I am looking to make the same type of purchase. 9.9 pounds is not bad for all you get. As you mention just three or four years ago it was not uncommon for Laptops to weight that.
One thing though, if I am going to get a desktop replacement it is going to have a desktop style keyboard. I can't understand why they decided to go with that keyboard. Even still that is super deal.

One question: Are at least the "home" and "end" keys independent?

I was just re-reading the specs .. DVD burner and a 60 gig drive .. great specs for DVD movie burner. I have been burning movies over the last month .. lot of trial and error. Here is some quick advice:
1.dvddecrypter(free): decrypts dvd
http://www.dvddecrypter.com/

2. dvd2one ($43): because most dvd's are dual layered you need to extract out stuff(director commentary,special feature,different languages) to make it fit on a single dvd.
http://www.dvd2one.com/

3. copy2DVD($30): great reliable burner. Works with dvd2one .. in fact dvd2One will shrink and burn right to copy2Dvd.

notes: use good dvd-rws, of course because they are re-usable. Make sure your xbox and dvd player can use them though.

If you just want to play your dvd's on you HD then all you need is dvddecrypter and like PowerDVD(or some other player).

If you want to copy dvd movies though, don't be cheap, I wasted a lot of time with cheap freeware.

Scott, have been lusting after this for a while. The local version (Oz) has a 2.8ghz Hyper Threading CPU, the only laptop that I've heard of having one - same for yours?

RE: Home and End keys

Christian, luckily, the Home and End keys are independent. Also, the PageUp and PageDown keys are independent as well. In fact, everything is there except some of it is arrange funny.

Hope this helps.

RE: 2.8ghz Hyper Threading CPU

Andrew, yep, that's what I've got. Great stuff.

Scott,

I was wondering, if price was no object would you then have gone with a dell or alienware laptop? i'm looking for a desktop (network) replacment and seems to me from search around they are the best choice. cnet also has them at the top of the list.

Thanks,

Jack

I got myself a Toshiba 2010. (An R100 in the States). I like the look of yours, but I'm happy going the other way. Half an inch thick. You can read that again.

Jack,

When I was first doing my searching, I was convinced that the VoodooPC was the computer I needed. But that only has an ATI Radeon 9000 which doesn't support DirectX 9. The Alienware's are hot, but the screens are only 16 inches. So at this point and time, the Toshiba is the best laptop in my opinion.

But if I was willing to spend more money, I would have bought the Media Center version of this PC. Much more robust with a 64 MB graphics card.

Hope this helps. Good luck on your shopping and let me know how you make out.

Scott

Hi Scott,

First let me say your review is not only excellent but very helpful. Here in the UK this model sells for around $3500 so I had a look at USA websites and arrived at a deal around $2,200.

Slight diffences between USA specs and UK. UK version has 3GHz chip but no Wi-Fi and O/S is XP Home Edition.

Question: Your article is headed P25-S607 yet you say

>>But if I was willing to spend more money, I would have bought the Media Center version of this PC. Much more robust with a 64 MB graphics card.

Seem to have lost the last part of my comment.....
I thought that model included the items you refer to. Would appreciate your comment before I buy the wrong model.

Thanks,

Gery

Gerry,

Glad the review was helpful. The graphics card on the model that I own and reviewed on this page only has 32 MB of dedicated memory. The Media Center version has 64 MB of dedicated memory.

I think the confusion sets in when both of the computers have the same model numbers/names. But you'll need to check out the specifications to see the difference.

So far, I haven't had any problems at all with my 32 MB card, but it would be nice to have the 64 MB just in case.

Hope that helps.

Scott

This machine is brilliant ! As a desktop replacemnet, this is the best I have seen so far. If Toshiba can add two more items, then it can be perfect. 1) Internal Floppy Drive 2) Video Camera

Are there anyone know why Toshiba (USA) website remove the whole P25 series? It is no longer exists.

Hi Scott,
Good review. I've been looking at this one for some time. Just 2 hrs of battery? That's not too much? Still better than my current Toshiba. These days it's batteries last about 5 minutes...

You mention that there's an option for an extra battery or harddrive. Does that require you to remove the DVD or is it 3 full expansion bays (DVD, Battery plus spare bay)?

J

PS: You'd better be careful with that "Duelview" of yours. People may get killed ;-D

... and what color did you choose? I heard it comes in red too?

J

Nice review, Scott. I bought one of the S607 monsters last night (the one you got is a S507) specifically to do video editing. I considered Dell, Alienware, Gateway, Sony and even lusted after the 17" iMac for a long time, but the S607 has all the features I wanted at a better price. Should be a lot of fun to play with.

Hi Scott,
Finally got my S607 delivered to London!
Somewhere I came across a newsgroup just for the S607 but have lost the contact. Any idea ?

Regards,

Gerry

i just got mine last week... sweet machine

nice machines...

A few questions:

- Does the S-607 TV tuner support PAL TVs??
or
- Can you upgrade the video memory to 64mb on the S-507 given that it's the same video card??

I wanna buy one of these machines from the states, coz they're much cheaper then in Oz.

Keith: My current Toshiba Satellite supports PAL. I assume they all support both PAL and NTSC. If the video RAM is upgradable, this would be the first portable ever to support that, so I guess the answer is no.

J

Thanx for the reply Jensa.

I should've been more specific in my question....so I'm pretty sure the svideo-out jack is fine with PAL tv's...just not sure about the tv tuner functionality that is only available on the S-607. I've looked around and cannot find any documentation on it. Found one sales website that mentioned it only supports ntsc...but I won't necessarily rely on that.

So if I can clear this up, and if it indeed does support the PAL standart, I will probably go with the S-607.

Cheerz
Till next time...
Regards
Keith

Hi,

I looked at the HP 17" wide screen. Comparably configured, it is comparably priced. However, I noticed a huge difference in the display quality when I saw these machines side by side at CompUSA. The Toshiba colors were brighter and richer. I’m wondering if this is a factory setting difference or possibly light refraction from the case. (HP’s case is dull gray while Toshiba’s is shinny black.)

Does anyone out there have any ideas on this?

I’m actually pretty close to going with the HP except for the screen difference. If there is a real difference, then I would go for the Toshiba.

Thanks
-CJS

My computer is very bright. Use the Function key plus the F7 key to make the screen brighter.

Scott

Thanks Scott,

I presume that Function + F7 refers to the Toshiba.

Do you know if the Toshiba LCD is innately brighter than an HP or is it set that way?

Maybe, what I'm really asking is if the Toshiba or HP has a 'better' screen.

Thanks
-CJS

My advice ... get the P25 S607 versus the S507 it has slightly faster hard drive, 64 meg of video memory (versus 32), tv tuner, and media version of xp.

Disclaimer I am not sure I will be using tv tuner if at all and xp media version just a different set of options on xp pro.

My machine will spend much more time running Server 2003 doing different kinds of development. It is now dual bootable between the two after resizing primary partition.

Make sure you patch antivirus updates and probably put some kind of firewall onto your machine (zone alarm recommended) before connecting to internet, please! Otherwise can you say "where is the recovery disk?".

What an amazing machine it is my 5th toshiba laptop! I see no reason to pay more to any other manufacturer toshiba engineering and quality is just unbelievable.

Now the hard part ... taking it home and convincing my wife it is the "same" laptop i have had for the last 3 years. Bets anyone? Is there some kind of legal insanity defense for this new acquisition?

John

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. I really do appreciate it.

However, I'm still in a quandary. Maybe was letter wasn't specific enough.

I'm down to the only appreciable difference between the HP-ZD700 and the Toshiba P25-607 is the screen. The colors on the Toshiba's screen are 'richer'. So, I'm wondering is this a 'true' difference or do the manufacturers set their machines up this way? (If so, HP could take a lesson from Toshiba. I was at CompUSA when someone bought a Toshiba over the HP on the screen alone which isn’t really too crazy because I’m considering doing this.)

