Toshiba Satellite 310CDS: A Solid (but Boring) Retro Laptop

[@sztorm68]

I have around 6 of these, my dad bought them 12 years ago when they were dirt cheap, great typing experience. EDIT: And 4 broken ones for parts, they are very reliable, even most batteries holds a charge for 1-2 hours. Also it's relatively easy to open the battery and put some new battery packs. Thanks for the video.

[@Kosakate]

mind if i buy you one x3 (jk or not)

[@stratomaster891]

My mom had the exact laptop as her work computer for years. I used to play need for speed hot pursuit at 10fps on it lol. Thanks for taking me back.

[@gavincoop10]

bruh

[@dustmighte]

@@gavincoop10 bruh too. My dad had one of these with a DVD-ROM drive - we watched our first DVD (Batman & Robin) on it

[@simtitan1]

@@dustmighte That must have been painful on that display.

[@dustmighte]

I remember being it acceptable. I think it did have a TFT LCD...

[@simoncrabb]

I always like to put my power button and USB port behind tiny sliding doors.

[@prismstudios001]

But,”shave and a haircut” is a horrible secret knock!

[@OhShitSeriously]

Actually a feature of many Tecra and Satellite models from the era. They were built a lot more rugged than they really needed to be, which probably drove up prices for their intended customers and certainly worked out well for me as a high schooler wanting to carry a Tecra 550 around in a backpack. It fit right in with my books and could take about as much of a beating!

[@p_mouse8676]

Hey Colin, this is everyone, how is it going?

[@awwgez]

For me this is one of the best channels on youtube and I nerd out on 90's technology videos. Thanks for taking the time to share all this with us.

[@richardbaker974]

THE best!

[@timblake5844]

Collin, I'm a little late to the comment party, but thanks for the great video on that old laptop. I was unaware the screen was so terrible when I sent it or else I'd have probably just trashed it. Glad to see you got it to stay running. Hopefully the battery leakage issue wasn't too hard to resolve. Thanks for the awesome videos as always.

[@PotatoFi]

I've always felt like compared to Thinkpads, Toshiba's laptops are kinda under appreciated. They' super solidly built, look pretty good (not quite as good), and the plastic seems to be lasting fairly well.

[@OhShitSeriously]

The plastic, yes. The rubber, not so much...

[@RERM001]

The only issues I had with my OLD XP Satellite is, as mentioned in the video, the lackluster performance of the HDD. Other than that, very good laptops. At least those don't get the Trackpoint printed on the screen like my current T460 Thinkpad.

[@anew742]

16:43 That rendition of Passport is comically bad lol It's almost charming/endearing in a way

[@moomoobeef2173]

it's got everything from occasional dropouts to crap sounding noise to weird soundfont, what's not to love

[@mima85]

That's just how it sounded on the Yamaha OPL-3 FM synthesizer.

[@mima85]

@@moomoobeef2173 That's not soundfonts, it's FM synthesis from the Yamaha OPL-3 chip inside the machine. The dropouts are due just to that crappy and heavy Windows Media Player application that's overtaxing the CPU.

[@bland9876]

I don't know what it's supposed to sound but I'm pretty sure those farting noises are not part of it

[@mima85]

@@bland9876 At what timestamp are these "party noises" you're talking about? I listened to the video with headphones but, apart the timing glitches due to the fact that the MIDI is being played with Windows Media Player, which is quite an heavy program for such computer, I can't detect anything other that's wrong. It sounds exactely how it always did on an OPL-3 FM synthesizer.

[@paianis]

Honestly I prefer this format, your voice sounds more natural here.

[@linux42069]

I really appreciate those drivers being available! It's frustrating when giant corporations don't make old drivers and bios available after 10 years or whatever. These are often such small package that I'm sure they could afford the server space. Don't make me take weird bios flashing risks!

[@dreammfyre]

The coziest of computer videos. 😌

[@Cowboygineer]

All Passive-Matrix screens on any laptop is ugly as hell. That's why I own a Toshiba Satellite CDT model, which has a very nice Active Matrix display.

