Toshiba Satellite Pro L20

Now receiving this laptop for free from a local school was something great, as this model was the first laptop I've ever owned. The keyboard feels great to type on, ad the screen looks quite clear. I do prefer matte screens over the glossy one's and this happens to be matte. The WiFi is pretty good for it's age and I can pick up from quite a way aways. The build quality of this laptop is also very good seeing as it feels as if it's not going to fall apart instantly upon being picked up. Although, being originally built for Windows XP (Which is quite outdated these days...) I am able to easily install the latest Ubuntu Linux releases with full 3D support on Unity. The hard drive in this laptop is a Toshiba 40GB (Stock) from which being used for 5 years solid it has only developed 1 bad sector. It seems to be a very reliable drive and hasn't failed anything on me yet. The speakers arn't the greatest on this laptop. They're pretty quiet and I haven't heard the best sound quality, but they do work at least. A few bad things about this laptop have to be the battery life and the heat. It does get incredibly hot very quickly, probably the Intel Celeron M's fault as I have seen them get pretty hot... For example the Hard Drive is currently running at 47º which is quite hot for a HDD... Battery life is decent. Not the worlds best. I can get about 2:30hours to about 3 hours on constant use which is okay. I looked at some stuff on-line about this laptop and although, it saying it's maximum RAM is 2GB of DDR2, I got this thing to work with 3GB. It didn't like 4GB, but 3GB is enough for daily tasks anyway. I can even play some steam games on this thing at about 30FPS on low. Overall I think it's a great laptop, would recommend it for the average user.

We love this item and its not at all noisy. it was a considered purchase and very good value for money. Purchased online from http://gogodigital.co.uk I cannot think of another outlet that can beat the price we paid (under £300)The screen is very clear and my daughter is happy as she uses it for her homework.

Fiona

I am an experienced computer user and this model was bought as desktop replacement. Purchased from Dabs.com a couple of years ago at just around £400. With one month to go before warranty expired, the DVD drive stopped reading and made awful spinning noises. The little pegs that hold the centre of the disc had crumbled away. It was collected from work and taken for repair. When it arrived back it was still not working and was sent back again. Toshiba told me they had had a bad batch of CD/DVD drives and there will be a wait. Eventually, returned working. This L20 is now very outdated. I upgraded the ram myself to 1GB. DVD's don't play smooth anymore, very jerky. Also the base of the unit does get hot. This model has been a good workhorse as I use it for everything. Never had any blue screens. Battery life is dreadful. I even bought a new battery and its worse than before. Just under an hour is all I can get. It suddenly shuts down without warning, despite checking the power setting alarms. Its had its day I'm afraid and Of course, with £400 to spend today, I can now upgrade to 3GB and the new Intel Core i3 processors, which in my opinion is the way to go with Windows 7 op at 64bit. Just need to decide what brand to go for!

A good laptop to use every day.

Gives me a lot of problems but its still alive three years on so Im not overly disappointed with it. Power jack is likely to become faulty needing repair as in my experience.

Awful battery life in my opinion!

Do not recommend Toshiba Satellite Pro L20.

Although this Toshiba Satellite Pro L20 isn't a terrible laptop, I know it has put me off buying any Toshiba for my next one. Using it for long periods of time is a hot experience - the base of it heats up faster than any other laptop I have seen, and has hurt my hands. Less than three years after I bought it, I have had to replace the hard drive after it crashed, not once, but twice. On top of that, the key pad is beginning to die out - when you type a word it will only pick up on a few letters. Plus, the screen has developed green lines running down it. Finally, it is exceptionally slow. All in all, not one I would recommend.

The battery is pretty good I think. and the graphics are pretty good to. The LAN settings are pretty easy to use. Overall the Toshiba Satellite Pro L20 is a great laptop. The keyboard is pretty good and the layout of the on/off button, keyboard, mouse are extremely good. I managed to get used to this laptop within a day!

The Toshiba Satellite Pro L20 laptop is a nice machine, but the low volume really lets it down, and the headphones don't help much. The speakers are very quiet and it has rubbish battery life. There is no firewire, no bluetooth, and the laptop is pretty basic considering it is a Toshiba, but it looks smart and it is well built.