A Review of the 15.4" Toshiba Satellite A305-S6834 Notebook

Mid range notebooks are really starting to fly off of the shelves as summer starts to get rolling and students are beginning to get their college acceptance letters. These notebooks are perfect for students because they mix performance with mobility. While these notebooks aren't going to have it all they will please the majority of laptop users. In this review I'm going to take a look at what it has to offer and if it is a good deal as it stands, now on to the hardware for starters.

Hardware

15.4" LCD and webcam integrated into bezel

Processor: 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5550

Storage Space: 200GB hard drive

RAM: 3GB (expandable up to a maximum of 4 GB total)

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

Graphics Accelerator: integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics (used up to 358 MB shared system RAM)

Dimensions and weight: 14.3" x 10.5" x 1.5" and weighs about 6lbs

This notebook is a mid range notebook however for the price (around $900) it is a little too average. The processor is a little bit on the slow end and the integrated video card is a disappointment. The hard drive space is nice as well as the 3GB of RAM. However neither of those things matter much thanks to the disappointing processor.

It probably has something to do with the massive amounts of preloaded trial ware but unfortunately the first thing I noticed about this notebook was the long startup time. This can be remedied somewhat after you eliminate all of that unwanted trial-ware. There is still some considerable lag when multitasking on this Toshiba.

Connectivity

Integrated WiFi (to connect to wireless hotspots)

1 Ethernet port (so you can connect to wired LANs)

4 2.0 USB ports (the gold standard of peripheral connections - for printers, MP3 players etc.)

1 FireWire port (to be used for high speed data transfer between digital camcorders or other PC's)

1 ExpressCard slot (so you can add peripherals like a Bluetooth adapter)

1 VGA port (a typical monitor connection)

1 S-Video port (to be used to connect the laptop to a projector or compatible TV)

1 audio out / 1 mic in

1 digital audio out

1 56K modem input (so you can dial up with this laptop)

5 in 1 memory card reader (remove the solid state memory from your mobile devices and insert them directly into this notebook)

The connectivity is average, again like many of the mid and low range offerings from Toshiba there is no integrated bluetooth adapter, which is sort of a disappointment. At this price I would try to get a little more for my money. Ultimately this would do well for a professional, or maybe a student who doesn't necessarily need all of the bells and whistles. It will play and download music, do homework, and handle all of your digital images; it just won't edit movies, become your DVR or play graphically intensive games. For $870 though I would shop around a little just to make sure you can't get a little more for your money, I bet you'll find something.