Satellite P105-S9312

Ok everyone i am looking into getting the Satellite P105-S9312. How is the build quality of this laptop? how is the screen quality? What is the general consesus of this laptop or other laptops that toshiba makes? any information on this matter would be great. Thanks.

 

I just got it recently from CompUSA. Screen quality is absolutely beautiful--very vibrant colors. Build quality--well, I'll tell you this--I had it on a plastic laptop tray on my lap, and as I was putting it on a coffee table, to my shock and horror, it slid off the tray and hit the floor--my heart sank. But the AC cord is extremely beefy and sturdy, and even though the cord end is now a bit bent, it still connects perfectly. This laptop feels sturdy, too. It's very wide, due to the widescreen, but it also feels pretty light to me. I had an older Toshiba that I was never very impressed with, but this seems to be a luxury model. The 7900 Go plays Oblivion at full widescreen resolution with almost all the options maxed, and it plays very smoothly. Same for Far Cry and Call of Duty. This is definitely a laptop for gaming. The only "drawback" seems to be the hard drive, which, although it's a giant 200 GB, only spins at 4200rpm. I thought that would be bad, but the fast Duo processor seems to compensate, because the hard drive still feels fairly speedy to me. I'm in love with this thing--great laptop!

 

Fuddy,

Does your laptop get overly hot during gaming? I've read somewhere that it can be an issue with the 7900 series GPUs. It was a toss-up between the P105 and the P100 (in my sig) last sunday. CompUSA and Circuit City both are offering a $150 rebate. I went with the configurable P100 because of the 1-day 25%-off sale on 7/31. The slow HD was probably the deal-killer for me on the P105. Tell us more about your laptop as you get to know more of its features, will ya? :toshiba:

 

It gets somewhat warm under the left palm, but not hot. The 7900 GS, from what I remember reading somewhere, takes substantially less wattage than the GTX. It's also whisper quiet--once in a while, the fan will go on for a second, but that's it.

 

what kind of battery life do you get on the laptop? can you easily go over 2 hours? When i mean over 2 hours i mean that the screen is on full brightness and you are using the comp. (not just sitting) let me know. thx.

 

When I unplug the AC, the battery icon reads about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was on just battery for about an hour and a half once, and it was fine, but I haven't had the need to go without AC for more than that yet. So I don't know yet if the 2-15 is accurate yet or not, sorry.

 

FYI for all those interested in this laptop. Costco just added this in their online store for only $1800 (no rebates required). Instead of just a 15-day return policy like you would find at Bestbuy, Circuit City or CompUSA, Costco has a generous 6-month return policy so you can really put the laptop to its daily rigors and be sure you're really happy with it.

I already placed my order for my configurable P100 (see my sig) on 7/31, so I'm kinda debating if I should get the P105 instead. The main sticking point being the NVidia 7600 (P100) or the 7900GS (P105). I sure would like to know more about these GPUs from people that has first-hand gaming experience with them.

 

what comes with the p105-s9312?

bestbuy.com says it comes with a remote, but circuitcity doenst mention it...

 

It does come with the remote that fits into the PCMCIA slot.

 

thanks pharoke!

well i just bought it off circuitcity.com it came with a back to school kit so i get a free all in one, etrust security suite, and wireless router...

btw...costco.com now says its no longer available there...

 

The review here at notebookreview for the P105-S921 is also a very good description of this laptop. There are some differences (312 has T2500, 2GB RAM and 200 GB hard drive), but most of the review can also apply to the S9312. One thing the review mentions is that the bottom of the left side gets hot when running games, and it does, but I haven't found it to be so hot that you pull your hand away. As long as you're not naked when you have it on your lap , it's really not much of a problem.

 

BTW, this laptop also has a fingerprint reader, but I'm afraid to use it, because what if for some reason, it wouldn't recognize my own fingerprint again? I would hate to be locked out of my own computer because of some gimmick. Does anyone know how reliable the fingerprint reader is?

 

I'm not too familiar with Toshiba's fingerprint hardware/software, but a friend of mine who has a Toshiba with a fingerprint reader says its pretty reliable - it'll usually let him into his notebook on his first try. Its much faster than typing in a password at any rate.

 

Thanks, xAMDvsIntelx.

 

I should point out that with any fingerprint reader you should also have a backup password or mutliple finger input. The fingerprint reader is pretty nice imo but I still have the backup password just in case.

Also, to help take care of that heat problem on the left side get a notebook cooler. Mine showed up while I was on vacation, but started using it today and the left side barely got warm. Got the Spire Pacific Breeze for those interested.

 

Guess it was only available during the weekend. They probably sold out their whole allocation just like when they had the S921 about a month ago. Oh well.

 

I've got a stupid question for ya...How do you turn up the brightness on the monitor? I can't find the button anywhere

 

Hit function(Fn) button and F7 to brighten or F6 to dim.

 

I don't know of any button either, [edit: I do now, thanks pinoiaznboi] but you can right click anywhere on the desktop, then go to Nvidia display and click on Digital Flat Panel. Then on the left side of the menu, you'll see Color Correction. You can adjust the brightness there if you want. I like the default brightness, but I did bring up Digital Vibrance to medium, and it's gorgeous.

 

Thanks a lot guys!

 

whats up with the mouse pad that comes with it? Can i shut that off so it acts as a regular mouse? The reason i ask is that it looks like in the position where the volume control part of the mouse is I usually have that setup to scroll? How does it work? Can i make it scroll feature instead of the volume control? Are there any articles on this mouse?

