The Toshiba Satellite L350 series notebook is a new addition to the 17" desktop replacement lineup from Toshiba. For a starting price of $749, Toshiba gives customers a TruBrite screen, webcam, integrated ATI Radeon graphics, a dual core AMD processor, and a DVD SuperMulti drive. This notebook is aimed at consumers who want a bit more notebook out of a budget price range, and seems to hit the mark perfectly. Read on to see how well the Toshiba L350 holds up in our testing, and if it is a notebook worth checking out.

Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite L355D-S7809 - Turion 64 X2 TL-60 2 GHz - 17.1" TFT Buydig.com | $739.00 Beach Camera | $739.00 Amazon.com | $799.99 view detailed pricing from 3 stores starting at $739.00

This review will cover the AMD version of this notebook, which is the base configuration at the price of $749.

Satellite L355D-S7810 specifications:

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 32-bit version)
• AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-60 (2.0 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, HyperTransport Technology @ up to 800MHz)
• 2GB PC5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory (Maximum capacity 4GB)
• 200GB (4200 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash drive supporting 11 formats
• 17.1" diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display with 1440x900 native resolution (WXGA+)
• ATI Radeon X1250 128MB-831MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Atheros 802.11 b/g wireless-LAN
• 3 USB Sleep-and-Charge ports, 5 in 1 SD-Card Reader, 10/100 LAN, 56k Modem
• Built-in Webcam and microphone
• 4000mAh 10.8v battery and 75w AC Adapter
• Weight: 7lbs 0.6oz
• Dimensions: 15.6 x 11.4 x 1.8"
• One-year standard Limited Warranty

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Build and Design

The Toshiba L355D has a design that we are very familiar with, that has changed very little from the older P200 series notebook. The notebook body slimmed down across the board, but without comparing pictures between each model it would be hard to tell the difference. The peak height at the feet remained very similar, but the notebook profile is thinner in the front and back. The biggest change is the hinge design, which went from a "hidden" design to a double hinge setup. The rest of the notebook looks fairly untouched, with the same multimedia controls, stepped sloping palmrest, and near identical look when closed. The final visual change that many will notice is the lack of glossy finish on the display cover, which was replaced with a silver metallic matte finish. Users who complained of easy scratching and smudged fingerprints can now rejoice.

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Build quality has remained the same, with a solid feel and only a slight amount of flex in the palm rest and screen cover. The body as a whole feels quite durable, with few squeaks or rattles when picked up and carried around. The keyboard has very good support, with little flex apparent when you press firmly on the keys. The display cover keeps away most ripples from the LCD, but with a firm jab to the back of the cover some circular distortions do show up. The newer matte paint finish seems to hold up much better, with the biggest difference being no fine scratches after a trip in my backpack.

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Display Laptop

The display on the Toshiba L350 series notebooks is of average quality, with even backlight and minimal light bleed. Colors are vibrant when viewing head on, but wash out or invert at steep angles. Horizontal viewing angles go about 45 degrees before the colors start dim or wash out. Vertical viewing angles are not so lucky, inverting quickly after about 20 degrees of movement.

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My comfortable viewing range on this screen was at 60% brightness in a bright room, and a few notches lower in a dark room.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is excellent, with tight keys that require little pressure to trigger. Key wobble is minimal, making it easy to type very fast with few errors as you are not hitting the sides of other keys. Key throw is perfect, not too long and not too short.

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Being a 17" notebook, key spacing and size is not a problem in the slightest. The keyboard found on the L350 is fullsize, including the number pad on the side. A few users will also enjoy the correct placement of the Ctrl key on the far left of the keyboard, instead of the Function key which sometimes gets placed there.

Toshiba was also nice enough to include several dedicated media buttons located just above the keyboard. None of the media buttons have an annoying LED backlight and all of them are easy to use.

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The touchpad is surface is excellent, with just the right amount of space for easy movement, as well as near perfect finger sensitivity. The texture is a soft matte finish, that is very easy to glide your finger across. The touchpad buttons are of decent size, but I would have preferred better feedback when clicking the buttons. As it is, the buttons have a shallow click when pressed.

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Performance and Benchmarks laptop

For day to day use, the notebook performs quite well with great startup and shutdown speed. Opening software such as Internet Explorer, Adobe Reader, or iTunes loads in no time. Much of this can be attributed to the Dual Core AMD Turion X2 TL-60 processor and 2GB of RAM, which this notebook offers as standard equipment. Compared to older generations where you might have been stuck with 512MB or even 1GB of RAM, this gives you a pretty substantial bump in performance. If youre willing to spend an extra $50 you can also configure a version of this notebook with an entry-level Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

Notebook performance is great for a budget machine, but dont expect to play any modern games on this machine. Games that are two-three generations old should still be playable, as long as you tone down the eye-candy settings. Since most users looking at this notebook arent expecting gaming performance from this notebook, this should not be a problem.