[@s8wc3]

I had a NEC Versa 2400 with a DSTN screen and yunno surprisingly it was actually pretty decent. It wasn't super washed out and you didn't loose your cursor, still had mad persistence and the trademark lines. You could play a pinball game or a side scroller no problem but you would not want to play something like Descent. I think it was only this good because it was a tiny screen, only about 11".

[@SvartaSnuten]

Need a dispenser here!

[@dolphhandcreme]

I successfully modded several laptops and installed modern panels. Especially on the T5200C it was amazing, because it has one of the first ever produced color-panels. You can easily install most parallel RGB panels in this machines.

[@doramilitiakatiemelody1875]

You can put the screen in a CDT in A CDS

[@radcheckinski6300]

Your casual videos are good Colin, continue this style if you want. Easy viewing

[@nunocspinto]

Oh dang, I learnt how to work with a computer on one like that! 1999, a teacher comes to my school with a wheelcart full of laptops. Good moments of my youth. Thanks!

[@munnsie100]

I had a few of these when I was younger, rescued from roadside throwouts here in Australia. They were very very well made machines, I disassembled a few broken ones and was amazed at how properly built they were. The battery pack design was fantastic, and I could swap my working one between the few Toshiba machines I had.

[@SnakeVenom3000]

I have a love/hate relationship with these videos. I love seeing old tech from when I was a kid, but then it makes me feel super old at the same time

[@dimis40]

Hello from Greece Collins. I am. a huge fun of your channel. Particularly I like your research on every topic.

[@sawyerbergeron3288]

NO WAY! I had one of these as a kid until like 2008! Slow as hell for anything but still super fun to use

[@beatertechbeatertech2893]

Quake 3 Arena was made in 1999 and for cutting edge PC's with dedicated GFX cards and not a basic laptop. If you wanted to test a game on a laptop from 1997 i would have personally gone with Quake 1 since you do not need openGL support ( unless you patched the game ) . I would also point out that Windows 98 was prolific in boot failures and reinstall was a common theme back in 'those days' so the command " c:\format c: /q " with the flag "q" would mean a considerable time saving. Great to see your enthusiasm for old retro hardware and i enjoy these videos *THUMBS UP*

[@TheAHMADJALLAD]

Love your videos colen plz keep posting you are the best

[@BubbaBigDude]

I had one of these back in the 90's, used to chat with my (now ex) psycho girlfriend on AOL for hours at a time... now I no longer have the laptop or the psycho!

[@hoonnahhoon6356]

I love your ancient stuff and the way how you kept it

[@nateswanson2443]

That Minnesota comment got me lol glad to see there is youtubers here too

[@DanaTheInsane]

Minnesota has an amazing amount of Twitch streamers.

[@dandelionmoodable]

I didn't know about mouse "trails" and why you would enable those… What a revelation 🤯😉!

[@aaldrich1982]

Honestly I love *any* late 90s laptop and will always want to watch a video of this sort. Thanks for the content and a great channel for Sunday chill.

[@kjamison5951]

When my last employer was upgrading laptops, they dumped a lot of these. I saved one from being recycled. I still have it. No HDD but that’s not an issue. I still have the little frame and a CF converter or a straight PATA SSD might be a good idea. I remember one of these from new. You were prompted on which operating system to install, Windows 95 or Windows 98. Naturally we installed 98. The one I have also has laptop bag. Thank you, Colin, for the tip about the clock battery. I’ll be sure to sort that.

[@drzazgi666]

The more natural/non-scripted narration of yours was great and sounded even more lively and curious than the regular videos

[@steveg5122]

I had one of these in high school in the 00s, good workhorse with the 266mhz pentium 1 and 128mb of ram on mine.

[@64jimboy]

I'm watching this on my shed computer, a laptop with no battery, screen or HDD plugged into a tv, running linux on a USB stick. Perfect! Thanks for the video.