By the way, I have the HP configured differently by a 80GB drive (vs. 60), 3.0P4 hyper threading (vs. 2.8) and a DVD+RW (vs. DVD-RW. Frankly I believe that the +RW delivers better sound tracks than the -RW) Price $2,500 for the HP versus $2,100 for the Toshiba. So, I’d be paying $400 for 20GB, .2ghtz, and a +RW.

Thanks again.
CJS

PS I've yet to try and adjust the contrast as Scott suggested, and I plan to very soon. However, I doubt that what I am seeing is a contrast problem. I’ll report back when I do.

Hey CJS ... not trying to bash HP at all but I personally wouldn't but anything but Toshiba. What speed is the 80 gig drive the 60 gig one from toshiba is 5400 rpm.

Somebody at Toshiba and/or HP should be able to tell you who the manufacturer of the screen is ... if its the same then you have an answer. I don't have any immediate plans for the DVD burning part and don't know much about that.

What speed is the memory the toshiba is (apparently) only PC2100 266 seems like with the intel chipset it should support up to 333/400 ... thats kind of curious.

Don't get me wrong I love my new machine!

John

Hi,

Thanks for your comment John.

I did try changing the contrast on both the Toshiba and the HP. It did make a difference. However, the Toshiba is still brighter but not that much brighter. I’ll check with HP and Toshiba and see who is the manufacturer. Right now HP is winning in the comparison

I do favor HP. I used to be an HP programmer when they had their mid-size machines (not UNIX but MPE). These were like a big DOS machines. HP introduced Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) to thier PC's before INTEL. They were leaders in the mid-size market. Unfortunately, they stopped there and put all their eggs into printers. I thought they might make a comeback when they bought Compaq but they just turned Compaq into a low-end HP. (no offense meant to any Compaq owners.) That is, they did not take advantage of Compaq’s developing strength. Instead, it appears to me, that HP has brought down Compaq. (If you can't beat the competition then buy them.)

I have to play HP’s game. That is, if you buy the base HP model, it comes with 1X256mb memory. But, to compare it to the Toshiba, I had to upgrade memory to 512. I could do this in one of two ways: buy 2X256 (+$75) or 1X512 (+$175). For the comparison to Toshiba, I configured 2X256. What would I do in reality? Stick with the 1X256 and buy a 1X512 on the aftermarket or maybe even throw the 256 away and buy 1X1gb depending on prices. And, hopefully, HP’s notebook memory is not proprietary. But it is 2100/266.

A DVD-R is only significant if your are producing high quality DVD’s or making a backup of an original DVD. And, even then, most people won’t hear the difference. In fact, I think only dogs can hear the difference. – Just kidding about the dogs. See this site for a comparison http://www.dvd-makers.com/public/657.cfm.

I’m close to a decision and looks like HP is winning.

Thanks for all your input.
CJS

PS. I bought a Toshiba walkman way back in the dark ages. It was at that time one of the largest and heaviest walkman’s around. Do things ever really change?

PS. I also think that anyone who buys the Toshiba would be getting a great machine. I think my product 'loyalty' plays a big part here.

I have the S607 running Windows Media Edition. Great machine but....very slow... compared to my desktop 2.2GHz running Windows 2000. Is this a problem with Media Edition does anyone know ?

Gerry

Gerry,

I think Hyper-Threading will make a difference expecially if you are running i.e. actually executing, more than one application.

Windows has a 2004 version of their Media Edition. Maybe an upgrade will change things.

Most configurations I've looked at indicate (or maybe strongly suggest) that you need a 2.8Ghz+ with Hyper Threading to take advantage of Windows Media Edition.

I don't know what CPU your S607 has. Are you comparing an XP based Media edition to 2000? That's a little like comparing Oranges and Tangerines.

Does anyone else have any ideas on this?

(I haven't bought one yet. And, I'm leaning toward the HP version of this system. What I mention here is something I noticed in the configurations and the demos that I saw.)

Good luck,
-CJS

Gerry the gui slows down any xp version ... but you can change it to be the same as 2000 gui. Two things (right click) Start menu then select properties select classic start menu.

Then settings -> control panel -> system select advanced tab click performance (settings)then on visual effects tab use the radio button "adjust for best performance".

While you are in system you may want to turn off automatic updating and decide if you want to save/use space on system restore functionality also (do some google searches if need be).

This will probably help performance a lot the xp gui uses a bunch of machine cycles. My S607 is dual boot 2003 server and XP Media and it just flies (upgraded memory to 1 gig but 512 is fine for most people not running big databases/etc).

CJS sounds like the HP is also a very nice machine and yes brand loyalty definitely could come into play. Mostly I am supporting Sun machines running Solaris but I did have a bunch of HP 9000's at one point.

If HP is using the "old" quality in these new laptops then they are probably awesome ... we buy hondas and toshibas in my household (wintertime head/rossignol/k2) thats just the way it is!

John

upgraded to mce 2004 and can't say i see any significant chng in speed. the difference is in the set of features. i'm tempted to wipe the system clean and install xp pro... i hardly use the mce features anyway

John,

Many thanks for that detailed instruction. I'll try this. As Eokyere said, I also don't really use the MCE features either particularly as I'm in the UK with PAL rather than NTSC system. Think I may also put in a duel boot system.

CJE It has got 2.8Ghz+ with Hyper Threading but thanks anyway.

Gerry

I recently bought the P25 - excellent machine. Only problem is the floppy drive module which came with the computer (fits in the DVD slot) seems to be recognized by the computer but will not read the diskette (the system asks me to put a floppy into the drive even though one is actually already in) I have tried to get an answer from the store where I bought it and from Toshiba - nothing for the time being. Has anyone else had this problem? I realize there is no longer much use for a floppy drive these days.

Seems like this is becoming the P25 forum! Andrew I don't have a native floppy on my system but suspect you might have a bad piece of hardware somehow in the floppy drive one alternative is to use a usb floppy drive (I already have one from a different toshiba). I didn't know there was a direct one available from Toshiba (floppy drive going into DVD slot) ... did you format the disk ... what about the locking/unlock tab on the floppy?

John

John,

That's really interesting about the Windows GUI. I'm trying it now as we speak or read or write – whatever.

I'm curious. If I had a lot of memory (1gb) and hyper-threading would the Windows GUI produce a lot of deterioration?

I’m not married to the Windows GUI interface and will probably try the classical/optimize performance for a while.

Thanks,
-CJS

PS what does wintertime head/rossignol/k2 mean?

Its just with xp especially microsoft put a lot of time and effort into special effects on the gui (more varied shapes/styles, effects when you move the mouse around from app to app, how the cursor slides around the screen etc). If one wanted to be snotty about it one might say that they needed something to help sell the consumer on buying an upgrade from a perfectly useable windows 2000 operating system.

All that prettiness and special effects have an toll on the processor and the graphics system ... with a very fast machine of course it doesn't slow it down as noticeably ... but at least for me i really prefer the older "boxier" style anyhow.

Sorry I lost ya on the wintertime reference I am starting to get excited about skiing season and just spent a bunch on buying passes for my family and some new (well slightly used) equipment for my girls. When you get older the kids get more and more of the disposable budget right (except of course for the mandatory toys for dad like the toshiba p25!).

Most people don't know how to turn off the xp gui but after they do they never turn it back on! Let us know what you think.

John

Looks like this is a comparison of the Toshiba (my new machine) versus the HP.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1229903,00.asp

Looks like both screens have identical specs (pixels * pixels) so I would guess might be same manufacturer. The HP seems to have the better graphics card ... I still prefer my Toshiba given my brand preference but looks like the HP wins in performance (both are so fast who can tell the difference though?).