WPrime 32M comparison results

WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook	Time
Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, Windows Vista)	39.732s
Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, Windows Vista)	30.359s
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, Windows Vista)	31.108s
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Windows Vista)	42.085s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7400@ 2.16GHz, Windows XP)	41.40s
HP dv6000z (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.00GHz, Windows Vista)	38.913s
Sager 9260 (Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E6700@ 2.66GHz, Windows XP )	33.718s
Dell Precision M70 (Intel Pentium-M 780 @ 2.26GHz, Windows XP)	78.992s

PCMark05 comparison results:

PCMark05 represents the overall system performance of a notebook. Higher numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, ATI Radeon X1250)	3,305 PCMarks
Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, NVIDIA Go 8800M GTS)	7,749 PCMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT)	5,865 PCMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT)	5,261 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1720 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT)	5,377 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,925 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,377 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results:

3DMark06 represents the overall graphics performance of a notebook. Higher numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, ATI Radeon X1250)	301 3DMarks
Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, NVIDIA Go 8800M GTS)	8,801 3DMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT)	3,775 3DMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT)	2,934 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1720 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT)	2,930 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,329 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	532 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66 Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	794 3DMarks

Hard drive performance was more than adequate, even though it was a 4200rpm drive. The access times and transfer speeds were more in line with a higher performance 5400rpm drive.

HDTune results:

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I am also really disappointed that this 17" notebook did not offer an additional drive bay, to further expand on storage space or increase performance with a RAID setup.

Ports and Features Laptop

Port selection on the L350 felt lacking, with fewer options compared to the older P200. It now has half the USB ports, no S-video out, no Firewire, and lots of blank open plastic that could have been used for additional ports. As previously mentioned, another missing feature of this notebook is the 2nd HD bay, which is fairly uncommon for a 17" notebook.

With some 13.3" notebooks having a much more expansive port selection than this 17" notebook, it makes you think what items might have been cut in order to lower the overall cost of the computer. Three USB ports on a 17" notebook is my biggest complaint though, when many similarly sized notebooks have four or six.

Front: Wireless On/Off switch, SD-Card Reader, Headphone/Mic, Volume switch

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Rear: Modem

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Left: VGA, LAN, two USB, Expresscard/54

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Right: One USB, Optical bay, AC plug, Kensington lock slot

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Speakers

The speakers on the L350 are average, able to reach high volume levels without much distortion, but you have no bass content. High and midrange audio was good, and users will have no worries about using the internal speakers to listen to music or watch a movie. As always, I still prefer using headphones in most situations for privacy and not to annoy others in crowded areas. The headphone jack was great, giving clear audio without any hissing background noise.

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Heat and Noise

Noise performance on the L350 is great, with the fan barely noticeable at low speed, and still whisper quiet under load. Temperature levels are also low overall, but it did have a few odd hot spots. After the notebook has been on for a couple of hours, the touchpad managed to reach 98F, with the rest of the top surface being much cooler.

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Battery Laptop

Battery performance was very good for a 17" notebook with only a 4000mAh battery. With wireless enabled, screen at 70% backlight, and notebook set to the "Balanced" power profile, it managed 2 hours and 47 minutes before it shut off. Heres hoping that an extended battery option comes out for the mobile warriors.

Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite L355D-S7809 - Turion 64 X2 TL-60 2 GHz - 17.1" TFT Buydig.com | $739.00 Beach Camera | $739.00 Amazon.com | $799.99 view detailed pricing from 3 stores starting at $739.00

Conclusion

The Toshiba L350 series notebook offers consumers an excellent budget desktop replacement notebook with a great deal of features for a low starting price of $749. As a mild refresh from the previous P200 series notebook the L350 gives you a slimmer and lighter body, as well as a smudge and scuff resistant matte paint finish.

