Toshiba Satellite Pro A60 Review

Toshiba Satellite Pro A60

I picked up one of these a few days ago,and its a solid bit of kit.When it comes to everyday stuff surfing,letters etc its no slouch and can run the odd game.Build quality is solid,keys feel expensive,excellent display.I paid just a little more and got a 15" screen and a DVDRW.

Anyway, it’s well put together, good looking has a decent graphics adapter and importantly for me an excellent keyboard that’s easy to type on, I definatley have no regrets buying it.

Your Comments/Opinions

The Satellite Pro A60 offers users the choice of either the Intel Celeron processor for reliable performance and exceptional value or the mobile Intel Pentium 4 processor for enhanced performance, particularly when running processor-intensive applications

Roy

After a few mistakes and breakdowns on other similar models, the A60 came as a welcome replacement and as stated above it is a solid bit of kit indeed! Very well made - not too flashy with a discreet blue finish Looks matter little - the performance of the kit is all i expect from a P4 laptop. Its about as good as any for a similar price, and Toshiba is up there with Sony and Dell and IBM as regards units shifted and support. Out of the box you get a fair few bits and pieces including a nice manuel, plus recovery disks and microsoft works disc and other utilities, plus the drivers. Just boot up to go.

British Consumer

Decided to spend a few days checking it out before i wrote a review. I went for the 14" screen as I wanted to save money in case I needed to upgrade to the 512 meg of ram. Downsides/Quibbles. Windows XP home is okay but not as good as xp pro that I`m used to. Battery life. I know it says three hours but unless you turn the screen off and don`t use it you`ll not get three hours. As mine will be plugged in at home, this doesn`t cause a problem, but if you are wanting to travel get a spare battery, as I think 2.5 hours maximum. My battery is still new and not to its max capacity yet but i`m getting less than 2 hours presently. Memory - This is an odd one. The wife is quite happy with the laptop and in fact loves it. For me it doesn`t run quick enough when you have a few programs on the go. So it depends if you are wanting a laptop for 1 or 2 progs at a time or just need the space and browsing the net you`ll not what to change anything. If you are a geek like myself you`ll want to spend the £60 for half a gig of ram. If you buy the 14" monitor you,ve already save more than that over the near identical 15" version on ebuyer, so go on treat yourself. Plus sides Screen size - 14" is alot bigger than I was expecting (stop giggling at the back!!). As its sat on my lap (this is getting worse!) I can't see why you would want anything bigger. If you get anything bigger you`ll have to sit further away to see it properly and you`ll need a keyboad and mouse...whats the point of a laptop with all that?! You may as well have a desk top. Price - Over £600 on most other sites for the price this is a steal. Build - Nice and solid nothing hanging off. Wouldn`t want to be hit with the thing put it that way. Keyboard and touchpad - Nice solid feel. No side numeric pad but keeps everything compact. Touchpad almost too sensitive but the Toshiba software has a mind-boggling amount of options to change and finally I have it just the way I want it. Talking of Toshiba software there is alot of it on there and with only 192 meg to work with (64 meg is taken with graphics card) I'm not sure why there is so much but now i`ve removed most of it its really help with the speed of the machine. I will post more as I go (if you`ve managed to read this far.) Summary:- For the price, this is an ideal machine, takes up no space at all, if you are browsing the net you`ll not need to do anything to it(comes with a cable to connect to t'internet) if you want to do a little more I would say get the 512 meg from here...go on treat yourself as you`ve save money buying this model anyway !! I now have more space in the house now the desktop has gone and a better machine in its place. Oh and if you think £60 for 512 meg is expensive try Toshiba direct. £350 plus VAT for 1 gig !! I only spent £500 on the laptop !!

Andy Wilkinson

But you can not use anythig else except windows XP home edition. If you dare you can try to install XP pro, but that will take you a bit nerves to get trought all error messages you get during setup. I've got Sattelite A60, its good lapop, but if we are looking to all features we loose, its total crap

Raymond Z.

