Unboxing Toshiba Satellite A505 - S6965

lol same i had it for 3 weeks now its definitely the best laptop i ever had

 

Alright! Yeah this laptop has been GREAT for a month now.. and better on W7. I just can't complain... I can install all the games I want lol

 

Well, after doing one final round of checking out the various laptops at Best Buy just to be sure, the wife has decided that she definitely wants the S6965
that we picked up last weekend, so we unboxed it last night and will be firing it up tonight.

Can someone tell me how to make the recovery disks that we'll need? I've never had to do it before, so what will I need and what are the steps to make them? Thanks.

 

You will need 4 blank dvds and I think that there is a shortcut on the desktop to make recovery discs. If not, the program is in the TOSHIBA folder. The software will walk you through the process. It is very easy, takes about 30-40 minutes.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Hello again, people

Anybody running into problems with "Wrong disk inserted" errors? I tried installing Battlefield 2142 on this laptop. Ran the install fine, no problems. When I try to use the desktop icon to run the game, I constantly get "Wrong disk inserted, please insert the original "game" disk" (or a very similar error).

I've run into this problem with BF2142, The Witcher, and a couple other games...all of which I own the original disks for (i.e. , these aren't burned copies or anything).

Runnin Win 7 64bit RC Build 7100

Google came up with a bunch of articles about something called "SecuROM" , but I don't think anything like that is running on this lappy.

Any ideas?

 

just got the laptop yesterday, last one at best buy lol. really wanted to do a clean install but ended up just doing an out of box reinstall w/ the 3 disks bc i didn't want to run into problems bc of lack of xp 32 drivers. did anyone get xp 32 to work on here? if so do you have the drivers? i know less me will be available but i have 32bit software to install.
didn't have much time to play w/ it but so far the system is fast/stable.

 

SecuROM is the anti piracy software games use. check the game forums or contact the game maker

 

If you wanna install XP without having drivers in hand is a pain in the butt. Believe me, i installed XP on a VAIO and ended up in Vista (again) since searching my drivers was almost impossible lol

 

Thanks Kammster. My question is, why would these gmaes work on my other computer (also running Win 7 64 bit, same build) but have problems on the toshiba lappy? Something to do with the CD/DVD rom in the Toshiba?

 

Maybe your missing latest Driver? I have no clue on what it can be

 

the dvd drive burns well, some batches of princo blank dvds don't read properly, something with buring to close to hole on my desktop.

i haven't had a problem with the drive.

 

This may have been mentioned already, but, Toshiba seems to use Fujitsu hard drives in some of their "better" machines. Does this system have a Fujitsu Hd? And that's not a bad thing either.

 

Does anyone know if the Windows 7 disks that we will get from Toshiba for this laptop will allow doing a fresh install vs. a Vista upgrade only? I’m ready to purchase this system now, but I’m contemplating waiting until after October 22 if the media they provide won’t allow doing a clean install. I’d like to avoid having Vista remnants laying around that might make it less optimal.

Also, has anyone used a Bluetooth dongle with this laptop? The Best Buy Rocketfish Model: RF-MRBTAD / SKU: 8820886 is based on a Broadcom chipset and probably about as standard as anything out there. The small size of some of these Bluetooth dongles are great to avoid protruding from the system where they can get broken. Almost like having Bluetooth built in except that they use a USB port.

 

hey guys, i'm prolly gonna get this laptop...

but what are the chances they make it a little bit better or upgrade anything when they start shipping with windows 7 pre-loaded? Will those machines run smoother?

 

I'd say go ahead and get it now. Ours runs very smoothly and works great. It is pretty speedy, especially after dumping the bloatware that came with it, though we did keep Norton (2009 is a very good version and not much of a resource hog) and Picassa on it. The web cam works good after tweaking it a bit. Originally it was too dark and a hint of a greenish tint, but by playing around with the settings, it is fine now. At the sale price that BB sometimes has on it, it is a very good deal, at least we think so.

 

Its a prefect choice.

 

I've been reading, and i think im gonna buy one, but i saw a few complains about the colors of the screen. Whats that about?

 

Some people seem to think that the colors are kind of flat or washed out. I haven't noticed that with ours. Maybe they had the screen brightness turned down, knowingly or unknowingly. I compared our Toshiba side-by-side with our Thinkpad T500's screen, running the Vista "sample pictures" in a slide show on each machine and displaying the same picture at the same time, and really preferred the Toshiba. The color tones were slightly different between the two, but the Toshiba seemed more vibrant. This is also a factor of the Toshiba gloss screen versus the Thinkpad matte screen.

 

Screen is no problem man cheers

 

Ok thanks. And i have a few questions now if you don't mind I'm from Croatia and since I'm coming to New York im gonna buy this laptop there. I need to know how much are taxes there, and do I get extra charged leaving the country with a laptop?
Thanks.

 

Taxes depend on each state, "cheapest" Taxes are in Texas, but usually Taxes are about this:

If your income range is between $0 and $8,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4%.
If your income range is between $8,001 and $11,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4.5%.
If your income range is between $11,001 and $13,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 5.25%.
If your income range is between $13,001 and $20,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 5.9%.
If your income range is $20,001 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 6.85%.

Its not accurate, but its something.

