Last update: 13-Jul-2008 22:00 GMT: link to native wifi rtl8187b linux native driver
Final Verdict:
Please bear in mind this is a subjective, ‘personal preference’ verdict
I’ve had enough of this laptop but thanks to this painful experience I know now that what I need is Asus EEE PC + stationary PC. It is most likely a great laptop and good value for money for those who wish to follow The Vista Path of Virtual Enlightenment.. Unfortunately I am simply tired of Micro$oft / Hardware Manufactures politics and private agendas, particularly if, as a result, it is me who has to waste endless hours re-instating this or other system. My personal requirements demand that I have a system which is tailored to my needs and that I am in full control of that system. Unfortunately this laptop does not offer such freedom due to the fact that operating system is not supplied as a software and hardware is not OpenSource friendly.
Mouse on the right hand sucks… I thought I would change my mouse habits but I have not… mouse keeps sliding under power cable and keeps pressing OK button… reformat disk.. OK … I cannot change my habits. Need to buy another laptop. think aboiut it.. one port mouse.. one port removable drive…2 ports taken… what’s remaining is 2 ports on the right…. and they are NIGHTMARE!!!! Not to mention that it makes DVDs very hard to insert and play.
Review:
Context:
Bought in PC World on 11 Dec, 2007.
I am not a hardware expert and I am definitely not a laptop expert. The only laptop I used in my entire life (and am still using) is Dell Latitude D620. But, since it was just allocated to me at work - I never had to think what I like about it or not - because I did not have any choice anyway and also, nothing to compare it against.
Therefore I will use that laptop for comparison. TOSHIBA A210-17I is my first, “privately” owned laptop.
This review is not about absolute, objective facts. It is about myself assessing whether what I bought is what I wanted. And since this is my first laptop - I never really knew what I wanted. Until now that is.
External Display
- Doesn’t work with my IBM E74 monitor which is rather critical to me. I wouldn’t have bought this laptop if I had known that.
- The monitor lid opens only to about, I dunno, 135 degrees? That will make using external monitors difficult - because the laptop’s monitor will be in a way! Dell’s lid / monitor opens full 180 degrees so I can slide it beneath the monitor I am using
- I connected flat screen. DVD would not play.
Hardware Support: general
Laptop does not come with any drivers.
Hardware Compatibility: Ubuntu Desktop 7.10
Most of the devices (including sound card) not detected. FN keys (HotKeys) don’t work at all. Full list of what You would get after fresh Ubuntu install can be found here
Wifi rtl8187b linux native driver for Ubuntu ( download ) - I followed the instructions but couldn’t get past the compilation errors.
Hardware Compatibility: Fedora 8.0
Definitely better than Ubuntu. Graphics card detected OK but generic VESA driver used, Sound seemingly detected as well - but it doesn’t work.
VMware Server install failed due to ‘non-standard’ kernel. It then tried to compile specially for that kernel but that failed as well.
Hardware Compatibility: PCLinuxOS
Similar to Ubuntu. No Graphics or Sound detected.
OS Support: Vista
It appears that the laptop DOES NOT come with Windows Vista as a separate software. It comes with a DVD which contains an image of laptop’s hard disk which does contain Vista. In other words - you will not be able to install Vista yourself - you can only re-instate what you bought originally. This is important to understand - you will not be able to install Vista the way you would like to (i.e. on a different partition etc)
‘Vista-laptop’ bundle ownership considerations
Imagine that you bought a laptop which is specifically built for a certain Vista configuration so the laptop will not work properly without this particular Vista setup, and this particular Vista setup will not work on any other laptop. You no longer own the hardware - because it is entirely dependant on certain set of software. And you don’t own the software either - because what you were given as software was just a backup of what was installed on the laptop in the first place. So you paid money - but you own nothing in return, apart from rights to spend more money on hardware, and more importantly, Vista upgrades, without which your laptop might cease to work altogether. So effectively You haven’t bought a laptop, but merely leased it from Toshiba-Micro$oft Coorporation.
BIOS
Very basic comparing to Dell. Too basic IMHO. Dell’s BIOS offers loads of very useful, user friendly (as opposed to “very technical”) options.
Ports layout
USB, external display, even power supply ’socket’ are located on both sides. There is nothing at the back. This is not ideal. I tend to use mouse and don’t want any sticking out plugs in a way. Luckily USB ports are located on BOTH sides. Right-handed person might discover that Power Supply plug annoyingly and dangerously gets in a way - mouse accidently slides under it and then right-click button is activated. And external diplay plug might be getting in a way of a left-handed person using a mouse.
