Surpriced.com - your place to buy stuff
100%
OFF
Toshiba A45-S121 Notebook PC (2.8 GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Combo)
View larger image

Toshiba A45-S121 Notebook PC (2.8 GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Combo)


List price:$1,049.99
Our price: that is 100% off!
Manufacturer:Toshiba
Average user rating: Average user rating: 4
User rating: 3Well made and good performance, but with a few glitches.
Purchased the A45-S121 yesterday(Memorial Day Weekend) to check it out and compare to the CPQ 2199US, and here are my 2 cents.
Pro:
- Well built and different design from the rest.
- Intel 852/855GME chipset, this could ensure future support for next generation and other Operating Systems, unlike the ATI/VIA chipset on the 2199US which may be drop by CPQ/HP once they come out with a new line of notebooks. Example, Intel released a driver for the 852 on 3/04, while the ATI driver is dated 6/03 and can only be optained from Compaq since ATI won't support their IGP 320M.
- 4 x USB 2.0, this is the standard and every notebook should have at least 3 ports. USB 1.1 is more than 3 years old and notebook makers like CPQ/HP should keep up with the rest of the industry instead of pushing an outdated technology.
- Intel Celeron 2.8Ghz, 256MB RAM & 40GB 4200RPM HD, "diehard" fan of AMD may be suprise of this CPU with 128Kb cache and 240MB of system memory performs as well as the AMD XP-M. Boot up time and overall usage of the system is a little slower than the 2199US, but with 240MB left(16MB for Video) it does a good job even when playing games or opening several applications at once, probably will give credit to the Intel chipset here again.
- Battery seems to last around 3Hrs with normal usage like surfing and word processing.
- Video card has good performance, with only 16MB got an 1700 score with 3DMark01 @ 1024x768x32 almost the same as the ATI IGP on the 2199US.
- Most people claim that the support and service from Toshiba is far superior than HP/CPQ, can't account for that since I only had these systems for a few hours.
- Audio, volume control is on the right hand side and adjustable by hand, unlike the 2199US that is dificult to reach and works only under Windows. The built-in speakers are very good indeed and well located.
- The CPU fan is somehow more silent specially when controlled by the Toshiba Power Saving Modes.
- Haven't tested the rest of the peripherals like DVD/CDRW but they seem to be of standard quality.

Cons:
- Misleading specs, Toshiba claims to include an Intel Celeron M 2.8Ghz CPU when in fact this is a your average OEM desktop CPU, Integrated 32MB VRAM video card is another wrong specs about this system since the Intel 852GME is an IGP that uses/shared system memory and allocates 16MB when you have 256MB or 32MB when 512MB is installed, these settings can't be changed by the user.
- Heavy an bulky, another specs blunder by Toshiba on the A45 line, it's as thick as the 2199US on the front(1.6") but the back is almost 2.5" thick, also the sides are around 1/2" - 3/4" bigger than the 2199US. This notebook won't fit on your averge bag.
- The LCD is just too bright and controlled by the Toshiba Power Saving application, don't remove it from your startup config else you will have to adjust the brightness everytime you boot. To get a good contrast and viewing angle the screen has to be at least 125 degrees from the base of the unit, this is problem especially in small places like in a car or small desk or just sitting on your lap.
- No S-Video out, if you want to watch a DVD/Divx on your TV or simply make a presentation then you may have to buy an extra peripheral to do the job.
- Video support for OpenGL games only, I didn't see any settings for Direct3D only for OpenGL and the fact that Serious Sam played without a problem but Splinter Cell 2 fail to load may be a problem, also the lack of video memory could be an issue most games require at least 64MB of video RAM to work now days.
- Noisy HD, the access "clicking" noise from the HD is very loud at times, I also was getting a pulsating pixel on a right hand corner when accessing the HD, which dissapeared after a while.

Well this is my opinion and my overall reaction to the few hours of usage, in the end is you(or myself) that have to choose between this Toshiba, the HP/CPQ or any other low budget notebook out there.

User rating: 5Incredible Notebook!
I received this notebook as a present from my mother and it is also my first notebook, and let me tell you---this is a great buy. Compared to other notebooks on the market, this one is truly cost-efficient and works PERFECTLY! Not recommended if you like to play complicated games on the computer. But otherwise, buy it, you won't regret it!

People who bought Toshiba A45-S121 Notebook PC (2.8 GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Combo) also bought ...

Sony PlayStation 2
Sony PlayStation 2 - Software
Toshiba Satellite A65-S126 Notebook PC (2.80 GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD-CD-RW Drive)
Toshiba Satellite A65-S126 Notebook PC (2.80 GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD-CD-RW Drive) - Hardware

-

-

-
ELECTRONICS  UNIVERSAL  GARDEN  MUSIC  DVD  VIDEO  TOY  BOOKS  SOFTWARE  KITCHEN  HARDWARE  MAGAZINE
q-counter.com