This machine fitted with XP Pro (not Home) is £409 +VAT at PCWorld Business - see http://www.pcwb.com/servlets/Catalogue?id=(895677)

GraceCourt

Re: Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 On 2003/07/01 my Satellite Pro was delivered. I chose a Toshiba because I believed it to be a relatively light, powerful and reliable brand and at just under US2,225.00, this particular laptop is one of Toshiba's top-of-the-line machines. It was selected based on its advertised features as suitable for scientists and I expected several years of trouble-free service. This has not been the case. On July 8th, after only one week of occasional use, the machine would not power up. The diagnosis of that problem, revealed a very serious fault, which required major repairs and return to Miami to effect such repairs. I was left without the laptop for several weeks. Then, in early December 2003, just about three months on, another problem began manifesting itself: the screen would flicker and go black. Sometimes it would recover, but usually the machine had to be powered down and allowed to sit a while before it could be used again. Eventually the problem became persistent enough that the local technicians could see it happen. The machine had to be sent back to Miami, for repairs, yet again, and and was without the laptop for some weeks, with consequent serious impact on my work. The problems with this laptop are indicative of major manufacturing defects and clearly this item should be classified as non-merchandisable goods. No computer user, who has spent so much money on a product would find this acceptable and I wrote Toshib informing them that I rejected the goods and requested complete replacement with a brand new machine. This is the first Toshiba product I have owned and it has definitely not lived up to expectations. Given the good reports that I have had from others, I was prepared to believe that my experience is an exceptional case and that this particular machine somehow did not receive the true Toshiba stamp in its manufacture. Having paid the price for a top-of-the-line machine, I still believe that I am entitled to have this laptop replaced with a new one, with the normal warranty, up to Toshiba’s highest standard (and certainly not any refurbished ‘as new’ substitute. Toshiba, however, has treated me with complete disdain. I never received even a acknowledgement of my letter of complaint. Now, July 2005, the machine is again down, and requiring the replacement of an expensive part, which I am told is now outside the warranty period. I am forced to conclude that Toshiba does not stand by its products and that it is the absolute worst company with which to do business.

Joan L. L., Trinidad

'A60/A65. I've had nothin but problems with memory, bios.. It started crashin shortly after buying it. year in it started smoking and sparks flew out the back. Now I've used it a year and 3months the screen flickered this month and now is black. One repair guy said to fix it would cost $500. Don't buy this computer. '

grrr

well i have had the toshiba satellite pro now for 2 years and not yet had a problem with it. On the other hand my friend has had problems with the fan and the laptop switching itself off. It isn't the quickest of laptops if running more than one program at a time, but it would suit most computer illiterate people!

Rob H

I agree with rob h no end of trouble, toshiba just won't help never again will i buy a toshiba

pookah

I bought the A60 and within 2 months the hard drive packed up and had to get it fixed. 1 month later same thing happened and it was back to the Toshiba workshop. Then I had a problem with it overheating too quickly and now I'm having a problem with the screen, which kept flickering and is now totally black. Would never make the mistake of buying a toshiba laptop again. Because the warranty has run out, they are being so unhelpful.

rose

to be honest i think the ati 7000 series chipset is a jock why can't thay put a 9000 series maybe a 9600 even the x300 this chipset is useless the intel extreme series is better great cpu and other things but again useless card and it's shared stupid....

mike5050

I have to propa my A60 up so the fan isnt blocked just so it wont overheat and turn itself off!!had some problems with the bios before but that was easily fixed by downloading the new one off the toshiba website... overall though, DONT BUY A TOSHIBA SATELLITE PRO A60 LAPTOP!!

J-L-C

So everyone else's A60 overheated too? I see a pattern emerging. When the fan on the bottom wasn't obstructed by a table it was okay, I just learnt to be aware of how hot it was and how much stress I could put on it application wise. Weird thing is, I came to adore this laptop. Obviously, technically it is abysmal, really bad, but, somewhere along the way I began to enjoy tending to it and knowing those little tricks which made it work. It had such character! Eventually it packed up totally and I replaced it. I was quite sad to see the end of my year long love-hate relationship, my blue laptop had become like one of the guys, my friends always coming to my house over anyone else's, also were sad to see it go. It's last gift to me was that when I bought my new dell with dual-core, twice the hard drive, four times the RAM..better...everything, it felt absolutely amazing to use in comparison! I still refuse to throw away my old A60 though, I'm such a sucker for nostalgia.

Bluesy

well i just got a toshiba A60 so im gonna need a rundown on this model(im only 14 and im used to MAC's) and my dad gave this laptop with a few of those internet cards thingies, and i cant get into the internet..T-T..well leave more comments.