U500/U505 Owner's Lounge

"Thin is only one dimension"
Is there any interest from U500 or U505 owners (or wanna bees) in carrying on a conversation reguarding our Satellite notebooks?

I've been using 'full featured' lightweight notebooks for many years. I'm a fan of the 12.1" form factor, but that size has become an expensive niche. So, I recently invested in a custom built U500 a couple weeks ago.

Other than stripping out some of the crapware and figuring out which of the Toshiba tools actually add value (not many) and turning off the rest, I am happy with my purchase.

The short list of my configuration ...
the slower i5 CPU, not the slowest i3 nor the fastest i5
6GB RAM
nvidia 310M GPU
320GB HD
Bluetooth
modem
tray (not slot) DVD (easier to clean lens)
regular (not touch) screen
12-cell battery
Win7 Pro x64

The toughest decision for me was the bigger battery. Although my notebook travels around the world with me, I mostly run from AC power. I had to think hard about the extra weight.

Jim Johnson

 

Are you still using this notebook? I have been looking at the U505-S2005.

 

Absolutely. It typically runs 16 hours a day, 7 days a week and travels with me locally, nationally and within a few months, internationally.

I like the textured case. There is less chance the notebook will slip from my fingers when removing or inserting into a case. On the other hand if you are the type that like to highly personalize the exterior with stickers, you might not be as happy with it.

I typically use an external ergonomic style keyboard (USB when docked at my desk and a compact BT keyboard on the go). However, I do use the notebook's keyboard from time to time.

On the plus side, I LOVE the backlighted keys (the U505 may not have this option); on the minus side, I have a light fast touch and the space bar, at least on my unit, requires a slightly firmer touch. I'm getting used to it.

I have learned that it is safe to turn off any of Toshiba's bundled applets that you don't like. (there are a variety of tools, but Microsoft's/Sysinternals free Autoruns tool is about the best) However, until I run low on drive space, I see little reason to uninstall them. Rather, I just edited the Start Menu to place them in a single group instead of sprawling all over the Start Menu.

For local travel when I don't need extra gadgets, I like a 'right-sized' lightweight carry case. I also have the larger battery. This combination will not fit most 13.3" carry cases. I had to find a case made for a 14" notebook.

Anyone else's observations?

 

Hi there Jim,

a few days ago I became an owner of brand new and heavily discounted U500 10L... It comes with E6500, Ati graphics, 2GB Ram and the typical Wifi, Bt etc etc. Originally it was a Vista laptop, but they did game me a free upgrade to Win 7.

Anyway... build quality seems really nice, I love the texture which is not glossy, and the fact that it has small footprint so its rather easy to carry it in and out of the house...

My U500 is used on a 24/7 basis, as it is my main computer system...

Generally speaking I am happy with it, as it was what I expected it to be... but... something is puzzling me. Its speakers are to weak!!! In some cases, I need to grab the earphones to get any noise from the bloody thing. I 'm not sure if this was the designed performance (so no hardware problem here) or if something is wrong with this unit.
I would like to see if others are puzzled with the speakers... I know that maybe its not meant to be a multimedia laptop... but I thing it's inadequate even for Windows beeps...

My previous lappy was an HP Dv2000 which was really loud! I think that my MSI Wind is also louder...