A Review of the Popular 15.4" Toshiba Satellite A215-S5802 Laptop

The Toshiba Satellite A215-S5802 is a 15.4" notebook powered by a decently powerful AMD processor. It is one of the cheaper offerings that Toshiba has placed on the market and is missing a few things. The good news is that it has a great "base" and with a few upgrades you can really have something nice for only a fraction of what you would pay if you bought it that way directly from a major manufacturer. Let me get started with that base.

Hardware

Processor: 1.9 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 dual-core

Storage Space: a 120GB hard drive

RAM: 1GB of RAM (upgradable to a 4 GB maximum)

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

Graphics Card: ATI Radeon XPress 1200 graphics (with up to 319 MB of shared video memory)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista

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

So just like the A205 series this notebook has a blue bezel. This puts some consumers off so just make sure you check it out in person at a major electronics store before you pull the trigger on one of these. Other than that it really stands out for something good; which is it's 1280x800 trubrite screen. Toshibas have excellent screens and this one is no exception.

This notebook runs a little slow as it comes from the manufacturer. It only comes with 1 GB of RAM but really needs a minimum of 2GB since it operates using Window's Vista. However I would max it out to 4 GB and really set it free. The small graphics card that is included is slightly better than some of the intel integrated cards, but don't expect too much from it, however after the RAM upgrade you can play some mid range games fairly smooth. The hard drive isn't huge however it is probably OK for most casual users.

Connectivity

WiFi (integrated so you can use this satellite to connect to wireless hotspots anywhere)

1 Ethernet port (this satellite can be used to connect to any wired LAN with this port)

4 2.0 USB ports (to connect devices like MP3 players, digital cameras, and printers)

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

1 ExpressCard slot (this can be used to add new peripherals like a Bluetooth adapter)

1 VGA port (a typical monitor connection)

1 S-Video port (this port it typically used to connect with a projector, or compatible TV)

1 Audio out / 1 mic in

1 56K modem input (so this satellite can make a dialup connection)

5 in 1 memory card reader (this allows for you to directly insert the memory card from mobile devices to the notebook)

This notebook has almost everything I would want as far as connectivity goes in this price range. I would like to see Bluetooth though, but that is nothing that a Bluetooth adapter couldn't fix.

At $650 it is priced right on target. This Toshiba is a decent notebook right out of the box but thanks to the strong processor with a few improvements to accompany it you could really have something nice. So let's add it up, the improvements I would make would be a RAM upgrade, a Bluetooth adapter (ExpressCard or USB) and perhaps as larger hard drive. After this you would really have a $1000+ notebook for about $800 or so. This certainly has a lot of potential and room to grow, it is certainly one to look at if you're shopping in this price range.