Simply put,this was the best computer I have ever had, or ever used. This baby lasted me through all 4 years of college, when all of my roommates had to replace their computers (sometimes multiple times). I'll tell you what, if you want a test of laptop durability and field test results, give it to a college student. Even after being put through the gambit it worked like a charm. The battery slowly started to give way, but was easy to remedied with a relatively cheap battery. What I loved most about my laptop was the immense storage capacity and superb running speed. With 500 GB of memory, space was never an issue. Also, even when running Windows 7 and having multiple windows open, my computer never once struggled to keep up. A key feature of the design is the large speakers placed just below the computer screen. Volume was always great and lasted the life of the computer.

felixnpa

USA

I got this laptop before I went to college in fall 2010. I was heading into an art college so I was hearing a lot about how I needed to get a Mac, but I've always been partial to PCs so I opted for a powerful PC laptop instead. The Toshiba Satellite A505 was a great decision. It has held up to my abuse, from running tons of programs at once (including multiple programs from the Adobe CS5 suite, which I was warned over and over only Macs could handle) to hauling it everywhere and even spilling some art supplies (paint, glue, plaster, etc.) on it accidentally. For awhile in 2012 the fan was running really loud and I had problems with it crashing, but eventually I wisened up and realized it needed a good cleaning. After I took it apart and cleaned the dust and crud out of the insides, it's been running like new ever since. In short, take care of it and it will take care of you. 'Extras': The speakers on this thing are the best I've heard out of a laptop or any built-in sound system. They don't get SUPER loud, but for personal travelling computer purposes they certainly do the job. I also am a big fan of the backlit keyboard - it was very useful in college while I tried to write papers or do other work (or play on the internet) while my roommate was trying to sleep without having to haul everything somewhere to have extra light. It's also just cool looking. The keyboard itself has a great feel and I love typing on it. The keys are super smooth. I'm sure I'll buy other computers down the road, but I wish I could take this keyboard with me! The only thing annoying about this computer is the battery life. It dies REALLY fast. I bought an extra battery when I got it, but at most nothing has ever lasted more than 4 or 5 hours of constant use. It's to be expected for a powerful machine with a lot happening running on a smallish battery, and it's not a deal breaker (especially with the nice long adapter/charger cord it comes with), but it could definitely be better. In summation, I'm a big fan of this laptop and it hasn't failed me yet after being used and abused pretty much every day for over 3 years.

all1e

USA

I like how easy it is to use, I dont like that sometimes the mouse jumps and you lose the page you are on. Not sure if my settings are just too sensitive yet or if its this machine. I just got it a few weeks ago and overall I am happy. I would recommend this laptop to someone who uses a laptop all day everyday. Its easy to set up and easy to print. I watched a dvd on it and great quality. the battery lasts a very long time.

kricar

Staten Island, NY

My dad bought me this product about 2 years ago, and it's still up and running. At first I had some issues with a random freeze up, then a pop-up would come saying something about a Kernal drive. My boyfriend was able to fix that by updating the drivers for the laptop, and I have yet to have that problem again. My laptop has amazing picture, sound and battery power. It had just recently needed a new battery, but the battery I have still works for a few hours without charge. I only now have an over-heating problem, which is probably caused by dust. All in all, this is by far the best Laptop I have ever used, and is one to really get. It is a bit bulky, and hurts when you carry it in a Laptop bag, but its well worth it for the amount of fun you can have with it. Ease of Use Barely any issues with this awesome laptop. Battery Life Lasts a really long time with the 12 cell battery that's included, and it took almost 2 years before I started having an issue with it. Durability I have dropped it a few times, bumped into it with some stuff, and yet everything works swimmingly.

SnuggleBunnehh

USA

Although this computer has plenty of space (4GB & 500GB) it lacks in many other areas.  First off, the laptop that I bought came with Windows 7 64bit and that messed up the laptop from the start.  It constantly goes into bluescreen, freezes, shuts down on its own, and a error message saing "NVIDIA Kernel Mode Driver Version 197.16 has failed and restarted."  This message and these problems continued to happen even after I reset the laptop to manufacturer's default settings and after I installed all of the driver and BIOS updates.  I shipped off this laptop to Toshiba, since it was under warranty, and they claimed to replace my hard drive.  Almost 3 days after recieving my laptop and using it, the same thing happened AGAIN.  All of the problems reoccured and I looked at the customer forums to see if I was the only one.  Thankfully, I am not.  This laptop has these bugs and Toshiba has not yet solved any of these problems to this day.  All I do is keep sending it off until they just get tired of me bugging them about faulty technology.  DO NOT BUY THIS LAPTOP!!!! IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME OR MONEY!!! Thankfully my uncle bought me this piece of crap and I didn't use my hard earned money! ;p I hope this was helpful.

