Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094 Review by LAPTOP Magazine

Priced well below a grand, the Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094 delivers solid specs and dual-core performance in a lightweight design. It doesn't last very long on a charge, and the ergonomics could be better, but you get a fair amount of bang for your buck.

The M115-S3094's gray lid and silver body look equally tasteful at home as in the office. Though the flexible plastic case isn't especially sturdy, at 5.2 pounds, the system is quite light, particularly for its 13.5 x 9.5 x 1.5-inch footprint. The almost-full-sized keyboard is reasonably comfortable to type on, though it's a bit on the spongy side. The touchpad and mouse buttons are small but responsive enough to use; if you have big fingers, you'll want to connect a larger external mouse to one of the USB ports.

The 14.1-inch widescreen display serves up rich color and sharp images; the 1280 x 800-pixel native resolution, average for a display this size, affords enough screen real estate to work in multiple windows. The two stereo speakers placed above the keyboard deliver audio that's clear, though it's neither particularly rich nor loud. We love the row of handy multimedia controls (which work with the Express Media Player), the quick-launch buttons located just to the left of the keyboard, and the external volume control wheel on the M115-S3094's front edge.

The M115-S3094's assortment of ports, slots, and connections is a cut above average for an inexpensive thin-and-light laptop; most users should find pretty much everything they need. In addition to a dual-layer DVD burner, which can read and burn all of the major DVD and CD formats, you get four well-distributed USB 2.0 ports; a FireWire port for camcorders and other peripherals; one Type II PC Card slot for adding an expansion module such as a cellular data card; and especially useful for digital photographers, a 5-in-1 media card reader. Also included is Windows XP Media Center 2005 for organizing and accessing digital media, including music, videos, and photos. The M115-S3094 lacks a TV tuner, which is typical for laptops in its price range.

Built-in networking features include 10/100 Ethernet and modem jacks and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, though not Bluetooth. The M115-S3094's throughput of 9.2 Mbps at 15 feet and 10.6 Mbps at 50 feet was average.

For the price, the M115-S3094 includes a solid collection of components that are a step up from entry level. In addition to a 1.6-GHz Intel Core Duo T2050 processor, which provides two processing cores for improved multitasking performance, you get integrated Intel graphics and a midsized 80GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive. This configuration includes 512MB of DDR2 RAM, but we would opt for 1GB, especially if you plan on running Windows Vista. You can't configure this notebook online, but as of press time the M115-S3104 model with 1GB of RAM was available online for a very reasonable $929.

These components delivered competent, but unremarkable, results on our benchmarks: 206 on MobileMark 2005 and 1,242 on 3DMark03-scores that speak to the M115-S3094's ability to handle most productivity tasks and to its unsuitability for serious gaming or demanding graphics work. After hours of use, the laptop was warm to the touch, though not overly so; the fans periodically ran audibly, but not loudly. The M115-S3094's six-cell battery lasted just shy of three hours in our drain tests-on the short side for a thin-and-light laptop, especially one that's otherwise so suitable for travel.

In addition to a number of useful home-grown programs, such as ConfigFree, a wireless management utility, Toshiba crams quite a bit of software into the M115-S3094, including the pared-down Microsoft Works productivity suite and a few disc-burning programs from InterVideo. Also included are a handful of trial demos, which last only 30 days or so and needlessly take up hard drive space.

If you're looking for good value and a nice balance of components, performance, and connectivity in a handsome and portable thin-and-light laptop, the M115-S3094 is a good choice. If you're looking for extended battery life, however, keep looking.

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Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094

With dual-core processing power and all of the features most users need, the handsome Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094 delivers a lot for a low price.

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