Later

I went to LA last week to buy a new computer. My desktop Dell died and no one can fix it. Went into Best Buy or was it Circit City and saw the Toshiba P25-S607. It was love at first sight. The huge screen is so bright & clear. My buddy bought a HP 3 months ago and is now kicking himself. My Dell had a 21" Trinitron monitor so I like big screens. Plus the 60 GB hard drive & 512 SDRAM was more than me Dell ever had. I still have to try all the features but am taking my time to enjoy them all. I packed it from LA, California to Belize, Central America, and got nothing but "wow's I want one". I love the size & weight...it fells like a man's laptop.

I went cheap and instead got the P25-477. A special knocked down Circuit City Version. Same as the others EXCEPT that it runs at 2.4 Ghz, has a 40MB HD and No DVDR. That being said I got a Free WinTV USB tuner with it and ended up getting it for $1299 after rebates back in early August (when the next cheapest was retailing at $2099. It was possibly the best deal I ever got.

One of the main reasons I went for this was that I called Toshiba and was told that they would be coming out with a 4x (etc) DVDR drive (i.e much faster than what they were offering on the higher end models) that would be swappable for the battery bay by October and that it would retail for between $200-350.

Anyway, no sign of this drive coming out. Anyone have any ideas about how late Toshiba usually lags with these things??

is anyone else having read/write problems with the p25-s607 multi recoder and nero ultra? my drive seems to be making too much noise lately, and the number of failed compilations seems to be blowing up... other than that, what cd burning software are you all running? what has been your experience?

thanks a lot
eokyere

Hey Scott,

Hope your still reading these comments. So I've saved up my pennies and am about to buy a laptop but I'm very undecided. Previously I had asked you about your opinion on Alienware's Area51m, seems the issue of screen size has changed. They now offer a 16.1" UltraXGA 1600/1200 LCD Display and they also have an NVIDIA FX card available as opposed to ATI.

I looked at the toshiba's at comp usa but (and this is no offence to anyone) they are ugly. Honestly the laptop looks like it was made of casing parts of three other lesser laptops that was assimilated :)

Its really difficult though to finally decide since what I really want is the best of everything not worrying too much about batter life, price as long as its less than 4k and that i won't have problems with drivers since I plan on whipping the machine and installing windows 2003 server (datacenter ver maybe) since I'm more a developer than anything else and need to have it to test latest versions of IIS and impact on .Net apps as well as other server side technology.

Having a machine that will support Video Editing, 3d Rendering and some intensive computations is important as well since I plan on going into different directions in the future and need the performance.

Any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jack

ugly? ouch!! there goes all my plans of impressing my galfriends ;)... i can understand though if the comparison is between my baby here and the area51m... but the s607 is anything but ugly... i haven't heard so many whoas!! and wows!! on a lap, both opened and closed (maybe, it's the first good machine i've bought)... seriously though, jack, the s607 is a darling. i had a few probs with the multi drive, but i upgraded the drivers and everything else is back to sweet old nirvana... this laptop really performs... i have been soooo lazy, i haven't been able to put a real os on it though, even though i upgraded to mce2004... i still have to partition my 60 gig and have win2003/rh9 running... did i see 4k? you might opt for the pricier s609 then... it is still sub 3k, and it comes with everything you'll ever need, plus 1k for soups if u r so inclined.

meanwhile, look at them again... look and look until ur inner u tells u they are beautiful, cos this machine is a true work of art... and it's a real beast... my desktop has been veeeery lonely for about a month

Hi guys,

Ugly is a relative term. I was looking at the Toshiba at CompUSA and some people younger than me (they looked like they were close to graduating college, age wise) were looking at the Toshiba and they said 'that's an ugly machine!'

My opinion is that the design is not mainstream but not ugly.

-CJS

PS. I'm still looking but the HP is still wining. I had my wife look at the Toshiba (609) and she said the screen and the sound were much better. And she was right. I believe that HP will deliver better technology. So, there is the dilemma. Is it more important to look better or to actually be better?

HP's screen is built by Phillips as far as I can tell which is the leading and I think the best LCD screen maker. I don't know who makes the Toshiba screen but it probably is Phillips.

My advice? Well, as soon as I answer the dilemma question above, I'll give it.

Hi all,

I'm interested in purchasing a Toshiba Satellite P25-S607 from USA, however theres a slight problem. How do I get around the warranty issue, since I contacted one supplier in the USA who said that the laptop comes with a USA warranty only. Same problem also aplies to the extended warranty situation.

Any help much appreciated,

Regards

Hey Jack:

The machine is actually quite beautiful of course it looks much nicer once the stickers are removed. If you can pick it up and check out whole thing closed the workmanship is very impressive.

At first i thought the "silver" around the keyboard looked a little strange but (after sticker removal) its just awesome looking and feeling.

I also am already running Server 2003 it kicks but on the S607 mine still has XP + 2003 server + RH9.

To Angela only thing I can say is in all my years of owning (many) Toshiba laptops I have never had any problems requiring any service so in my mind that's not a big concern. Wherever you are though I am sure you can find someone to buy warranty coverage from (watch what you pay) if you really are motivated to. Seriously though the way prices are going down and performance is going up, just roll the dice and if you need something fixed 2/3 year later just replace?

John

I looked at the HP and the build felt cheap, the one i handled, you couldn't keep the cd drive door closed. I thought the hp was kinda ugly, and well, to tell you the truth, i thought, it's an hp. So i bought a toshiba, got a p25-s477, with 2.4c. I dropped in a gig of 333 ddr and it runs like a charm, and i think it's well made and damn pretty. I love it and it's fast.

hi there, i got question, it may have been answered but hey this page is huge and full of information. To the point, im from the uk and looking to buy the p25s607, from one of those best buys or circuit city places in CA. My problem is the set up for the uk, apparantly its not compatible with the PAL system we have? im not too up on computer components. Is there a way around this at all? Not going back to the uk until nxt year, so the UK one will be useless here. Dont know which to buy US or UK p25s607?

Hey!

This review looks great.

But what is the differense between Toshiba P20 and Toshiba P25?
Is it only the TV-tuner?
Is the P25 a newer or older model?

I'm looking around the net and I cant find a differense without the tuner.

I'm near buying a laptop, and I dont especially need the tuner..
Should I go buy a P20?

Martin

P25 is relatively new for late summer 2003 whole line may be in process of getting upgraded I don't find much on P20 maybe its European version?

Maybe try talknotebooks.com they have whole Toshiba section.

Just recieved a S607 from Refurbdepot.com. It doesn't always recognize discs in the DVD/CD drive. Tech support has been little help. Anyone experience this? I actually printed up the 284 pages of instructions..... and am wading in. One disappointment: I can't burn from my considerable mp3 collection. Any solutions?

Do not buy any HP products. I have an office full of HP printers etc. that will notwork on XP Pro. HP home says they will not update for XP Pro. Beware when MS brings a new OS. HP wants to sell you a new unit. I will never buy another HP.

Hi,

It's been a while since I have visited this page. I had made up my mind to buy an HP I had been waiting for the lowest price. It finally reached what I would call acceptable. After the coupon, rebate, and free shipping I bought a 15" widescreen, 768mb memory, (512 bought in the after market) 3.06gh Pentium 4 hyper-threading, 128mb NVIDIA 5600, 60gb (5400), Window XP, and DVD-ROM/CDRW (I have a DVD+RW on my desktop.)This is meant to do some limited traveling so I bought the smaller screen. The total cost tax, title, and tip - coupons and rebates was around $1,700. I'm still waiting for delivery. I scaled my purchase back from what I wanted to what I needed. That is, I wanted the media center but after thinking about the fact that I would be very unlikely to even use this fature I dropped it from my order.

