I've owned nothing but Toshiba laptops. The one I'm using now I bought new in May 2005. As a journalist, I see just about every brand being used by my colleagues at one time or another. When I ask them why they chose a particular brand, customer service is usually high on the list of non-Toshiba users. I wouldn't know how good (or bad) Toshiba customer service is, because I've never had to use it! I'll probably retire this 7-year-old laptop in favor of another Toshiba later this year. In human years, this laptop is about 92! The hard drive is starting to make noise, so it's about time to convert it to a network server here at home instead of dragging it through airports 25 times a year.