Toshiba - Satellite Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology

Over a year ago I bought a Toshiba Satellite, and so far it is being very satisfactory. I use my laptop everyday to do school work and for entertainment. The brand Toshiba means good technology and liable products. I didn't have any minor or major problems with my laptop, and I would recommend the product to anyone who asked for my opinion.

I had been in the market for a laptop for about a year now. I had one but sold it as it was just a hand me down and had all sorts of problems. It was a Compaq that had been through a lot, but still managed to work for what I needed it for. After selling it for car audio, I had been periodically looking for a new laptop to replace it. My search was queryed by an attractive laptop under or at 1,000 dollars, but still very functional for my needs. This brought me to Best Buy. For months I had visited the computer section in the store to see the latest ones and their features. One problem, 80% of them were just horrific to look at. I was looking for an almost all black laptop and be 15 inches or less. I saw a similar model in Toshiba A305 series in one of the BB stores around the area and loved the design. At the time I was interested in an Acer but after the 650 dollar price just didn't matter due to its horrific look, i settled on the A305 series. I finally picked up the A305-6825 Satellite a few weeks ago and don't regret it one bit. Pros: - Attractive Looks - Touchpad Feels Amazing with it's friction-type feel - Harmon Kardon speakers are much better then I anticipated - Great specs (3GB RAM, 250GB HD, Dual Core Processor) for under 1000 dollars (before taxes) - Very quiet and does not run all that hot even under heavy processing (movies, games, etc) Cons: - The attractive glossy feel of the area around the keyboard and touchpad tends to leave quite a bit of fingerprints all over. This means you may be wiping it clean more often than other laptops. - The web camera face recognition doesn't seem to work well. I still can't login after registering my face, so the application seems pretty useless. - Its a bit bigger then I hoped, but I've gotten used to its size - It doesn't run games well except for emulation due to the shared memory. If you need dedicated memory for better gaming performance, consider the 6835 model also at Best Buy. I only need it for emulation gaming so I'm happy overall with it. Overall, this laptop is a great buy for anyone looking for the newest and most attractive looks in laptops that are dominated by boring and junky designs under 1000 dolllars. I would recommend it to anyone.

I just got this computer today after looking for the last month. I KNEW the fingerprints were going to bother me but the computer seemed to have everything else I wanted. The fingerprints are excessive, esp on the black glossy keypads. I'm looking at them now and it's just annoying compared to how eye appealing it initially was. I'm hearing a very quiet fan, but there's another that sporadically has been going on and then off for the last 2+ hours. They're very quiet but noticable to me. I plan to turn off the face id b/c I heard that was about as inoperable as the finger swipe sign in. So far, I'm impressed with Vista and everything internally seems sound. I'm letting the battery go down and it looks like I'll be about a total of 2 1/2 hours for that to happen. (Not sure if efficiency goes up after this initial charge, but hopeful). Definately a great deal for the price!!

This is a very good laptop for the money. The combination of the processor, memory, and probably Vista allow for quick startups and quick access to applications software. The cooling fan is very quiet at the moment and its exhaust is located on the side of the laptop and not on the bottom like my previous laptop. This is great because you can sit the laptop on something without it overheating which is what it is meant for. The laptop also seems to be very energy efficient with default sleepmode settings that come with it. The harmon/kardon speakers also sound great given their small size. The negatives I have noticed is the lack of bluetooth for connecting bluetooth devices. The keyboard also collects fingerprints and shows them very well. The laptop also comes with a trial version of microsoft 2007. Toshiba could have left out all of the mostly useless junk software that comes on the laptop and included the full version of microsoft 2007. That's o.k. though because I got the full version of microsoft 2007 through my job for $20. The battery also seems a little lacking in how long it holds a charge. I think my laptop has about an two and on half hour charge or a little more than that. Anyway for the money this a decent laptop and I would recommend it to anyone who isn't looking for the most powerful computer out and does things like work with excel, word, powerpoint and surfs the internet. It is perfect for that and more.

so far i love this laptop. its fast and has a really great feel. i love the way the keyboard is built. the speakers are nice and loud. the case is well built and sturdy but has a tendancy to show fingerprints. the negatives i find are small things that help this laptop stay low priced. i would rather have had an nvidia graphics set, hdmi output, built in wireless n , and built in bluetooth. however, i dont do much gaming and these things are really just luxuries to me, and can be added later for a lower price. for what i use the laptop (office, web browsing, programming, and a small amount of gaming) this thing just flies. its alot faster than my old turion. ps: i also hate all the junk software that comes on a new pc, but thats all pc's these days. i did the $99 upgrade to vista ultimate and wiped it immediately anyway. on the pro side, all of the drivers were very easily found on the cd thats included and easy to install. i was suprised to find it wasnt a huge package install but a nicely built option system to install the drivers you want. hope this helps, jon

I've had the computer a couple of weeks and it works great. The 3GB gives Vista enough horsepower for everything I need to do. I read a lot of complaints on this product about fingerprints and it is a problem. I found screen protectors on the web that are thin, self-adhesive plastic sheets. I put one on the screen and cut up another to put on the case to protect from fingerprints and scratches. I also found a keyboard protector to keep out dust and spills. The computer has a very "plastic" feel to it. I like the 4 USB ports. Another nice feature is that the most important items/ports (DVD/CD drive, USB ports, NIC, modem) are on the sides so they are easily accessible when it is on my lap. The heat exhaust port is on the left and not the bottom so I can put it on a soft surface without overheating. Unfortunately, the headphone port is on the front. There is a lot of pre-loaded garbage software. The web cam software is always getting in the way and no info on how to keep it from loading. Heat may be an issue with the unit. I've noticed that it seems to run a bit hot at times. The touchpad seems to get hot. I added a cooling unit to run under the computer all the time. That seems to keep it cool (but the fans are noisy)

Got this about 2 weeks ago. Was on sale for $749 in store, plus was tax free weekend in Tennessee. Turned out to be a really good deal. Glossy keyboard is a small problem, but I can live with it. Besides, it looks really sharp. DVD runs very smoothly. Keyboard is a little tight, but hey, it's a laptop. Battery life has been good. Runs about 2 -2 1/2 hours on a full charge. Screen resolution is very good and bright even outside in sun. Lots of preloaded software, but easy to remove with the Add/Remove Programs feature. Vista has been pretty easy to learn, especially since still using XP Media Center on desktop in home. Wife has limited computer knowledge and she has no trouble with the Toshiba.

This computer was not originally on my radar. I went for a Gateway model, but the store that sold it was 20 miles away, no biggy, I tried for an HP which was the same price but better, no dice, had to go to the same store as the Gateway. I went back online and saw this model on the front page, I checked it out on google and saw that it was Toshiba's newest modes, at the same price as the gateway and HP, with the same memory but with a better processor and more HD Space. The only thing about this computer that I do not like are the keybpard which gets very slick adn finders accidentally side off and hit wrong keys and the finish shows fingerprints very VERY easily. It takes alot to clean. Overall, I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS COMPUTER TO ANYBODY!!!