Toshiba Satellite M45X-S331 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 730 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)
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Toshiba Satellite M45-S331 Notebook PC State-of-the-Art Computing At 6.2 lbs., the Satellite M45 is highly mobile, outperforming many desktops with technology designed specifically for mobile PCs. All systems include a 15.4" wide-screen TruBrite display to make images brighter and more vivid. Push this machine as far as you want; it can take it! Enjoy notebook-optimized Intel Centrino Mobile Technology, Microsoft Windows XP Operating System, hard drives to 100GB hard drive¹, and integrated high speed wireless LAN, all in one sleek chassis. The DVD-SuperMulti optical drive reads and writes to the most popular CD and DVD formats, making it perfect for movie making, or file archiving and exchange. At only 6.2 lbs., this system offers high-performance Intel Centrino Mobile Technology, Windows XP Home, an 80GB HDD, an IEEE 1394 port, and integrated high speed wireless LAN.
Maximize your mobile performance with the Toshiba Satellite M45-S331, the ideal notebook PC for the savvy professional who needs to travel light. Featuring one of the speediest Intel Pentium M (Centrino) processors, the M45-S331 can sweetly handle today's demanding business productivity software suites. It also offers powerful multimedia capabilities for presentations--and for unwinding with a DVD movie while travelling. The M45-S331 features a large 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB of installed RAM, a 15.4-inch screen, DVD SuperMulti optical drive that burns both CDs and multiple DVD formats, and integrated 54g wireless connectivity. For a more powerful Centrino processor and even larger hard drive, check out the M45-S351.

The Basics

Screen, Graphcs and Sound
The 15.4-inch widescreen Ultimate TrueBrite TFT active matrix LCD screen provides a bright, vivid display and allows images to be seen from a wider angle than most notebooks. The integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 video/graphics card (with 128 MB of shared video memory) provides HDTV support with native 16x9 formats for wide screen flat panels. You'll also get good 3D rendering for today's immersive gaming titles. It also offers 16-bit Realtek ALC250 sound and internal stereo speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The M45X-S331 has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g networks. You get a good offering of connectivity options, including both super-fast USB 2.0 and Firewire options:

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Gigabit Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 operating system with Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web.

Dimensions and Weight
This Centrino laptop weighs under 7 pounds--a bit larger than other notebooks with this processor--and measures 14.17 x 10.55 x 1.71 inches.

Power
This notebook is powered by a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which offers up to 3 hours of battery life (dependent upon computing conditions).

What's in the Box
This package contains the M45X-S331 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limiited hardware warranty.

1 A HORRIBLE Experience

Sleek notebook, but that’s the only positive. My absolute worst fears all came true only three weeks after I bought it.

Within three weeks the screen had died on me. Called the warranty service who advised me to send it to the Toshiba depot for repair, as opposed to taking it to a local service center. They assured me that the depot would have all the necessary parts, whereas a service center will have to order them and wait. They also assured me that I’ll have my notebook back in about a week.

Three weeks later, after countless phone calls, and many promises of delivery “next week”, they finally told me that parts are still not available and that it would take two additional weeks before they get them.

I called customer relations several times (get used to 45 minutes on hold, don’t bother leaving messages, they never return calls despite the promise of “within the hour”). Every time I was assured that this time they’ll get it right and that I’ll get my notebook within days.

Needless to say, two weeks passed, and the assurances turned to be meaningless. Customer relations’ only job is to get you off the phone, not to solve your problem. So here I am with a brand new notebook that spent twice as much time in the repair shop than on my desk. I called customer relations again, and asked to speak to someone who will actually do something to solve my problem, perhaps send me a replacement unit. I bought the notebook because I needed it, and I just can’t defer using it indefinitely. Guess what they told me? There’s not such thing as someone who could do something. There is no replacement policy. I’ll just have to wait for the part until it arrives – whenever that is.

A new notebook is not supposed to break right out of the box, but if it does, a respectable manufacturer should stand by their product and make up for the inconvenience to the customer. Toshiba has been utterly disappointing on all counts.
2 Poor Battery + Lots of Junk.....
Hi,

The Batter Performance is Poor. The salesman at Circuity City will BS to get their product sold. It hardly lasts more than 80 minutes. The Laptop is loaded with JUNK. It sux!!!!

I installed Red Hat Linux 9.0 and XP Pro with SP2.
Their are no Network Card Drivers for Linux, so I can easily say forget about your wireless working on Linux. Shame on both Toshiba and Intel for not supporting the same.

The system cannot hibernate nor turn itself off even after installing battry saver options that accompanied the CD.

So I have had a horrible experience. Pretty much whatever I want I don't get.I will never ever BUY Toshiba.
3 Love my Toshiba M45-S331!!
After some research, I was down to Toshiba M45-S331 and Dell 6000. Finally got Toshiba although it was more expensive(especially considering Dell online deals). So far am very satisfied and love its built quality and feel as compared to others in the same price & specs range.

