Great value (after rebates)
Written: Dec 28 '03
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Pros: Good price, great performance, lightweight, big screen
Cons: mediocre touchpad and batterylife
The Bottom Line: Great laptop for the $800-900 budget, though you need some faith to wait for the rebates. Big screen, RAM, lightweight body all contribute to great user experience.
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| afhouston's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite A15-S157 (PSA10U-01C8WV) PC Note... |
Lightweight, big screen, great price, good performance makes this the perfect laptop for a college student.
Background:
My brother and I were looking for a laptop for him to buy for his freshmen year in college (Fall 2003). We purchased this laptop right before school started (late August). We had been looking since January '03 for computer options, from desktops to thin clients to laptops. This computer presented the best value.
The criteria I used for my initial search...
Pentium4 (or mobile equivalent), Athlon XP [1.5ghz or faster]
256-512 RAM
20-40gig HD
DVD and or CD-RW
Built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b
Under $1000
Pretty basic specs, but pretty hard to find a good value. This laptop met those upper end performance specifications and did so at the lowest cost, after rebate. Speaking of which, the rebate checks just came in a few days back. So, we basically waited a good 3 months for the money to arrive, which may or may not be okay with you.
About the laptop
The specs are pretty self explanatory...
Celeron 2.2ghz
15in screen
512 MB RAM
40gig HD
DVD/CD-RW Drive
6.6 lbs
1) RAM
What I like is the RAM the most, because on laptops, you really need to limit mechanical movments to save battery power. More RAM means less work for the hard drive.
2) Weight
My brother liked the big screen, although I didn't really care for it. What surprised me was the weight of the laptop. It is really light for something of its size. Most laptops I've held in this screen size range, like Dell Inspirons and HP/Compaq's are usually in the upper 7lbs to 8-9lbs range. That makes a real difference, from whether you keep the laptop with you in your backpack, or leave it on the desk as a desktop replacement. I really think its a shame to buy a laptop for portability, then get discouraged by the heft and never take it around with you. The great thing about it is that its light.
3) Wireless
Toshiba was smart to have wireless functionality built-in. That really eliminates most people's needs for 2 expansion slots (the laptop has one) and keeps the computer affordable. Wireless functionality, however, can drain the battery life quicker than usual, but with Toshiba's power management software, it reduces the impact of the WiFi. There's also an external switch to turn it off, if you don't need access to the internet.
4) 15in/DVD drive
On plane trips and car trips home, this laptop serves as a portable DVD player. Although battery life limits our movies to about 2-2.5hrs, it's still great to watch movies on the road on a 15in screen. Again, the lightweight of this laptop makes it possible.
5) Celeron? Quiet :-)
I never believed in Celeron since it came out back when Intel was making sub 500mhz processors. I still am very skeptical about the processor partly because of low levels of built-in cache that make the processor less efficient and less robust when compared to a Pentium 3 or 4 and Athlon XP. However, for most laptop applications, it turned out fine. In fact, I think there are some power benefits to using a Celeron, as it seemed to require less cooling. Half the time the laptop fan was off or running so low I couldn't hear it. That's a noticeable concern when using any computer for extended amounts of time. I really liked how quiet the computer was and how it didn't have this high pitched hum/whine that most other laptops have (including Sony VAIO's and HP's).
Concerns
1) Rebates
I keep talking about how this laptop is a value, but that's only after about $250-300 in manufacturer and retailer rebates. We bought this laptop from Best Buy. Rebate processing turned out okay for us, and I think after taxes, we spent $800-850 on the laptop, or maybe a little less, I can't remember exactly what the bill was because we added a laptop bag and a few accessories. However, if you don't like waiting for rebates, this might not be such a good value. The rebates do make it back, eventually, but for some people, they consider the money gone. Your call.
2) Speakers
The laptop is light, but built pretty well. However, one thing I didn't like was how the speakers are exposed to the exterior. You'll have to see pictures to understand what I'm saying. Basically, it is very easy to dent or damage the speaker grille since its exposed to the outside and made of a metal mesh more suspectible to damage. I've seen people get their speaker grilles bent as little as 2 weeks after owning the laptop. My brother is very careful with his and always carries it in his padded backpack or carrying case, but if he wasn't, that part would probably get damaged. Keep in mind, however, that it's just a cosmetic issue, but still very annoying to fix.
3) Battery Life
It's a budget laptop, so battery life wasn't expected to be that high. However, I am often surprised that the laptop barely gives more than 1hr of videogame play. We run Halo for PC or Warcraft 3, some 3D hungry games, but still, I think a laptop should give a solid 2hrs on intensive tasks. For word processing, internet surfing and the like, the laptop provides a respectable 2-3hrs of battery life.
4) Touchpad
There's only one pointing device, the touchpad, and the performance is not that great. I think Sony and Dell do a better job with their touchpads and pointing devices. The touchpad buttons for right and left click were shaped badly and didn't have very good tactile response. Don't get me wrong about the rest of the keyboard, which was pretty good. We ended up buying an optical laptop mouse (made by Targus) and found it handy when settling down to work for extended amounts of time (more than 1hr). The touchpad is useable, but you'll get annoyed after messing up some cuts and pastes, among other things.
5) Additional features?
Not a whole bunch to write about. This laptop is not modular in design, so you cannot swap drives. It does not have a floppy drive, but that never was a major concern. It lacks bluetooth and infrared connectivity, something that some people might expect. There are only basic ports (serial, parallel, monitor port, ps/2, etc) and 2 USB ports, but not more than that. I did hope for some other bells and whistles, but you get what you pay for, right?
Conclusion
In August 2003, this was probably this best budget laptop value in the market. In December 2003, I'm not so sure, but it's still a great computer and I've heard nothing but praise from other people using it. It could have a few more features, but for everyday use, it fits the bill. I would strongly recommend it to other people.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
afhouston
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Location: Austin, TX, USA
Reviews written: 44
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
I usually review items I own, borrowed, or have used extensively.
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