I guess it is obvious that I disagree with Hlaw. I have been buying HP PC products for like ever at least since Windows 95. (I even had an HP intelligent terminal back in the 80's.) There is only one product that went sort of out a date - a photo printer. But, it became hard to get ink for it; it was compatible with all operating systems up to Windows ME. The only thing I find hard to deal with at HP is product support for products out of warranty. They have robot that processes all your email requests and usually does not answer your specific question. HP's site and email response is acceptable if you have 'mainstream' questions.

I'm not trying to endorse nor impeach HP. I believe both HP and Toshiba are great products. Just don’t get me started on Cannon printers.

Thanks,
CJS

I just bought 2 P25-S477 version from Circuit City for $1,300
plus a $100 mail in rebate! This is an awsome machine. I will be buying a wireless keyboard with built in mouse!

Did anyone ever manage to work if the american version P25-s607 machine work in the UK with tv tuner. I have one of these but am waiting for the tuner to arrive as it was missed off. The settings in the media center when configuring ask for american ZIP codes. So i presume you have to change the application to the UK version. I did get a response from toshiba support that settings in the Bios need to be change to NTSC but i cant find this anywhere and find it hard to believe. I did manage to speak to a spare part dealer for toshiba and they said it should just be a software thing.

Umesh not sure but i get the feeling that a tv tuner (ie whole piece of hardware put into bay) is either itself ntsc or pal or secam. Anyone know for sure?

So don't think its a software config issue but instead think you have to have the right hardware.

You know, Scott I am in the process of searching for the right laptop as well. I need it to perform great not only for the everyday stuff, but also, and very importantly, for games. Currently there are about 10-14 guys that regularly attend a Friday night gaming extravaganza held at my house. "Hauling those ridiculously bulky computers" never ceases to be the main complaint. My network is fine & I have RoadRunner cable which is as fast as I ever need it to be. Mobility is the main concern here, but not the only one. I'm glad you wrote this article because it has opened my eyes to a lot.

Currently I am considering the following configuration:
Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz
XP Home OS - Hate it; have 2000Pro works better for me
1x512 MB DDR SDRAM memory
60 GB HD 5400 RPM's
DVD / CDRW Combo Drive
54g LAN wireless
17" 1440x900 display
128MB NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5600
Integrated / seperate number keypad
9.3 lbs (approx)

My total comes to $1849. HOWEVER....
My question is, and if you are familiar---Battlefield 1942 & all of it's Mods are our main choice for gaming. How does the 16:9 ratio work for the display on those types of games?

Other ? -- Doesn't your game jump all over the place w/that 32 MB Video Card?

is anyone having problems with the TV-Tuner or the version of Windows MCE that comes with the P25-S607? If I upgrade to 2004 MCE, is it a simple upgrade (like upgrading a MS Office version) or does it reinstall the whole OS?

theironfox,

I must have missed your post. I have had my p25-s607 for sometime, and I initially had problems with the drive too. My s607 cd/dvd is the UJ-811B...
yours might be the same. I can't remember what drivers the machine came bundled with (matter of fact, I never bothered to check), but I downloaded the UJ-815B drivers from the Matsushita (Panasonic) support site and I haven't had any problems with it since.

I used the 815B drivers because I couldn't find the 811 drivers... in Nero, it shows correctly as 811 so the 815 drivers were probably made to support the 811 too. Still, I have not had any problems since. You might want to give it a shot.

The url is
http://panasonic.co.jp/mke/data/mkehp/docs/driver/XPDrv3083NEN.exe

This url,
http://panasonic.co.jp/mke/support/dvdram/lim/eoem/sw9571drvxp.html , hosts it and has a brief description of the associated files.

HTH

eokyere

indo,

I upgraded to MCE2004 without any problems... it's just a simple upgrade. I can't say, however, what the performance boost on the whole is... I have stripped the OS of most of the MCE features, so it feels more like XP pro. I don't have too much on the TV-tuner either. I only tested it once or twice after I received the laptop, and I have permanently retired it--space used for my batt instead.

eokyere

Eat your heart out Scott; I got this beauty for under $1400.00 on clearance at Circuit City. I was in exactly the same situaton as you were and was partial to Toshiba as I had bought a Satellite 1955 S801 a year ago and was ectremely happy with it. The size of the P25 series gave me pause at first but when I saw that price, I jumped. I was also the last one!
How do you like the XP Media software? That T.V tuner with remote is a blast! Excellent machine indeed!

Right after finally receiving my tv tuner from the states when it was not delivered with my laptop p25-s607 i upgraded to MCE 2004 which then gave me uk guide listing whhooppee. However the tv tuner was obviously from the states so I was hoping it twould work here and it was only software that was stopping me viewing uk channels. This was not the case the tuner does sort of work but the channels are hazey and appear in black and white and every so often i get the message that the hardware error tv tuner is not the correct version for the specified.... so taking this into consideration I would presume this will not work.

SO does anyone know of a USB tv tuner that will work with MCE 2004 in the same way the original one should work. SO i can use the remote control and mce interface.

Regard
Umesh

I just bought a P25-S607 with 2.8MHz 512MB blah blah blah but I was assured it had the GeForce 5600go 64MB Video which remains to be seen. It gets delivered in a couple of days.
Anyway some things I do know or have been told are:-
TV tuner is Pal/NTSC and has to be switched to either to work.
RAM is only PC2100 and is not ideal for Intel chipset 800MHz FSB
RAM should be PC3200(400MHz)200 pin SODIMM get @ 4allmemory.com
RAM upgrade apparently gives significant improvements.
5400RPM HD is good but Hitachi 7200RPM uses less power & faster.
Windows Media Center is Windows XP Pro with different GUI+Xtras.
Changing to XP Pro stuffs up USB ports.
CPU can be upgraded to P4 3.2GHz with no problems.

This machine is not ugly as mentioned in previous posts. Alienware looks good if your 15yrs old and you want an alien on your notebook and you don't mine paying an arm and a leg for it. Toshiba is a professional looking model with openGL video card that works for me in Solidworks(CAD)and has plenty of room for apps to spread around screen. I'm getting an external keyboard that is flexible and USB compatible, it's made for macs but will work, it's called a CoolMac Keyboard. Do a Google search and find it.
Steve
Australia

Lets see sorry the S607 has GeForce 5200 go not 5600 ... It has a tv tuner but (sorry I don't know all details) think there are like 3 kinds of tv standards in use over the world the tuner as I understand it works on "one" for me in us its fine not sure about rest of world.

This I have tested upgrading RAM to pc2700/333 pc3200/400 should be even better toshiba info that it only supports pc2100 seems to be flat out wrong. If you have more than one kind of RAM it works at slowest speed. The hitachi drive is a beauty apparently and a significant upgrade if you can afford it. You can use recovery disk to just reinstall OS onto new harddrive.

Yes MCE is basically xp pro with some tweaks ... you can now get an upgrade for 30 bucks to MCE 2004.

?xp prof stuff us USB ports ? huh all 4 work fine as usb 2.0 whether i am running MCE or 2003 server

Yes apparently cpu upgrade works fine.

Theres a bunch of discussion of this machine in www.talknotebooks.com see the toshiba section.

Hey Sleddog, how you doing?
In the US you have NTSC and in Australia it's Pal and the other format is Secam. The place where I got mine here in Australia imports these from US and said I would have to wait while they set it up. Part of setting it up, they claim is to switch the tv tuner from NTSC to Pal. On that one it remains to be seen.
In regards to the GeForce 5600go they absolutely swear that it is and I even made them give it to me in writing. Again I'm not overly optomistic that it will be, 5200 64MB is fine for what I'm using it for(CAD). The USB 2.0 issue I have heard about on a few threads in owner reviews around the place.

