Toshiba vs Sony

I just bought a Toshiba P15-S420, 15.4", P4-3.0w/HT from Best Buy. I have only been using it for a few days and it seems to be working well. My decision came down to the Toshiba vs the Sony K15, but chose the Toshiba because of the speed and HT and better vid card. I will mainly use the notebook for Excel, email, internet, and burning CD/DVD's.

I really like the Xbrite screen, but widescreen on the toshiba is nice too.

The Toshiba is a bit heavier and a few things that have really started to annoy me are: the fans are very loud and run every 45 seconds (even on low power silent mode), when I close the screen (even half way) it goes into hibernation (even when I turn the feature off??). The sound is also very low quality.

I keep having second thoughts, that maybe I should have gotten the Sony...I have 14 days to return it and exchange for the Sony K15.

Does anyone know if the K15 has silent fans or is noisy?? I have heard both Toshiba and Sony have good reputations as far as notebooks go. Does anyone have any suggestions if either system is better than the other? I would appreciate any insight or opinions, thanks!

 

I've used Toshibas and Sonys and find them both to be top-notch machines/manufacturers. A couple of things that may help...

Change your power settings with the Toshiba power management utility and not the windows settings. On my Libretto, I found that when I changed the power settings through Windows, the Toshiba utility would always restore the defaults. This fixed the problem I had with the computer hibernating everytime the screen was closed...which, mind you, is a painful experience with a Transmeta Cruesoe processor....PAINFUL!!!! As for the sound, I've read this about a number of Toshiba machines and experience that on my Libretto. Granted the libretto is a subnotebook, so there's only so much space for speakers. But the sound is soooooo...weak and tiny. I've never really explored a solution b/c the sound wasn't important. You could invest in external speakers, or if you're feeling adventourous, replace the speakers yourself.

 

Thanks for the input...do you have experience with loud fans on notebooks? Am I just being paranoid, do all notebooks have fans that make noise? My Toshiba just seems to be louder than I expected and it goes off quite often (every 30-45 sec).

Anyone know if the Sony K15 makes a lot of noise?

 

Hi R45Mac,
I don't have any personal experience with the Toshiba, but from what I've heard they make a very nice notebook. One thing to remember is that there really is no "low power" mode on any notebook with the P4 processor, that CPU draws a ton of current at all times and that will require a hefty fan to get rid of all the heat that is produced. If you have a 14 day trial period, then take it back if the fan bothers you. If quiet is what you like, you might try getting a notebook with the Pentium M CPU (not P4-M), it uses a fraction of the power with only a small loss of performance. 1.5Gh M CPU is equal to about a 2.2 to 2.4Ghz P4 and unless you a heavy duty gamer you won't notice any difference except that the fan will be small and more quiet, the battery will last for 6-7 hours instead of 1-2 hours.

good luck
Jack

 

Thanks Jack...I will keep that in mind. I do like the Toshiba I got, but maybe I just notice the fans too much. A friend of mine has a Dell 5150 and his is not as loud as mine and the fan does not run as often either.

Does anyone know if Sony's(mainly the K15 or K17) are quiet or more quiet compared to Toshiba's (P15's)?

 

I'd imagine the the Sony would be quieter. I don't have a K series, but do own a v505 and NV190...both fans are extremely quiet even with a full load on the CPU. Sometimes my Toshiba reminds me of a plane getting ready to take off the way the fan ramps up with load. I wouldn't say you're paranoid, it is a legitimate concern you have about your investment. If it really bothers you, take advantage of the 14-day grace period and try the K series on for size. If you keep the Toshiba, eventually you'll come to expect it as normal and will block it out.

 

Thanks, I did change the Toshiba power settings and it no longer goes into hibernation when I close the screen.

I still have the Toshiba and I really only hear the fans when I am in a quiet room...they are a bit annoying, but I guess the P4 3.0w/HT needs a lot to keep cool.

Have a few more days to make sure I am going to keep the Toshiba...

 

i have a sony pcg k15 and the fan doesn't seem to be loud, atleast to the point where it annoys me. it's pretty quiet, but that's just me. actually i'm having second thoughts about it because i think i want to get a toshiba, like yours. I like the widescreen better, but XBRITE is awsome too!

 

nameless,
Thanks for the input on the fans, slowly I have started to ignore the fans on the Toshiba...I guess I just wasn't used to a notebook.

I had originally decided on the K15, but due to rebates on the Toshiba at Best Buy two weeks ago, I made a last second change and now I am having some buyers remorse. The Toshiba I have seems to be good so far. The fans are a bit annoying (but that is just a personal thing), but the only other thing I can really complain about is the limited software...all it comes with is a bunch of trail ware. I haven't tried to burn a DVD from old home movies yet, but the software seems limited. On the positive side the widescreen is very convenient when using Excel (which is what I use most of the time in my classes). It also seems very powerful and fast, I have had no problems at all while having Outlook, Excel, and multiple IE windows open at the same time.

What do you really like about the K15 and what do you not like about it so far?

 

The fans used to get to me also. I figured since I was now using laptops, I'd be rid of all that racket. The first laptop I purchased , a Sony XG-500 had a pretty loud fan. It wasn't so much the fan that bothered me, but the machine 'whine' the fan made. When I purchased the Sony NV190, that was the first machine where the fan was truly almost silent, even on full load. Same for my v505, almost silent on a full load. In between the NV190 and the v505, I got a Toshiba Libretto L5. Like I've said in previous posts, like an aircraft pulling off. Took me by surprise since it's such a small machine. The Toshiba P15 looks like a nice machine and I think you'll be happy with it. Honestly, I think everyone buys a machine and then looks at another and says "I should have gotten that one". I know I do it everytime. Also, the Toshiba looks better than the Sony K. Small consolation.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by nameless