Pros

• Very quiet with great thermal management
• Nice keyboard with excellent support
• New matte paint finish doesnt scratch as easily as older gloss finish
• No fingerprints visible anywhere on the finish when my review was completed

Cons

• Only three USB ports and no firewire

(Source http://www.notebookreview.com )

Read More..

software, with a view common in the DOS, is used to adjust the setting CMOS / BIOS on the Toshiba notebook, BIOS, stands for Basic Input Output System, BIOS provides a low-level communication interface, and can control many types of hardware (like keyboards). Because of its proximity to the hardware, the BIOS is generally made by using assembly language (assembly) that is used by the machine.

function of this software, among others, initialization (ignition) as well as testing of the hardware (in a process called the Power On Self Test, POST), Load and run the operating system, Set up some basic configuration of the computer (date, time, configuration of storage media , the configuration of the boot process, performance, and stability of your computer), operating systems and applications Assist in the process of hardware setup using the BIOS Runtime Services. This software is compatible with most toshiba notebook series , to download the software Toshiba BIOS / CMOS Setup program please click the link below.

DOWNLOAD TOSHIBA BIOS/CMOS SETUP PROGRAM

Read More..

Toshiba Satellite Laptop Introduction

Weighing just over 4 pounds, the ultra-portable Toshiba Satellite U205-S5002 notebook PC packs in an extraordinary amount of power and productivity into its elegant, compact package.

Toshiba Satellite Laptop Design

This lightweight performer comes packed with features, including an advanced shock-absorbing design, resilient chassis, HDD protection, and spill-resistant keyboard to protect your notebook, its key components, and your data from bumps, drops and water spills.

Toshiba Satellite Laptop Features

With Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology for extended battery life (up to 5 hrs.), this system features an Intel Core Duo Processor T2300E, high performance 100GB HDD, and high speed wireless LAN to keep you connected. Genuine Windows XP Professional for robust recovery and network support. You can use this laptop as a media center without turning on the system.

Toshiba Satellite Laptop Performance

* Ultra-portable 4-pound notebook PC with 12.1-inch LCD; 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo T2300E with 2 MB L2 cache
* Large 100 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM (4 GB max), dual-layer, multi-format DVD/CD burner
* Three USB 2.0, one FireWire, one VGA, one S-Video, one PCMCIA, multi-format memory card reader
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (128 MB of shared RAM); tri-mode 802.11a/b/g wireless connectivity; 10/100 Ethernet
* Windows XP Professional Edition, SP2; ExpressMedia DVD player doesn’t require system boot to play

Whats included in the package

Toshiba’s Satellite U205-S5002 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions.

Conclusion

A robust mobile performer for any mobile warrior, the Satellite U205-S5002 comes pre-loaded with advanced protection and security features you wont find in other lightweight notebooks.

Read More..

The Toshiba Satellite A305D is the sometimes overlooked AMD younger brother to the Intel A305 notebook. This model shares practically the same design, just fewer features that help to bring the cost down. At first glance it would be impossible to tell these two notebooks apart, but if you take a close enough look you can probably spot the differences. Read on to see if this lower cost AMD-equipped Toshiba A305D deserves a spot on your desk.

Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite A305D-S6835 CompUSA | $1,009.99 Buydig.com | $899.00 Amazon.com | $849.99 Beach Camera | $899.00 J&R Music and Computer World | $849.99 view detailed pricing from 9 stores starting at $849.00

Observant readers will notice that much of this review is similar to our review of the Intel-based A305, and with good reason. The A305D is essentially the same notebook with a few different parts inside. Keep reading and well focus on whether those differences make the A305D better or worse.

Our review unit of the A305D features the following specifications:

• Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 32-bit)
• AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core TL-64 (2.2GHz)
• 15.4" diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display at 1280x800 (WXGA)
• ATI Radeon X1250 Integrated Graphics
• Atheros Wireless 802.11a/g/n
• 3GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM (maximum capacity 4GB)
• 320GB 5400rpm Toshiba Hard Drive
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive with Labelflash
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Harmon/Kardon stereo speakers
• Dimensions (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 14.25" x 10.5" x 1.4" /2.25"
• Weight: 6 lbs 2.5oz with six-cell battery
• 75W (19V x 3.95A) 100-240V AC Adapter
• 6-cell (4000mAh) Lithium Ion battery
• 1-Year Standard Limited Warranty
• Price as configured: $999.99

Build and Design

First thing you will notice is every part of this notebook is glossy, from the screen cover, to the palm rest, and even the keyboard keys. Toshiba is really showing off their new durable Fusion finish on every part of the notebook that they can, and in some ways it is a very good thing. Durability is a big thing with notebook finishes, as many glossy finishes will dull and scratch over time. The new Toshiba Fusion finish on this is incredibly durable, and has yet to actually scratch throughout my testing. With multiple trips in my backpack, I cant find any visible scuffs on the cover, where other notebooks would show fine scratches almost out of the wrapper.

