Toshiba - Satellite Laptop with Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology - Copper

I agree with the other reviewer who was a bit surprised at a lot of the negativity surrounding this laptop. I also researched the poo out of it and it's an absolute steal. Nothing else comes close spec-wise in its price-range. I strongly advise getting one before they're gone **This was a clearance item at the Best Buy store, meaning you need to hurry if you want one. I just took this out of the box and have been getting to know it for the past three hours, so keep that in mind. I previously used a Gateway M275 and an M285 before that, just so you know what laptop experiences I have to compare the E105 to. My high rating is based on price-for-performance, so keep my above scores in mind as the bottom line as you read my negative comments below: Firstly, the laptop speakers are supposed to suck, and they do suck just fine, so thank you, Toshiba. Compared to my Gateway, the volume seems at least as loud and maybe not quite as clear, but who cares. Onto more negative... It's not designed that well, but that's just my opinion. There's nowhere to rest your hand while using the touchpad, and so far I'm not enjoying having the edge of the laptop pressed against my wrist over long periods of touchpadding. The mouse buttons have a strange give/play to them, are thinly noisy, and feel cheap (as does the entire case), but I'm making them sound worse than they are. They do their job fine, and it's a fairly minor issue, for me at least. The right-click button on mine is also sunken in a bit at the top-left corner, which makes me sad, but as long as it works... As I said, the whole case has a cheap plastic kind of feel. I don't personally like the glossy finish either. It gets fingerprints, and I don't see any point to it besides looking flashy and shiny, which I personally don't care about. The keyboard feels a bit iffy at first, but I'm already used to it. Typing on the keys feels like a dead-fish handshake, but luckily, our fingers are adaptable, and I'm already man-handling the keys assertively the way they require without conscious effort. In other words, the keys feel unresponsive and unfirm. The backlighting under the keyboard is very nice. The FM antenna, awkward in the first place, works just fine for picking up FM radio, but plugging it into the machine is a very tight fit, and it made me feel like maybe I wasn't supposed to press it in all the way. The webcam is nice, and Toshiba did include the optional heart frame special effect to put around your face while camming, among others, in case that's a make-or-break issue for any of you. The media controls on the right, for me, are still annoyingly placed. I've accidentally muted the computer a good five times so far. Maybe I'll get used to it, though. If you can overcome those problems, you're in for a huge treat. This machine is filled with all the goodies, because it's consumer-designed, and they want all the special features, which I won't bother to list. But the 4GB of RAM and steal of a CPU (2.26 GHz) make it feel like it's impossible to slow the computer down much, even when I opened about 15 windows and tons of IE tabs and YouTubes and Googlevideos. It made me melty, and that's why this computer is great, because if you wanted performance like that from another computer, you'd have to spend over $1,000 at least. And performance is the bottom line, as long as the machine works, even if it feels a little cheap. And to be honest, it doesn't feel *that* cheap. I'm just picking on it because I care about you. The E105 is portable and light and delicious to carry around. Another fun surprise is that the power adaptor is a two-prong, instead of three, meaning you can plug in anywhere. Hooray. If this laptop had any similarly-priced competitors based on sheer performance, I'd probably not recommend this machine, but because it's priced so low, this is the best steal for budget-hunters I could find anywhere. And I looked around plenty. One final note, since this has integrated Intel graphics, that means you probably should look elsewhere if you want to use it to play games or do any 3D stuff or video-editing. I would recommend this laptop to a friend. I would recommend it to the Lord. Buy one before it's too late.

