Not bad for a first laptop, but also not the best.
Written: Jan 10 '06
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Pros: Good DVD-Playback
Nice Layout
Boots up quick
Cons: 16MB Video
No battery life
Poor Processor Performance
The Bottom Line: It's a good laptop and does what it should, but not much more. RECOMMENDED, but not for over $300.
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| xenoranger's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite 1905-S277 (PS190U-000FRXB) PC No... |
For years and years I've wanted a laptop. The benefits of mobility and PC technology have always been apparent. In a stroke of luck, my father acquired one through his work. Since he's not intending to use it, he gave it to me. All together, my experience has been fairly reasonable.
Layout:
The layout is fairly nice with this unit. The unit weighs about 8lbs and is the right dimensions for most purposes. The problem I have with the layout is that the left speaker is right above the fan. What ends up happening is that it tends to get hot sometimes. Another note regarding the heat is that the unit really isn't meant to be on your lap (as the name LapTop implies). It kicks out enough heat to make you uncomfortable. Besides this, the placement of the fan means that putting it on any cloth or non-level surface will trap heat inside. Concerning the location of the touchpad, it has a nice positioning, however, you will tend to bum it with your thumbs if you're not careful. The fact that you can tap it in place of clicking is nice, but this will often move you around a window a little more than you want. I know this is common with some laptops, so in this particular case, I'd just recommend using a USB mouse and disabling your touchpad. The ALPs touchpad driver that is included isn't worth your time. I strongly recommend sticking with Microsoft's generic touchpad drivers. They do the job, and actually allow you to disable the touchpad should you decide you don't want it.
Processor
Given that it's a 1.6Ghz processor, I expected the usual Pentium 4 treatment. Well, since I'm not all too familiar with the architecture, I can't talk tech talk, but I can say that it doesn't seem to put out that much performance. I used to own a 1.1Ghz desktop. The processing power of this LapTop's 1.6Ghz processor seems closer to the 1.1Ghz Desktop I had than what I would imagine a true 1.6Ghz processor. In other words, kinda slow. It does the job, just in a little more time.
Ram
The system has 256MB Ram. I haven't had 256 Ram since my 1.1Ghz desktop and even that got upgraded to a 512MB spec. Needless to say, if you remember it's a LapTop and not a power PC, you can run most items. Despite this, I would recommend upgrading to 512 MB (which is the max supported) to improve overall performance. 256MB does run most portable applications, but at the end of the day, you will find yourself needing more power for modern software.
Video
This is the weakest part of this unit. A 16MB video card is hardly powerful enough for most applications. In fact, it bewilders me as to why they would put a 16MB video card in a LapTop when there are 32MB and 64MB video cards available. This just doesn't make sense. So, you can run any office related application you need, however, don't expect to game on it. The highest resolution you can get is 1024x768. If you attempt to put it higher, the screen forces you to scroll around to find applications and such on your desktop. I found this quite annoying.
Hard Disk
The internal hard disk drive (HDD) is fairly quick. I can open most applications and access files within a few seconds. The only place where you find slow down is when the processor has to load any additional information to access the document. Other than that, I have no complaints regarding the HDD itself.
Removable Media
This unit came with a 3.5” floppy drive and a DVD/CD-RW. Although I haven't had much use for the 3.5” drive, I find that the DVD/CD-RW was poorly assembled. At first, it wouldn't access at times. What I had to do to correct this was open up the LapTop and remove a screw. Just incase you think you're misreading, I'll write it again. I had to remove a screw to make my DVD/CD-RW drive work. What happened was the screw in place was pushing my DVD/CD-WR out far enough to where it wasn't making all the connections. Considering this is the native DVD/CD-RW for this unit, it just surprises me that such an adjustment wound need to be made. Running a 3.5” floppy is pretty much your standard run of the mill chore. It's running a DVD or CD that really makes this unit stand out. I've seen a few good and bad laptops, and from what I've seen, laptops should run fairly silent. Well, this machine's DVD/CD-WR drive sounds like a jet taking off. If you're loading any data at all, it just hums and hums. As a matter of fact, it's loud enough that my wife could hear it from half way across our house. (not an exaggeration)
DVD Playback
One of the reasons I wanted a laptop is because they can also double for DVD-Playback. Despite my aforementioned issues with the jet engine DVD/CD-RW, I found that this unit actually plays DVD's very quietly. It seems to do it very well without eating up many system resources. I didn't get any hiccups in playback, nor did it pause to cache the video. Playback was very smooth.
Networking
This unit comes with a built-in 10/100 BaseT Ethernet connection. In addition to this, mine also came with a Linksys Wireless-G 2.4Ghz 802.11G NIC. Regarding the Ethernet connection, I've had no issues at all working with it. Just plug in to the network and if your settings are correct, you'll connect. Very simple. It's the wireless that I've found the most issues with. Although on my home network, it works rather well, when I'm at my job, the performance seems a little sketchy. Other people have been able to maintain a connection on their laptops using wireless, but from time to time, I'll loose the connection. This is odd, because the wireless router is positioned 4-5 feet from my workspace. So, you may have mixed results with certain routers.
USB
Despite the fact that everything uses USB2.0 now, this model seemed to have missed the jump. As such, I've tried plugging my Samsung MP3 Player and my USB Swiss Army Knife/Flash Drive. Since both are USB2.0 devices, I get the notification that it could work faster. It would be nice to have USB2.0, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. As for the locations, you have 1 USB port on the right side between your 3.5” floppy drive and the DVD/CD-WR. There are two additional USB1.1 ports on the back. Well, not a total loss, but since I can't use some of the storage devices at their full potential, it can be somewhat annoying.
Battery
The battery on this unit is worth little more than for transferring from outlet to outlet. Basically, after 5 min of being unplugged, you'll find yourself at 92% of your battery's life. As such, it's strongly recommended that you remain close to a constant power source. I put very little confidence in the battery and definitely recommend against running a DVD or any application that requires constant disc access.
Gaming
The first thing everyone I know does when they get a new PC is push it to the limits. To see how far I could push this laptop, I just had to find out. I did successfully run Guild Wars on this PC, but because of it's 32MB video card requirement, the system crashed. I call it a learning experience. So, I went back to other (lower requirement) titles. With games like Typing of the Dead and Aliens Versus Predator 2, it'll run very smooth. The only problem is with first person shooter (FPS) titles, you absolutely NEED a mouse. The touchpad makes any FPS unplayable. For RPG's and Point and Click titles, the touchpad is just fine. I have also loaded Virtua Fighter 2 on this PC and Battle Arena Toshinden 2. Playing on a keyboard is ok, but if possible, I recommend grabbing a controller if you seriously intend to play any action titles on here.
Overall, this was a free laptop, but it's done everything I'd expect a laptop to do. I'm disappointed with the processor performance and the 16MB video card. Despite this, I would RECOMMEND this laptop. I can't see paying the $1600 price tag I've seen on it, but closer to $300 would be about its worth.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1700
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID:
xenoranger
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Location: MN, USA
Reviews written: 352
Trusted by: 21 members
About Me:
Even the things I really enjoy deserve low ratings at times.
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