During August of 2004 I purchased a Toshiba Satellite A65-S1662 laptop computer. If you’re in a hurry and don’t feel like reading this entire post, let me save you some time and just advise you to stay clear of Toshiba laptops and buy something better. There now, go back to your research.
My Toshiba laptop performed quite satisfactorily until one day about 6 months ago. I finished using it one evening and put it away, only to find that it was incapable of operating the next day when I attempted to boot it up. Since I am quite comfortable diagnosing and repairing my own computers, I decided to have a look.
I don’t have a lot of experience working on laptops but I was still able to come to the conclusion that the memory (RAM) had probably gone bad. Since I did not have a whole lot of time to invest in learning how to repair a laptop at the time, I set it aside and planned to look at it more closely some day. I was not entirely sure if I would try to repair it myself or have someone else do it. I figured I was looking at a simple memory replacement that might cost me $70 or so to do it myself or perhaps $100 or $200 at most to have someone else do it.
Today I decided to dust off the laptop and have a serious look at it and get it repaired. We’re taking a family vacation in a few weeks and I thought it might be handy to have it along since our hotel does have Wi-Fi access. As I always do, I started my search for information on the internet and found some helpful guides that covered laptop disassembly and repair.
I was able to download a memory test program that was highly recommended by a laptop repair technician. I was able to put the test program on a bootable CD and use it to test the laptop’s memory. Sure enough, the result was a sea of red from non-stop errors scrolling across the laptop’s screen. It appeared that my suspicion was correct and the memory had gone bad. That was no surprise, but what I discovered next certainly was.
In researching the problem further, I discovered that this laptop is blessed with ‘onboard’ memory. Sure, you can do a memory ‘upgrade’ by adding more by way of a handy slot on the bottom of the unit. However, the ‘onboard’ memory is integrated with the system board (or ‘mother board,’ if you prefer) and cannot be removed. Since my laptop did not have a memory upgrade installed, it was pretty obvious that it was the ‘onboard’ memory that had failed.
What does this mean? It means in order to repair this laptop, I would need to purchase a new system board. A quick look around the net revealed that a new system board would cost me between $300 and $400 or so. Considering that fact that I paid $800 to purchase this laptop (brand-new) and it was about to cost me approximately half of that to get it repaired, I decided on another option.
I packed it back up in its original shipping box and stashed it away in on of our storage areas. You know, the place you keep all the old exercise equipment, sports equipment and the 968 pounds of colorful plastic that represents all the toys your kids no longer play with since they are now driving automobiles and are no longer interested in ‘Barney’ or ‘Power Rangers.’ Lord knows what I will ever do with the laptop, but I cannot yet bring myself to toss an $800 purchase that was made less than two years ago into the trash can.
With the lack of confidence I now have for anything with a label that says Toshiba, I am not about to invest in repairing a laptop when I would expect it to fail again some day in the not-too-distant future. This laptop did not even ‘live’ to be two years old before it utterly failed. To me that says Toshiba does a pretty poor job designing and building the products they sell.
For a couple of hundred dollars more than it would cost me to replace the system board in my laptop, I could purchase a brand-new laptop from a manufacturer that I might have a little more confidence in. Not to mention and extended warranty (more on that below).
During my short walk up to the storage area, I made a mental note to never purchase another single product with the name Toshiba on it ever again. That is not a promise I make to myself lightly. Yes, when it comes to products and services, I do indeed hold a grudge and it is a lifelong one at that. I have written about experiences like this in the past, such as my happy and satisfying experience (yeah, right) owning a 1991 Ford Taurus a number of years ago.
I have learned a few lessons from this experience, and I am happy to share them with you.
Number One: I will never cut my research short again. I am usually the kind of guy that spends a day or two on the internet thoroughly researching before making any kind of major purchase. I had heard a few good things about Toshiba laptops through the years and allowed that to influence me instead of conducting all the research I would normally do. In searching for information today, I discovered that there was no shortage of trouble with Toshiba laptops and one laptop technician reported more problems than usual with the system board on the model I own. Not a surprise at this point, I am sorry to say.
Number Two: Never, and I mean never, buy a laptop without an extended warranty. I normally never purchase an extended warranty for anything, so I do not make this recommendation lightly. I read advice from a few laptop repair specialists on the net that made this recommendation and after this experience, I must agree with them completely. I would not hesitate to purchase an extended warranty covering four or more years if I was purchasing a new laptop.
Number Three, if you decide to ignore the advice in ‘Number Two,’ you might save yourself a lot of trouble and money if you buy a laptop that does not have ‘onboard’ memory so it can be replaced if it goes bad. Anything that is ‘onboard’ or integrated on the motherboard will be cause for you to replace the entire system board if it fails.
Number Four: Don’t buy a laptop if you really don’t need a portable computer. This one will be controversial, I am sure. I have always hated laptops, and after this experience, I am not feeling that much better about them. When I worked in the computer industry and had to support various operating systems and software, I always hated working on laptops because they were quirky, generally slower than the desktop systems and the small keyboards and pointing devices were a pain to use.
Granted, laptops have a come a long way and are probably a lot less quirky and much faster than they were five or six years ago, but I’d still much prefer to use a desktop system. If you are handy at all with electronics, you can make many repairs on your desktop system yourself and it will cost you less.
In other words, don’t buy a laptop because it is ‘cool’ or because everyone else has one. If you truly want a computer you can walk around and use in various areas of your home or take on a trip, yes, you really need a laptop. However, if you just want a PC to park on your desk and use at home, save yourself money and potential hassle and buy a desktop system.
I am glad that I don’t have a serious need for a laptop computer right now. I will probably look at the possibility of buying another one some day, and right now I don’t have any idea which brand I could feel good about. One thing is certain however, it will not have the name Toshiba on it.
[tags]toshiba, laptop, review, failure[/tags]
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