I bought this laptop about a month ago, when it was still $749.99. Even at that price, it was still a tremendous bargain for the features! The inclusion of a fingerprint reader and backlit keyboard are great additions that are normally only found in much more expensive models. The case itself is very eye-catching, and the unit feels nice and sturdy overall - the keyboard has good feedback and doesn't feel flimsy, which is a common fault of mid-to-low-range models. Overall, this feels like much more laptop than the price suggests. Now, the bad parts. Everything you've heard about the speaker quality is true. Not only are they tinny and underpowered, but their location on the edge of the case means that sound is directed at your belly instead of your ears. I tried watching a movie while waiting for my flight, and the general din of the gate traffic was enough to drown out the sound completely. Also, the case is scratch-prone. There are skins available to help this, and I wish I'd bought one prior to traveling with this. Even in a pouch by itself, it managed to emerge on the other end of the trip with scratches. And lastly, the keyboard can be hard to read when not backlit. The color of the keyboard is nice, but it doesn't contrast strongly enough against the white type on the keys to be seen in most lighting conditions. This is really a minor concern thanks to the backlight feature, though. Battery life has thus far been exactly as advertised. I get about 5 hours per charge out of it when working offline, 4 hours with wi-fi, or about 2.5 hours on movie playback. No complaints. Also, this model doesn't run hot like so many others have been known to do. The bottom line: this has a lot of great features and its hardware can tackle most anything you throw at it. This won't handle gaming or video editing, but multitasking, Photoshop, and general internet and business uses are no problem. I highly recommend picking this up for anything but the most strenuous computing!

Used for home and business: Now, I have not a clue as to WHAT all the negative reviews are for on this E105... but I have had little to no issues other than one. But I think this is the case on all laptops due to Vista. When I use a USB wifi booster, then close the lid and goes to sleep... then open lid to awake... all USB devices are re-activated with the exception of the wifi booster. That I don't understand. With that said... I will say the speakers are a bit lacking... but I never use them anyway. I either plug it into my home speaker system or have it on headphones when out and about. I absolutely LOVE this computer!! I think for the money (and believe me... I DUG and looked around and did intense research to try and find another of such value or better) this laptop blows away all other laptops in its category!! I mean, really... where can you find a laptop with a Centrino 2 processor (which is currently the top-of-the-line processor), 4 gigs of memory, a BACK-LIT KEYBOARD (this is #1 on my list as I am always in dark places), and a 320 gig hard drive, all for $799 (well, actually, I got mine for $699 due to the fact that I had purchased two other laptops previously that turned out to be duds and so Best Buy's manager said to go pick out another laptop and we'll work a deal for you. WOW... Well the E105 was my pick, obviously!)?? But even at $799, it's a smokin' deal!! I love the fact that it comes with Windows 64 bit Vista Home Premium! I have used both 32 bit and 64 bit on several other computers and I find that 64 bit OS is more stable and trouble free (with SP1 installed). One review states that this laptop only has 2 USB ports. NOT TRUE! It has 2 regular ports and a eSata / USB combination port. So there are really 3 USB ports. It also comes with a built-in radio receiver and an antenna to plug in if you should decide to use it. Pretty cool... but I rather listen to Pandora. Regardless, it's still a cool feature. I will say that it also comes with the big N's Anti-virus. REMOVE IT as soon as you get this laptop!! N is JUNK!! It will slow your system down and take it over - (if you know what I mean) The anti-virus software that starts with a K is much better. The LCD monitor is good, but wish it came with an LED back-lit monitor. It would then consume less power and probably would have gotten over 5 hours of battery time. Plus, the LED monitors are crystal clear and thinner - which would have made this laptop even thinner by about an eight of an inch or better. Not a big deal... but every bit counts, I feel. In closing: All the problems other people have claimed to have with this laptop have NOT happened to me. You also have to remember that not all humaniods are created equal. No offense to anyone... but some people have problems with everything. Try this laptop for yourself!! I think we all have to find what it is that really works for each one of us individually. I have tried a few and realize that there really is NOT a better choice for me... for the money... out there than this E105-S1402. Good Luck to all...