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So what does this Fusion finish mean to you? Your keys will not go from matte to glossy over time as they wear down (they are already glossy). Every part of the notebook will get full of smudges and fingerprints, but you can always wipe it down in a couple of minutes to make it look brand new. On other notebooks you get all the smudges, but it would take some hard work with some plastic polish before you ever got it looking new again.

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Build quality is excellent in most areas, giving the notebook a very solid feel. Squeaks and creaks are not present, and panel flex is at a minimum. The only areas that stand out as needing some improvement are the wobbly battery, and rough edges around the screen frame where the two plastic pieces meet.

Body Changes

The new Satellite A305D changes quite a bit of its design, while still retaining some resemblance of its older A205 brother. The biggest change is the use of the new durable Fusion finish, which can be found on practically every surface of the notebook, from the top cover to the individual keyboard keys. Unlike the older glossy surface that would scuff with minimal effort, the Fusion finish holds up very well, and I have yet to find any fine scratches or other wear on it.

The keyboard and surrounding area has changed quite a bit form the older A205, including touch sensitive multimedia keys, which are all the rage these days on most notebooks. Another change is the flush touchpad area, which is surprisingly slick with its textured surface. It is almost too easy to slide your finger around on it, and slip off onto the palm rest. The touchpad buttons have also changed quite a bit, going from rectangular slabs to chromed ovals which are easier to trigger, as well as being more comfortable to use.

Display

The screen quality is above average for glossy screens, with an evenly bright backlight and vibrant colors. Backlight bleed is minimal, meaning better game play in dark scenes without areas getting washed out. Viewing angles are adequate, with a wide horizontal range, but shallow vertical range. When tilting the screen back, you will have to find a sweet spot, and going out of that means washed out or inverted colors.

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Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the Satellite A305D is made up of high gloss painted keys, which is fairly unique as far as mainstream notebooks go. The look is excellent, and goes very well with the silver striped glossy notebook, and the feel is even better. There is just something about typing on a soft glossy surface that makes long typing very comfortable. Even things like gaming seem to work better, letting you easily slide from one key to the next with minimal drag.

One disappointing aspect of the keyboard is that it is not backlit, as that could be the only possible way to make it even more awesome. Hopefully this keyboard stays the same in the Qosmio, and gets some special backlit treatment.

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The touchpad is mounted flush with the palm rest, with the only indication of it being a touchpad at all is a semi-smooth textured overlay. I dont know what the surface is made out of, but it is oddly slippery. No matter if your fingertip is mildly sweaty or perfectly dry, it doesnt stick to the surface. For anyone who has used a notebook for hours on end, you know that eventually your fingers start to stick on some touchpad surfaces, this surface somehow prevents that. In use the sensitivity is excellent, with a wide range of adjustment offered through the Synaptics driver control panel.

The touchpad buttons are very nice, reminding me of the chrome bumpers on older cars. They feel soft to the touch without any hard defined edges, and even though they have very shallow feedback, they are probably some of the best touchpad buttons I have used.

Performance

The Toshiba A305D comes loaded with the AMD Turion TL-64 2.2GHz processor, and the ATI 1250 integrated graphics. For most activities this combination handles itself quite well, including office productivity applications or watching movies. Gaming is one area that this close brother to the Intel A305 cant follow, bringing in 3D benchmarking scores almost 93% lower.

The Intel-based A305 delivered an impressive benchmark score in terms of overall performance thanks to a second hard drive and dedicated graphics. Unfortunately, our configuration of the AMD-based A305D produced "average" benchmark numbers from a single hard drive and integrated graphics.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. (Lower numbers mean better performance.)

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Toshiba Satellite A305D (Turion X2 TL-64 @ 2.2GHz)	37.220s
Toshiba Satellite A305 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)	36.442s
Asus M51S (Core 2 Duo T5550 @ 1.83GHz)	46.293s
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)	50.184s
HP Pavilion dv6700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)	50.480s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	41.908s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s
Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	42.218s
Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz)	42.947s
Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz)	44.922s
Zepto Znote 6224W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	45.788s
Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz)	46.274s

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Toshiba Satellite A305D (2.2GHz AMD Turion X2 TL-64, ATI 1250)	271 3DMarks
Toshiba Satellite A305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, ATI Radeon 3650 512MB)	3,810 3DMarks
Asus M51S (1.83GHz Intel T5550, Nvidia 9500M GS 512MB)	3,749 3DMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Intel X3100)	543 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6700t (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Nvidia 8400M GS 256MB)	1,556 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Toshiba Satellite A305D (2.2GHz AMD Turion X2 TL-64, ATI 1250)	3,510 PCMarks
Toshiba Satellite A305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, ATI Radeon 3650 512MB)	5,622 PCMarks
Asus M51S (1.83GHz Intel T5550, Nvidia 9500M GS 512MB)	4,649 PCMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Intel X3100)	3,749 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv6700t (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Nvidia 8400M GS 256MB)	3,386 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	3,283 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

HDTune results:

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Audio

The Harmon/Kardon speakers included on the A305D were excellent for gaming and watching movies. Unlike many normal notebook speakers, you would actually hear a hint of bass, which was welcome for speakers of this size. Volume levels that would easily annoy those around you could be reached without distortion.

