Toshiba A305?

I was wondering when Toshiba was planning to come out with this gorgeous, fully loaded machine in a smaller screen size...a 14.1" would be a much better option for me as well.

Hmm, let's see...well, what do you know... check it out at toshibadirect, there's the Satellite M305-S4826!

Thanks,
- tg

 

If you go to Toshiba's Tech Support website and select the Satellite family in the center column, the right column will bring up all the current Satellite models. Scroll down and you will see these are these models for the
A305-
S6825 T5550 32BIT
S6829 " 32BIT
S6833 ?? ??
S6834 " 32BIT
S6837 " 64BIT
S6841 " 32BIT
S6839 T8100 32BIT
S6843 " 64BIT
S6844 " 64BIT
S6845 " 32BIT

Once you select one of the above models and click Show Results, it will bring up another page with several choices, one of which is Detailed Specs. The detailed spec has four pages of stuff, but the first page has all the info everyone is looking for.
For my money, I'd like the S6844, but no one sells it yet. :{
Here's the link to the Tech Support Center page I'm talking about

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_modSel.jsp

Cheers, y'all

 

Hi all Im new here..I was interested in purchasing the new Toshiba Satellite A305 series..I have not seen it yet(online online photos) is it really think and bulky? Also, when you all say its 64 bit, when I went to bestbuy.com it doesn't mention it being 64 bit, are all the A305 series now 64 bit..Also, for anyone that owns the laptop, what do you all think of it..is it really fast, no crashing, anything like that..I was thinking about getting the A305-S6825..it has a webcam, does that mean that it has the recognition ability that if I put my face on the webcam it will recognize that it's me..since this particular one does NOT come with a fingerprint reader..I know the old toshiba's had sometimes that feature on the touchpad where it had little icons that you can click to go to applications, etc..does this have this feature..Sorry for all the questions..Thanks

 

Anyone tried to install a dual boot on this machine? Want to install XP. Called Toshiba support but all they could tell me is that they don't have all the drivers for XP, couldn't tell me what they had or hadn't. Told me to check out some third party sites.....v.helpful.

A305-S6837

 

You can check to see if its 64bit vista by coing to the control panel and checking the system type. It will look like this
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3214022&postcount=16
Thats from my A305-S6843
It does come with face recognition software, I have not tried it out yet to see how it works though.

 

Thanks so much for the info..are you happy with your computer..any issues..I was thinking about getting the A305-S6825 or the A305-S6837..not sure if its gonna be 64 bit or not, I Guess I have to call the store and find out..is there a difference, I would want to get 32 bit since that is what I am used to..but overall, are you happy with your machine..any pros/cons that u can tell me about..how about the size of the machine, is it very thick, how is the touchpad, some were complaining about how shiny it is, not sure what they mean..Thanks

 

What is the color? In the pics it looks like dark blue outside and black inside but I am not sure. Can you post some pics? Thanks

 

It is a gloss black, inside and out.
I'm loving mine. I have a beautiful and powerful Fujitsu laptop also, but right now I'm favoring the Toshiba and the 64 bit... YES! I'm looking at another desktop (not Toshiba, as I don't believe them make desktops), and it is 64 bit also. By coincidence, is on sale at Best Buy also at a fantastic price.

 

Yes its all gloss black inside and out, the keys are shiny and kinda slick and that took some getting used to but I really like it. I only ran into one software issue with the 64bit, the Sony E-Book reader software does not work on 64bit vista. No big deal, Ill just use another reader and get my ebooks some place else. To me it doesnt seem that bulky or heavy, footprint wise its smaller than the IBM X61's we have at work but not much thicker than them. I have Call of Duty 4 loaded on it and hooked up my spare Logitech G5 mouse and played for a while on it last night. I really like it. My only issue is that I tried to hook my main monitor up going from HDMI to HDMI on the monitor and it would not come up. I was able to hook up the laptop to an older monitor using a HDMI to DVI cable and it worked fine. I'm thinking its a settings issue but am not quite sure.

 

Hello, A305-ers,

Did any of you out there who have already purchased this machine also get the extended warranty from toshibadirect.com?