Incidentally some of my previous post was research from your posts on notebookforums.com.
Thanks for the good reading.

The Hitachi drive apparently has two swipes which means it effectively needs only spin approximately half the speed of the standard drives. So at 7200RPM this drive is almost equal or sometimes better than the 10000RPM drives.
there is a review at tomshardware.com.

Steve

I was just reading the specs again and I noticed that the chipset that Toshiba chose is the 865PE + ICH5.
This is the version that supports a RAID configuration of hard drives. So effectively you can toss the tv tuner and replace it with a second HD and really speed things up. Imagine how fast it would be with two Hitachi 7200RPMs fitted.

I'm wondering are the HDs used in these the same as those used in desktops?

Steve

I found the answer to my above question. Here is the URL to the Tom's Hardware article on the Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 hard drive.

http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20030813/mini-harddisks-01.html

And yes notebook HDs are different.

Steve

An update on my incorrect statement on the Hitachi 7K60 in a earlier post. The Hitachi hard drive does not have twin "swipes" it has a Femptoslider instead of the normal Picoslider which means it is a thousand times smaller in size and subsequently requires less power to operate. Fempto has 15 zeros before it or a thousand million millionths and Pico is a million millionths or 10 to the -10.

Go here for the Tom's Hardware story...

http://www20.tomshardware.com/mobile/20031031/index.html

Steve

That should have been 10 to the - 12 for pico

I have a P25-S487. It came with a GeForce FX Go5200. Is it possible to upgrade to the Go5600?
Thanks

As far as I've read you can't upgrade it.
But it seems odd that you can't.
Unless the board is soldered in.
Even then it should be removeable.

Steve

Do you know where I can get this machine brand new for under $1750? I know that PCVideoonline had them for $1725, but they sold out....

Right after many weeks of trying to get my tuner to work with the laptop I gave up as it came from the states and just was not happening. So I purchase the USB Hauppauge PVR2 set this up and it worked with the provided software good I thougt so then I download the MCE drivers for it and installed them application still worked great so i started MCE recognised the tuner cool but then when I change channels it comes up with the usual the tuner does not support the tv format for your country code. So i am still stuck there must be something else on the laptop as people have got this to work with the damn machine. help required if anyone can

Umesh

Does anyone know how much RAM the video card is supposed to come with? I looked at an online store that was selling it, and it came with media center and all, but it listed the video card as only having 32 MB. I thought it had 64MB ram?!>????

It comes with both.
It depends on which model you get.
The P25-509 has 32MB and the 607/609 has 64MB.

Steve

please add me to the list

Depending on location, looks like compusa has some of the 607s selling as floor model (no returns) for 1400 buck us. 609s are apparently 1900 dollars with return and 1600 for floor model.

Compusa has 607's for that low? And the 609 that you spoke of for $1900.... is this a brand new one??????

The 609 was around 1900 new "apparently" "after" the usual compusa rebate scheme pay us 250 more now we promise to send you your rebate and there was one 609 floor model "no return" for a couple of hundred lower than that.

I've got a P20 here at OZ too, for about 7-8 months now. But my DVD burner seems to be going slower and slower as time goes by. When I 1st got the box it burns at 2x and it was great! almost faster than my Pioneer A104. Then things got slow. Now it refuses to burn at 2x and can only do 1x. I've no idea why! Anyone? I didn't change anything (device drivers or alike) and my HDD is clean and I defrag every 3 days and still got 48Gb free.

I just bought the S509 at BestBuy in the USA for under $1400! It was on the shelf at $2149 with a $200 rebate. I asked fopr 13% off to match a website offer I saw (us1camera.com) and they offered me 10% ($185) so I grabbed it. Then I bought a discount card for $10 which gave me another $5 off for every $125 I spent. When I got it home I found the salesman told me a load of crap about it being a dual mode DVDRW, so complained to the manager. The resolution was another $100 off the laptop plus a $100 BestBuy GiftCard. All on 18 months no interest so my money sits in the bank. I think the total I ended up paying was $1394. It has the 80GB HDD and the 32MB vid card.

Oh, I upgraded from wireless G to "super G" which is twice as fast. It's supposed to be 108 megabits, but with all that WEP overhead it isn't really, but it's certainly twice the speed of the built in wireless card.

One question though - how do I write a 9.4 GB DVD? Do I use double sided DVD's, and do i have to turn them over or does the multifunction drive write both sides? Not at all experienced writing DVD's. Oh, I'm referring to the UJ-811B it shipped with.

Oh, one more thing. Never, ever, ever, compare any Toshiba equipment to any other manufacturer. Tosh is better, hands down.

I have an old Satellite Pro from 1994 which is still going strong,.... and the Toshiba warranty? Excellent! IO bought my old one in the days when they were giving 3 year international warranties. I left it in the trunk of my car in the high desert over night, and froze it. The laptop was just a month or two under 3 years old, and despite me having no paperwork and having not even registered the laptop when I bought it, I took it into a dealer in Portland Oregon and after a few phonecalls had authorized the repair work. They replaced the mainboard, CPU, screen and keyboard, and it did not cost me a penny.

..... and my old trusty Toshiba TV is still running after 17 years having never once gone wrong. So when you buy Toshiba you really are buying excellent quality without a huge price premium. I have heard stories to the contrary about some other well known makes. (oh, and my wife's Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop suffers from the worst hard drive lag you've ever experienced!, and it cost more money than my S509).

Good Lord! I just found out how much these double sided DVD-RAM disks cost. I just saw a spindle of them for $900 US.

Hello,
I purchased the p25-s607. This is my third laptop and I love it! I really like the amount of metal that they put into the case, the last dell I bought was VERY fragile. The only complaint that I have with the toshiba is the multitude of problems that I have encountered with the dvd "multi drive" I do have the media center edition although I never use it I just wanted the biggest video card that i could get so it would last the longest period of time. Also, they told me that I could actually upgrade the video card down the road if need be. So back to the multi drive. I really want to use the nero program mainly because the drag and drop software that came preloaded is really bad. Has anyone had any problems with using other burning programs, or actually getting nero to work without problems? Please email me with any tid bit of information that you might have to help out.

Thank you,
Ryan Pitts
ryanpitts@hotmail.com

Hi Ryan,

Why not detail the exact problems you have had with the drive/nero. This might others help identify exactly where your problem lies.

Kind regards,

Monty.

Hello again,

Well the problems are intermittent. However, I purchased the Nero studio 6 suite and the problems have grown. The problem that has plagued me since the purchase was after installing the suite; my cd drive letter was removed, completely. Therefore, I read the FAQ and they said a small percentage of computers this happens to, and they posted a regedit fix, which after completing this process, and rebooting my computer the drive letter appeared, however it just appeared as a cd drive only, which is a problem since it is a multidrive. I went into Nero just to try to burn a text file and it started to do this, however about four seconds later it said burn failed at 16x. Therefore, I reduced the burning speed to 2x and it failed again. I rebooted my computer again and then a DVD drive appeared, again I tried this and the same problem occurred. I am thinking of reimaging my computer and starting over. This is another complaint I have about Toshiba they do not allow you to just reinstall the drivers or certain programs off the DVD. Nevertheless, in comparison to the burning issue it really is a small problem. Thank your for writing me back so quickly I appreciate it.
Thanks again,
Ryan Pitts
ryanpitts@hotmail.com

What DVD-R media do you all recommend for this laptop? I've gone through a spindle of Verbatim Datalife and a Memorex spindle of DVD-Rs with about 2/3rds of them giving me disk calibration errors. I'm about to the point of taking this laptop to the nearest toshiba service center to replace the Matshita UJ-811 Drive.