Headphone performance was also very nice, providing clear, static free audio.

Ports and Features

The AMD-based Toshiba A305D has an almost identical port lineup as the Intel A305, minus the HDMI port that came with the dedicated graphics. Even with that port gone, the lineup is still more than adequate for many users.

• ExpressCard slot (ExpressCard/34 and Express Card/54)
• 10/100 Ethernet
• Modem jack
• 5-in-1 media card reader
• VGA out, S-Video
• Microphone input port
• Headphone output port
• IEEE-1394 (FireWire)
• Four USB 2.0 ports (with "Sleep and Charge")

Left: VGA, S-Video, LAN, two USB, Firewire, Expresscard/54

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Front: Wireless On/Off, SD-Card Reader, Mic/Headphone, Volume

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Right: Two USB, Optical Drive, AC Power, Kensington Lock Slot

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Rear: No ports, just the battery and display hinge

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Heat and Noise

Thermal performance of the AMD-based Toshiba A305D was better than the Intel A305, almost entirely because of the missing second hard drive and use of integrated graphics. The palmrest temperatures are slightly down after prolonged use, and the bottom of the notebook is also somewhat cooler. Fan noise was minimal and it rarely sped up even under the stress of benchmarks.

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Battery Life

Our A305D review model came with the standard 6-cell, 4000mAh battery. With the notebook set to the balanced profile, screen brightness set to 50 percent, and wireless connected, we managed 3 hours even.

Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite A305D-S6835 CompUSA | $1,009.99 Buydig.com | $899.00 Amazon.com | $849.99 Beach Camera | $899.00 J&R Music and Computer World | $849.99 view detailed pricing from 9 stores starting at $849.00

Conclusion

The AMD-based Toshiba Satellite A305D is built off a good platform that it also shares with the Intel A305, but the small price cut doesnt make up for the huge loss in performance. For saving roughly $200 you go from a capable gaming machine with dual hard drives and an extended battery, to a budget configuration notebook. If the price was about $300 or $400 dollars less than it is now I would be all over it considering how much I love this design, but the retail price of $1,000 is asking way too much.

Pros

• Above average LCD
• Slick keyboard (literally)
• Touch sensitive media keys
• Flush mount touchpad with great surface texture
• Great Harmon/Kardon Speakers

Cons

• Warm touchpad
• Reflective surface can blind others with its awesomeness
• Low performance for the price

( Source http://www.notebookreview.com )

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The Toshiba Satellite U400/U405 series is a new 13.3" widescreen notebook that weighs in at just 4.85 pounds and packs solid Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn performance and a big hard drive with plenty of storage space. Add to that a stylish chassis covered in Toshibas new "Fusion" finish, 3GB of RAM, a webcam, and fingerprint reader and this notebook starts looking even better. Toshiba calls this notebook a "compact hero [that] balances working room with carrying comfort." Lets take a look and see if this laptop is as good as it sounds.

Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite U405-S2830 Circuit City | $1,149.99 Beach Camera | $1,099.95 J&R Music and Computer World | $1,149.00 Buydig.com | $1,099.95 MacMall | $1,149.99 view detailed pricing from 5 stores starting at $1,099.00

The Toshiba Satellite U400/U405 series is available with a range of Intel processors (from the 1.73GHz Pentium Dual-Core T2370 up to the T8300 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Penryn). There is only one 13.3" screen offering, a 1280x800 WXGA "TruBrite" glossy display. The notebook can take up to 4GB of RAM and Toshiba offers 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista SP1. The system is priced starting at $767.20 at the time of this writing.

