Reviews For Laptops

Build and Design

The Toshiba Satellite A305 S6837 is beautifully sleek and smooth, with rounded edges and reflective finish. It has a very appealing and modern look. The construction is solid and holds up well under stress, mine was accidentally stepped on but thankfully survived with no damage. The rounded edges make it comfortable to set on your lap, ideal for close quarter occasions such as a bus journey. The finish does get fingerprints on it quite easily and are noticeable, but aside from that, the only other flaw would be the lack of a lock.

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The 15.4″ sized display gives a crisp picture, and features a sturdy screen. The widescreen resolution is best suited for 1200×800 display. It also offers power saving options to conserve battery via display properties when not plugged in along with the ability to output display to another monitor. The down sides to the display are that it dims when not plugged in, and some websites are incompatible with the widescreen display.

Keyboard and Touchpad

It comes with a very good keyboard. The keypad is responsive as well as area sensitive. It also features a scrolling feature on the touchpad for easy navigation. It includes no side keypad because of the size of the notebook, and lacks an independent mousewheel button. Sadly, this button is not always emulated by keypad scroll. Also, the keyboard accumulates fingerprints like the finish.

Performance

The 1.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo can handle even the newest applications, with 4 Gigs of RAM that allow the dual core to operate well, and run Vista efficiently. The notebook has a quick startup and instantaneous response, featuring a 64-bit operating system for compatibility with newer software and improved performance. The notebook’s graphics are decent, but lacking, with only accelerated integrated graphics. Not all software is 64 bit compatible, so some things must be downloaded for the 32bit OS.

Heat and Noise

The notebook is nearly silent when running, and quiet on startup. The keyboard is quiet as well. On the downside, there is only one heat outlet, and the fan can become overburdened after several hours of extended use, causing the system to shut down. For best performance, a
cooling dock is probably wise.

Ports and Features

The notebook features a Firewire port for camcorder support and other devices, USB sleep and charge system to charge USB items without running laptop and wasting battery, S-Video port for graphic output, Ethernet and Phone modem ports, DVD Re-Writable drive with LabelFlash useful for authoring media DVDs or system backups, built in WiFi support and easy to access disable/enable switch. It comes with a built-in memory card reader for easy management of photos or mobile content. On the inside there is a convenient media panel with lit-up display, useful when watching movies in the dark, along with a built in Webcam and microphone ready for video authoring or Skype chat. The 320gb hard drive has plenty of space for anything. The laptop has only 4 USB ports, but then again, it is a laptop. It comes loaded with useless DVD theater software when the included Windows Media Center software works well, and the webcam software is slightly irritating and engages on startup but is fairly easy to disable. Other than that, it is riddled with useless offers from Toshiba, but then again, all factory computers are. They are easily removed.

Sound

The Harmon Kardon speakers look as impressive as they sound, and the built in microphone makes sound recording quick and easy. There is however, no surround sound card. The speakers are small, and are still only notebook speakers. Also worth noting, the microphone is low-quality, even though it is convenient.

Battery Life

The battery will run for two and a half hours on balanced settings. The settings can be set to increase battery life, sacrificing visual quality or vice versa, and it recharges fairly quickly. The extended battery is required to watch videos on high quality visual settings if unplugged.

Toshiba Satellite A305  S6837

Conclusion

Toshiba have produced a laptop that is perfect for work, or for the casual college student who is not looking for a gaming monster. Even then, the laptop is powerful and is only slightly lacking in the graphics department. The laptop works well as a media center when plugged in, and between the huge hard drive and the widescreen display, is perfect for movies on the go. If you’re looking for something that is sleek, modern, powerful, and means business, this laptop does a wonderful job and has enough extra features to do pretty much anything you need. It is very solid and ergonomic, and I have been more than satisfied with my purchase.
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Pros:

-Widescreen display with easy access media panel and large hard drive make it excellent for movies.

- The dual core and 4gb of RAM combo make for a very powerful machine.

- The laptop features a 64 bit OS which allows for future compatibility.

- Body, design, speakers, and keyboard are all very sleek and stylish.

Cons:

- Lacking a sturdy graphics card to please gamers.

- No surround sound audio card.

- Might need to purchase the extended battery and a cooling dock for extended use.