Now, I bought this laptop at Florida. And brought it to Mexico with no problems. I even had 2 carrying with me at the Airport lol So no extra charges for that man

cheers and good luck

 

OK, thanks for the info

 

Which Toshiba specific programs can I disable at start-up or completely remove? There is a ton like Toshiba Eco Utility, Toshiba DVD Player, Toshiba ConfigFree, Toshiba PC Health Monitor/Toshiba Service Center, etc.

By the way I'm loving this laptop, haven't done much with it except download all the updates via Windows Update (1 was cancelled and 1 failed?), installed a few programs like CCleaner and Firefox, and removed Norton/Wild Intagent/Netzero Installer/Google Toolbar/Amazon Links/Picasa 2/QuickBooks Finicial Center. I got 409GBs out of the 4564GBs available so I think I cleaned it pretty well... Now time to install some free Av software and a few games .

 

Today (Sun Sep 6) Best Buy dropped the price $50 on this laptop - from $779.99 to $729.99. Anyone that bought one of these recently may want to go back and get $50 back!

I also noticed that the special offer in getting Microsoft Office with a new PC went up $50 today - from $79.99 to $129.99. I would hope that Best Buy wouldn't deny the price protection trying to claim $50 back on the laptop if someone bought both at the same time.

 

How would you go about getting the $50? I bought it a few days ago...

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=page&contentId=1043363603302&id=cat12098

It appears that Best Buy has a 14 day return period on computers, unless you are a Reward Zone Program Premier Silver member, in which case the return period is 45 days.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12076&type=page&faqID=1130982684058&h=387

 

I bought this laptop yesterday and is there anything that can remove the fingerprint marks on the keyboard?

 

I personally use this one Toshiba PC Health Monitor/Toshiba Service Center
.... I got rid of the other ones

 

I use my wasted/old "BOXERS" lol It does work 95% accurate.

p.s Yes - BOXERS are washed and clean.. Don't think I'm nasty

 

I googled the sales tax rate for NYC, and as of August 1, it was 8.875% of the purchase price. I would not think that there would be any extra charge when LEAVING the country, but you may have to pay some type of import tax (duty) when you get back to your country. Hope this helps.

 

A lot actually, thanks.

 

No you don't have to pay NOTHING for leaving country neither entering it. Its like a personal item which shouldn't be charged lol

Information from --> My Traveling Experience

 

Hey Blink, you gave him the American income tax scale. What ph1xton needs is the sales tax scale. check this out ph1xton: http://ny.rand.org/stats/govtfin/salestax.html generally though you will be looking at 8-9% tax on this computer in New York State.

 

ooo... haha
yeah something like that xP

 

there is info on hp's windows 7 models.

what are the chances i get this now then kick my self october 22 when toshiba drops the price or tweaks the specs?

also, when was the 6965 released?

 

Well, S6965 was released on July 24th or 25th. Not sure on exact date though... And well, Im not sure how much the Outlet item will cost later on, perhaps $650.

just depends on how long are you willing to wait. cheers

 

hey guys,
i just bought my toshiba a505.
im going to sell the hdd in it and get a faster one.
can anyone tell me what brand the 250gb 5400 rpm harddrive that comes in this laptop is.
i havnt gotten the laptop in yet, but i want to put the hdd on ebay as soon as possible...

 

No idea, I haven't checked that lol

 

aww the a505 at best buy isn't shipping, wonder when it'll be back :[[[

 

According to the on line store inventory, it's also now unavailable at several local stores that had it a week or so ago. I want one but was going to wait a few weeks until I had more time to work with it. I hope it's not already too late ...

 

same... :// hoping it comes back. itss a really good seller so maybe it will ^____

 

i got one on new for $590 shipped open box sale.
it came with the 1gb ddr3 4650 and 2.1 dual core processor!
insane deal.
the item is deactivated now though...

 

Wow! Thats just great and Good Luck for you I guess!

 

I'm in the same boat, just bought this laptop and want to know what other Bloatware I can get rid of. What Toshiba programs can we get rid of and not lose functionality of the laptop?

Also, I just registered last night to receive that free windows 7 Upgrade. Is there a specific list of drivers we will need to download than Microsoft won't automatically download, I know a few were listed here and there.

Thanks, this forum has been a huge help.

 

Tried to put it in my cart online last night to see whether some discount coupons I had would work on it, and it's no longer available in any stores near me... considering I live in a suburb of D.C. that's saying something. Are they coming up with an upgrade for this for Best Buy?

 

Assuming for a moment that this system doesn't show up again at BestBuy, what would be your next choice today? My top three requirements are HDMI output, a relatively large (16"+) screen, and preferably a discrete video card.

This looks like a monster, and there aren't many reviews out on it anywhere. It's also several hundred dollars more!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9492088&type=product&id=1218113721719

This Gateway has been around for a while with so-so reviews.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172511&type=product&id=1218043606827

I’m not opposed to ordering elsewhere either, but I struggle with buying a laptop completely sight unseen.

 

Guess BestBuy ran out of them i heard a lot of people (like me and others)were buying them since it was a good deal hope they resupply them though

 

There's an HP at 799 with the 4650 video card on newegg... AMD processor though and some of the reviews say it runs a bit hot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157020

Here's an ASUS running the ati 4570. Also amd turion but people make a point of saying it doesn't run hot for $649. Looks like a good deal http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220569

 

I sort of got the impression from the store that it is being discontinued, none of the stores around here I have been to don't even have the display model out any longer. Totally kicking myself for not buying it two months ago!