 

If you run you finger along the right edge of the pad you will activate the scroll function. takes some getting used to. you don't lneed to change the setup or anything it is automatically there. I found it by accident. You utilize it in normal mode, not dual pad (blue mode)...as I said you have run your finger along the very right edge of the touchpad

 

One negative thing that I have to add is that once in awhile, certain CDs can be very noisy in the drive--a very annoying hum/whine. Seems pretty rare, though. I'm not sure why only certain CDs do that, while all the others are fine.

 

There is a program that Toshiba ships with the laptops called CD/DVD Drive Acoustic Silencer that you can use to slow down the rotaional speed of the drive for your current windows sesssion. Really doesn't affect performance much

 

Carefully check the CDs with this problem. They could be warped and/or heavy on one side. And make sure they are centered and secured in the tray. They will vibrate much like a car's tire that is out of balance or a bent or warped wheel.

 

i got this laptop but the mouse dual mode thing is driving me crazy. Everytime i enable it and the light comes on the mouse becomes useless. I understand it enables shortcuts to work but still it's very annoying. Is there a way to disable it? Please let me know. Thanks.

 

There are two ways to disable the touchpad you can use Fn-F9 to disable it each time you log into windows or there is an option to permanently turn it off in the Bios.

 

Does anybody know where I could find this notebook "available"?

I was checking every **** website looking for it and couldn't find it anywhere!!! It is sold out everywhere!!!

I might be traveling form São Paulo (Brazil) to Solon (Ohio - USA) by the end of the month and would like to buy one (or a similar one), but half of the **** sites are out of stock or selling it througth backordering and the other half doens't accept a credit card billing address from a different country than US.

 

You may want to try checking the local stock. When I bought mine best buy website was out of stock but the local bb had about 3 in stock for pickup only.

 

hey thats really close to where i live

Yea my best buy had one for sale too, so check local bb when you get there.

 

Hi!

Thank you for the feedback. Do you think that I can trust the "pick up" option available in site like BestBuy, Circuit City and CompUSA? Because as far as I could check in those site they don´t have the items available for pick up as well. Is it usually "up-to-date"?

Anyway, maybe when I get there they might have carried out an replenishment for it...

 

Generally yes the pickup information is pretty reliable. I have 2 bestbuys near me and only 1 had any in stock. I actually called both of them and the one that said it had them in stock did

 

If you buy the P105 from Costco, can you get the extended warranty from Toshiba and if so, how long do you have to purchase it? Thanks.

Gary

 

The extended warranty must be purchased within 30 days of the original purchase date. I went with the Toshiba 3-Year SystemGuard + 2nd/3rd Year Extended Service Plan.

 

Thanks for that but I guess I will probably have to buy from Toshiba because I don't see this at Costco at the moment. Will do some more thinking on it. Thanks.

Gary

 

Well, I ALMOST got mine. I already purchased this one at Amazon (it was sold out in less than 18h) and sent to a friend of mine who is already in the US. Since I´m no longer sure if I´ll go to Solon (I would go there on business) I had to ask for it to someone.

But I still have to wait 2 weeks before having it . This is saaaaaad....

Lets see if it is worth =).

 

Toshiba doesn't sell this one directly through them. Only available through a vendor like BestBuy, CircuitCity, Amazon, or Costco. Hope you find one!

 

Pharoke, could you tell me if this laptop came with a Windows disk or not and did you try a clean install? Also, is your hard drive divided into more than one partition? Finally, what is the capacity of your battery, 6 cell or 9 cell? Sorry for all the questions but I am very interested in this laptop. Thanks.

Gary

 

I'm the latest person to jump on the P105-S932 Wagon....

I've just had mine for a few hours, and I'm in love with it. It's my first Laptop, I've always prefered Desktop PCs, That's Why I went with this Laptop.

Anyways, I decided right after the first boot up to Re-Install the whole system, so I could make the 2 Partitions for the HDD, I hate having just one Partition, and if something goes wrong to formatt loosing most of the data.

So I made the C: partition with 20GB's which should be enough for all the regular programs, and the D: partition with the rest, about 166GB, where I'll install all the games, music etc.

It's really cool using the Fingerprint Reader, and I dunno why people complain about the 1440x900 Resolution, I think it suits this laptop perfectly, and it's more than enough for gaming.

I also ordered:

-Lian Li (Black Alluminum 17" Laptop Cooler)
-Microsoft Notebook Wireless Optical Mouse 4000
-Targus TXL617 XL Notebook Backpack

So I should be set. The only other thing I'm considering buying for it, its a "Creative Audigy 2 ZS Notebook (PCMCIA) Sound Card. The integrated SoundCard is not bad, it does the job. So It's not a rush to get the new sound card.

Anyways, That sums it up for me.

Hope to share tips and infos with the other Owners

 

SOrry hunt didn't see this tillnow. Does come with a windows disk but it is the recovery software, so no clean install. Hard drive is in 2 partitions for the os and a really small one 8mb or so for the Express media player. 9 cell.

 

Hello,

I haven't learned to use the Express Media Player, anybody wanna help me out???

 

Simply press the Express Media Player button to turn it on. Your laptop will will turn on (you'll see the Toshiba screen), but it won't boot the OS. Then you can either use the controls on the laptop or use the remote. Simple, yo!

 

Actually is not working, is it because When I used the Recovery disk to return it to factory settings, I partitioned the drive "C: to 20GB, and then in Windows I made the D: partition with the rest (166GB) and didn't make the 8mb partition ???

If so, what could I do without having to Formatt, and Start from 0 again ??

Thank you