[@shutupsprinkles]

Oh man, this brings me back a bit. My first computer I think was a Toshiba Tecra 730CDT that my dad got secondhand from a coworker. I played a lot of edutainment games back then!

[@bobbleczar]

I had this! So much Doom and Worms 2. I dailed up to MSN and chatted on AIM. Loved this thing.

[@stevef6392]

That's some E-ink level of display refresh performance you've got going there!

[@NicksStuff]

The touchpads of that era weren't great. My personal favorite was the trackball

[@MisterRorschach90]

You’re forgetting about the nipple.

[@NicksStuff]

​@@MisterRorschach90 ​ I didn't mention it because Colin said touchpads had his preference (over the nipple on his Satellite): in my opinion, the trackballs were better than the touchpad

[@shadowflash705]

Touchpads are barely usable in 2021.

[@oofingberg]

@@shadowflash705 apple ones are great

[@jimmiles33]

@@MisterRorschach90 this is why I prefer Thinkpads. They have great nipples.

[@parkerlreed]

This was my first laptop. Loved that thing.

[@daviddevillers6790]

Worked at Xircom in the late '90s. Tested a lot of firmware on these machines. Great to see one again. Very cool!

[@DmitriyDarkJoney]

My aunt has the same lying around. It was in active use up to the end of 00s. Still has an original Win 95 and all Toshiba software software on it.

[@davidsmall6322]

All about that battery cover. For sure. I'm certain that there will be some "go-around" for a more modern battery solution down the road. Great video, Colin.

[@yt_consistency]

Even old Satellites randomly shut down, nice to see that tradition didnt change on the 2010's Satellites xD

[@sand0decker]

My 2014 or 2013 Satellite has so many problems. It was cheap though

[@yt_consistency]

@@sand0decker I got a L755 for 30€ and a A300 for free, they are good machines even if they keep shutting down

[@sand0decker]

@@yt_consistency I bought mine new when I was starting college. It was $1100 (equivalent to $1231 now). It did have a touchscreen and a 4 year unlimited warranty. Toshiba laptops left North America while it was actually in getting new case parts. They just sent it back broken lol

[@sand0decker]

@@yt_consistency I've actually kept on top of maintenance of my laptop. It still works perfectly like new. I also have replaced the CMOS battery when it needed to be, so I never have shutdowns.

[@yt_consistency]

@@sand0decker My shutdowns are random on the a300 and on the l755 its probably the charger, when the cpu turbo's it very likely resets itself, still great machines tho

[@yanks1fan09]

Funny that you posted this. When I worked as Auditor in 1998 this was the exact laptop that were provided with and man if you were travelling you needed to lug this beast from place to place. It's neat to see the old start up and all the applications that were utilized back then and even the fax. But you are right the clock battery tended to go quick on these units.

[@nigel-Rollercam-channel]

I have been using an M-sata to IDE adapter on my 2005 compaq presario V2000 with no issues aside from running hot but within the manufacturers specifications. I have no where near your qualifications, familiarity or experience so if you have time to respond with any downsides I appreciate it . I'm sure someone will find fault with my choice in a KZbin comment section. I really appreciate your videos the most useful to me was your n-lite overview, Thank You!

[@jirkazima1126]

Toshiba used this exact battery in several models from 1996 to 2004, which made it cheap to replace. I always liked this design decision not to integrate the battery cover with a battery.

[@aidneli382]

My first ever computer was one of these. I got it for $2 from the Salvation Army and never even got it to turn on. It's awesome seeing one in such good shape after so long! And working at that!

[@MrDingaling007]

When i was 18 or so, i had my desktop computer stolen, and a friend lent me this laptop. It was my first experience with a laptop. Very well made, aweful screen as you said. But learnt how to program and did more on this laptop then any computer before.

[@markaz2kk]

It’s always good to gut the battery charger modules. Also the thermal fuses, that link between the batteries. 🔋

[@Bushidounohana]

Great trip down memory lane. I remember lusting after even low-end devices in issues of Computer Shopper, of all publications. At the time, I was still using my trusty IBM PS/2 Model 25 ... an old XT machine! Still have that device, though it no longer boots. Would love to figure it out and restore it to previous glory!