This is what I've been told by my husband, who is a UPS guy in San Francisco: he has a Toshiba repair guy on this route. The repair guy informed my husband that if I get this notebook, even if I get it at Best Buy, I can still purchase one of toshibadirect's extended warranty packages. This has to be done within 30 days of the purchase the machine. Best Buy won't always tell you about that option. According to the Toshiba repair dude, it's a good way to protect your investment (especially considering all of the moving around that notebooks do--I mean, stuff can happen).

Please note: the opinions expressed in the previous paragraph are that of the TRD (Toshiba Repair Dude) on my husband's UPS route and not necessarily those of ToothGirl.

Addendum: Please note that the super-duper suped-up A305-68 43 model is available ONLY at Best Buy--this was what I was told by a sales rep at toshibadirect. Tobisha made this particular configuration exclusively for Best Buy, and it is unavailable anywhere else (including toshibadirect!)

Back to studying,
- tg

 

Thanks for that color info guys. It is a great laptop and probably I will get one when I get to the US but I think it is too big :-/ (14,3" / 10,5" / 1,5")

 

I actually had wished it was larger.

 

Hello, Fiko,

If footprint size is an issue, you may want to consider the following alternatives:

• The M305 series (for example, the M305-S4826): 14.1" screen size
• The U405 series (for example, the U405-S2830): 13.3" screen size

Both are "brand new" (as of the time of this posting) launches of Toshiba's Satellite family of notebooks, and both include the Fusion finish with Horizon pattern lid (just beautiful).

I'd advise you to read the specs (check out toshibadirect.com) of the various available configurations to see if any will meet your needs.

I hope this helps,
- tg

 

So, anyone play any games on this thing yet?

 

i bought this one on Wed. It is pretty powerful but the major issue I am having is the wireless card doesnt pick up N signals.. otherwise yes this thing is a steal & its in the paper todya for 899 so Im going to get another $100 when I go back in with my ad if I dont end up returning the thing due to the wireless issue.

 

Could someone give me information about the battery life???

 

Anyone interested in the unit with the Turion?? I am, so I though I'd ask..

 

BestBuy.com is out of the S6843

You can get the S6845 at Buy.com for $1226
http://www.buy.com/prod/toshiba-satellite-a305-s6845-15-4-inch-laptop-pc/q/loc/101/207535193.html

This is the 32 bit machine with all the same hardware. I needed this because most of my external hardware (for studio recording) does not yet support Vista 64.

 

Yep, I played Call of Duty 4 on it all weekend.

 

So far Toshiba Direct shows that the 14.1" has only integrated graphics. Anyone have any info if they're gonna release some models with dedicated graphics?

 

I saw the A305 at Best Buy today, man that is one shiny reflective keyboard!

 

As far as the keyboard is concerned..someone at circuit city told me that its kinda like nailpolish and that it will flake off after a few months is that true?? Do you all recommend the A305 model..the circuit city near me has the A305-S6829 for 829.99 after rebate..I am gonna go check it out tomorrow

 

i would buy the one on sale at BB for the $70 more its a better model. the 6837. Also if you do buy at CC dont bother with their insurance plan it sucks. BB has the 3 yr plan for these same puters & CC wants $30 more for 2 yr plan which the 1st year they send you to the manufacturer.. what a waste of $330 I spent on my last lappy, that died 14 days after warranty was up & they dont offer you a renewal on their plans either.. stay away from CC seriously. their models even looked cheaper than BB ones. they didnt have anything powerful even the sales guy told me that LMAO!!!!

 

Actually, having consulted for one of the largest computer makers in the country in the past, I can tell you that lower quality parts on desktops are put in when they know the machines are to be shipped to BB.

 

desktops? yeah I can believe that since I have had ONE yes ONE desktop out of about 8 from there that has lasted through the warranty.. Vaio-Sony must not use crap parts cuz its the ONLY one I have had for 4 years now & really have had nothing major go wrong with it. I literally blew up 2 Hp's & am working on a 3rd one right now LOL gawd they sure suck. but we are discussing a laptop here & seriously I dont know why any company would go through the bother of sorting out their distribution & manufacturing to make inferior stuff & then offer a warranty on their site seperate from BB also? Thats kinda like me putting a faucet in someones house & saying i dont like these guys & they will spend the $$ so I am going to put this garbage in & sell them that for the same price. Yes I have to go back 10 times to fix said garbage under warranty ?? Kinda pointless IMO..