PROS:
1. Great specs for the price
2. TruBrite screen
3. Harman/Kardon speakers
4. Keyboard Layout
5. Bridge-Media Aapter

CONS:
1. PC2700 RAM instead of a DDR2
2. Relatively less Battery Life. (< 3 hrs on a full-charge)

I experienced the FREEZING/LOCK-UP problem on plugging the AC Power Cord and have seen numerous such topics online. Toshiba Support insisted its a hardware problem but was not convinced.

Was finally able to solve this problem by tweaking the Power settings of the Laptop...

1. Go to "Power Management Icon" from your system-icon-tray on bottom-right corner of the screen. (It gives information about Current Power Source, Remaining Battery and Power Profile)

2. Right-click it and select "TOSHIBA POWER SAVER SETTINGS".

3. Click "SETUP OPTIONS" button on bottom-left of the window

4. "UNCHECK" the box marked "Change Power Source Profile Automatically".

Once you have done this....you should hopefully no longer have the freezing or locking problem when you switch to AC Power.
4 new laptop
This is the first time I purchased a laptop and cannot really compare to other laptops. However after a few minutes using this laptop, I realised that there was absolutely no noise coming from the laptop .. incredible .. very quiet! I was annoyed by the tons of software which were installed on it (most of them as trial) .. it took me a whole day to remove everything and install my software.

Screen is wonderful and you have to get used to work on a wide screen. The touch pad is excellent.
5 Do your research
Anyone considering a purchase of a Toshiba Satellite series computer such as the M45 should run a search on the terms Toshiba satellite overheating. My experience has been that Toshiba does not stand by its products, cannot repair the chronic problems with this series and will not extend warranties or offer replacement to customers who have endured numerous "repairs." The problem cited below with air circulation is well known to Toshiba sat series sufferers and to Toshiba, which has been taken to court over related issues on the 5005, do a Google. Customer service is horrid, out of the Nixon White House. The satellite series computers work well when they work. But Toshiba should be in the lemon-aide biz, not the computer biz. They do make good TVs, though.
6 Excellent price versus performance!
Bought this notebook 3 days ago and have been working it hard ever since. Before I say my piece, just a couple of comments regarding the other reviewers. First, brightness. This computer screen is made by the same people as Sony. The person that compared screens probably didn't check to see if the brightness was turned up on the Toshiba. If the Sony was plugged in, and the Toshiba was on battery, the power settings would have dimmed the Toshiba screen. Hey, if the Sony really is brighter, it will just fade sooner, right? ;-)

Second, as for the 1-star rating by the person who had all the crashes, the odds of three computers crashing due to no fault of the owner are something like 100,000,000 to 1. Not a misprint. With mean time between failures in the 100,000s of hours, it just won't happen. The MOST likely cause of the crashing is software that the user installs, either consciously or unconsciously. I don't think that it is fair to give 1 star. Also, as for technical support in India, the reason these modern PCs are less than $2000 is that the manufacturers outsource support. I suspect the technician was as frustrated with the user.

*** UPDATE ***
Lockup issue when online and going from battery to AC:

- M. Ranake "mrasnake" posted an excellent review regarding this Laptop locking up if "you have wireless enabled" and go from battery to AC power. Actually, you can have wireless enabled and be on a wireless network, but if you have IE running, you will lock up the computer whether IE is the focus window or not (at least that is what happened to me). If I closed out of IE prior to plugging in power...no problems. I also tried using PC-Cillin (firewall software) to temporarily halt internet traffic prior to plugging back in...no lock up. I don't know if the same thing will happen if you are running Outlook or another web browser. It is an issue that you need to consider before buying. I'm still tickled pink with this laptop.

*** UPDATE ***
Overheating:

- While it hasn't happened to me, I have seen a couple of posts on this laptop overheating. If you are not on battery, do not try to run this laptop on a pillow. It needs airflow at high power, and some of the airflow comes from the bottom (also on the left side).

*** Off my soap box ***

PROS:
-Knock out gorgeous design
-Beautiful, breathtaking screen (blows my customers away)
-Fast (running many of the standard games, Photoshop, etc., with no problems and high quality)
-Good sound
-Big hard drive
-Adequate memory
-Overall just a very nice, professional, beautiful laptop for an excellent price ($1250 at CCity)

CONS:
-Mediocre software (by the way, exact same as on the Sony quoted by another reviewer)
-Need more memory (cheap online, less than $70 for 512M at NewEgg)
-Um...hmmm...no other complaints!

Buy it; you will love it.