[@ukrainiansturgeon8561]

0:14 *did you say send more laptops?*

[@Sargentwhitey]

Toshiba kept that keyboard plastic strip cover in their designs for such a long time

[@s8wc3]

Yup. Right up until they moved to island style keyboards that were integrated into the top plate.

[@964tractorboy]

A great video bringing back lots of memories. I'm amazed the screen works as well as it does, even if that's not saying much. The old Toshiba laptops were always quality kit. Any chance of using an external VGA monitor?

[@cdos9186]

I don't know if its just me but I really like the Toshiba logo on their older hard drives like the one that laptop has. I personally think the signature Toshiba logo looks better than just "TOSHIBA" like it has on the laptop.

[@ShdxW]

I have a 305CDS that I got a couple years back at an estate sale. I absolutely adore the thing. The screen on the CDS models leaves a lot to be desired, but the fact that it has a genuine Yamaha OPL3 in it makes it great for DOS gaming (when hooked up to an external monitor and a decent set off speakers, of course)!

[@singletona082]

Toshiba's aren't all that iconic compared to thinkpads, but they are pretty reliable. So much so that they are not talked about due to how getting out of the way of thigs they are.

[@aprofondir]

I've had nothing but horrible experiences with Toshiba laptops post 2002 or so. Super cheaply made and unreliable.

[@s8wc3]

I've liked the units i've owned but I think they designed in some planned obsolescence. I think the bodies are better than most Acers, they don't flex much, they will take a hit and simply using it with the power plug in won't cause cracks in the plastic, but for years and years they had a problem of not having enough structural rigidity around where the brass standoffs for the hinges attached to the case. Over time they would form stress fractures and eventually break, leaving the hinges un-attached and upon opening will tear the two halves of the computer apart, basically making it useless as a laptop.

[@mima85]

@@aprofondir Pre-2000 Toshiba laptops like the one in the video were very well built. After 2000 they really become crap.

[@doramilitiakatiemelody1875]

@@mima85 the Satellite L35 was a good laptop

[@ManosS40]

I've got the 300CDT (166MHz, 32MB RAM, 2.1GB HDD, TFT display) from 1998. It still works and the screen is a charm. Although I had to find a donor 300CDT because the screen had one vertical red line. The donor screen works fine. It came with windows 95, I have tried 98 and Me and it worked fine. But now I have DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 installed for DOS gaming. The only thing that does not work because of DOS is the USB port. And something else: the battery still holds charge for more than half an hour operation!

[@enira]

Ah, I remember when mouse trail was a default thing. I still have two Toshiba CT110s in my collection. Pretty interesting devices given their age.

[@mael6830]

toshiba made one of the best retro laptop with the 2150 cdt : 486 dx2 with tft screen (640x480), CD and soundcard. Perfect for retro-gamers

[@PandamoniuGaming]

I used to have one of these exact laptops, it's actually what started my love for retro tech (besides gaming hardware)

[@jafizzle95]

I have a very very similar Toshiba laptop that was my grandparents for the longest time. I remember playing a crapton of Tonka and Pac-Pack (? -- basically knock-off Pacman) on it as a kid. They gave it to me years after they retired it. I believe it's basically the same except has the better screen. I pulled it out of the closet about a year ago to clean it up a bit and I don't remember the screen being too bad.

[@alexkindl861]

It's so satisfying to see manufacturer driver support. I was recently handed a Sony Vaio to bring back to factory condition, and unsurprisingly, Sony has removed all driver downloads to versions of windows that are no longer supported. By Microsoft. So no windows 7 drivers at all.

[@andresbravo2003]

Toshiba Sadly never make laptops anymore to this day... but quite retrospective. 😇👍🏻

[@mladjo2505]

Ah! This brings me back! A neighbor kid had this machine. Spent many hours fiddling with it and setting up some games it could play on Windows 98 of course. I remember maybe Supaplex or Lemmings being the favourites. Also managed to install a pretty old version of Slackware on it. It was slow as hell. 😂 And I remember the awful screen panel quality very well. It was an old machine even at that time but did it's job quite well and provided some nice gaming time to a couple of kids who we're stuck with it. Thank you for bringing up those memories.