 

Is your implication that one is better off purchasing a machine (desktop and/or notebook) through a retail or online outlet other than Best Buy? If so, what made you decide to go with the A305-6843 (a Best Buy exclusive?)

Thank you,
- tg

 

Can someone explain to me what it means 64 bit architecture..the laptop that I am interested in, the A305-S6829 has a 64 bit architecture..but its 32 bit..what does that mean..I dont want a 64 bit processor because all of my programs are 32 bit so for me that would be a waste of time..Also, for the ones that actually own these laptops, are u happy with it..and how is that black finish?

 

i like the finish. I have not completed my decision on whether I really like the puter yet or not. I will know this weekend when i test it fully for my testing stuff. the battery is over 2 hrs when not running alot of apps. it doesnt get too hot & I have on for at least 6 hrs at a time. dont know much about the 64 bit stuff...

 

Finally pulled the trigger on the 6843. This post will be updated when appropriate.

 

I am also thinking about this laptop http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8770494&type=product&id=1203815722874 It's almost the same as A305 but it has 13.3" screen.

A305 vs U405 I really don't know...

 

Laptops and desktops are different beasts. Desktop components are often interchangeable with more variety vs. the laptop. I would doubt this issue to affect laptops.

 

All-

I am a newbie to this site however I am finding a lot of very useful information from all of the members of this forum.

The reason I am here is because I just barely bought a Toshiba A305-S6837 from Best Buy at a killer price, $899.99, however I am running into a few problems that I don't know how to fix myself. I must mention that I am impressed with the speed of this machine, especially for a laptop and also the amount of memory that it has right out of the box. The downfall, VISTA...I do not like Vista at all and I have no idea how to remove it from the computer and go back to my oh so familiar MS XP.

Another problem that I noticed right off the bat and I see it has been mentioned a few times on this thread already is that I cannot get the computer to connect to the WIFI at my house. All of the settings are correct but I receive an error message everytime I attempt to connect. Has anyone that owns this machine experienced and been able to fix this problem?

I don't want to make this sound all bad because in reality, for the money, I think that this is a great deal for a high power laptop. The keyboard is not the usual laptop keyboard that usually ends up causing frustration by hitting the wrong key. The keyboard is setup in a way that each key is isolated from the next just enough that you don't end up having "fat fingers" when you type and they have a feel about them that is very firm and exact. Also, the touchpad gives you the option to scroll horizontally and vertically on each page if you touch it on the side or the top which will be great for those long spreadsheets.

If you have the opportunity to pick one of these up for the price I mentioned, you can't beat it. With 4 GB of RAM and a 300 GB hard drive, you are packing a desktop in your laptop bag! The only thing I want to change is to remove Vista from the computer and install XP instead as it is an OS that I work with on a daily basis and I have no need for the bells and whistles that are the highpoint of Vista.

So, if anyone has any technical advice on the WIFI issue or removing the Vista OS and replacing it with XP, please help this Newbie out! I work for an Electronics Manufacturing Company with a great IT department and normally they would just do this for me but we just expanded and they are extremely busy running all new LAN connections for 300+ people so they don't have a lot of spare time on their hands. I did call Best Buy to see about having it done but I am not really feeling like paying them $300 to do it.

Thank You!!

 

Hi sk8, I just now pretty much gave up trying to get my wireless to work any decent distance. I went & bought a 50' ethernet & ran it through my house & hooked up a wireless router on the other end since you cannot get N adapters for in between & mine was getting horrid speeds. SO I am running mine via 2 routers & its getting alot better speed but still not great for what a N should be doing.
If you arent getting any wifi connection at all I would make sure the switch is on the front of the machine. ( it sounds silly but HEY I know people have done it.. ) if its on & no go I would take the thing back as I too have been hearing horror stories about this wifi card.
I do agree its awesome price for what yah get on it so the wireless issue I just finally decided to do it yourself repair since there seems to be no help out there for it. I dont know abotu switching your OS to XP as with 64 bit I dont know if you can get it to work. Someone else might be able to tell you better than me on that. You also might want to ask that directly in a new thread i am not sure how many of the people come into this thread. Good luck!!