Best to all,
Mike

7 Thin, light, runs cool, but screen could be better
When I first saw this laptop it seemed perfect - great screen, thin, light, perfect keyboard, etc. But after placing it directly next to the new Sony VGN-FS550, I couldn't believe the difference. The screen on the Sony was MUCH brighter and the Sony seemed to be better built (no flex in the screen, nicer materials, better fit & finish, etc.)

Pros:
- TruBrite screen (better than average, but not as bright as Sony FS)
- relatively thin and light considering specs
- placement of speakers ABOVE keyboard rather than below on M35
- great keyboard
- very quiet, runs cool (if properly ventilated!), still haven't heard fan
- exceptional price ($1250 online)

Cons:
- lots of pre-loaded and worthless software
- DDR memory rather than faster DDR2 memory
- slower 4200rpm hard drive
- Toshiba reliability is better than average but not great
- wireless performance is average
8 I love it!
I recieve my laptop last week and have been working it out ever since. I am an electroinc musician and I am running Ableton Live 3.0 on it with no problems so far. Transfering my files over from my old computer was no problem. I just plugged into my network router and downloaded all my files and mp3's. Installing all my music software was also no problem. I did have a little trouble installing the M-Audio Quattro software for my USB Audio module, but that was mostly because of the crappy instruction manual from M-Audio and not because of the laptop.

The thing is damn fast! I was previously running Ableton Live on a 750 mhz AMD Athalon machine. Often, my CPU usage bar would creep up to 70% or more. But these same tracks now only push up the bar to about 15%. I can tweek effects, pile on the reverb and do live editing with no gapping, no freezing, no crashing and no spontaneous restarts (all problems i was having with my old PC).

The battery life seems to be good. But so far, I've only been watching DVD's on battery power. I can run a 2.5 hour movie and still have 20 minutes of battery life or so. The real test will be producing music on battery power which will be much more CPU intensive.

The wide screen monitor is beautiful, and I had no trouble setting up my old CRT for using dual monitors for added workspace. It is very simple to set it up in the control panel. It seems though, that you need to set it up each time you want to use dual monitors, but I could be wrong. I haven't really figured out all the ins and outs of this thing yet.

So over all, this is a good, truly mobile, machine at a very fair price and I am quite pleased with it. If I have any problems with it in the future, I will update this review.
9 Toshiba Satellite M45-S331
I bought this a few days ago and it has been working perfectally. The only reason why I rated it a 4 is that I have been having a hard time trusting to go with Toshiba again. I had Satellite 1955-S803 which broke in 3 years and I spent $2,400.00 on that! This one was $1,699.99 which isn't too bad. I was either going to buy a HP Pavilion dv1000 or this one. I thought I should go with this one because the screen was larger and it looked nicer. I thought when I walked out of the store that I had made a mistake but when I took it home I knew it wasn't. I haven't used the DVD+/-RW or CD-RW Combo Drive but I can't wait until I do. The speed of this notebook is very fast and it connected with my router right away. 512 MB RAM is enough for me and in 2 years I will probably upgrade it to the highest that is on the market for notebooks. 80 GB is one of the highest hard drive capacity you can find. The dv1000 had a 100 GB hard drive but I really don't care. I would recommend this for someone who is on the go and wants good battery life (lasted about 3 or 4 hours) or someone just wanting to buy a safe reliable computer.
10 think twice before buying it
After months of research, I narrowed by search to this one and the Sony FS550. This was looked better, the sony one had tacky white keyboard.
Spent 1700 and got it home. It CRASHED the next day! completly. I lost everything on it..the Toshiba costumer support was terrible...after talking for hours..with someone in I think INDIA! i was put to someone I could actually understand...
he could not help me either..told me to take it back to store.
At the store, more arguing later.
Got another one...
are you ready.
got it home again...it crashed again. it was slow, the hard drive failed. I am on to my third one..and the explorer on it crashed..yes..I am taking it back and I want my money back...this time..I am fed up. WHy dont staff at toshiba read these and realize their cosumter service is NOT GOOD. If they dont care about their costumers...it will affect the product and the company's reputation.
11 I love it!
I love this laptop! I've been using it heavily for several weeks and I haven't had any problems. It hasn't locked up once, and I've used it for hours with 5 programs running(excel, word, onenote, firefox, acrobat reader), several windows each, and it didn't even slow down a bit. I use the wireless connection on battery, on AC, connecting it and disconnecting it while surfing the web, and no problems.
And the trubrite display is great!
12 A Good Laptop...with a Wireless Drawback
I purchased a Toshiba M45-S331 on Feb. 2 at Office Depot for $1299.99 after rebates. I got it home, and fell in love with it instantly...until I decided to try out the wireless. I had my power features set so that when I was on battery it switched to the maximum life mode and when I was on AC it was the Maximum performance mode. I was walking around the house wireless surfing the internet - no problem....until I plugged my AC back in. The machine locked up hard. No ctrl+alt+del...no nothing....it was froze. I called it a glitch and cut it off and back on. I was working on battery, and plugged it up again while surfing the net and it hard locked again. I assumed I had a bad laptop, so I returned it to Office Depot on Feb 3. I took another one home thinking surely that it wouldn't do this....but it did. I was also able to duplicate the problem on the one on display at Office Depot. It seems as long as you don't have your wireless turned on...it will do fine going from battery to AC. As long as you don't plan on wirelessly surfing the net and plugging up to AC at the same time, it should be a great laptop. One side note - this was the only toshiba model that had this problem that Office Depot had on display. But...I decided to try my luck with Sony so I ordered one today.
13 Can it get much closer to perfection ..?
I went to buy this laptop and I'm still struggling to hear its fan as it's really quiet. When I tried to lift it I was surprised to realise how light it was and I'm still waiting for its battery to end. When I compared its TruBrite screen next to M35X S309 I no longer had a doubt - the screen really makes a difference. Given that my old toshiba laptop - had it for 2.5 years - never presented an issue despite turning it on and then putting in to standby 10 times a day, this laptop looks like the best investment one can make at this period.

