Dressed-up SOHO and multi-media machine on a budget
Written: Dec 17 '05 (Updated Dec 18 '05)
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Pros: Performance, appointments, 15.4 widescreen, excellent wireless, available memory slot, memory card reader, CD/DVD Burner, Price
Cons: keyboard feel, sound volume, minimal "included" software applications, max screen resolution 1280x800
The Bottom Line: The feature-packed Toshiba M45-S269 is a good value, offering decent performance for SOHO use while coming in at a reasonable price. Toshiba has raised the bar for its competitors.
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| robcfoster's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite M45 (M45S269) PC Notebook |
My wife and I perform a variety of on-site technological services for small businesses. We often find ourselves needing the ability to present demonstrations to clients at remote locations. Therefore we had to give in to temptation and treat ourselves to a mobile computer.
We knew we had many decisions to make, including intended usage, budget, machine specifications, make & model, warranty, and vendor.
I have many years of ongoing professional IT experience under my belt. My experience with laptops includes many top names in the business, including IBM (pre- and post-Lenovo), Dell, Gateway, Compaq (pre-HP), HP, and Toshiba.
We began by shopping online. Budget is an important factor in our decision making process. We priced IBM and Dell and found that they could not offer a machine that suited our fancy for a price that matched our budget. Next, we visited several local retailers to view first-hand their offerings, including Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples, and Circuit City.
After much review and consideration, we purchased the Toshiba Satellite M45-S269 at Circuit City. The price after rebate was $999, and includes a standard 1-year manufacturer's warranty.
The specs on the machine are hard to beat for the price:
http://www.epinions.com/Toshiba_Satellite_Notebook_PC_M45_S269_PC_Notebook/display_~full_specs
Specs from Toshiba:
http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/satellite_M45-S269.pdf
Weighing in at 6.7 lbs, this machine is not "light" nor is it small; considering the 15.4" widescreen, and the claimed 3.52 hours battery life, the weight and size are not unreasonable.
Physical Dimensions: (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 14.2” (360.0mm) x 10.6”(268.5mm) x 1.14” (29.0mm)[F]/1.43” (36.2mm)[R] without feet.
OOBE (Out Of Box Experience):
We followed the quick setup guide, then waited as the machine loaded and configured its pre-installed Operating System and applications, rebooting automatically several times through-out the process. It was during this process that we opted to purchase the extended warranty from Toshiba. We then answered the questions when prompted, and registered the machine with Toshiba and Microsoft. Total time from initial power-on to ready-to-use was nearly 1.5 hours, but a lot of that time was spent reading the information about the various warranty options, numerous license agreements, etc.
Technology continues to advance. This machine includes no serial or parallel ports, and no floppy drive. You can purchase an external USB floppy drive if you need one.
The bundled software includes Microsoft Works Suite, and trial versions of MS Office, McAfee Security Suite (15 days?), and various internet service providers all vying for your dollar.
Let's start with the "cons" this time:
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o Video:
- The "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900" dynamically allocates from 8 MB to 128 MB of system ram for video. Another way to say it: shared (not dedicated) video memory. OK for business apps, not intended for intense graphics work, 3D modeling, high-end CAD, or hard core gamers.
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o Display:
- Max resolution is 1280x800.
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o Keyboard:
- The action of the keys on the keyboard requires more precise keystrokes and is less forgiving than a conventional keyboard. Example: Sometimes you can press "Enter" and nothing happens, as if the keystroke didn't register. Press "Enter" again, and the machine responds like nothing was missed. I have seen improvement in my keyboard "hit-to-miss" ratio over the last few days.
- The location of some of the keys is a little different than what I would have expected; for instance, the "del" key is the second key to the right of the spacebar, and "home, pgup, pgdn, end" are situated vertically on the right side of the keyboard.
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o Port Locations:
- The video port for an external monitor is on the left side of the machine. The audio ports are in the front. If you want to hook the unit up to an external monitor and speakers to play a DVD, you will have wires coming out the side and front of the machine. Add the power cable in the back, and you have wires everywhere.
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o Audio:
- The built-in speakers leave much to be desired, and can be best described as "weak". For a multi-media machine with a built-in DVD player and wide-format screen, I expected better quality audio with much more volume and presence.
OK, now for the "pros":
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o Performance:
- Centrino! This "marketing standard" from Intel includes specifications for chipset, processor, and wireless capabilities. The built-in wireless on this laptop is phenomenal in range and speed. Thanks Intel!
- This machine performs well. The 1.73 GHz Pentium-M processor allows for a smaller form-factor case, less heat dissipation, and longer battery life, yet "feels" more like a 2.5 GHz Pentium-4. Oh, and it costs less, too! Sweet!
- This Toshiba laptop came with 512 MB of DDR2 SDRAM installed. Kudos to Toshiba for making this a single stick of memory, thereby leaving a memory slot available for upgrade (up to 2048 MB total capacity)- Thank You Toshiba!
- This machine has a 100 GB 5400-rpm serial-ATA hard drive installed. Many high-end laptops this season are selling with 80 GB hard drives spinning at only 4200 rpm. Another "sweet" performance enhancement - Thanks Again Toshiba!
- Toshiba included their DVD SuperMulti (+/-R Double layer) CDRW/DVDRW drive which can burn and play DVDs and CDs. Woo Hoo!
- 6-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter, SD (Secure Digital), Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, SmartMedia, MMC, xD Picture Card
[shared slots]
- Connectivity: 3 USB Ports, RJ45 Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Firewire, BlueTooth, External VGA, Headphones, Microphone, PCMCIA (1), Analog V92 Modem RJ11; (no serial or parallel)
- The 15.4" widescreen TFT display is bright and delivers good image quality from a wide viewing angle.
- We have noticed ZERO dead pixels on the display screen.
- A set of control buttons located to the left of the keyboard includes options for controlling multi-media playback.
Warranty: Toshiba offers a standard 1 year warranty on the laptop. I opted to purchase the 3-year at-home extended warranty from Toshiba.
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Considerations:
- The physical size of this unit may make it a little unwieldy for "laptop" (sitting in an easy chair) use. The machine requires a considerable patch of flat surface area to sit level and stable. The large wide-screen display requires substantial overhead room to open fully and some space directly behind the unit in order to tilt the display backwards.
- Although the built-in touch-pad is functional and responsive, my wife prefers the use of an external mouse.
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Conclusion:
We are happy we finally took the plunge and purchased a portable PC. We are pleased so far with the purchase decisions we made and with the product we bought. We even recommended this laptop to our family members to purchase.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 999
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
robcfoster
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Member: Robert Foster
Location: Springfield Missouri USA
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Professional Geek. A+ Certified by CompTIA. Professionally employed in IT since 1989.
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