6 months later:
I was hoping that my ‘mouse habits’ would adjust to this new, different setup but they did not. Instead I am developing RSI as a result of having to constantly try to avoid the power plug sticking out.
Volume Control
Perhaps a wee dash too granular and its placement is also not perfectly ideal - it is very easy to accidently touch the touch pad when using it. But otherwise rather cool and makes a refreshing change from Dell’s ‘up’ and ‘down’ buttons which don’t have enough granularity.
Speed
I haven’t noticed speed improvements as yet, but haven’t had time to test it properly due to all other issues. Windows Vista as well as Ubuntu take their time to load up but it is perhaps a little bit faster than my old XP. I will run some performance comparisons running GIMP later (I am hoping that extra 1GB memory should make big difference)
- BIOS takes a dash too long to load IMHO
- Freshly installed Ubuntu Desktop 7.10: boot - 40+ seconds, shutdown 10- seconds.
- Freshly installed Fedora 8.0: boot - 30 seconds, shutdown 10- seconds.
- Freshly installed PCLinuxOS: boot - 26 seconds, shutdown 10- seconds.
DVD does not open when powered off
Mildly annoying but annoying nevertheless since it seems to be simple ’spring out’ mechanism but when powered off it is locked for one reason or another - important when one wants to boot from a CD/DVD (or forgets to take bootable CD/DVD out).
Battery
Measured: In ‘Balanced’ mode with wireless on, internet browsing only (FireFox): approx 1h 40min
Fan
Seems to keep coming on quite a lot?
Warm air escapes on the left-hand side if that’s any consideration.
6 months later:
This sound maybe trivial but became a great inconvinience for me. As a right handed person I use mouse with my right hand, leaving left hand for doing anything else like stuffing buiscuits into my mouth etc. So everything I use tends to end up on the left hand side of the laptop, caught in the stream of warm air coming from the fun. The air is not hot, but warm enough to melt chocolate or cheese, dry up tobacco, warm up cooled drinks. So the left hand side of the laptop has to be virtually clear, apart from tea or coffee perhaps which fun will keep comfortably warm.
Physical dimensions
It is quite bulky and heavy comparing to Dell. That is an advantage if one wants to work with laptop only - it will definitely sit well on one’s lap hehehehe. It is a slight disadvantage when one is usually using other external devices (such as mouse, keyboard and monitor) - it does occupy quite a bit of desk-space.
Keyboard
A little bit wobbly (pressing keys hard causes the keyboard to ‘cave in’ slightly). It does feel rather slightly ‘cheap’ and doesn’t exude much confidence. Dell’s keyboard is much more solid - it doesn’t give impression of ‘caving in’.
LCD Display
Great clear and shiny screen. Looks lovely but how easily it will get dirty? Seems to me that one has to employ a strict ‘do not touch’ policy here.
The picture quality is quite amazing and definitely better than Eizo flat screens I have. This is one of the strongest points of this laptop IMHO. Wide screen makes browsing Internet quite a different experience - I am not sure if it would be that good for designing new web pages though (due to the fact that most people do not use wide screens of course).
Speakers / Sound quality
I think rather good, considering those are ‘internal’ speakers. Together with the screen they make watching DVDs rather refreshing and VERY pleasurable experience.
Aesthetic Look
I think it looks quite good. Looks very cool when closed and looks sort of Apple-like (white keyboard) when opened. The downside here is that any touch (including opening the lid) leaves superbly visible fingerprints. Which doesn’t look aesthetic at all - so remember to wear gloves (preferably white for an effect) when handling it! And keep a soft cloth for wiping both sides of the lid handy at all times! 
Potential issues
- Display started to flicker once (went sort of ‘runny’) and I had to power off laptop twice before it stopped. Hopefully it will never happen again. (x 2 now (one reported in comment)
- When using Skype in Vista (is it Vista compatible?): laptop just sort of hang / froze / got stuck. The power was up but the screen went blank and connection went down. Had to power it off and reboot.
- microphoe stopped workig (x 1)
- can not log into my own website… after reboot I can… this is KRAZY!!!!!
- “n” key became erratic
- Downloaded some file - mouse stopped working (x1)
- Could not buy stuff on Amazon… after reboot I could (x3)
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