Toshiba Satellite A305-S6845 15.4" Laptop (2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 400 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

List Price: $1,249.99 Discount Price: $1,399.83

Features:

• Stylish, highly versatile laptop with 15.4-inch LCD, webcam integrated into bezel, and biometric fingerprint reader
• 2.10 GHz "Penryn" Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 processor, dual 200 GB hard drives (400 GB capacity), 3 GB RAM (4 GB max), 8x multi-format/dual-layer DVD drive
• Quad-mode Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), 10/100 Ethernet, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 graphics (up to 1279 MB total available memory)
• Connectivity: 4 USB, 1 FireWire, 1 HDMI, 1 VGA, 1 S-Video, 1 headphone (with S/PDIF digital audio out), 1 microphone, 1 ExpressCard 34/54
• Pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium (with Media Center capabilities)

Customer Reviews:

best quality and fast service [Posted on 2008-07-19]
good and very fast service. The laptop Toshiba Satellite A-305 S6839 is the best toshiba in my user life.

great laptop, excelent performance [Posted on 2008-07-20]
this laptop has an excelent performance and speed, and great features wi-fi a/g/n, big hd 320gb, fast cpu, 3gb of ram, webcam and good price.

very good, no complaints [Posted on 2008-07-21]
Very good, no complaints. Used for 2 months now.
Looks pretty, all surfaces are shiny. Screen is good, buttons are fine. All works fast. Vista is not too bad, no problems with it so far.
Wireless works fine. Overheating is not to bad (note, the computer has to have proper ventilation and cooling not to burn).
The fact that power wire is on the side is cool - you know for sure that it is plugged in. The mechanical wheel for sound volume - is great! How many years it takes for designers to figure out that mechanical wheels and switches are better than electronic/software controlled? This model has mechanic wheel for sound volume, mechanic switch for wireless signal (to protect user from extra irradiation with wireless signal when it is not used), that is about it. Touch pad is ok, better than on older models, but still there is much space for improvement. The buttons on a touch pad are little to hard to press - drug and drop actions are possible to do but way harder than with a computer mouse.
A nice feature about touchpad is that it has designated scroll area for easy scrolling of web pages and documents. Still - how many years it will take the designers to place a scroll wheel on the laptop?
LAPTOPS NEED SCROLL-WHEELS! (Message to Laptop designers: "That is not rocket science - just put one on free space, it will make usability way better!" End of message)
Again overall design is good. The machine is a little to heavy. It is lighter than comparable DELLs, but still - is relatively hard to carry with one hand. Because it is all glossy it may be easier to slip and get dropped. Solid-state hard drive would make it more resistant to drops.
Lots of space is wasted around the screen and the keyboard. If this space was trimmed, the laptop would be substantially smaller, providing same size of screen and keyboard. Sound is pretty good, although not loud. One can watch a movie in a quite room with air conditioner on, but again the sound is not too loud. Sound quality is good for me, but of course can be better. Embedded Webcam and microphone work fine. Webcam quality is pretty good, mic (as for all embedded mics) picks up some noise from the computer fan. But both webcam and mic are good for video chat (Skype and alike).
Overall conclusion: a good deal for the price, a very balanced laptop, one of best for this price. Toshiba is known for light weight reliable laptops, this is a good deal. Expect that in 2-3 years there will be much improvement in weight, shock-resistance (using solid state hard drives), speed, sound, touch pad usability , screen size -- and plan accordingly.

Just as Great as the A305-S6837 [Posted on 2008-07-22]
I Wanted the A305-S6837, but after Best Buy put it on sale for 799, it was ridiculous to get. The difference between this model A305-S6834 and the model I wanted, the A305-S6837, is the memory. Other than that I have to say it is AWESOME! Oh, and the upgraded model came with Microsoft Student, this is a trial version.

I am never going to use 4g of memory (or even the 3g it came with), it is super fast, has a built in Skype camera, microphone and a ton of extras. I have the old 2003 Version which still runs, but I have seen the blue death screen (It's threatening suicide), but is still kicking. I am usuing my new computer fulltime now and I love it.

Only draw backs are the high-finsih (prefer matte) which is great to look at until you touch it. I use my computer everyday (I'm an Author) and the upgraded version has better sleep options, longer lasting standard battery, is lighter (weighs about 2 pounds less than 2003's model) and the mouse is easier to use.

Highly recommended!!! Can't find a better computer for the price!

Amazing. [Posted on 2008-07-23]
Pros:
3 GB RAM: more than some macbook pros.
250 GB memory
dual core Turion 64 processor
ATI graphics card included
4 USB ports
decent speakers
can actually run Vista!

Cons:
Glossy finish: while looking much more artsy, it smudges a LOT and I find myself wipeing off my keyboard very often.
MS office: I dont know if I just cant find this, but I can't seem to find my product key(not sure if its included). I DID find my Windows product key, but not Office, which leads me to thinking its not included in this package.

This Toshiba Satellite A305 is definitely more bang for your buck. You rarely find all this on a laptop for only 800.

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