 

jandr is a very well known and reputable store in nyc
i've personally gone there and purchased things many times, it's actually right across the street from city hall and the own the whole block, they are in tight competition with b&h

however you'll want to check their return policy as it is kinda sucky, 15 days and must have receipt

they actually have asus laptops on display which is almost impossible to find anywhere else

 

The wireless on mine works perfectly.

 

I'm not trying to be insulting, I just don't quite understand. Why would you need to have essentially the same operating system as a dual boot? I can understand a Windows style operating system, and then a Unix style system... but why would you run Vista and XP on the same machine?

 

I just bought the a305-s6837 a few days ago, have only had one problem so far. My Palm wont sync with it? Does anyone have any issues with this?
Also, Im slightly confused (not computer smart) about the bluetooth? Does it have bluetooth built in?

 

DOnt have a palm pilot & never used anythign bluetooth but I noticed it might have some capabilities for BT.. Just havent really looked around in it yet. I am going over to BB in a while I will ask them.

 

And has anyone purchased or heard anything about the A305D, (model with turion processor), I know there's a 2.2ghz model on Toshiba's site...
Also has the radeon1250, as far as integrated, i guess it's as good if not more powerfull than the x3100.

 

Hi, I was wondering now that many have had there 305s for a time now could comment on the battery life you are experiencing? Also, I believe someone asked about removing Vista and replacing the OS with MS XP, is that possible on the A305-S6843? And could someone comment with a little more detail on their gaming experience on this machine?

As for the PSP available from BestBuy, well they "lemoned" my Sony Vaio which I deeply loved and have given me the originally price I paid for the Sony as a credit toward a new laptop, I purchased my laptop nearly three years ago and I was surprised when the Geek Squad called and asked me to choose a new laptop from the computer sales area. Imagine having use of a laptop for three years and when it fails given credit for what you paid three years ago - $1,799.99. Only problem is if you choose a lower price computer you loose the difference: $1,799.99 choose the Toshiba at $1249.00 and loose the $550.00 difference or is it truely a loss when compared to the advances in laptops since then.

 

I have the s6837. OK first off my battery is keeping over 2 hrs. IF I am gaming obviously its less cuz then I am running my cooling pad just to be safe. Pretty much when I am gaming I just plug in anyway cuz I think that is what killed my prev lappy battery. Gaming has been pretty good on this one compared to my old one, its moving faster & it doesnt seem to bog down nearly as much as the old one.
Now you had a $1800 lappy & they lemoned it out & why would you switch from Vaio to Somethign else? I have a Vaio desktop & If they lemoned it out I would get another one, they are the most awesome issue free puters I have had. The only reason I dint get sony lappy is cuz they are darn spendy & this was a emergency since i broke mine 14 days after my warranty was up.. LOL
Im surpised the lemoned it so easily, it susually a fight to get em to do that you musta had a real lemon... they lemoned out a HP we orig bought from them for like 3K way back.. I got a really nice one for that amount & they also let me get a new monitor since the one that came with the old one wasnt compatible LOL Seriously if they give you $1800 I would get some super machine close to that price. If your BB is a small one check around at others, or ask them if you can order one online, there is a better selection there I think too. Good luck!

 

Well, thanks - I am a Sony Vaio person but the offerings currently at BestBuy are poor - most Vaios at BestBuy are $1,250.00 and below and the sales staff have no clue as to what maybe coming down the line for them to sell. For some reason there is currently very few choices in the way of middle to high end laptops at BestBuy and out of the choices this Toshiba seems to be a good deal. My Vaio was a good machine with no complaints until something to do with the power board began to turn off the machine and not come back on until I removed the battery and replaced it and turn the machine on again. I really wished they could of fixed it. But the Geek Squad guy said it hadn't been written up correctly and he re wrote the previous repair entries and said the machine should be returned in about three weeks turned out they called back in three days and "lemoned" the machine. And right now BestBuy has a generally poor selection of laptops.

 

wow the best buy here had a couple of vaios & the highest one was like 2800 i think.. They had one for almost 2k I wanted it bad but just couldnt spend that right now. Good luck & let us know what you get!

