Toshiba Satellite a665-s6067 review

I bought this system in August from Office Depot, so I figure after 8 1/2 months, it's about time to review it.

Purchase price was $900, for the following specs:

1. 16" LED screen with 1366 x 788 resolution
2. Intel Core i7 720-QM at 1.6 GHz, with Turbo Boost up to 2.2 Ghz
3. nVidia 1 GB 330GTM video card (GDDR3)
4. 4GB 1066 Mhz RAM ( 2GB x 2 chips)
5. 500 GB SATA-II HDD (5400 RPM)
6. 6 cell 4400 mAh battery
7. 8x DVD +/- RW
8. RealTek Wireless Card 802.11 a/b/g/n
9. Harmon-Kardon speakers with Dolby Advanced Audio

So for those specs, not a bad price.

Pros:

1. For a 16" laptop, system feels fairly light, even with the included 120W power adapter ("brick" more like it) in my laptop bag.
2. Powerful core i7 paired with 330GTM gives screaming performance in games. COD: Black Ops runs at 45-50 FPS, and less demanding games like WoW or Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty run at 60+ FPS on high detail
3. core i7 processor feels snappy. Programs open quickly, and I've been able to encode music from MP3 to AAC (Apple format for iPod), listen to other music, surf the net, and type in Excel and Powerpoint all at once.
4. H-K speakers are outstanding. Loudest, clearest audio I have ever heard on a laptop. For 99% of the time, I don't even need external speakers. Only time I've connected this to my stereo was when I was having a big party, and the laptop wasn't QUITE loud enough.

Cons (the fun begins!)

1. After only 6 weeks of owning, I began to get random "Blue Screen of Death" errors on attempting to boot Windows. I spent several hours on the phone with Rapush (or something) from India, trying to understand his accent and his instructions. After several hours, and no luck using Windows restore discs, or any other recovery options, he told me I would need to send the unit to Toshiba. I agreed, since it was still under warranty. Two days later, a box arrived from Toshiba for me to pack my laptop and power cord into. It was a nice box, and everything fit securely. I sent it off 2nd day air, and 2 days later, Toshiba called and said they had received it and would begin repairs. I put it out of my mind, and decided to let the Toshiba trained techs do their job. A week went by, then 10 days, and I still hadn't heard from them, so I decided to email. They emailed me a response saying I would need to talk to a customer support rep, and gave me a number. I called the number, and the rep (again from india, and again such a thick accent as to be almost unintelligable) told me that it was "being worked on" and would be ready "soon". When I asked how "soon" soon was, he said he didn't know, but would get back to me. Well, I waited another week for his return call, so this is a total of 17 days. I finally called back, got the exact same answer from a different person. I started to get pissed, and demanded to speak to a manager, who told me that the laptop wouldn't be fixed for at least another 2 weeks. All told, it did finally come back to me fixed and ship=shape, but it took SIX WEEKS to fix it. I am a student, and being without my laptop for 6 weeks really made life difficult, since a lot of my courses have assignments and even classes online. The WORST customer service experience I have EVER had. Slow, inefficient, unhelpful and unintelligable reps....
2. 2 weeks after getting the laptop back, it started acting up and would not go into "Sleep" mode; it would "sleep", but would then shut off randomly when I tried to wake it up. Emailed tech support, again got the run around, they told me my RAM was bad, and they did actually send out 2 replacement chips. Problem has since resolved, but still, that's a LOT of problems for a relatively new, relatively expensive laptop.
3. Within the last couple weeks, the "Hot Key" buttons at the top of the keyboard for the eco utility, wireless, keyboard lighting, and sound have stopped working; only the volume +/- keys work. I also can't use the Fn keys for some reason. I reinstalled a fresh install of Windows with Toshiba disc, still no luck.
4. 5400 RPM HDD --- SUCKS! So slow, and loud, and gets really hot! I upgraded to a 7200 RPM Western Digital Scorpion drive, and programs/files load much quicker, and with less noise.
5. Screen quality. A lot of light leakage, and poorly saturated blacks. Not only that, 1366 x 788 is pretty lousy for a 16" laptop. Things do look a tad weird (and yes I have nVidias newest drivers). Also, the viewing angle is total crap. Screen can be tilted from upright to about 30* back, but after that, colors wash out and images, text, webpages are almost im possible to see.

Overall, I would NOT recommend this unit to anyone. With my HORRIBLE product quality experience and bad tech support experience, I will not be buying Toshiba again. Ever. I would recommend people avoid this system, and this company, at ALL costs.

let me know if you want any further details

 

One other con I forgot to mention: battery life. I have "conditioned" it properly, by letting it run down to 5-10% while at school, then charging it and using it plugged in at home. Even with Toshiba's "Eco Utility" I've only managed a little over 2 hrs tops, and that's with Wireless off, no MP3 playing, and just typing class notes into Excel, Word, or PowerPoint. Total crap battery.

 

Fair review. More of a computer review + negative experience with Support/Repair [though I think 6 weeks isn't too bad; 4-5 weeks is average; I know still a long time].

I do agree it should NOT get BSODs for any reason. No excuses. Good to see the RAM issue was resolved easily [would suck for you to have you send it in]. I still see the "hot keys" still don't work. I would still contact Toshiba CS and avoid sending it in until you have a "free month" to go without it.


I believe your grip about the battery is unfair. It is an i7-quad core, with a dedicated GPU; not going to get great battery life regardless of manufacturer. I'm sure the original specs claimed 3-4 hr battery (which is never attained for any manufacturer).

I do agree the screen (1366x788) is more on the average side and the viewing angles are not great; but this was something you could have seen before you made the purchase? I would say the screen is very on-par for the price range.

The 5400rpm HDD is slow. I commend you for upgrading. I wish Toshiba would just make all primary HDDs as 7200 rpm.



My only thing is if you replace "Toshiba" with "HP, Dell, Acer, ASUS", you'd probably have the same support experience and same repair duration (if not longer).
I know the old theory was to never buy an "extended warranty" I would agree if the warranty was provided by a retailer (Best Buy, Circuit City, etx..)., but manufacturers warranties are absolute must haves.

A good upgrade for you would have been a 2-yr On-Site warranty [~$100], where the repairer comes to your home within 2-3 days after contacting Toshiba Support [no sending your laptop in].


Keep us updated with any progress.