Our review unit of the Toshiba Satellite U405-S2830 is equipped with the following specs:

• Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 32-bit)
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.10GHz, 3MB L2, 800MHz FSB)
• Mobile Intel GM965 Express Chipset
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• 3GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM (maximum capacity 4GB)
• 250GB Serial ATA hard disk drive (5400RPM)
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive with Labelflash
• 13.3" diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display at 1280x800 (WXGA)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 with 128MB-358MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Bluetooth version 2.1 plus Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)
• Fingerprint reader
• Dimensions (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 12.4" x 9.02" x 1.08" /1.38"
• Weight: 4.85 lbs with six-cell battery
• 75W (19V x 3.95A) 100-240V AC Adapter (5.0" x 1.20" x 2.01" and weighs 0.77 lb)
• 6-cell (4800mAh) Lithium Ion battery
• 1-Year Standard Limited Warranty
• Price as configured: $1,149.99

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Build and Design

Like most notebooks with a 13.3" widescreen display the U405 is on the border of the thin-and-light and ultra-portable categories. With a weight of more than four and a half pounds it isnt the lightest notebook in its class. Likewise, since the notebook is 1 inch thick at its thinnest point the U405 falls in the "middle of the pack" among recent 13.3" systems. While the U405 might be a little thicker and heavier than Apples MacBook Air or Lenovos ThinkPad X300, the U405 is a far more consumer friendly notebook with the perfect balance of form and function.

The exterior of the U405 is constructed of plastic yet it felt exceptionally solid. There was no flex to the chassis even when significant pressure was applied to the corners of the notebook. The U405 also uses the high-gloss "Fusion" finish which is an imprinted design that is both durable and attractive. The Fusion finish is one of the most durable glossy finishes Ive seen on a notebook and easily rivals the quality of the "Imprint" finish found on HP notebooks.

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While I generally like the horizontal line design imprint on the U405, the finish isnt just glossy ... its reflective. This will be quite appealing to some consumers and ghastly for others. When you open the LCD lid on this laptop the back of the display basically looks like a mirror as seen in the photo below.

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Of course, the mirror-like reflections on the Fusion finish have some advantages as well. You can use the laptop to reflect the sun and signal rescue planes if you are ever lost in the woods with your laptop. The LCD lid also comes in handy if you need a mirror for your morning shave.

In all seriousness, the design is extremely attractive but certainly isnt subdued or conservative.

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Screen

The display panel itself is a 13.3" glossy screen with WXGA resolution (1280x800). There were absolutely no problems with the screen on our review unit: the refresh rate seems excellent when videos or games with fast motion are displayed and there are no stuck pixels. As is common with glossy screens, colors and contrast are quite good and both images and video "pop" off the screen. What makes this glossy screen particularly nice is that Toshiba seems to have struck the perfect balance between gloss and matte. The screen is glossy enough to produce that added richness to color and superior contrast inherent to glossy screens, yet the surface isnt so glossy that reflections become problematic.

Brightness is quite impressive, and as you can see in the photo above, the screen is bright enough to be readable under our very bright studio lights even with the display set to 60 percent brightness. When set to maximum brightness the screen is bright enough to cause some people to squint in a dark room.

The screen is simply beautiful when viewing from straight ahead. Horizontal viewing angles are good or average. Colors are excellent and the backlight brightness remains even across the screen surface. There is some minor color inversion when you view the screen from sharp vertical angles (such as standing above the notebook or looking up at the screen from the floor) but most people rarely view a screen from these extreme vertical angles.

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Keyboard, Touchpad, Media Controls an Indicators

When I reviewed the Toshiba Satellite U305 last year I wasnt very impressed by the keyboard and touchpad. Well, Toshiba must have listened to consumer complaints because the keyboard and touchpad on the U405 are among the best Ive ever used on a 13-inch notebook.

Toshiba made the decision to use the new "Fusion" finish on the keyboard keys and this gives the keyboard on the U405 a distinctly smooth feel. The key texture is almost like a thick automotive paint with multiple layers of clear coat and wax. Thats not to say the keys feel waxy but rather the keys feel obscenely sexy. Key presses are smooth, perfectly deep, well cushioned and quiet. The entire keyboard has almost no flex and remains firm even when significant pressure is applied.

The glossy surface of the keyboard is a magnet of fingerprints and shows smudges from the oils in your skin, but this is a minor annoyance when the keyboard feels this good.

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The touchpad surface on the U405 is quite simply one of the nicest I have ever used. The surface is flush with the palmrests but there is a light application of what feels almost like soft sandpaper over the surface. "Soft sandpaper" might not sound enjoyable, but I assure you that your fingertips will glide across the surface and the cursor movement is both fluid and accurate. Toshiba even included a white LED backlight above the touchpad that not only looks cool but helps you locate the touchpad quickly in a darkly lit room.