 

I too purchased the A305-S6837 (4G Ram, 320G HDD, Core 2 Duo) for $849 from my local Best Buy a week ago today. I couldn't be happier! My beloved Dell Inspiron 8600 (I hear the hisses!) of four years finally let me know his time with me was short, placing me in an emergency situation of picking and buying a new laptop in 3 days.

What I love? Where do I begin! Out of the box, after finding the Mac Address of this new beauty and loading it onto my wireless router, I have been to many ends of the internet earth at hyper speeds and back. I've loaded just about all of my games from my XP system, and they all play BEAUTIFULLY! Initial gloom and doom warnings of problems with Adobe 7 Pro working smoothly with Vista had me concerned and hesistant, but I took the plunge and am happy to report that aside from a hold-up solved by turning off account control (not needed since mine is the only account on Lappy), I was creating pdfs in no time. I don't have many other programs to load, so I won't be much help to many on that subject.

What am I lukewarm about? Training the new battery. I'm following the instructions this time, only plugging laptop in to fully charge the battery, and then unplugging both the laptop and the adapter from my powerstrip. With my Dell, I cruised through 4 adapters in 4 years. While I don't know why I killed so many, I'm willing to make the extra effort to baby this one. I am currently getting about 2.5 to 3 hours out of my battery now. This is adequate for me since I'm rarely away from an outlet for longer than that.

After the honeymoon period wears off, and if my opinion of Laptop changes, I'll letcha know!

 

Im thinking on getting on of these new toshiba's, I have never own one.
But the one that Im looking at is Toshiba A305-S6845 Notebook Pc,15.4.

Just want to know if its a good laptop or not.

 

to any one already bought the a305(s6843) i just want to ask,where is it made?
thanks

 

Just found this post, I read www.reviewsforlaptops.com/2008/05/toshiba-satellite-a305-s6837 this review on the S6837 and it looks decent.
Any other opinions on it?

 

hey guys,

I just registererd an accoount for, not sure really. Anyways Ill give you a brief. I purchased this laptop the day it came out in Australia, well Gold Coast. It is my first laptop i have owned and i am deffinitely proud of it. So far I have not come acroos another laptop as promising as this. not to mention everyone i have come across doesnt have a laptop as good as this once. Turns out the day I was looking for a new computer of some sort happened to be the day it just came out and the manager told me he didnt know much about the laptop because it came out the morning i got it.

specs are:

2.5 duo core processsor
400 gb HD (its really 450Gb) but the tag shows 400
512 mb graphics card which is the hd 3650
4 gb ram
and im probably misisng a few other things. Ill have to go check the box, its been a while.

Anyways, im curious about a few things. It came with the home premium 32 bit vista and it only detects 3gb of ram. Well detects only 3gb as in the task manager does, but when you go to the system properties it shows 4gb. Which is strange, i did a bit of searching on it and 3gb is supposedly the limit, however there are ways to make it use the full 4gb. Anyone have any idea or good way to do this?

And another thing is the media keys on the keyboard. Can you make them work for winamp? Ive gotten the media player button to turn on winamp instead of WMP, but turned it back to normal. Or the remote control that comes with it to work with winamp. I couldnt find a whole lot of info on it.

Anyways tho, this laptop is quite impressive. Beats the **** out of my desktop, and yes i did try a few games on it. I beat Crysis with this machine. It was a lot of fun too. I have to say Crysis really pushes the system. The auto-detect settings put everything on high which was one down from very high. But I turned it down to medium to improve the framerate and all that. Which for the most part it runs very well.

I havnt played a whole lot of games on it yet though. Warcraft 3 runs easily on highest setting, I played WoW on it with all settings completely maxed out, my framerate ranges from 30fps to 60 fps, which its usually 60 fps most of the time. I played UT3 for a bit which runs well, and Im going to try out Hellgate London and the original Halo. Halo should run easy will all settings on max, but Hellgate, I have yet to try it, but im sure I will be able to run it on very high settings or maybe max. Since I havnt played Hellgate yet I hardly know anything about it either but it should be pretty good as well.

 

I have the 6 cell on an A300 2.4 GHz and though I haven't timed it, the battery lasts around 1.5-2 hours. Not great. I guess the 9 cell would do much better.

 

Could you give a few more specifics about your network issue? I have an A300/305 and have no issues with my D-link "G" router. What router are you using? Does the laptop see the router but just can't connect?