I bought this notebook a month ago. I'm an experienced user, and I'll try to be as honest as I needed when I decided for it. Just the important things: PROs: a) Battery: it lasts almost 4.5 REAL hours working in High Performance mode (you can switch between High P, Balanced, and Power Saver modes); 320 huge hard disk is really fast; b) Camera and mic incorporated (could be better, but 1.3 megapixels are enough for common use); c) Radio FM receiver: some people are bothered by the external antenna, but for me it's ok. You can plug it or unplugged it (it measures about 8 in and it is flexible); d) Fingerprint reader: works very well with no errors (I found the placement very handy); e) Processor and chipset: The processor is very fast, but the masterpiece here is the memory bus running at more than 1000 mhz: Vista 64b runs smoothly, and XP (not included but I made a dual booting system) flies away! Ubuntu 8.10 runs great too; e) Monitor: very good contrast for the day and with no distortions: stright lines and borders are proportionals, good loking in overall; f) Memory: 4 Gygs are really enough for anything you need. When Vista is fully configured (64 bits), it demands almost 1.3 Gb in general. Normal applications (Office, Firefox, etc) raise the memory demand until 1.7/1.8, so you have more than 2 Gb for demanding apps (The hard disk speed let the virtual memory run with no interruptions); g) Weight: it is amazing to have this performance in a case with no more than 5 lbs: it is very comfortable to carry on on a trip or going to work. And (IMHO) that's the reason Toshiba did use a kind of "light/cheap" plastic for the external case. Some reviewers complains about it, but it is no a real problem. The finish is stylish an discreet; h) Keyboard light: excellent feature: if you ever needed to see the keyboard in a poor illuminated enviroment as I did on airplanes or at home with no near lights, you'll love the backlight: The white imprint of every key lights as you need: automatic timer when you press a key (you can choose how long they will be on), constantly on, or at your demand with FN+Z key combination (on/off). CONs: a) As other Toshiba models, the Graphics Controller (Intel 4 Express) are fast, but no as you could expect with a nVidia with dedicated memory. For everyday work and common fun it is enough, but some demanding gamers could no get the power they need; b) Power adapter included: as it has just 75 watts of power, when running a few hours it gets hot: Toshiba should include a 90 watts adapter in this very mobile notebook in order to be very reliable; c) No VGA out port: as you have a HDMI port (very convenient) you should buy a HDMI2DVI or VGA cable in order to connect an external monitor (this no-feature is not very advertised when you read about this notebook). Not very important but you should be aware of this; d) IMPORTANT: the intake air for refrigerate this monster is very very tiny and this notebook stands just about 5/32 from the table, so there is no room when you place the notebook over any fabric or the lap without a hard surface in order to let the air flow. OVERALL: very good performance, good quality, and a lot of features for the price. The competitors are far more expensive when similars processor and memory bundle. Excellent for mobility professionals and systems people who need to have enough power but no wheigt when moving.

I was shopping for a more compact solution then my HP DV6000 15.4" laptop. The DV6000 I have is a special edition so it's got the oversize heavy battery on it, in total the HP is about 7lbs which was just really annoying. All though not very old the DV6000 made a great gift for the wife who now gets her own laptop. I was really looking for a pre built system to keep me from having to wait weeks for a custom build. The issue I had is that most pre built systems just lack all the features, the fingerprint reader, blue tooth, wireless n, and so on. My choice was between this and the HP 13.3" DV3 blue label and this Toshiba. I thought for sure the HP was a no brainer since I've already owned one but after some research and deep thought about it, I decided to give the Toshiba a try. The price tag was much less for a faster laptop with a larger screen. This Toshiba is only about .3 lbs heavier then the 13" HP. It's also got all the same extra features the HP has aside from the LED backlit screen. The Good about this Toshiba - Battery Life is awesome, probably better then the DV6000 with the massive 12 cell battery - Light and manageable. Its so much easier to deal with being that its only 4.99lbs compared to bigger laptops. - 14" screen is a perfect compromise for size and portability - Backlit keyboard is sweet, you don't know what your missing till you have one - I notice none of the "weak" key feeling I've seen in some reviews. It feels solid and easy to type on for me. - It's got enough power to keep you satisfied, if your looking to game then this won't make you happy but for everything else it's perfect. Save the powerhouse desktops for gaming. - Barely any bloatware which makes for an easy set up, less time having to remove garbage. The few cons I did notice - Seems like you have to take the entire back panel off to change a hard drive, no easy access panel like many others. Haven't really looked into it so maybe changing the HDD isn't really that bad but a removable panel would have been nice. - The speakers, They are just BAD. I read other reviews that said they were bad but I thought how bad could they possibly be. They are TERRIBLE. It's almost amazing they would even make it to a production computer. Its unbelieveable that some body some where said it was ok to leave these speakers in it. For me it's not a huge deal since most of the times I use headphones, but even turning them on to share a youtube video with the guy next to you is almost embarrassing. All in all though, dispite the horrendous speakers, it's really a great deal. It's got the better core duo P series CPU that runs cooler and takes less power. That alone is $150 upgrade when doing a build on the OEM's website. Its jam packed with all the features you'll need and then some and for a price that really can't be beat. The total package is just an A+ Don't think twice about this one over the HP. This is the laptop to get in this class.

