A Product Review of the Top Selling Toshiba Satellite A205-S7458 15.4" Notebook

Toshiba's satellite line of notebooks is one the most popular and best selling brands on the market today. They are known for not just for great name brand recognition but for their high quality, and great service department. Recently we've seen some great price reductions across the board including the Toshiba Satellite brand. I've gotten my hands on one of these notebooks; the Toshiba Satellite A205-S7458 15.4" notebook. This notebook has been one of Amazon's top selling notebooks and I'm going to find out why. Let's get started with a few of the basics.

Hardware:

Imaging: Webcam integrated into bezel

Processor: 1.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250

Storage Space: 200GB hard drive

RAM: 2GB RAM (expandable to a 4 GB max)

Optical Drive: a CD R/RW with integrated dual-layer DVD drive

Graphics Accelerator: Intel GMA X3100 graphics (utilizing up to 358MB of available memory)

14.3" x 10.5" x 1.5" and it weighs approximately 6 pounds.

This notebook isn't remarkably small or light. I would rate it from average to larger than average on portability and size. It weighs about 6lbs which is about a half pound heavier than some comparables. It has a great screen, and this is one of Toshiba's signature features. They often rival Sony's and even Apple's. This one is a clear and crisp 15.4" glossy LCD. Unfortunately this weak graphics card means that this display won't be showing any high end graphically intensive games. The processor is average and will do the trick as far as word processing, power point, or database work. It is going to play movies, play music, and edit some photos, but its not going to edit tomorrow's Oscar winner.

Connectivity:

Integrated Wireless

1 Ethernet pot

4 2.0 USB ports (these are used to connect everything from printers, to digital cameras and MP3 players)

1 FireWire port (this is used for high speed data transfer between digital cameras or other compatible PCs)

1 VGA output (this is a typical monitor connection)

1 S-Video port (this is used to connect to projectors or some compatible televisions)

1 ExpressCard slot (this is a slot that can be used to add additional hardware like a Bluetooth adapter or cellular modem)

1 audio out / 1 microphone in

The connectivity is decent however it is obviously missing Bluetooth. It is unfortunate because you haven't enjoyed the luxury of having a notebook until you've synced a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to your desktop replacement. This notebook is going to please most students as well as professionals but it may disappoint true techies and those looking something a little more high end. With the average online price coming in at around $700 I would continue looking I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't find something a little more powerful for your money.