OK, I'll say a negative thing so that I don't sound too positive. The keyboard could present greater resemblence to a desktop but this is not something that cannot be used in longer than a week.
14 It Rocks! (Quietly)
When my Sony GRX-550 laptop crashed, I took it to Best Buy in Boynton Beach, Florida, and waited seven weeks while the Geek Squad -- and I do mean Geek -- decided whether to repair or replace it under a Professional Performance Plan. SEVEN WEEKS! All those weeks of unanswered phone calls and e-mails made me mighty mad. When I finally got through -- by calling corporate and asking it to patch me through -- and threatened to tell my tale to local consumer reporters, the store managers miraculously and uncharacteristically made a smart move and gave me a brand spanking new Toshiba M45-S331.

This machine outperforms my GRX-550 by leaps and bounds, which I guess is to be expected in a newer computer. It has a bright screen, fast processor, plenty of memory -- 512 mb expandable to 2 gb -- dvd burner, and enough ports to satisfy the most demanding multi-tasker. There's also a built-in wireless feature that I haven't tried yet.

All that and IT'S QUIET! I mean it's quiet. My old Sony laptop clicked and whirred constantly. When I was researching machines to replace it after the crash, I listened to other Sony laptops in Best Buy and found they had the same annoying habit. I don't know exactly why my computer was so noisy -- it sounded like the hard drive was talking to itself -- but I do know that it could be heard from every room in my apartment and often appeared as the soundtrack to my worst nightmares.

After several weeks of heavy use, I can tell you I'm very happy with my Toshiba M45-S331. If it keeps on running the way it is now for the next couple of years, I will be a Toshiba loyalist. If it doesn't, Best Buy sweetened the replacement deal with another three year Professional Performance Plan, and you'll probably be reading about another horrible ordeal trying to get them to make good on it.

The only note of caution I have for buyers of the Toshiba Satellite M45-S331 is that it does not come with a parallel port, which means if you have a printer with a parallel cord, you will have to buy one with a USB end to plug it into the computer. This could add about 20 bucks to the cost of the computer.

Happy computing.
15 Good Laptop for a Great Price but...
The keyboard has a very weird layout. So weird, in fact, that I decided to return my m35x-s349 - very similar to this one - and pay a 15% restocking fee at Best Buy (Amazon doesn't have a restocking fee for laptops as far as I know). The biggest issue I had with the keyboard is that there is no Ctrl key on the right side of the keyboard. If you use computers throughout the day you would likely use this key with the arrow keys and your right hand to jump around text and spreadsheets, among other things (pasting, copying, etc). Also, the Windows button is on the top - for me not as big of a deal but other reviewers had an issue with that.

However this laptop is a very good laptop other than this, and at a very good price... lots of memory and hard drive space, DVD burner, awesome widescreen screen, and Toshiba is one of the most reliable laptop brands according to Consumer Reports (Apple is by far the most reliable, followed by both Sony and Toshiba).

After returning the product I purchased the Sony VAIO VGN-A250 from Amazon. Almost identical features - the only differences are that the Sony DVD burner is a double layer drive (not super important for the majority of the public), and the Sony memory card reader only accepts Memory Sticks (which Sony cameras use) whereas Toshiba's memory card reader accepts 5 different types of cards (including SD, the most popular). Additionally the Sony turns out to be $100-200 more.

Lastly, Toshiba appears to be replacing their M35X line with M45 at the moment, which at a first glance is even cheaper, so keep a lookout for those.

Thursday, 24-Jul-2008 03:47:41 CDT
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