A Feature Loaded Laptop without a Luxurious Price.
Written: Feb 17 '02
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Pros: CD-RW/DVD drive, generous memory, feature loaded, all in one.
Cons: All in one means thick and heavy, software bundle.
The Bottom Line: Finding a feature loaded laptop isn't easy, until the Toshiba Satellite 1800-S207 came along. No longer is it a prophecy to pay a high price tag for a loaded laptop.
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| lavoisier's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite 1800-S207 (PS183U-00VFSPNC) PC N... |
For buying a full-featured laptop for less than $1500 was only a prophecy 3 years ago. But with lowering prices of LCD displays, hard drives, laptop memory and many more, you can buy a fully equipped laptop without breaking the bank. If you do want a reliable laptop without the expense or hassle with Dell, the Toshiba Satellite 1800-S207 (1805-S207 is similar) laptop is your worthy choice for laptops.
What does it feature?
Processor and Memory:
To power the computer, the laptop features an Intel Celeron Processor at 1.1GHz, along with 256MB of memory (expandable to 512MB), anyone can easily tackle complex files and memory demanding applications without any hesitation. With 2 user accessible memory slots on the bottom of the laptop, you can easily upgrade the memory without bringing it to the professional.
Storage:
One of the best parts of this laptop is the storage. With a large 20GB hard drive along with a CD-RW/DVD multifunction drive, you can back up your hard drive, create audio CDs, store large files and share it along with your colleagues. With that, you can stop worrying about filling your hard disk for a long time, go under a costly procedure to upgrade your hard drive or even buy an external CD Rewriter that takes up premium desk space, especially if you've got a small work surface like the airline table. Plus, for the small files, the laptop features a floppy diskette drive. However it isn't removable to make way for a zip drive, extra battery or even travel light module to reduce the weight of the laptop. But to upgrade the hard drive, it's very easy as the bay is user accessible, so no longer do you have to bring it to the professionals for an upgrade.
Display:
With the 14.1" XGA screen, it provides a crisp and bright display, ideal for DVD movies, typing up your homework and some gaming. It also is very legible in all angles, unlike some of the lower end displays that limit you from viewing it from a certain angle. For the external video, it isn't the best offered out there, but it¡¦s more than sufficient for your presentations and viewing your video on a larger screen. With the RCA composite video port, you can even hook the laptop to the TV for full sized DVD movies right in your home.
I/O Ports:
For connecting your peripherals, there are still several legacy ports featured in the laptop. They include the serial port for those old school handhelds like the Palm m105 or Palm Vx. It even comes with a printer port, one PS/2 port for the external mouse or keyboard, 2 USB ports for your digital cameras, many of the newer handhelds, digital audio players and many more.
With the PC card slot(s), you can install 2 Type II PC cards or 1 Type III PC card. This is ideal for those wireless communications; additional I/O ports like Firewire for your digital camcorder, or even add USB 2.0 ports.
For the audio, you can even plug external speakers for even better quality audio over the internal speakers present in the laptop. You can even plug in a microphone for communications or voice recognition applications. For individual entertainment, you can use the headphone jack (same as speaker jack), for your own DVD movies in-flight.
To go online, the laptop provides the 56K modem for the Internet, faxes and many more. Plus, it also features an Ethernet port for faster Internet service like DSL and cable Internet. So, you don't have to buy the PC card for any of those purposes, unless either one or both are damaged.
Input Devices:
As in any desktop replacement laptop computer, you can expect a full sized laptop keyboard. Toshiba Satellite 1800-S207 is no exception. The keys are not too springy nor too soft to touch and type. Neither it is too stiff to make it easy to use, because I've felt how Toshiba's laptop keyboards are much easier than the Dell¡¦s. For pointing, the laptop featured a touch pad and 2 equally sized buttons for the mouse. But I wished that it had the scrolling feature to make our lives easier though. The keyboard isn't illuminated either though, as it is usually found in high-end laptops. But for the shortcuts, the laptop features one shortcut key for the Internet and 2 other user programmable shortcuts, ideal for e-mail, search and many more. You can even control the playback of the CD-ROM for the audio, as it is like your VCR or DVD player at home.
Battery:
For powering the laptop, the Satellite 1800-S207 or 1805-S207 features a Li-Ion battery to really free you from those old school Ni-MH batteries. The advantage is that you don't have to wait until the battery is drained out just to recharge the battery for maximum battery life. However the battery run time is only well over 2 hours and watching DVD video or writing CDs will cut the run time shorter.
Software:
There isn't much to talk about in software as it only features the Windows XP Professional Edition (Home Edition for the 1805-S207), Lotus Smart Suite Millennium Home Edition, Quicken Basic 2001, Norton Anti Virus 2002, Acrobat Reader, MS Internet Explorer and Toshiba Custom Utilities. None of the Microsoft Work Suite or Word, just to make it better.
Dimensions:
Since this is a desktop replacement laptop, expect the laptop to weigh about 7 pounds and 1.8 inch thickness. It is rather hard to carry it from room to room, but it's worth it compared to some of the desktop replacement laptops as they weigh about another pound.
Conclusion
In conclusion, even though the laptop is rather bulky and heavy, it's feature loaded for the money. For only $1350, you can basically have it all, 1.1GHz processor, 256MB of memory, combo drive and many more. With all the versatility of the desktop without the great bulk, the laptop is really a worthwhile replacement for your desktop computer. But if you're concerned about the weight and size, you can buy yourself a Toshiba 3000 series instead.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1350
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 14
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Member: Hugh Jazz
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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