You Grade The Brands: Toshiba Notebooks

Last year Toshiba put out a wide range of notebooks that appealed to consumers across the spectrum from business professionals to gamers to the budget-conscious. However, the star of the line was the newest addition to the Toshiba family. In a sea of netbooks with the same specs and often the same look, Toshiba took the bold step of charting their own course with the mini NB205.

This netbook not only impressed us with its slick design but also great ergonomics and extra-long battery life. This came as only a mild surprise to anyone who’s been a fan of the vendor for years. Though it’s not the sexiest brand, Toshiba has been producing well-made and well-respected notebooks for years. But the NB205 went beyond the vendor’s usual offerings and became one of our favorite netbooks of 2009.

Now, we’re taking a holistic look at notebook brands and how vendors fare when we aggregate data from our reviews and research, as well as third-party data. Check out Toshiba’s strengths and weaknesses and its 2009 review scorecard. Then sound off in the comments and tell us what you think of the brand and about your own experience with your Toshiba notebook or netbook. Without your input, our report card will be incomplete.

Strengths

• Best in Class Netbooks: Toshiba may have entered the netbook game late, but they hit the ball out of the park on their first try. The mini NB205 series impressed us throughout 2009 with a classy design, good keyboard, excellent touchpad, and category-leading battery life. We’re looking forward to seeing the features, design aesthetic, and ergonomics know-how applied to full-sized Toshiba notebooks in the future. The NB305 lasted 20 minutes less on a charge, but 0therwise proved a worthy successor.
• Power to the People: Two features we started to see on more and more Toshiba models last year centered around power: the Eco Utility and Sleep & Charge USB ports. The Eco Utility helped users keep track of the notebook’s power consumption as well as save energy or battery life in an easy to understand interface. We also liked that Sleep & Charge ports allowed for device charging even when the notebook was off or asleep. Extras like these helped Toshiba stand out from other notebooks as well as adding value.
• Multimedia: Several of the notebooks we reviewed had features that enhanced users’ multimedia experience. Between the dedicated multimedia controls found on the Satellite L505 and Qosmio X305, the loud, clear speakers found on notebooks like the Qosmio X505 and Satellite L355, the HD displays across budget and high-end models plus the Blu-ray options, media mavens will find plenty to like in Toshiba notebooks.

Weaknesses

• Touchpad & Buttons: With the exception of their netbooks and gaming systems, Toshiba’s laptops tend to have small touchpads and/or less than ideal mouse buttons. We’re not fans of the long, single bar (two discrete buttons usually offer a better experience) and the vendor tends to include buttons that are stiff or cheap-feeling. We’d like to see more of Toshiba’s notebooks follow the lead of the mini NB205’s combination of large, low-friction touchpad and two springing mouse buttons beneath.
• Customize and Configure: A decent number of Toshiba notebook models are configurable via their Web site, however most of those are in the Satellite and Tecra lines. Considering how popular the mini NB205 and Satellite T115 notebooks are, it’s disappointing that customers don’t have the ability to build the system they want.
• Over-Bling: Toshiba’s Fusion Finish high-gloss coating is billed as an addition that gives laptops a “refined, premium look.” There is such a thing as too much gloss, however, and notebooks covered in Fusion Finish toe or even cross that line. Glossy laptops look good on store shelves but collect fingerprints faster than a CSI in a hotel bathroom.
• Missing Extras: Notebooks ranging from the budget Satellite L355 to the high-end Qosmio X305 gaming rig sometimes surprised us by not including extras we’d expect to see both on high and low-cost systems with certain feature sets. For instance, lack of HDMI on HD systems, no integrated webcam long after it became a standard on new notebooks, and lack of Blu-ray or a full-HD on a $2,700 gaming machine all made for puzzling drawbacks on otherwise decent systems.

Review Report Card

We reviewed 14 Toshiba notebooks and netbooks in 2009. Of those, 29% earned 3 stars, 21% earned 3.5 stars, a hefty 43% earned 4 stars, and one (the original Toshiba mini NB205) earned the coveted 4.5 star rating. Five Toshiba netbooks and notebooks were awarded LAPTOP’s Editor’s Choice – 36% of the total.

Best Rated Notebooks

• Toshiba mini NB205
• Toshiba Qosmio X505
• Toshiba Satellite L355
• Toshiba Satellite P305D-S8900

Worst Rated Notebooks

• Toshiba Satellite T115
• Toshiba Satellite L505-S5966
• Toshiba Satellite L300 Series

Tech Support and Reliability

Toshiba received a decent grade of B in our Tech Support Showdown. According to a study by Square Trade, Toshiba has one of the lowest malfunction rates over 3 years — 15.7% — indicating that their notebooks are reliable and, when they break, users are in good hands.

As a brand, Toshiba notebooks aren’t as exciting on the surface as high-concept or over-hyped offerings from other vendors. However, there’s something to be said for a company that consistently produces laptops that perform well and are easy to use both on the hardware and software sides. We’ve already seen improvements in Toshiba’s netbooks this year and hope to see some of the features we like in their mini line in the Satellite, Portege, and Tecra models to come.

Now It’s Your Turn

Do you own a Toshiba laptop? Owned one in the recent past? What does Toshiba get right and where does the company need improvement? Tell us how you’d grade Toshiba and explain why in the comments.