shillelagh

Bay City, TX

I bought my Toshiba well over two years ago and this baby is still purring like a kitten. Love the storage capacity. Love the durability. Love the screen size. I'm not tech savvy, so when I went to get a new laptop, I had to ask the sales guy for a recommendation. He suggested the Toshiba, which I had never owned before, went with his suggestion and haven't looked back. I've recommended it to my friend who went out and bought the same computer, and he loves it too. My only problem is the heat that eminates from the underside, definitely need a cooling system to longate the battery life, and i don't like how heavy it is. It is larger, which is what I wanted, but it can get heavy lugging it around. Maybe I shouldn't complain.......I know this baby will endure lots of travel due to the tough shell. I have become a game junkie on this computer, and its capacity to handle the action games and graphics is superb.

bytheyes

Perkasie, PA

I love my Toshiba satellite. Previous to my purchase of this laptop, I had a different laptop that wouldn't stay charged without it being plugged in and the cord had to be in the exact perfect position. I asked my friend for advise and he raved about Toshiba computers. I found the Toshiba Satellite A505 for a great price and I have been sold. I use my computer primarily for work using Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. This computer works great with these programs. I love the extremely long battery life. I have yet to find another reasonably priced laptop with a similar battery life. I love how it counts down the time left that I have on my battery. The mouse is a little bit overly sensitive and I sometimes move my cursor accidently with the edges of my palm as I type, but I have grown accustomed to this possibility. It connected easily to my wireless internet and was a great buy from my perspective. The only downside is my boyfriend wishes it would have a dedicated graphics card in order to play games or video editing. Anyone looking for a computer for school and pleasure should definitely consider the Toshiba Satellite A505.

cheerfulmags

Lincoln, NE

Toshiba Satellite A505 Notebook PC both have both good and bad things about it. It has fast processor, lots of memory, Big HD. Nice display. The design is sleek and styling, easy to carry around around 4-5 lbs. 13" notebook that could be treated and carry around as a netbook. It's full resolutions are at least 1366x768. It easily runs for 4.5 to 5 hours on a single charge easily. Minor issue which is the bad thing about it, sometimes you can see that the color is really off and hard to adjust. As for the camera start up screen, which appears on the edges and overlaps the scrolling when you are surfing. So I just got rid of the program all together.Also, as with all other black laptop, the black finish leaves a lot of finger prints on the system. The machine is half the price as an apple so if you are looking for something that is affortable and can be carry around and does the job, this toshiba is good enough.

njohnsonk

Daly City, CA

Well, I don know why the manufacturers would produce a laptop that doesn't have the capacity to run a system effiiently (like VISTA) that runs with a recommended 1 gig when the computer doesn't come with even a gig of capacity??? I don't get it. It's like putting a size 10 foot in a size 8 shoe!!! I had so much trouble with this issue that the computer stopped working and I had to send it in twice to Toshiba in less the a year from the date of purchase and once the warranty was over guess what...It died again!!! But I guess I'm smarter then the computer engineers at Toshiba because I decided to get rid of VISTA and replaced it with XP and now my laptop runs great, I haven't had an issue with the computer dying on me ever since. Another issue I experience is that every once in a while the computer wont turn on until I take out the battery and turn it on with AC current. This has been happening since I bought the laptop as well. I'm seriously considering going to another brand because I couldn't believe that I fixed a problem that Toshiba couldn't!!!

DADD

Trenton, NJ

I have had this laptop for about a couple of years. i can only say that despite the 4gb of ram it isnt enough. i am a crazy multiasker. i will watch a video while using microsoft word, and using AIM. needless to say the computer struggles to get it done. not that the computer lags but the computer gets really really hot. i mean like my hands cannot touch the touchpad and i have had to buy a mouse to replace it. it almost cooks my fingers. i bought a colling fan but it only reduced the problem by a little. then the computer had a problem with the charger. not the charger itself but where you put in the charger. it broke or something and the computer required me moving the wire just for it to charge. i can only say this computer has gotten me through school, but not because it was reliable, but because of my ability to tolerate it and fix it with my money and creativity to fix some random problems.

iggypop123

Los Angeles, CA