Toshiba 2775 XDVD – The Little Laptop That Could …
Written: Oct 26 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: light , expandable, powerful and durable.
Cons: tough to wake up when in sleep mode.
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| jcare's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite 2775XDVD (PS277U-6M9J0K) PC Note... |
Looking for a middle-of-the-road, got-almost-everything, expandable but not extreme laptop ? Check out the Toshiba Satellite 2775XDVD.
Featuring a 650MHz Pentium III processor, 64MB memory, 12GB hard drive and a 8x DVD-ROM it pretty much covers all the bases. Blessed with an ergonomic gray/black two-tone casing, this notebook sports a 14.1-inch TFT display. Compared to many laptops I’ve used and abused the screen is crisp, bright yet not too harsh on the eyes. The graphics controller, a 8MB S3 Savage IX, more than handles the demand for games, DVD and streaming video.
Outside of technical specs and budget I’ve always felt that the two main components of choosing a laptop are reliability/serviceability and portability. So lets look at these two aspects in a little more detail.
Portability
Psychologically the unit looks heavier than it actually is. For some strange reason this makes the machines weight seem less than its 7 pounds. Wrapped up in a Targus carrying bag complete with peripherals it is still light enough to be carried around without wearing treadmarks in your shoulder. Encased this way it can be stowed under the seat, above the seat, or in a car, on the passenger seat without taking up too much room. Another critical usability test if you are on the road a lot.
Actual dimensions of our laptop – which vary marginally from the manufacturers specs, but this is the real world – are 2” height, 10.3” width and 12.4” depth. This means it passes one of my favorite tests – can you use it balanced on the meal tray in economy seats on a United 757 aircraft. Given that you have the option of a mouse, a little pointer knob or the now-familiar slide plate and palm buttons to control the machine its ideal for all pointing device fanatics of whatever persuasion.
Reliability/Serviceability
I have to admit a bias towards Toshiba machines. My first experience with portables (before they even ran off battery power) was with the Toshiba 3100’s back in the late 80’s. I later graduated to the T5100 and T5200C (a color system with a 100MB hard drive!!) in the very early 90’s. These systems were champs and could be beaten like a rented mule and they just kept on hummin’. Every experience I have had with Toshiba has been positive since then – so much so that I feel like I am the poster boy for Toshiba reliability..
The Satellite 2775 XDVD is designed to make access to its components almost universally easy – except for one minor exception. Accessing and switching out the floppy, DVD/ROM, hard drive and battery are a snap. To get to the modem you need to unsnap the keyboard brace and then remove two small screws. The modem is then fitted on top of the motherboard with yet another two screws. Since you don’t need to get at the modem too frequently this isn’t a problem, except for the fact that the memory expansion slot (up to 196MB) is directly under the modem. Ah well, can’t be perfect all the time …
As far as some of the boring tech specs it has the usual :
2 PCMIA Slots
1 USB Port
1 Parallel Port
1 Serial Port
Lithium Ion Battery (about 3 hours steady use)
Modem 56k/V90
Audio – built-in stereo speakers, ESS 1978S on PCI Bus.
Toshiba include Lotus Smartsuite, Mediamatics DVD express, McAfee, Intuit Quicken Basic 2000, ATT Worldnet and IE5 as standard software packages. Our machine shipped with Win98SE and a coupon for Windows ME.
Summary
For $1800 bucks you get a pretty powerful laptop, expandable, and fully capable of utilizing today’s technology and at least what I know about tomorrows. Its ergonomically sleek, a light 7 pounds and you can use it in economy on a plane. The one and only minor complaint – other than upgrading memory – is that when its asleep its really difficult to wake up. Kind of like that old college roommate but without the dirty socks and underwear…
Finally don't believe the epinions quoted price above - you can get it online from stores like BestBuy.com - and its eligable for that infamous $400 MSN credit too. $1800 is closer to todays price as opposed to $2450.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jcare
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Location: Southeast Pennsylvania
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Bullets can hurt people. Both in guns and PowerPoint.
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