The S1402 is one of the best mainstream laptops for both casual and hardcore users. The value of the laptop for it's new $799 price (as opposed to its original $1099 price a few months ago) is great. Despite having a few glaring flaws, it's hard to argue with its performance at an affordable price. Pros: Processor, RAM (although not much flexibility in terms of upgradability), backlit keyboard, the keyboard feels nice to type on - it's not loud when doing a lot of typing, battery life is long enough to watch to full feature length movies on a single battery charge, light enough to carry around in your back pack or in a case on your shoulder without being bothersome, runs medium-graphic games at a fairly good rate (i.e. WoW with a decent frame rate), comes with an eSata and HDMI port. Vent placement is nice, you can keep the laptop on your lap without it burning your legs. Cool fingerprint reader. 14.1" screen looks beautiful and just big enough for me to watch movies on and not strain my eyes when I'm typing yet still light enough to take to class. Webcam is cool. Mic works well for typing notes with Microsoft OneNote. Cons: Umm for such a high end laptop, the speakers this thing comes with is probably THEE worst speakers I've ever heard in a laptop. I've tried them with external speakers and headphones and still the sound quality is terrible. If you like listening to music (as I do), this flaw alone made me second guess this laptop. Keys like the F1-F12, the END, INS, and DELETE button are all terribly placed (i use all these keys). Touch sensitive controls on the right side are a pain to use especially when it comes to adjusting the volume. Umm, only two usb ports. I would've love to trade the FM port for a VGA port (I seriously dont see a need for it). Touchpad freezes some times I have yet to find an explanation for that. So far, I've been having trouble with burning CDs but its most likely an issue from software. Overall I'm happy with my purchase, I was able to buy a laptop case, and the standard 2 year black tie service for a little over $1000 with the financing. I'm confident that I've made an excellent investment because it feels like I got a steal and as a customer, that's the best feeling in the world. You can always adjust the sound settings to get rid of the lifeless, echo sounding speakers so its not the major of an issue, but a glaring flaw nonetheless. Using this laptop in class is nice because you dont have to worry about battery life (since it lasts about 4 hours), backlit keyboard helps you see the keys in a darker auditorium. Don't expect any high end gaming on this (trust me I already tried) but games like World of Warcraft, you'll be fine. I'm able to listen to music, while typing a word document, with mozilla firefox up with four tabs, and while chatting on AIM without a hiccup. If you like this laptop but are looking for similar 14.1" options, consider the new HP DV4-1365dx (new laptop) - it looks beautiful, has similar performance and has better speakers at the same price. Or if you're looking for a screen thats a little bigger, try the Dell S15-158b or the HP DV5-1235dx - these were all laptops I was considering before getting this one. The 14.1" screen perfectly fits my needs for school and is good enough for home entertainment as well - highly recommended.

