had his Qosmio (G15) for about a year and a half, and its holding up fine as of now. I'm currently using it as my "backup" until I can find a replacement for my Satellite. The keyboard shouldn't begin to get noticeable shiny until after 2-3 years of heavy use. Remeber - don't eat any oily foods (or any food for that matter) around you notebook and then use it!

 

I did mention that the keys on my HP DV4000 got shiny within only 1.5 months. Come to think of it, I had been eating a lot of greasy foods like potato chips near it and many times not washing my hands, that would explain the premature shininess perhaps.
That isn't going to happen again to my baby Toshiba, I love it way too much for anything to happen to it, I may even end up wrapping it up.
I hope my keyboard will stay the way it is as long as possible. I also like the "new notebook computer" smell that comes with it, even though its refurbished.

 

it sounds like you're loving it, andI plan on getting one real son from costco myself, do you know if you're still able to get a warranty with Toshiba? Or do you just rely on Costco?

 

Here's what I got from Costco's website,

"Costco Wholesale's return policy for all desktop and notebook computers is six months from date of purchase. After the six-month return window, all services and technical support will be subject to the remaining manufacturer's warranty, where applicable."

I bought mine refurbished from Costco.com by a company called Electronics Hardware Services which said "This computer has been refurbished by Electronic Hardware Services, a Costco company, and is covered by a six-month EHS limited warranty."

Here is the link to the notebook I bought.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11109361&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

I got it for $1099.99 and two days after I order it, they reduce the price by $50, LAME!!! Oh well, I still love my notebook very much!!

 

thats where I'm geting it from, so it sounds like you get the Costco warranty for the first six months and the Toshiba one for the next 6 months

 

Nice review and follow-ups. So how is it going with your new Toshiba since your last post? I had a Satellite P35 for about 15 months, until it was taken in a home burglary last week. I really liked that computer. It was truly a DTR for me, rarely ever leaving my desk at home. I have been searching now for nearly two weeks for a replacement, having spent many hours on the forums here and considering a number of computer makes for mid-high range DTRs: Sager, Fujitsu, etc. I'm leaning back toward Toshiba now, but don't find anything quite like the P30/P35 line (there's a nice review of the P35 from January 2005, though). Qosmio seems a bit much since I'm not a gamer; but I do like the higher end features of dedicated graphics and high-speed HDD. Although I think I want a bigger unit than yours, your review is helpful. Thanks in advance for any additional thoughts.

 

It hasn't been too long, its only been 15 days since I've had it and its been just wonderful so far, no complaints or issues about the machine that I can see, its just perfect for me.

The only complaints I have, and these aren't even complaints at all is that my keys have already become shiny and worn looking and the same goes for the stickers on the palmrest. But that only bothers me as I just LOVE notebooks, especially mine of course and always want them to stay in mint condition, even though thats clearly impossible.
There's also a few tiny nicks and scuffs around the notebook, but then again, this was a refurbished computer that still had the "brand new computer smell" and which I saved hundreds of dollars on.
I was expecting to get the black lid on it but got the orange one instead, I already got used to the color and it sets my notebook apart from all the boring Dell 6000s and 700Ms I see so much in my classes and library.

Okay, I also wish it could have had a dedicated video card to play games on because I'm like the only one who still hasn't played Half Life 2, Doom 3, F.E.A.R, etc.
But then again, the lack of a video card is probably good as I'm already falling behind in my schoolwork just playing old 2d games and being on the internet like on these great forums.

But otherwise, I would HIGHLY recommend this notebook for almost everyone except for hardcore gamers of course and other extreme power users. This machine is very fast, hasn't crashed on me once, the screen is the brighest and crispest I've seen outside of Sony's X-Brite, its better than any HP BrightView screen I've seen, I can tell you that much. The speakers are very loud, with little distortion and a good deal of bass.

Like I said before, I am surprised by several complaints of the machine where users complain about the build quality, especially concerning flexing on the keyboard. I noticed that these complaints were from summer 2005 and so I think Toshiba has fixed that on the new models, no flexing on mine, my keyboard is a pleasure to type on, very good keyboard. I have seen no build quality issues on this notebook, seems quite well built for its price, of course its not going to be a Thinkpad but I would say its build better than some other notebooks in its price range.
The touchpad is smaller than on most similarly sized notebooks, but I got used to it in a day.

There is quite a lot of bloatware on this machine, as on many other machines from other manufacturers, some of the Toshiba software is quite nice though.

I LOVE MY M55-S3294!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

how is the battery life on it??

 

The M55 should get around 3.0-3.5 hours of battery life with the standard battery.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot give you any battery life times on my M55 since I am always plugged in, though AMDvsIntel's assessment is pretty accurate I'd say.