[@TimmyHD]

I have this laptop! I never thought I would see a video on such a basic 90s laptop haha!

[@woelfli93]

16:55 that melody on the right channels tickles in my ear :D

[@HidrogenoyMau]

This was the first computer my dad ever brought home, the memories :)

[@Reckoner89]

That one with the better panel + an IDE SSD and you got yourself one hell of an MS-DOS gaming notebook, I'd say.

[@NicksStuff]

I had one. The passive matrix display was horrendous

[@marciomaiajr]

Lol, I've watched almost all of your videos and just now I noticed that I'm not a subscriber. Well, I'm subscribing now.

[@sburton015]

I still have my Toshiba laptop that's almost exactly like this but the 330CDS. It's also from November of 1998. It still has it's original 4.1 GB hard drive that still works perfectly with no bad sectors. Mine has 266 mhz Pentium mmx cpu with 96 mbs ram and with Windows 98 second edition on it.

[@MoikeIsJesus420]

im getting one similer to this soon cant wait it seems like a cool machinr

[@colombianguy8194]

Hi Collin! Greetings from Colombia. I like old laptops too (strange hobby here, lol!), in fact, I have two amazing thinkpads: a 760XL and last year I manage to grab a 770X in very good condition from a guy in Germany. Shipping costs were high and I needed to change the video card and hard disk, but it's all worth: it's has an amazing (from the time) 13.7" 1280*1024 TFT screen. I love to remember old times in a laptop that costs $5000 US dollars in 1999, an unreachable dream from me back then.

[@BaumInventions]

I see many People complain about the sound... Do you acutally realise that that is a Real Yamaha OPL 3 Chip producing Real FM Sounds and no emulation crap ... Thats The GOLD Standard for 90s DOS Sound...

[@mima85]

I guess that's due to the fact that a lot of them just weren't yet born in the '90ies or maybe they still were very little kids :-)

[@lurkingfear2005]

Please make more videos like this. Thank you.

[@Ltulrich]

I have one in my vehicle as an interface for my scanner and a few other things. Fits and matches perfectly on the center console tray (2001 Odyssey). It's tough and resilient. Runs Win2k, boots pretty fast.

[@rosshilton]

Ohhhh the memories. Had one of these new in 98. Spent it's time on 747s criss crossing Asia for work, or typing contractual agreements in hotel rooms.

[@jjohnson71958]

not boring.. cool and stellar

[@spanishrock]

I had this model...loved the keyboard

[@rito2795]

just got one today in mint condition for 25€, loving it so far

[@itsyeeoledskoolfurry3208]

Dude! I used to LOVE the mouse trails setting!! ^U^ .. USED to.

[@catalin-constantin4197]

Awesome video, awesome channel 👍👍👍👍❤️

[@jbritain]

Older toshiba laptops are so reliable, I’ve got an old equium from ~2006 that with an SSD and an extra 2GB of RAM still happily runs Win7 quickly enough for basic web browsing and office stuff with no problem

[@HammondDirk]

I remember these kind of laptops very well from my (short) time at the Technical University in Eindhoven: in 1997 they were the first university in the Netherlands to use laptops for every student. You could buy the model the university provided for about half the amount it would cost new, at the time about ƒ2000 (which equalled probably about $900 at the time). The students starting in 1997 and 1998 got these kind of Toshiba machines, we called them "breadboxes", as they were so thick. But they were very sturdy and student-proof. And they had the CDT versions of course, with the good display. When I started in 1999, they switched to very thin, sleek-looking Fujitsu's (LifeBook c-something, I don't remember exactly, cannot find them in Google so quickly), but they were made out of very thin plastic, falling apart even as you just looked at it... I once got then a Toshiba as replacement for a while: slower, but much more stable. A few years ago, I took a 300CDT in pristine condition home from work, I still have it, works fine, with a National Instruments GPIB PCMCIA Card, it was used for measurement logging at the time. The thing I immediately recognised in the video is that the CDS version has the contrast wheel, which is missing on the CDT, thought already that that must have been the Dual Scan display. I remember them, they have always been bad. With many manufacturers you could choose between the different display options, like Apple's cs-Powerbooks vs. c-Powerbooks.

