We purchased this Toshiba Satellite L505 laptop to replace the one we had for 5 years.  I was drawn in by the built in webcam and the 9 key number pad.  The programs included are ones that we use frequently and the ability for the system to detect, diagnose, and fix any problems rather than making me have to figure it out myself.  Drawbacks I have found is the touchpad placement which interferes when doing extended typing and the webcam is very temperamental and works only when it wants to.  Most of the time I find that we need to turn on all the lights in the house in order for the other party to see us clearly.  Looks like the face of the sun in our living room and from their perspective it looks like dusk.  The speakers are terrible!  If I were looking for a computer to listen to music or watch movies this would not be the one!  It is fast and has a good sized memory so that's been a plus and best of all it was very affordable.  I would recommend it for a first laptop but not for anyone who needs it for writing or for frequent webcam work.

mrsmorin

Mooresville, NC

It is a great 2nd computer in our home. We use it wirelessly in other rooms of our home. It starts up quickly, the color is great and the installed programs like "Microsoft Works" that came with the laptop are very helpful. 

Phiniki

Rancho Mirage, CA

I bought this laptop for my daughter on her birthday a year ago, and I have to say that I am very impressed with the quality. Not being very experienced in computers myself, both my daughter and I find that this laptop is incredibly easy to use. The Windows 7 that was included, for example, is a lot better than the Vista that I had on my desktop computer and whenever I watch movies on it, the picture quality is great. Also, performing many applications at once was no problem for this machine and I found it very easy to multitask. There are a few concerns, however, which made me give this laptop a less than perfect review. The webcam quality and the sound quality. Often, when my daughter or I try webcamming with friends and relatives, the picture shows up dark and blurry, even after I change the settings to make it better. Without the 'Night Mode' option, there's barely any picture at all. My second complaint is the sound quality. While it's sufficient for one person to listen to, if someone wants to listen to music on the laptop only, maybe, three feet away it's very difficult to hear and the volume doesn't go up as high as it should.The quality is much better when using headphones, so it's probable that the error is in the laptop speakers. A small complaint of mine is the ease of catching fingerprints. Still, this is a very small complaint and even after the poor quality of the webcam and speakers, my daughter and I both agree that Toshiba's laptop is great for everyday, around the home use.

BajingoBro

Reisterstown, MD