Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284

There's nothing offensive about the Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284. There's nothing thrilling about it, either. It's a well-equipped, solid budget entry that delivers good features at a decent price.

The charcoal-and-silver design is a bit dull compared with what Dell, HP, and Sony have trotted out, but at just six pounds, the Satellite is relatively easy to travel with. Open the lid and you'll find a 15.4-inch widescreen with a 1280 x 800-pixel resolution that's easy on the eyes. The panel did well with DVD action scenes, though we found DVD playback a bit dark, even with the screen's brightness cranked. Like other budget laptops, viewing angles were good side to side but poor from above.

The built-in stereo speakers delivered good sound quality and enough volume for personal listening. The included Media Center Edition (or Windows Vista Home Premium) OS lets the machine function as an entertainment system. You can bypass the OS altogether and use Toshiba's Express Media Player for CD and DVD playback, but unlike other laptops, Toshiba's instant-on functionality won't let you access music, photos, or videos stored on the hard drive. Dedicated media-control buttons are on the keyboard deck, and a volume knob is located on the front edge. Putting these controls together would have made more sense.

The keyboard on the Satellite doesn't have as crisp a feel as others we've tested, and the squarish touchpad doesn't match the screen's wide aspect. But those are minor nits in a generally solid hardware package that includes a multiformat DVD burner, a 5-in-1 media card reader, and a generous 100GB hard drive. Toshiba's software bundle is also decent and includes Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 for organizing notes and research, Microsoft Works 8.5, InterVideo DVD creation and playback software, and Sonic Solution's RecordNow Basic for CD creation and backup.

Powered by a 1.6-GHz Intel Core Duo T2050 processor, the Satellite scored 213 on MobileMark 2005, right in the middle of the field. Its three-hour battery life and wireless performance (between 7 and 7.5 Mbps) were both low, however. It's no gaming unit, but dial down the resolution and you can manage a playable frame rate, as our 45 fps on F.E.A.R. showed.

All told, this Satellite is a good budget-friendly multimedia portable. It doesn't have much sizzle, but it's a solid choice.

 

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