Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 (PS610U-JN5E87) PC Notebook

Pros: The Toshiba Name
Cons: The Toshiba Repair Center

I authorized the purchase of six 6100's. All the units were configured the same with 1 gig of memory, 40 gig Hard Disk, docking stations and optional floppy drive. One by one all six developed the same problem. The problem manifests itself as a RT Clock ...

Pros: screen is good
Cons: everything breaks

I've had a Sat pro 6100 for a little over a year and regret buying it. The keyboard went out--the frigging keyboard! can you believe that?

The DVD drive no longer works, the battery life is a total joke--even WITH the two batteries (takes the place of the dvd that doesn't play dvd) will only net you 2 hours of operation. Using only the one battery, you'll get about an hour--that is a joke and is unacceptable in my opinion.

Screen is large and looks sharp. I would see what Dell has as this is a piece of junk.

Pros: Good service center people, good warrantee coverage (free repair for four years with renewals).
Cons: Overheats BADLY, must repair or refurbish at least once a year.

Since buying my Satellite 6100 in 2002 I have had to have it serviced 4 times. Having it serviced means being without it for two weeks. In 2 cases the hard drive died due to overheating. In other cases the battery died (two weeks to replace a battery) and I was told I'd better back up my data since they might replace my OS.

Additionally you don't get regular old system disks with the laptop, you get Toshiba's special proprietary version with their own installer and control panels.

When I first got it I received 16MB VRAM rather than the advertised 32. The vendor rectified the problem but Toshiba tech support initially told me I could upgrade my VRAM myself by just upgrading my regular RAM. This is wrong - VRAM is sautered to the motherboard. Some of Toshiba's tech support people are terrible.

Other than that it's been a good laptop and the service center people were very good at doing their jobs.

But if I had it to do again I probably wouldn't buy this one due to all the problems with overheating.

Pros: 1.5 screen was ok
Cons: need 15 paragraphs for this instead of words

I ordered a 2.2 from a company and recieved a 1.5. Thought while I was waiting for the 2.2 I'd play around with the 1.5. Something was wrong with the sound. The 2.2 came and there was a white line down the center of the screen. It was a real bright white on dark backgrounds. Both machines run very hot Now if you want to see how bad Toshiba's support is go to there web page and look that problem up. You cant find a phone number anywhere either. Both machines are going back. I found a class action against toshiba
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/laptop-complaints.htm
What a mess.

Pros: Fast, good battery (over 2 hours), good desktop replacement.
Cons: None

I bought this Satellite Pro 6100 notebook and it's the best notebook I have ever had (and I have owned about 9 notebooks over time). The notebook does not suffer from any of the known problems, but, just as a safe guard I sent it to Toshiba for a once-over. They checked the computer thoroughly free of charge and was tested fine. I have used this notebook constantly for over a year now including using it on my worldwide travels and it still works in perfect condition. Previous notebooks i have owned have long 'burnt out' by now, but this one just keeps on going. In conclusion, I would most definately recommend this computer, especially as a desktop replacement.

Pros: Display and Display Resolution, Large Hard Drive
Cons: Bad mother boards, hard drive failures, poor battery life, weak construction, service.

Do not buy this laptop! After seeing hard drives fail on a regular basis and multiple times on my own I would recommend that you do NOT buy this laptop. There have also been extensive problems with the motherboard on these units.

Update (April 7th) - After having written a complaint to Toshiba two months ago regarding the failures I have yet to get a reply other than the automated message saying they got my e-mail. Even with my US next business day service it took over a week to get the unit serviced while in Canada.

Pros: Good keyboard, Easy to use, Low priced, TOSHIBA branded and Good expansion ports.
Cons: CRAP GRAPHICS AND FRAME RATE, very hot, sluggish

Well I am not sure what to say... This is a great laptop performance wise and thats about it. It is a fast runner with its Intel Pentium 4 1.6ghz mobile proccessor but the standard 256mb ram lets it down a bit. It has a decent speed DVD Rom drive and space for 2 usb peripherals. It is also very good for WiFi internet browsing and networking as it has all shortcuts ready on the keyboard and expansion to add you choice of wireless source. I must say I find this laptop to get EXTREMLEY HOT when on my lap although the fan is at the back. After inspecting I found that the heat source was coming from around the Memory expansion are on the underside of the laptop. PLEASE NOTE DO NOT KEEP ON YOUR LAP FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME AS THIS MAY CAUSE THE LAPTOP TO OVERHEAT AND LEAVE YOU WITH PROBLEMS! Other than the heat problem, I find this laptop to be very nice. No problems as yet so I am pleased over all.

