Toshiba Satellite A355-S6931 16.0-Inch Laptop
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Big Beautiful Wonderful priced laptop
This is my second Toshiba laptop. Number one is around 4 years old and still works well.
This review is more about the A355 chassis, than this exact spec laptop, and should apply to just about every one of the laptops in this series whether they run AMD or Intel chips.
The first view is that the materials are just plain flat out gorgeous. From the shiny exterior, to the semi rounded base, the two large chrome mouse buttons, the nicely integrated Harmon Kardon speakers, the illuminated touch areas, the big beautiful monitor, and those shiny keys. Yes this is one very pretty computer.
Under that pretty hood are some interesting specs. It used to be incredibly rare to see an eSATA port on any computer, let alone a laptop. Well this one has exactly that - an eSATA port that doubles as a USB port. Nice option to hook up external hard drives. It also includes an iLink, Firewire, or IEEE-1394 port - an incredible rarity (even Apple dropped this port). The audio ports and volume control are on the front, nicely placed. There's absolutely no ports on the rear. There's also an express card slot (not a PCMCIA slot, but EXPRESS card slot) and a multi flash memory card reader (they've dropped CF from the list). It does not include Bluetooth - a very strange omission since every single bluetooth adapter uses the Toshiba stack to run. Use either of these adapters, they work perfectly: IOGear GBU421 Bluetooth 2.0 USB Micro Adapter or Cirago BTA3210 Class 2 Micro Bluetooth Adapter (Black Tip) - both are outstanding miniscule adapters.
Toshiba stuffed 4Gb of RAM and a 320Gb hard drive into this big baby. Those are some pretty nice features in a laptop this inexpensive. Those Harmon Kardon speakers sound very nice.
You'll either hate this or love it, and fortunately you can turn this off if you hate it. The Toshiba name, a little band above the scratchy navigation pad, and the media buttons all light up white (pretty bright at that). I think it looks pretty cool, but others have hated all those lights.
The monitor, oh that monitor is gorgeous. Movies pop, they look absolutely fantastic on this computer. It's a nice big screen. Yes it is a gloss finish and you do get some reflections here or there, but generally it's not bad.
June 2009 Update - my son managed to crack the display. I can see no reason to blame the design nor Toshiba for this crack. Thank goodness I have a 3 year no fault warranty which replaced the screen at no charge (well they charged for the policy). I would not be surprised if my football player son fell asleep and rolled over on top of his laptop. No company in the world can design around that scenario at this price point (yeah you can buy a toughbook - but it's way more expensive than this one). Huge display, light weight... no elephant can stand on this baby and not expect it to break. Downside to all this, he's been without this computer for 2 weeks and is driving me crazy (again, not Toshiba's fault).
The keys are all glossy and the fanatical among you might not like all the visible fingerprints, but I think most will get over that quickly. There is just a ton of room to put your hands to type and use the computer. That surface in front is sweet for a palm rest.
Function-wise, this computer is a decent performer. Nobody is buying this to run heavy games or render video - it won't do those things. But for the occasional game, the occasional video edit, you'll score well here.
Do note, this computer runs Windows Vista Premium 64-Bit. Please don't be afraid of that operating system. I'm running 64 bit on two computers and it runs just beautifully. There is almost no new hardware that won't run under 64 bit these days. It's a rock solid platform. And that OS allows all 4Gb of memory to be seen and used (32 bit tops out at 3Gb). And if you don't believe me, type this into google - pcmag 64 bit computing. Read the first article in that hit list.
This is no lightweight computer. It's a big, pretty heavy laptop. Great for around the house. Not something you would travel everywhere with. But it is portable. Heat generation is nothing extreme. It does pull air in from below, so be careful about couches or beds plugging those holes.
It's a good solid fast computer. There's a bit of fan noise, nothing huge, but you will know the machine is running. I hate to comment on battery life, that's so dependent on how bright you make the screen, processor speed settings and the like. I got a good solid 2 hours of hitting it very hard at max everything. You could probably get a good 3 hours, maybe 4 at more conservative settings.
Something to keep in mind, Toshiba ships all their laptops full of bloat-ware. It's a really good idea to remove it all. Almost none of it is necessary. There are two websites that will clear all that garbage out of your computer. It's explained in a great article at PCMag. Type this into google, PCMag make the most out of your new pc. The first hit will be a fantatstic article on how to remove the garbage.
Overall, this is a big, beautiful, good sounding, heavy, hard working, well priced laptop.
Fulfills my purposes, no problems or complaints
I needed a third computer for use when I was away from my desktop system and ultra portable light weight.
I chose this system which had the better processor but the video processor intergrated with the chip.
Clearly, for hard gamers and intensive video processing, the systems with the seperate video memory is necessary. However, for surfing the net or performing editing, the system is fine.
I have had no problems with Vista 64. The sytem booted up without a problem and instantly connected with my WIFI /n system.
There is a fair amount of crapware, but it can be easily removed through a variety of programs or simply removing the programs in the uninstall aspect of the control panel.
The screen is great and the key board is one of the nicest I've had in a laptop.
For the price, the system has a great screen, excellent keyboard, DVD/CD player and burner with a fast chip and tons of RAM.
I would not hesitate to recommend this unit to anyone. Gamers will need a faster video card
CORRECTION to DESCRIPTION
Again - this machine has no HDMI port. I suspect that the eSATA port is mistakenly identified as an HDMI port. No other source of this machines description seems to have an HDMI port listed.
About Toshiba Satellite A355-S6931 16.0-Inch Laptop detail
- Amazon Sales Rank: #27 in Personal Computers
- Brand: Toshiba
- Model: PSALWU-044013
- Dimensions: 1.36" h x 15.10" w x 10.50" l, 6.48 pounds
Features
- 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor (Centrino 2)
- 4 GB RAM (max)
- 320 GB hard drive, Labelflash dual-layer DVD drive
- Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 (64-bit version)
- 16-inch screen for true 16:9 aspect ratio and native 720p high-def resolution. Intel GMA X4500MHD graphics (up to 1750 MB total available memory
Toshiba Satellite A355-S6931 16.0-Inch Laptop Description
For anyone who needs a versatile, affordable laptop that strikes the right balance between work and play, the Toshiba A355 laptop series hits all the right notes. Featuring an eye-catching design topped with a stylish high-gloss Fusion™ Finish surface, this laptop is equipped with ample system memory, a spacious hard drive, and the latest in dual-core processing power to give you the freedom to connect, be productive and enjoy your multimedia in more places. With its striking 16-inch high-definition widescreen display and superior sound quality, the A355 laptop series is built for multi-tasking and digital entertainment. The Toshiba A355-S6931 ships with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 64 bit version), 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 Processor, 3MB L2 Cache, Mobile Intel GM45 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with 128MB-1759MB Dynamically Allocated Shared Graphics Memory, Configured with 4GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM, 320GB (5400 RPM) Hard Drive (SATA), DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive with LabelFlash supporting 11 formats, 16.0 in (Diagonal) Widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD Display at 1366 x 768 Resolution, webcam and microphone built into LCD bezel, Intel Wi Fi Link 5100AGN /802.11a/g/n. Dimensions: 15.1 " x 10.5" x 1.36" without feet, weight: Starting at 6.48 lbs.
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