Other than that, my P25-S607 kicks some major donkey. I love this thing. Good, solid construction, good sized screen, and its a great laptop for linux. I bought this to be a portable workstation, but MCE and the TV-Tuner/Remote are pretty neat toys. I just wish they included some real DVD Burning software like NTI CD&DVD Maker or Nero instead of Drag-N-Drop CD/DVD.

Hi Doomwookie,

I am expecting my first 2 spools of DVD-R and DVD-RW disks this week, so I'll let you know what brand they are and the results of my tests once I've established how good they are. I've only had this laptop for under 2 weeks, and this is the first DVD burner I have owned.

I'll keep you all posted.

i haven't really had any problems with any dvds.. i use cheap memorexes that i buy from walmart. i had a few problems with the drive when the laptop was fresh... but i reinstalled the drivers and everything just sort of took care of itself... that was mce2004... i wiped the machine clean recently and installed linux (suse)... k3b works great with the drive and all dvd/cds burn like butter

Just received delivery of some super cheap Princo DVD-RW 4.7GB DVDs. A 50 pack cost me $44.50 (US) from one of the Ebay vendors websites. I wrote a few mpegs on to a disk, checked the disk, and erased them. All seemed to work perfectly. Slow at 1x, but worked.

Help!

I have a P25, with Matsushita DVD-R/RW/RAM multidrive.

I have been unable to burn DVD's, I have so far made 8 coasters, using Shintaro 4x, also have Verbatim 4x and a few Princo that I am yet to try. After spending ~85 on various media spindles, I would like to know what brands of media others use?

I have a MATUSHITA UJ-811 (FH100 firmware). I use Nero 6 Ultra Edition, on WinXP.

Thanks,
Dan

With my p25 s607 I am using TDk 2x dvd-r haven't had problems probably only burned 20 or so though.

what do you think of the new p25-s520?

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum, I just got a 607 and man do I love it... does everything I want it to. I was reading some of the latest posts on the dvd burning, I'm using dvdxcopy express and it takes exactly 1 hour for me to copy any movie i want, ripping and burning so I've had no problems. I got the media center edition though and circuit city said that since this was an open box value, plus because it's XP media center edition, they had no restore CD and were ready to take it back but of course I didn't wanna let this baby go so I kept it, I'm going to try and ghost an image of the OS now and also create a restore CD using the system backup, but it says that it will also need a boot up floppy at the end which it will create. If I plug a USB floppy drive in there, do you think it will do it? What are your thoughts gentlemen?

BTW guys, I forgot to add the specs of mine...

Windows XP media center
2.8gig with HT
512MB RAM
DVD-R/RW
64MB nVidia GeForceFX
Atheros wireless adapter builtin(I'm on my college wireless network right now and it works great.. even manage to pick up a neighbors netgear connection at home ;)...)
Came with a remote and removable bay for hooking up to the tv and recording shows(havn't played with that yet.. is it easy.. if anyone has done it could you post the process)

Thanks..
Vamsi

P25-S520

http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/satellite_P25-S520.pdf

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0GHz
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM (256MB x 2)
17" Wide-Screen XGA Display (1440 x 900)
NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX Go5200 GPU w/64MB DDR memory
80GB HDD (4200 rpm)
DVD+-R/+-RW
Integrated Wi-Fi™ (IEEE 802.11g)
Microsoft® Works
Microsoft® Office OneNote™
ArcSoft ShowBiz®
Drag’n Drop CD+DVD Software
InterVideo® WinDVD
4-USB (2.0) ports
iLINK (IEEE 1394) port
1-FIR port
SD media slot
TV-Out (S-Video) port
10/100 Ethernet
V.92/56K modem
Parallel port

does anyone know how this laptop compares to the 607 other than it not having media center.

Hi All

Question for you guys I have the P25-s607 laptop all working perfectly with mce. I recently plugged the unit to my TV via svideo and the screen on my tv only shows 3/4. When i move my mouse around the screen then on the tv will move to show the other 1/4. Now have made my tv the primary screen and adjusted everything i can find bu just cant get the image to fit on the screen in whole. watching dvd not too bad as you can zoom but when showing photos images are missed off can anyone assist.

Umesh

I have a p25-S487 purchased from Costco. Does anyone know if there exists a DVD burner drive (it has only DVD Rom/CD RW) and what the model or product (identification) numbber is? I checked the Toshiba site and could not tell.

Thanks.

Hi-- I have a P25-s509 I got in December. I've enjoyed it-- but this month (April 04) I did have to send it in for warranty service when the optical drive (CD-DVD writer)failed -- they put in a new one. Not Toshiba's fault (its a Panasonic drive). The only problem was that Toshiba (contrary to their warranty) refused to provide free shipping-- I had to ship to and from the warranty center. Probably only a $35 complaint, but again, its not what the warranty says. The call center guys told me that free shipping "was not supported with that model." I see in some of the posts that there is some griping about the optical drive-- watch out.

Tim -- forgot to answer your question-- the DVD burner drive in my 509 is a Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-811. I thought about buying one myself when I had the failure, but it appears to be OEM only. Somebody had some on ebay but they were starting at $200-- so I went with the warranty.

Guys, I need some advice, I'm replacing my desktop and norrowed my search to the HP7001 17" and the p25. I know that most of you will favor the p25, but can I get a true comparisson ?between this two?

thanks..

by the way, you should try the dvdcopy software from intervideo is really great. It burns a whole movie into a single DVD 4x including features,sound options and subtittles.

I have the wonderful Tosh P25-S477.

1. Does anyone know specifically how to upgrade the video to 64MB in this model?

2. Has anyone tried to upgrade the speakers / audio within the existing case?

Thanks

Just bought a s520 site unseen. A friend picked it up for me and will bring it to me in Mexico tomorrow. Did lots of research on the net and figured that this was a better machine (Bang for the buck) than the HP.
2 Questions though

Do these machines have a DVD region or are they non specific or resettable. I assume that they are Multi.

In Scott's post he states that the S-video connection works for INPUT also. The toshiba site says OUT only. What gives? Has anyone tried video-in?

I thought that I picked the perfect machine but after reading some of the posts from the DVD burning crowd I'm a little worried!

I also purchased the P25 and i love it. The Keyboard isn't that big of a problem once you get used to it. but i will have to agree about the video card. As i am a full on gamer, i've tried Star Wars Galaxies (which works fine) but there are a few games on which it doesn't run really well. Halo and C&C Renegade are the few that have terrible viewing things.

Im thinking of upgrading it in the near future..with 2GB and a new video card if it allows it. :/ Hope so but overall its a great computer for weighing in at 10 pds. hehe it even beats my brothers $3200 desktop...hes gets pissed at mine.

I've tried some movies using the win DVD player and they seem a bit grainy and washed out. Does anyone have any reccomendations for upgrading the codecs or using a different player. Also does anyone know how to use the cd drive to play music and have the cover closed. When I start the music using a regular CD and then close the top the system goes into hibernation. Supposedley the system can play music even when the system is off. How is this?

Thanks

I have just bought a P25 P4 3Ghz 80Gb in the Uk but understand that it is an American version! The only ones sold in the UK seem to be the P20. Tried to buy a 1.44 drive to put in the spare slot and in the end went for an external USB version. So far it is great and looking forward to video editing. Does anyone know a UK company that can supply spare batteries, additional memory (when the need arises)also who will carry spares if needed? Also the " and @ keys seem to be reversed. I had this problem with a Dell once and someone with more knowledge than me was able to fix it. Any ideas please? Thanks

Hello All:
Does anyone know if firmware is available for making the P25-607 Matshita UJ-811 multi-drive region free? I want to avoid switching zonea as I travel to Europe quite a bit. I know there are also a few programs that cliam to coomplish the same thing without actually flashing the drive. Any suggestions?
Verne

I have a P25-S607 and it is sooooo slow. Especially with Outlook, the blue hard drive light is almost always on and I hear the hard drive cranking and crunching with an hour glass.