Pros: I can't think of any
Cons: bad choice in the firstplace even in warrantee period

in the first day I have to return it for a HD failure, then comes all sorts of problems:
the mic does not work, dead screen pixels, sticky keyboard, broken pointer mouse, very short battery life, very slow performance, and the rest is comming.

Pros: users learning valuable lessons about data back-up
Cons: fails continually

NOTE this is an update of a review from last year--things are NOT better.

107 6100s
50+% failure of hard drives
50+% failure of AC adapters
80+% have had one major component replaced
40+% have had at least 3 major replacements

I'm support for medical students and have been alerting Toshiba to these patterns and trying to get help out of them for over a year now. Luckily we got the 4-year warranty so Toshiba is footing the bill, but the failure rate is so catastrophic that many of my 6100 owning sophomores are using spare computers from other classes. My repair facility operates like a shipping/receiving dept on the basis of this one model laptop alone.

Toshiba's response has ranged from denial ("we know of no problems") to total disregard ("it's under warranty, send it in") to ineptitude (a customer service 1-800# with the recording "our agents no longer service this line") to a baffling hide-and-seek game in which they want to make a "deal" (astonishingly they want more $$$ from my students for another model), yet do not return phone calls or answer questions.

Pros: Very quick with a big sharp screen
Cons: it does get very hot!

After reading the other reviews here I get the distinct impression I've been quite lucky so far.

I've had my toshiba 6100 for a year now with no probs at all ( until last week that is, when I stepped on it and broke the screen ;-/ ).

I just thought I'd say my bit just to prove that at least one of them has made it past the 1yr mark! ..and hopefully carry on longer (touch wood)

Pros: Fast machine. Good serviceability. Lots of info on the internet. No problem with warranty repairs
Cons: Non-warranty work from Toshiba repair shop expensive, otherwise I have no complaint

I've upgraded my 6100 Satellite Pro with a 120GB hard drive, 2.2 Ghz processor (orig. 2.0Ghz) and 2GB of RAM.
My 6100 has given me very satisfactory service. I've had a couple of problems but nothing major. I took it to Iraq to do a U.S. Army Corps of Engineering contract project and it
worked flawlessly. Due to a class action lawsuit, I received a $50 cash & a $75 accessory coupon, plus the 3 year warranty was extended 1 year.

After the warranty expired, I had a problem requiring the replacement of the motherboard. I took it to a Toshiba repair shop and they wanted $900 to repair, so I ordered
a brand new motherboard on E-bay for $69.00 and a brand new hard drive for $60. I downloaded a disassembly guide specifically for the 6100 from www.laptopka.com and learned
how to do the repair myself (easy). Now everything is working perfectly again.

Pros: looks good
Cons: hard drive guaranteed to burn and take all your data with it.

The hard drive died twice on my Satellite Pro 6100. Now it's sitting in my basement because any new hard drive is doomed to burn.

Pros: While it works is good, backup your work everyday and have a spare computer
Cons: It has a design flaw that makes it break all the time. Heat maybe?

My company bought 4, all of them broke out several times. It gets very hot, it obviously has a design flaw. Toshiba warranty sucks, they should replace these computers with other models instead of keeping repairing them. When the warranty is over (well, 2 months after that, when the computer breaks again) the best you can do is throw it to the trash can.

Pros: great graphics and speed. Fast processor and good battery
Cons: weight could be a little lighter

no problems at all, very fast and reliable. Outperforms similar laptops, nice and quiet.Never had a problem and easy to install upgrades.

Pros: It has a GeForce 4 Go 420 Graphics chip
Cons: Power Supply, Motherboard, Battery life, Fragility, poor overall design, weight.

Poorly designed...poorly executed. Bad overall product. Too delicate to be a laptop and too limited to be a desktop replacement. Power supply shorted after the first month of owning it. It is not worth it. There are better products on the market....