Toshiba Satellite 5105 Review

Nearly the Ultimate Notebook

The Toshiba Satellite 5105 is a showpiece for how portable technology has improved in the past two years, and how far notebooks have come toward replacing even high-performance, game-maven desktop PCs -- sizzling speed, ample storage, big screen, fast graphics, sterling sound, reasonable price. It also shows how one portable technology has become a ball and chain, or exception to the otherwise dazzling string of advances -- at barely 90 minutes, battery life is the weakest link.

But if you're not booking any transcontinental flights or planning to watch Titanic on DVD, the Satellite (formally model 5105-S607) is a dynamic desktop replacement. Though a bit on the bulky and heavy side, it's not a bicep-buster like some of its peers -- at 7.3 pounds, it's lighter than many laptops with comparably spacious 15-inch screens. And though it's no longer a bargain in this age of functional $1,400 notebooks, its $2,399 price includes almost every luxury you can imagine:

A perky 1.7GHz of Intel's most up-to-date mobile Pentium 4 power? Half a gigabyte of DDR memory? A combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive and hefty 40GB hard disk? Not only a full 15 (diagonal) inches of bright and beautiful active-matrix LCD, but a class-leading 1,600 by 1,200 resolution, driven by Nvidia's fastest mobile graphics accelerator -- the GeForce4 440 Go with its own 32MB of DDR? Both SmartMedia and Secure Digital card slots to nab your digital-camera images? Both USB and FireWire ports to connect cameras and camcorders? Stereo speakers with a subwoofer instead of the usual tinny laptop audio?

Check, check, yep, got it, you guessed it. Frankly, the only frill we can think of that isn't standard is 802.11b wireless networking, which Toshiba saves for its more office-oriented notebooks, though both 56Kbps modem and 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports are present (and a software stack for future Bluetooth peripherals is preinstalled). Perhaps the company was trying to save something to justify the two PC Card slots.

Oh yes, and the 5105 has the fanciest touchpad ever. We'll get to that in a minute.

Cool Blue

At 11.6 by 13 by 1.8 inches (closed), the Satellite is too big for some briefcases' laptop-PC compartments, or to use comfortably in a coach-class airline seat; its travel weight climbs from 7.4 to 8.9 pounds if you also pack its AC adapter and external USB floppy drive.

But it's a handsome machine, with a stylish wedge shape and glossy blue case that drew several comments and compliments. Not only are there chrome play/pause, stop/eject, and next/previous track buttons on the front edge that let you listen to audio CDs even if the computer's switched off, they're accompanied by a tiny backlit LCD that shows track information and a battery gauge -- or a digital clock or scrolling message of your choice, not to mention "Welcome" and "See you" at startup and shutdown. (Alas, you can't see the mini LCD with the computer in your lap.)

There's also an infrared port on the front edge, with two PC Card slots, SmartMedia and SD flash card slots, the VGA monitor port, and one USB port on the left side. Two more USB ports -- there is no parallel port -- are at the rear, alongside the modem, Ethernet, and IEEE 1394 FireWire ports and video/audio line-out and -in jacks. The right side holds the 8/4/32X Matsushita UJDA720 DVD/CD-RW combo drive, a microphone jack, and a headphone jack that doubles as an S/PDIF digital audio output.