What are the steps involved to upgrading from the 512 MB DDR SDRAM that came with it to 1 or 2GB? I want to do it myself to save the bucks. There was not much of a manual with this.

Anyone know how to access the RAM and where to buy affordable GBs of ram for a p25-s607???

Thanks!!
Eric in Texas

Hello All!
I got my S509 in Febuary. Everyone who sees it is knocked out!
But I developed a booting to windows problem (sometimes it would, sometimes it would'nt.) Then the DVD optical writer bit the dust. Compusa sent it for repair, took nearly a month because they could not get a dvd writer and there were 17 other machines with the same problem! But I finally got it back. Seems to run better, plus I got a $25 gift card from Compusa and A $50 credit from Toshiba, for waiting (and complaining, lol) which I used on their site. I would still by Toshiba again, hands down the best!

Rick

Anybody know where I can find a crack to undo the region switching restrictions. I live in Mexico and when I received my machine new in the box shipped from the U.S. it only had 3 switches left on it. I have the Pioneer DVRK12D DVD+-rw drive. Great machine and would recommend it to anybody. I have found that for watching movies that Nero Showtime works better than the PreIncluded Intervideo. Also to copy DVD movies it's easy.
2 (Yes Two) step process.
First DVD Decripter to put the files in decoded form on your HD
Second is to use CloneDVD which can recode and burn in one step process.
Both of these I found easily downloading from Kazaa

Good Luck

hello all.
I'm from argentina and recently bought a p25-607. I need to know if someone can tell me where i can get the recovery cd's because i lost them in one of my trips...
Regards

Great it!!!!!!!

I cant beleive this is the only forum I can find for this great laptop. I use mine for cad apps especially sketchup.But I want to edit my dv video
I have a p25 but have not been able to capture video.
finally clicked that it must not support pal video without a bios change.
did anyone manage this
steve

Hey all, FOA, very nice site to discuss everything about Toshiba P Series!

I have had my P25-S07 for 6 months now, great machine, upgraded the RAM to 1GB, How can I know the RAM speed? PC2100, PC2700 etc.. I didn't think when I upgraded the memory, I just wanted 1GB of RAM.
Just knew that Toshiba offer free upgrade to MCE 2004, I tried to order one, but got a msg says "No new orders are being accepted, thank you" . What the hell? I want to upgrade, but can't figure out how!

About the screen, I have an M30 here, 15.4 WXGA. Its screen is much brighter than the P25's. Why is that? They are both WXGA aren't they?

Thanks

OK-- has anyone tried Doom 3 on a P25 with an nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 graphics (32 MB)? The most demanding game I ever tried was the Halo demo-- and it was S-L-O-W. I suspect its not worth trying, but I also suspect someone on this board will give it a shot.

one word of warning... the P25-S607 uses PC2100 ram and NOT PC3200 ram. Had I known that I would have taken it back to compusa and traded up to the 609 (it came out the day after I bought the 607)

Does the 607 support bluetooth?

I have a P25-S609 3.0 ghz with 80HD, 1GB of RAM, which I purchased in the USA whilst there working. Now I am back in Australia I would like my TV tuner to receive PAL signals. Does anybody know how or where I can reset the tuner? I have asked Toshiba in Sydney and they said they do not support the o/s machine. Also where I can find a crack to undo the Matshita UJ-811 multi-drive region switching restrictions?

I have a P25-S507. And I am very unhappy.
I have no problem with the weight performance options - I used to own a Zenith Supersport 386 this is a lightweight for me.
However from Day 1 the glidepad was skitish. I tried all the driver swaps etc from Wugnet. Then the keyboard started to get flakey. Finally after 6 month the center pin on the DC power connector jack just kind of fell out. I sent it back to toshiba for repairs. Some Toshiba rep from Turkey called me back and told me it was going to cost 600+ to fix. That I had "abused" it. That they found some substance spilled in the case and that I must have droped it to break the power pin. I was pissed. After much argument, several calls - including to Toshiba's legal department . I just had them return it. I opened it immediately and photographed the insides. It is extremely unlikely that anyone at Toshiba ever opened it. There was no evidence of spills of anykind and it was fairly dusty on the inside so it certainly did not get opened and cleaned. Finally I noticed that the glidepad connector was not even seated correctly - My glidepad now works. It took several months to track down a replacement DC power jack. The one in the P25 is significantly oversized. I finally found one on eBay of all places - aparently I am not the only one with a damaged DC power jack. The machine is back up and running. The KB is probably going to need replaced way too soon. My warantee is aparently about as valuable as Toilet paper. I have owned probably 10+ Toshibas in the past. The P25 is my last. If Toshiba can not assemble these correctly then they atleast need to support them. Failure to support is one thing, but they actually lied to avoid a warantee repair. I am sure this is not the last DC power jack I will need - but atleast I know where to find them now. But everybody who buys a Toshiba is not up to repairing them on their own and should be forewarned.

Monty, how did you upgrade your Toshiba to "Super G" mode? Is that a factory option? Did you replace your 802.11G mini-PCI card or just turn it off and use the PCMCIA port? Thanks!

SP2 Kicked my MFA. It took my beautiful machine and turned into a crash test dummy. Micorsoft error message said it was the Nvidia Driver so I Installed the (Recomended) driver on Oct 28th 2004. **Nivida released a new Media Center Driver on the 29th** It would not display the same resolution as before. While I was trying to get it to display correctly it told me to restart. So I Did. Now my display is out! My computer will boot and will display the Microsoft symbol, than when it gets to the logon screen presto goes black. I have tried everthing safe and unprotected from trying getting to the command line and getting the control panel open, all the way to system restore, but Micorsoft forces you to use a mouse in system restore, so you can not type your way out of it either. Since I purchased my machine in USA and I am currently living in Japan and my restore CD is on a boat in the Pacfic. When I brought my PC to the Akhiabara PC repair center in Tokyo, they helped me out a lot, but alas they have to order a replacement CD from the US and it will take some time. So there is a race between by boat and the Toshiba service department.

Scott, what kind of Frame Rate are you getting for SWG? I have only started playing after I installed SP2 and it jerked me around. Do you do anythins special like disabling service you do not need. I want to increase my game playablity. I will probably try SP2 with the newest Nividia driver one last time. Cause I like to stay up to date, but if I can not get the display to be correct I will try to forgo SP2. The things I have to do to get back to the virtual world. rofl.

I bougt a P25 S-509 last march. It's a great computer, and I definitely would buy another Thoshiba. My only complaints are:

1)The Matshita UJ-811 Drive is a piece of crap. It CAN'T be tweaked to multizone DVD reading, neither by software nor by firmware (Until now). The drive simply doesn't read a DVD that's encoded for a different region from the one set, unlike any other brand.

It is also known for its unreliability to succesfully detect blank DVD's or burn them correctly. It is supposed to support R+ format (It is what Matsushita says), and I've read in other forums it actually works wit R- instead. So far I haven't been able to make mine to detect either an R+ or - blank DVD. This is probably the reason why Toshiba took P25 series off the market. It is not my first unpleasant experience with Matsushita/Panasonic drives.

2)2.8 GHz processor actually means 2x1.4 GHz processors connected in parallel. It is good for most users but programmers. It is a lot of extra trouble for console applications that demand too much processor time, since they usually can use only one processor at a time. I read all the specs before buying it, and neither the brochures nor the manual say anything about it.

3)The built-in soundcard adds a DC offset to signal received through line-in, which means extra work if you plan to use plug-in audio processes, since most of them require the signal to be centered around zero. It can be solved by either an external usb2 soundcard or audio edition software capable of removing DC offsets.

