This well-appointed laptop turned in great battery life.
If you dislike stretching to reach distant keys, you'll love the Toshiba Satellite A45-S250's ski-slope keyboard. Though its pointy rubber feet may discourage users from putting it on their laps, the resulting wedge shape makes it a delight to use on a desk. And the farther away the desk is, the better you'll appreciate the A45-S250's almost 7 hours of battery life, a record in our tests. The A45-S250 is a bit hefty, at 7.7 pounds (sans power adapter) and a case height of 2.4 inches.
The tritone unit--black and metallic gray with a blue lid--has a fixed DVD burner on the right and four USB ports. The 15-inch screen has a relatively low resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels, and the only card reader on board is an SD slot stacked atop a PC Card reader. On the other hand, the A45-S250 offers good sound from its keyboard-mounted stereo speakers and a dedicated set of audio buttons, including a volume wheel located within easy reach on the side. Toshiba nicely documents the A45-S250's features in print and electronic form. The printed manual covers basic features and troubleshooting; the Acrobat reference on the hard drive expands on that information and has a handy hyperlinked index.
The A45-S250 slips a bit in performance. Using a 2.8-GHz mobile Pentium 4 processor, it earned a PC WorldBench 4 score of 111, about 10 percent below the 123 earned by a Sharp Actius RD10 equipped with a 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 desktop chip.
Upshot: A portable desktop replacement with a DVD burner, the Toshiba Satellite A45-S250 deserves attention for its ergonomic keyboard and outstanding battery life.
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|
| Processor |
| Processor Type |
Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M |
| Data Bus Speed |
533 MHz |
Cache Memory |
| Installed Size |
512 kB |
RAM |
| Installed Size |
512 MB |
| Technology |
DDR-SDRAM (DDRRAM) |
Storage |
| Hard Drive |
60 GB |
| Drive Controllers |
IDE (ATA/EIDE/ATAPI) |
Optical Storage |
| Type |
DVD/CD-RW Combo,
Hard Drive |
Display |
| Type |
Active Matrix LCD (TFT) |
| Graphics Processor / Vendor |
Intel Extreme Graphics |
| Max. Resolution |
1024 x 768 (XGA) |
| Video Bus |
AGP (Version Unspecified) |
Audio |
| Sound Support |
AD1981B Codec -- DirectSound, DirectMusic, and MIDI Compatible |
Networking |
| Data Link Protocol |
Ethernet (10/100 Mbps),
Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps),
Wireless Ethernet - 54 Mbps IEEE802.11g |
Expansion |
| Expansion |
Type II PC Card |
Miscellaneous |
| Chipset Type |
Intel 852GME |
| Input Devices |
Keyboard,
Touchpad |
| Included Devices |
AC Adapter,
Modem,
Power Cord,
Speakers,
Wireless LAN Antenna |
Operating System |
| Operating System |
Microsoft Windows XP |
Battery |
| Average Run Time |
4.2 hour(s) |
Dimensions (W x D x H) |
| Unit |
11.7 in x 13.2 in x 1.9 in |
Weight |
| Unit |
7.7 lbs |
Warranty |
| Warranty |
1 Year Limited Warranty |
|
|
= Comment
= Outstanding
= Good
= Poor
= Bad