While were on the subject of the awesome touchpad, lets not forget the touchpad buttons. These buttons are among the most comfortable Ive found on any notebook. The rounded edges make pressing the buttons with the edges of your thumbs quite easy and the individual button presses are quiet and well cushioned without being too deep or too shallow. I often end up using an external mouse when reviewing notebooks but I never bothered using an external mouse with the U405 other than to test the notebooks Bluetooth connectivity.

This is a very nice touchpad.

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A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with white LED backlights are located above the keyboard similar to the buttons on most consumer notebooks. One nice feature about the media buttons is that the white LEDs arent as offensive or distracting as the bright blue LEDs used on most other notebooks. The power button also features a white LED backlight and the Satellite logo and status indicators likewise have white or red LED backlights.

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Ports and Features

The port selection of the U405 is reasonably good for a notebook of this size. Heres a quick rundown of what you get:

ExpressCard slot (ExpressCard/34 and Express Card/54)

10/100 Ethernet

Modem jack

5-in-1 media card reader

VGA out

Microphone input port

Headphone output port

IEEE-1394 (FireWire)

Three USB 2.0 ports (with "Sleep and Charge")

Front profile view: LED status lights, 5-in-1 card reader, volume dial and Wi-Fi on/off switch.

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Left side: VGA out, blank HDMI port, two USB ports, FireWire, microphone in, headphone out, and ExpressCard slot.

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Right side: Optical drive, USB port, modem, Ethernet and security lock slot.

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Back profile view: Battery and power jack.

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One unfortunate omission from the ports selection is the lack of either S-video out or HDMI. In fact, theres even a blank section on the left side of the U405 that is labeled HDMI. Our guess in that Toshiba will eventually offer a configuration of this notebook with HDMI ... but not at present. The absence of both the S-video port and the HDMI port means that this notebook wont be 100 percent friendly with all external displays used for presentations. This might indeed be a serious problem for traveling business professionals who never know exactly what type of video-out port theyll need for their next business presentation.

Overall, the U405 is still well equipped in terms of ports with FireWire, three USB ports, a media card reader, a headphone jack, microphone jack, ExpressCard slot and Ethernet port. Although the U405 only has three USB ports, all three USB ports on this notebook utilize Toshibas new "Sleep and Charge" functionality. This is a great feature because it means you can leave your rechargeable USB devices plugged into the notebook and your USB gizmos will recharge even if the notebook is turned off. The "catch" is that if your notebook isnt plugged into a power outlet the notebook battery will drain even faster. As a manufacturing default, the Sleep and Charge function is disabled right out of the box so users have to manually turn it on through the "Start Menu." To activate the Sleep and Charge USB option go to "Start Menu - TOSHIBA - Utilities - HW Setup; check mode 1."

Audio

The audio performance on the U405 was a little better than average for a 13.3" notebook, but it was far from impressive. Both of the small speakers located above the keyboard produce a slightly "tin can" sound quality with plenty of highs but only acceptable levels of mid range and absolutely no bass. On the bright side, the speaker volume gets very loud with minimal distortion and both speakers are located in a good position to direct sound up and toward the user. Unfortunately, you will still want to use headphones or external speakers if you are an audiophile.

On that note its worthwhile to mention that the audio out port on the U405 is located on the left side (a good location for an external speaker connection) and audio output was clean (there was no static or cracking in the sound coming from the headphone jack).

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Performance and Benchmarks

Toshiba chose to offer the U400/U405 series in a range of configurations starting with the Intel Pentium Dual-core T2370 (1.73GHz) and up to the Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz) processor. While the entry-level Pentium dual core system with its 1MB of L2 cache and 533MHz frontside bus still provides reasonable performance under Vista, its good to know that the Core 2 Duo Penryn processor (T8100 or T8300 both with 3MB L2, 800MHz FSB) is an option for people who need faster multimedia encoding or image editing. The 2.1GHz Intel T8100 processor in our configuration provided a fast and flawless computing experience and surprisingly good battery life (more on that later).

The use of integrated graphics processor and shared RAM is something of a mixed blessing for the U405. While many 13.3" notebooks are now available with dedicated graphics, Toshiba selected integrated Intel X3100 graphics for this notebook. Without a powerful GPU and dedicated video RAM the U405 simply cannot run most recent 3D games at higher resolutions (if at all). On the other hand, the use of integrated graphics puts less strain on the battery and allows for superior battery life. Although the U405 might not be suitable for playing Crysis, I was able to edit high resolution images in Photoshop CS3 as well as edit and encode videos in Windows Movie Maker.

