I know at least two people who’ve recently bought laptops with Windows Vista pre-installed who returned them that very day. When we realized what a PITA installing XP can be on some of these new laptops (with new hardware and unknown drivers, etc.), it was the only thing left to do.
Toshiba, it seems, feels our pain, as the new Satellite T31 laptop that just debuted comes with recovery disks for both Vista and XP recovery disks, which means drivers for both OSes. Awesome.
The laptop itself isn’t too shabby, with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo proc from Intel, a 15-inch 4:3 LCD, and support for up to 4GB of RAM. The other options are build to order.
Toshiba T31 [Akibahara]
I would not ever buy a laptop from Toshiba again. They are great little powerhouses that get the job done, that is for sure. But Toshiba as a company just wants to be seen as a great company and not actually hold up the service end of the purchasing agreement.
Take a very close look at all of the specs that are listed before you buy. I bought one of their u305 13.3″ laptops 4 1/2 months ago. The specifications on their website very clearly and proudly state that the laptop is capable of utilizing 4Gb’s of RAM. It is not! And it is not because of the chipset or board being used. It is because they could not program the Bios properly to handle it.
Toshiba has since my purchase changed the manul and the online specifications for this laptop line to an upper limit of 2Gb’s RAM. After many hours on the phone with their “customer service” handlers, I am at a loss for what to do. It is at the point now that I am considering suing them. They have made absolutely no effort to rectify the situation.
It is apparently my burden to bear that the laptops specifications changed. They are not willing to allow me to return it and pay the difference for another model. They will not compensate me in any way for their mistake. I now have 2 2Gb sticks of top end OCZ sitting at home gathering dust. I cannot return them because it is past the 14 day limit. Although to OCZ’s customer service I send thanks! They are willing to send me out new (in exchange) ones if the future laptop I do buy needs differently spec’d RAM.
Stay away from Toshiba as a laptop manufacturer, they do not hold up their end of the purchase agreement and feel perfectly okay doing so.
Jake Z