I was torn between this Blue Label or the HP and after realizing the last two computers I had were HP's I went with the Toshiba. Both of my HP's crapped out after 2 years and were no longer functional. I bought this computer about a month ago for $1000. I see it has since gone down $100. Kind of lame, but I still feel pretty good about the value. Good things: I love the backlit keyboard. At first I thought "Why would you need that?" but I actually use it quite a bit. The keyboard is a bit punchy, but this is just the style of keyboard. Figure out what style keys suit you best. These are very flat and easy to push. The batter lasts usually around 5 hours, even on the high performance setting. This is absolutely wonderful considering my old laptop went about an hour and a half, so I always had to have it plugged in. The screen resolution is great. The speed is very good compared to my old computer, but it does seem to have slowed some since I first got it, which can be expected. Vista's Window's LIVE stuff is great. Especially the photo gallery. It automatically finds all your photos and orders them by date. This puts some order into my lack of organization for the last 5 years of digital photos. Lets you tag photos as well, which is cool, and you can rate them. Also you can enter captions. Similar to the MemoryManager 2.0 software my sister sells through Creative Memories for $50. And it's free! Disappointments: The "dolby sound room" speakers are awful. The only way you could use the speakers is if there is no other noise, that is how quiet they are. And yes, I have checked all the controls to make sure everything is turned up all the way. It's ridiculous.. it's really that bad. The direct disc labeling feature is cool.. if I could get it to work. I bought light scribe discs not realizing they're different and can't really find label flash discs anywhere, not even really many are online. The fingerprint reader works pretty well, but I've only been able to use it to log on and off as a user. I think you can use it to protect file structures as well, but this is not recommended in case it malfunctions you can't get to your files. I was under the impression the fingerprint reader could be used to enter passwords for websites (facebook, email, etc). I have not been able to get it to do this. The software it comes with seems very limited. It's help section tells you that when the website login is prompted the reader should pop up but it doesn't. The webcam was hard to figure out how to use at first as well, but I have been able to get it to work for AIM chats. Not sure what else I can do with it outside of that, there doesn't seem to be much (any?) software for it. Vista. Still getting used to it. I like some things better but it seems to hide things in the file structure as well. Programs and applications are sometimes not that easy to find. Computer gets pretty warm when I use it. Not sure if this is normal. Doesn't seem good for it. Might get it checked out. Overall, this is a great computer that I expect to be top of the line for at least a year. I've learned it's worth it to spend the money to get the best rather than being cheap and having to buy a new one a few years later. Go for it, you'll love it!

I went into Best Buy looking for a laptop with both Bluetooth and a Fingerprint Reader and the associates pointed me to this Blue Label laptop. I bought it when it was $800 and I thought it was an incredible value. (With the free financing Best Buy was offering, I had to buy it.) I actually started wondering what was wrong with it because it seemed too good to be true. I've had it now for over a month, and honestly there isn't really anything wrong with it - it's a great machine. The screen is very bright - next to my Gateway laptop it simply doesn't compare. My only concern with the screen is that it seems too thin and flexible and I worry it's not as durable as other screens I've seen. The touchpad isn't the best, but I rarely use it. I specifically wanted Bluetooth because I'm using a Bluetooth notebook mouse. Spend the extra money and get a Bluetooth mouse - your wrists and fingers will thank you. The Fingerprint Reader was challenging at first to set up. Run Windows Update if you have problems with it because mine, at first, would never read my fingerprint correctly. After Windows installed an update to the fingerprint software and restarted - everything has been running smoothly. The battery life for me has been around 4 hours when listening to music, surfing the webpage, and running Office. I also run a USB-powered chill mat underneath it. (It does get significantly warm after only 30 minutes of use, but, to me, that's nothing abnormal.) The guts of the machine - processor and RAM - are a perfect combination. I can run memory-intense programs like PhotoShop with absolutely no slow down. The machine boots very quickly and multitasks without skipping a beat. I was also impressed that there weren't a bunch of bells and whistles pre-installed. The initial startup was so quick because there wasn't any junk running. The Norton subscription that comes with this is such a great deal. The Geek Squad 24-hour support is also very nice - they assisted me intially when I couldn't get the Fingerprint Reader working. Very knowledgeable and friendly staff. I've only tried the CD/DVD writer a few times and both times it seemed a bit slow as compared to other machines I've had in the past. This is a 64-bit version of Vista so be aware that there may be some issues running certain software. The only thing I have encountered so far is an issue with one particular feature of OneNote but I was able to find a workaround. The last thing I want to mention is that there is no access to the RAM module underneath the machine. It appears that you'd have to take the entire case apart. It wasn't a deal breaker for me as there is already 4GB of RAM. Overall, a wonderful machine at a great price. I've been very happy with my purchase - definitely one of the best machines I've owned.