Review of the Top Selling 15.4" Toshiba Satellite A205-S5851 Notebook

This is one of the more expensive low-end Satellites from Toshiba. In this review I'm going to take a look at the performance and features of this Toshiba Satellite A205-S5851 versus value. This has been a very popular market recently as parents prepare to send their kids off to college this following fall. I've gotten my hands on one of these and I'm going to tell you how well it performs. Let me start with what you get for your money.

Hardware

Processor: 1.73 GHz Intel Pentium T2370 dual-core

Storage Space: 250 GB hard drive

RAM: 2GB (Unexpandable)

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

Graphics Accelerator: Intel GMA X3100 graphics (up to 256 MB of available memory)

Dimensions: 14.3" x 10.5" x 1.5" weighing 6lbs

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista

This is one of the Satellites with the Blue bezel, so be sure to check it out in person before you buy one of these bad boys just to ensure that you like the appearance. But if you do see it in person you'll surely take note of the gorgeous screen that this little satellite has. Like all of Toshiba's notebooks it comes with TruBrite technology and this particular model operates at a resolution of 1280x800. For those individuals that are more familiar with HD television resolutions that is comparable to a 720p television.

The performance is decent. It has 2GB of RAM which I would consider virtually required to run Vista. Many of the budget model notebooks on the market today are sneaking out there with only 1GB and they are just painfully slow. The hard drive is adequate and would accommodate any student interested in building a collection of movies or MP3s. I can also open a number of web browsers displaying flash heavy content without bogging the notebook down.

Connectivity

Integrated WiFi (so that this satellite can connect to wireless hotspots everywhere)

1 Ethernet port (this satellite can connect to wired LANs with this port)

4 2.0 USB ports (to connect to peripherals like digital cameras, flash drives, and iPods)

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

1 ExpressCard port (so you can add things like a Bluetooth adapter)

1 VGA output (this is the typical monitor connection)

1 S-Video output (so that this satellite can be connected to a projector)

1 Audio out / 1 Microphone in

1 56K modem input (so that this notebook can connect to the internet via a dialup connection)

For the price range I think that the connectivity options are about on par. I like that it has both S video as well as a firewire port which many budget notebooks fail to include. The price is currently about $700 on this notebook and I think that is about right on target. I still would expect to see some drops this summer or fall in this particular Toshiba. Intel has come out with some reasonably priced technology that has this notebook a little antiquated however it is still a very decent notebook for a student or for someone just looking for something to tool around with.