[@nickwallette6201]

Man you got me all excited that drivers were still available on Toshiba's site! But I checked for anything from the older 486-era T-series and.... nope. :-( awww..

[@adews7204]

I have a Toshiba Satellite 2065 CDS and it’s very similar to this, such a nice laptop

[@perpetualcollapse]

My first laptop was a Toshiba Satellite back in 2015. Can’t remember which exact model, but I still have it and boot it up occasionally to perform Windows updates.

[@Tesseract95]

I am Remembering these old screen at school whit the w95 background immortalize in it while running Windows XP.

[@TheRetroMess]

First part of the video raised a question for me. How do you organize your computer parts and devices when you're not using them? What's your method? Do you just toss everything in a tote or closet, or are you more organized than that? And for any overflow that doesn't fit in the garage, do you use public storage?

[@Spillmansgarage]

This was my first laptop! A hammy down from a family friend that didn’t know what was wrong with it. Replaced the HD and installed Windows 2k. Bought a WiFi adapter for it, and used it until 2005 when a bought a new Dell Latitude.

[@georgeh6856]

I love the touchpoint (i.e. eraser head mouse control). As a touch typist, it allows me to keep my fingers on the home keys while still using the mouse.

[@Raptor50aus]

I have the Toshiba 310CDT (active matrix LCD) works excellent and I loaded Windows 98SE and all the retro games. I managed to get an 80GB IDE hard disk working too. My LCD is perfect too

[@Jonnn21]

Hey I love these era of Toshibas. I have a T1910CS and a T1960CT (upgraded to 1GB CompactFlash and 20MB Ram) Models and I just picked up a 315CDT

[@sound.and.vision94]

That passport rendition is beautiful

[@guymontag5]

It's weird seeing my first laptop on a channel. Good memories

[@letsseewherethisgoes]

I've picked up a few retro laptops from scrap and/or friendly recyclers over the years. I've got both a Satellite Pro 430CDT in good cosmetic condition and a Tecra 500CDT that works well despite looking like it was dropkicked, both with the Active Matrix displays

[@gil_L]

Just picked up a working toshiba t1100 plus. Not entirely sure what do with it but I’m glad to gave.

[@DanaTheInsane]

Watching this while I sit in my south Minneapolis apartment and eating smoked fish makes me feel so Minnesotan.

[@mickn6619]

Nice museum you have there 👍

[@tekkyun]

I have that model. haha. old but fully functioning computer.

[@nyccollin]

Nothing makes me want to click faster than when the video says boring 😂

[@jimmiles33]

Reminds me of my 330CDT, RIP little one.

[@WalnutSpice]

Another youtuber doing one of these? One more for the VLC playlist on my Toshiba Satellite 4000 CDS. Love these retro laptops. Saved mine from a recycler edit: If you're curious, I convert videos to a 90p oldschool mpeg file type for playback via VLC on Windows 98 or Xxing on Windows 3.11

[@marccaselle8108]

It's good if you can get one with a active matrix screen. The only trouble is in 2024, trying to get a laptop from this era is going to cost 200 dollars on up and that's if it already has a charger to go with it

[@2bittommy]

MY CHILDHOOD LAPTOP!!!! Mine was slightly different, no nub mouse....it had a trackball in the display instead! I was also lacking the Audio card and CD-ROM drive installed. Must have been an older model! That power switch!!! lol

[@neoasura]

I remember loading up Nesticle on this laptop. Everything was SOOO blurry in fast paced games. Good luck playing Super Mario 3.

[@marccaselle8108]

Blurrio brothers 3, bifocal edition