4)I consider shortsighted from toshiba setting the system restore disk to format and create one partition for the whole drive. Being an 80 Gigs drive, they couldn't possibly expect people to restore all their backed-up data after a system recovery. Worse, if you have a multiboot system, system recovery will erase all your other system partitions as well.

Despite this problems (I consider the matsushita drive a major one), it is a very reliable unit once you finetune it. I use it for many professional-level tasks and it is as reliable as a desktop PC if not better (I don't use it for gaming, which is probably the most demanding for any computer), and the Harman/kardon speakers perform much better than I would have expected. Most of the good things have already been said, so I won't bother.

hi! any1 can help me about my satellite p20 im looking 4 a site where to download recovery disc for my laptop.. i tried already

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_modSel.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0249391208.1099918776@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccceadcmmjgjelicgfkceghdgngdgnn.0

but i didn't see any model of satellite p20 on that site..

Anybody know of a replacement drive for the uj-811 that can be flashed for multi region dvd viewing?

Hi All,

I have a Toshiba P20 - have had it for about 4 months. Great machine, with one exception. Whenever I connect a docking cradle for my PDA/PDT device via the USB port on the P20, then actually dock my device into the cradle - it kills the p20 Laptop, yep, KILLS it. I have now had 2 mainboards replaced by Toshiba, and guess what - its just happened again!! So I am yet again left without a laptop, there are no known issues with the PDA and the PDA+Cradle works on other laptops and PCs. Is there anyone else out there who has had a similar problem? The PDA that I am using is an HHP (Hand Held Products) Dolphin 9550

The more people who call this toll free number the better

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/computer/storage/multi/index.html

or this san jose number
http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/computer/storage/multi/index_tray.html

There's no excuse for a drive not functioning in a high end toshiba laptop

--
http://TheologyoftheBody.net

some creep just smashed my car window took my p25 plus camerac,crap crap crap
I am now working on a tiny sony and i want my big tosh back!
what now, get a quosio? or whatever the new ones called.

Hi I was wandering if anybody knew how often the cooling vents had to be vacumed. In my manual it says regulary, but I am not sure how often this is. Can sombody give me some feedback on this issue.

I've just bought a P25-607 from the USA.
I'm now in the UK and I'm having problems with the TV tuner.
The drivers supplied on the recovery disk and on the Toshiba site do not work with it.
Does anyone know where I can find other drivers?

And how do I switch it from NTSC to PAL?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Greetings ALL!

I was wondering about the 'upgradeability'. Could i, for instance, upgrade the motherboard perhaps or the graphics card? One BIG question. Does it use the same parts as what a desktop might? In other words, would i be able to buy a desktop part, say an NVIDIA card, and stick it into my machine. PLEASE HELP!

Ed you have some weird questions. While this machine is a desktop replacement it is note a desk top. The answer to your questions in order are no, no, no, and no.

hi. if i get this laptop P25- S607, would it be able to play need for speed underground 2? beacause it's only got FX 5200 32MB...

I have a used Toshiba P25-S607 which I had bought over from the states. I notice that there seems to be quite a bit of play in the hinges when the lid is open. The hinges themselves seem very stiff when opening or closing the lid, but if I move the laptop when the lid is open it defeinately wobbles.

Is this common? will it get worse? Is there some adjustment that I can make?

Regards,
Sunil

Yes, there is a bit of play in the screen but I think due to the sheer size of it then it is to be expected.

On another point, I may have a solution for the problems encountered with the burner (UJ 811). You need to close the drive by pressing on the right hand side until you hear two distinct clicks (you may need to do this slowly to hear it at first).

Using this method I have been able to burn 6 CDs and 2 DVDs without any issues whatsoever =0)

Hi Folks:
I just started using the Media Center on my P25 607(after one year!} and would like to know if anyone knows how to adjust the P25 screen display(contrast,brightness, clor etc.) while using the DVD player in Media Center. I had assumed you would be able to do this from the remote but no cigar. The display settings in control panel also do not offer an obvious way to do this. I would appreciate any insights. Thanks
Verne

I have a P25-S477 (2.4Ghz P4) and would like to upgrade the CPU to at least a 3.0Ghz. Does anyone know where I could find disassembly instructions so I can get to the CPU? I've opened the cover over the fans on the bottom and saw that I think is the heatsink but have to clue as to how to remove it. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks...

I just purchased a P25-S607 from Ebay, due to a sorry exuse of a good Ebayer. The MB was replaced and I have everything up and running now, This is truly one of the best laptops I have run with. I know few people who have been running the same model and haven't had any issues. I do however have another problem... Just only after a week of use, Iam looking for a replacement DVDR/CDWR module. Mine has decided to quit burning after 4 Discs being made in my hands. I've looked around but have not had any success in locating an afordable replacement. Do you know of any vendors I could get one from, Thanks.

Dwayne,

Have a look at my comment above (Post 133) - see if it works for you.

Mingers

I agree, the Multi-Drive (UJ-811B) that came with the P26-S607 is CRAP!!! Mine quit working a few months after the warranty expired, of course. And then Toshiba charged me $35 to tell me that I had to replace it when I called to get some customer support. So I have been without a DVD/CD drive for a while. I have been looking for a replacement. Since reading this forum, I noticed that many others were having problems with this drive as well. Any recommendations for a suitable replacement? I want to make sure that the faceplate is able to go back on. Is this much of a problem or can I just buy any laptop dvd/cd multi-drive and expect it to fit on. I've never had to do this before so I'm a little hesitant to buy one yet.

For heaven's sake get the extended warranty on this machine if you still can. It will be worth it as you will have to replace the multi-drive frequently. Apart from that glaing defect, I have been pretty happy with my P25 S-607.

Just had a flashlight fall on my P25-s607. The screen is broken inside any help as to what the bst fix would be. Anyone know whso mucere to get a replacement screen and what the price would be. thanks so much Mike

My Atheros wireless adapter seems to be failing. The wi-fi keeps dropping out every 10 mins or so and the only way i can get it back is to disable and then re-enable the wi-fi. Actually I usually just turn the wireless off and on again. The switch is on the left side. This is a total pain in the butt. I don't want to deal with tech support so I think I'll just buy a wi-fi PC Card (PCMCIA card) and stick that in. Maybe I'll get an 802.11g (as apposed to the integreated 802.11b) card just so that I come out ahead in some way.

How do I replace a dvd-rom drive??

I can't manage to get my laptop open to get the dvd drive out

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DORRIS CLARKE(MRS)
CEO,DORCLARKE CONSULTANT LTD.
COCODI51BD196
ABIDJAN 11
COTE D'IVOIRE.
EMAIL:dorclarkeconsul@hutchcity.com
DEAR SIR,
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dorclarkecons1@hutchcity.com

Toshiba Laptop Computer - Crummiest Product EVER
I bought my son a Toshiba laptop to take away to his first year of college, 200 miles away from home.
He came home for a 1 week intercession, started studying and using the Toshiba and the hard drive burnt out. The laptop is 11 months old and cost $2,500 approx.
I took it to the Toshiba warranty shop and was told to call the next day so I could pick it up.I called for 5 days straight, same answer: "tomorrow"
Finally,a "supervisor" told me "no hard drives in stock, all on back order, no ETA"
My son was going to fail his college courses as term papers were due the following week.
The first independent repair shop I went to got me an installed original Toshiba Hard Drive in 1 day.
I was told that it is a very well known scam , whereby warranty is denied so that Toshiba can sell a new drive.
Tallying up the week lost, the new "out of warranty" drive, the transportation back and forth to pick up all software belonging to the College Intranet Network and configuration software, the labour to re-in