Toshiba Satellite L305-S5907 Laptop Computers- 15.4-Inch (Diagonal) Widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD Display, 1280x800 Resolution
- 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 with 1MB L2 Cache
- 4096MB DDR2 System Memory, 320GB (5400 RPM) Hard Drive (SATA), Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M with 128MB-1759MB Dynamically Allocated Shared Graphics Memory
- DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash, 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN
- Windows Vista Home Premium, dims in inches: 10.6 (W) x 14.3 (D) x 1.3 (H) approx., 5.49 lbs.
Reviews By Linda G. ShelnuttCaterpillar to Butterfly: 192 MB RAM to 3 GB RAM ++ some other stuff.
Though I loved my previous laptop and used it with no complaints since November 2003, I feel like I was a caterpillar and now I'm a butterfly, using my new Toshiba L305D-S5581! Well, okay, I did have a complaint about how long it took my old PC to boot up and shut down, and was thrilled with my new Toshiba's faster accomplishments of those routine operations. I had expected slower instead of faster, due to VISTA and the additional programs which would be on the new laptop. I had XP on my old laptop. I like both versions of MS Windows OS, and can see the advantages of each, but VISTA is definitely the butterfly.
Even though many reviews have made what appear to have been valid complaints about products with the specifications this Toshiba (and other brands) has, I have not had any of those difficulties, and indeed have felt like wings have replaced my previously grounded slow motion.
I was foremost looking for a machine with at least 3 GB of SDRAM, and at least 200 GB HD. The choice of 3 GB of RAM was due to helpful reviews I've read on many pages for laptops on Amazon which have complained that Windows VISTA is slow with less RAM. What I have on this machine is absolutely fine for my needs.
Reviews have noted that not quite as much HD space is needed currently, with the market availability of USB drives which extend the PC's hard drive in a variety of ways, with nearly endless storage options... so I felt that 200 GB DH would be adequate, and it is, though I don't need to store lots of game or graphics programs on my PC, mostly just my manuscripts and MS WORD, AOL, and photos.
As to the complaints of current laptops being loaded with what is called crap ware or bloat ware, I have to say I agree somewhat with those complaints. I haven't yet been able to decide what I might need within the bloat ware offerings, and honestly can't decide which of the DVD players, CD writers, Wireless purveyors, etc., would be the ones I would want to use.
But what some reviews have pointed out exposes the trade off in this case, i.e., the reason certain LT's (laptops) can be offered at such good prices is that the companies who provide the plethora of extra programs pay for that advertising, thereby allowing the lower price offered by the company offering the machine. Given that trade off, I'm willing to take time to decide what I want to keep and discard among the huge number of colorful icons grinning at me from my desk top, hoping I'll click on them and purchase from their trial offerings.
Everything I have so far installed and begun using has been easy for me, not a computer wiz, to accomplish, though I'm very thankful for the reviewers who mentioned the Windows VISTA habit of always asking via a dialogue box pop-up if the user or "administrator" (me) initiated the action. Even though this pop up sometimes feels disruptive, I've become more comfortable knowing I will be asked and informed before uploading and installation will occur from the hordes of automatic updates seemingly offered by everyone on every program on my computer.
I was thankful to the reviewers who mentioned that with VISTA drivers are often needed for installations of programs and hardware. I loved the Plug & Play capacity with XP, but can easily see why the incredible increase of hardware and software might have caused the necessity of a specific CD driver to be used for installation, and so far all programs and equipment have come with necessary drivers. The reviews, however, alerted me to this necessity, so I wasn't surprised by this seeming backward change from XP to VISTA, which to me, now, is clearly a forward motion taking into account the current and growing progress in the computer industry, and the plethora of variety available.
I was able to easily install the driver of the HP All in One (with FAX) I purchased, along with the wireless mouse and USB hub. I hope to have time to review some of those, too, because I'm butterfly thrilled with each of them!
I want to conclude by thanking the huge number of reviewers on Amazon, who commented on various brands of notebook PC's. Each of those reviewers was directly and practically helpful to me in one way or another. Personally, I would rather read Amazon customer reviews on computer hardware, before reading PC magazines or other more complex sources of information. For me, reviews from everyday people, purchasers/users of specific pieces of equipment, say just what I need to know, in an easily comprehensible language. I do a lot of research on Amazon's buying pages, under customer reviews.
Flying off to ready more of my novels for publication on KINDLE, I remain a wing-ed author at your reading service!
Reviews By RichExcellent Laptop
I purchased this Toshiba Satellite L305-S5907 laptop three weeks ago from Amazon and I've been impressed. Amazon shipped my machine quickly via UPS. It was on sale for about 24 hours so I got mine for $579 with no tax, and shipping was included. This is the best price I've found on a laptop with these specs. The Toshiba is fast, quiet, two pounds lighter than my 7 year old Dell, and looks great. I've had no troubles with Vista Premium working with this machine. My only complaints are the glare on the glossy screen, if you're outside, and the glossy plastic case, which looks good, but shows fingerprints easily. I don't play alot of games on my computer and this is certainly not a gaming machine with a separate graphics card. I have a Wii for that. It also isn't a television with a Blu Ray player and 17" widescreen. I have a LCD TV for that. The 15.4" widescreen is perfect for my use and looks great. You could spend $1200 for an entry level Mac but it would have much less memory, a smaller hard drive and just another Intel processor. In my opinion Mac's aren't worth the $600 premium just to look cool.
You can't go wrong with the Toshiba.
