Toshiba a25-s207-- An incredible laptop
Written: Aug 29 '03
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Pros: Crisp, Clear Screen, External CD/DVD/Volume controls, very fast, cool to the touch
Cons: No serial (DB-9) or firewire port and heavy power cord
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent Desktop replacement... a fantastic laptop.
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| mwwaters's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite A25-S207 PSA20U-02HKLV PC Notebo... |
My wife asked me to buy a desktop computer with a "cool looking" LCD monitor for her and the kids school work. I have not looked for a computer in 3 years so I was basically starting from scratch. I found aggressively priced desktops but by the time I added a Pentium 4 processor, 512MB memory, a decent video card, and a LCD flat panel monitor the price was over $1000. I then saw a commercial advertising a comparably priced laptop. I began to do parallel research on both the desktop and laptop options and realized the laptop had the same specs except for the slower hard drive and less ability to upgrade (CPU, Video card, etc). I finally convinced my wife that a laptop was the way to go. Since I was buying a laptop that I would not upgrade, I needed to get one with the best CPU for the money. Because of this, I decided not to buy a Celeron processor and focused my attention on Pentium 4 Laptops. I went to every website and local retailer I could find and came up with 4 choices:
Compaq 2570US
Compaq 3045US
Sony Vaio FRV-25
Toshiba A25-S207
I decided to stop by Compusa to buy the Compaq 3045 for $50 more than the other 3. I figured for a desktop replacement the 16" monitor would be best. When I looked at the monitor it looked great on highest resolution; however, the text appeared to be very fuzzy with a 1024x768 resolution (which I need for the kids). So I was back to the three 15" screen laptops and hopelessly stuck.
I have a long history as a computer technician and make it a rule to never seek advice from Sales Reps at major comptuer retail chains. The Compusa Sales Rep saw me changing resolution on their computers and realized I was a serious buyer. She made my choice for me... she said the monitor is the most commonly replaced part of a laptop... she pushed down on the top of the Compaq and Sony and showed how the screen distorted... she pushed down on the Toshiba... no distortion.
I have had this laptop for a week and it is excellent... very fast and surprisingly cool to the touch for a Pentium 4 laptop. The keyboard is great, the display is very crisp and text looks excellent. You can play CDs without powering up the Laptop. The look is "cool" (as my wife wanted with the LCD). The external volume control is very handy rather than having to use the mouse to click in the speaker icon to turn the speaker down.
The power cord has a heavy transformer, but this is a desktop replacement which will only be used as a DVD player when going on long road trips.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1209.00
Operating System: Windows
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
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Epinions.com ID:
mwwaters
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Reviews written: 1
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