One thing the U405 offers plenty of is storage space. The 250GB hard drive should provide more than enough storage space for your music library, encoded videos, and your family photos. Thankfully, Toshiba decided to use 5400RPM hard drives in all the configurations of the U400/U405 series. Toshibas older 4200RPM drives required users to wait for files to read from or write to the disk, but thats just not much of an issue with these faster hard drives.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. Lower scores indicate better performance.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Toshiba Satellite U405 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)	37.500s
Dell Vostro 1310 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)	37.736s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	41.908s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	42.218s
Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz)	42.947s
Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz)	44.922s
Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz)	46.274s

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores indicate better gaming performance):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Toshiba Satellite U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100)	539 3DMarks
Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB)	1,679 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores indicate better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Toshiba Satellite U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100)	4,145 PCMarks
Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB)	4,813 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

HDTune measures the performance of the notebooks hard drive in terms of both transfer rate (read/write speed) and access time (how long it takes to find data stored on the drive):

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Heat and Noise

The U405 does an excellent job of controlling heat thanks in no small part to the massive heatsink visible through the air vent on the left side of the notebook. The only two areas of the U405 that peaked above 100 degrees Fahrenheit were the areas next to the RAM and wireless card ... both of which are normal. Although the touchpad and bottom of the notebook did become warm during benchmarks it was never too hot to keep on the lap. Below are images with temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

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Fortunately, noise was a complete non-issue with the fan on the U405. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air and the noise was so quiet I sometimes forgot the notebook was still powered on.

Battery Life

The 6-cell 4800mAh Li-Ion battery provides excellent battery life for the U405. The 6-cell delivered 3 hours and 48 minutes of life while browsing the web using Wi-Fi with the notebook set to "balanced" mode and the screen brightness turned down to about 60 percent.

While that battery life might not seem overly impressive at first glance, the important item to note is that this is a rather average 4800mAh battery. The new 13-inch Dell Vostro 1310 produced similar battery life numbers, but the battery on that notebook is a higher capacity battery. Clearly Toshiba is doing something right in terms of battery power management.

There is also an available 9-cell 7200mAh Li-Ion battery for those users needing extended battery life. Unfortunately, Toshiba was unable to provide us with the 9-cell battery during our testing period, so we cannot provide any information on battery life with that battery.

Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite U405-S2830 Circuit City | $1,149.99 Beach Camera | $1,099.95 J&R Music and Computer World | $1,149.00 Buydig.com | $1,099.95 MacMall | $1,149.99 view detailed pricing from 5 stores starting at $1,099.00

Conclusion

A notebook is more than the sum of its parts. For several years now Toshiba has managed to make solid notebooks but they didnt excite our editorial staff ... until now. In years past Toshiba usually did a fine job "on paper" by delivering laptops with good components, but the "complete package" left something to be desired. Well, Toshiba was paying attention to that criticism and the result is the new Satellite lineup for 2008.

The Satellite U405 is quite possibly the best 13-inch consumer budget notebook weve seen to date. Sure, the current configuration doesnt offer dedicated graphics for playing the latest 3D games, but the U405 is the most balanced overall package weve seen in quite a while. The U405 combines attractive styling, a gorgeous screen, a wonderful keyboard and touchpad, good port selection, and solid performance all at a price that rivals anything weve seen from the competition.

The entry-level configuration of the U405 is priced at $767.20 compared to the entry-level configuration of the Dell Vostro 1310 priced at $747 ... but the U405 is a far superior laptop. As configured, our review unit of the U405 is priced at $1,149.99 (even less at some online stores) but a similar configuration of the less-impressive Dell Vostro 1310 is priced at close to $1,300 and a similar configuration of the Dell XPS M1330 costs $1,400.

Still, the heart of the matter is that the Toshiba Satellite U405 is simply a great laptop. I dont often get attached to review notebooks but I can honestly say I dont want to send this laptop back to Toshiba. This warrants repeating. As an editor and writer for a website that reviews laptops I get a new laptop to use at least once a week ... but I dont want to send this one back.

If you are an average consumer looking for a well-rounded 13-inch notebook that can handle all of your needs without breaking the bank then the Toshiba Satellite U405 belongs at the top of your list.

Pros

• Reasonably thin and light weight
• Great screen
• Wonderful keyboard
• Fantastic touchpad and touchpad buttons
• Great media buttons and white LED indicators
• Good selection of ports
• Convenient USB "Sleep and Charge" ports
• Excellent performance
• Great value

Cons

• No S-video or HDMI port (in this configuration)
• No dedicated graphics option (at the time of this writing)
  
• Mirror finish wont appeal to everyone
• I dont get to keep it

(Source http://www.notebookreview.com )

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