Toshiba may be one of the more underrated notebook manufacturers in the market. Though the Qosmio G20 was one of the most powerful laptops of its day and even won our Readers' Choice silver award last year, Toshiba is not one of the first names that comes to mind when looking for a portable system. However, if the company plays its cards right, the Satellite A100 may just tip the scales in its favor. At first glance, the multimedia applications and uncommon casing color project this as a lifestyle product, but the fingerprint scanner makes it adequate as a business system.
Design
Made from durable polycarbonate plastic, the sunlight copper Toshiba Satellite A100 is eye-catching while the rounded contours make the notebook seem smaller than it really is. With dimensions of 360 x 267 x 36.8mm and a weight of 2.72kg, users who carry their notebooks for long periods may want to invest in a lighter unit or get a really good notebook backpack.
The ports and slots on the Satellite A100 are evenly distributed on the flanks and rear of the system. Two USB 2.0 ports are located on the right for easy access and, in a nod to right-handed mouse users while thumbing noses at minority left-handers, the heat vent is found on the left to prevent your phalanges from being barbequed after an extended gaming session.
The multimedia and power buttons are positioned in a column to the left of the keyboard, a rather rare sight considering most notebooks put theirs at the top. We suspect this was done to make way for the speakers which, in our opinion, could be better located as audio becomes muffled when the laptop is closed. Fortunately, the audio ports are well-placed at the front of the system, preventing headphone wires from being tangled during typing. A small switch toggles the wireless feature on and off.
Features
For a notebook its size, the Toshiba Satellite has almost all features one would want from portable computer. It may not be the multimedia powerhouse that is the Toshiba G30, nor is it a dedicated business machine like the ThinkPad T60, but it combines a little of both for to be adequate for work and play.
Though not the most powerful graphics card available, the ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 has enough juice for all but the most demanding games. The thin bassless audio output that is the bane of most notebooks does not exist on the Satellite A100, which chose a combination of Harmon Kardon speakers and Realtek's high-definition driver to give superior sound quality. Games and A/V entertainment are roles which this Toshiba notebook fits into well.
After Joe junior has had his fill of shooting aliens and watching "educational" videos, Joe senior can easily whisk it away to the office. A fingerprint scanner protects data from theft as it does away with easy-to-hack passwords (admit it, nobody actually follows the rule that passwords should be an unrecognizable string of letters and numbers). The spill-resistant keyboard and hard drive with shock absorbers give strong persuasion to use the Satellite A100 as a business machine. However, for even greater security we felt a TPM (trusted platform module) security chip should have been included.
No man is an island and no notebook can stand on its own. Four USB 2.0 (two on the rear and two on the right) and a mini-FireWire port allow peripherals to be hooked up. By incorporating both ExpressCard and Type II PC card slots, future and backward device compatibility is achieved. Owners of digital equipment that uses external flash cards will appreciate the 5-in-1 memory card reader which is capable of handling SD/MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo and xD-Picture Card. Only SmartMedia and CompactFlash formats require additional equipment to read.
For increased convenience, the Satellite A100 is capable of playing DVD on its bright 15.4-inch transflective widescreen without booting into Windows simply by using the multimedia controls located on the keyboard's left. The DVD Super Multi drive is able to handle all flavors of DVD, including DVD-RAM format. Instead of buttons, Toshiba uses a volume wheel which, in our opinion, is superior in control and response.
At first glance, the overlay on the two-button touchpad seems like a sticker that is meant to be removed. In fact, it is the latest Toshiba Dual Mode Pad which behaves like your ordinary pointing device, but, at the touch of the Dual Mode Pad icon, overlays illuminated by blue LED provide a convenient way to access applications. Unfortunately, there is no one-touch button to disable the touchpad, a feature that prevents undesired cursor activity during typing.
To further improve user-friendliness, Toshiba includes its proprietary ConfigFree application that takes out the guesswork when it comes to connecting to wired or wireless networks. With such a complete set of functionalities, the Toshiba Satellite A100 is quite feature-rich for its S$3,099 (US$1,971.62) price tag.
Performance And Battery Life
Our review unit came with the Intel Core Duo T2400 processor running at 1.83GHz and 1GB of DDR2 RAM and cost. Generating a score of 241 on MobileMark 2005 and 200 SysMark 2004 SE, the Toshiba Satellite A100 should perform well with most productivity and business tools in the market.
As a gaming rig with an ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics chip and 256MB of HyperMemory (using a combination of dedicated and shared RAM for video processing), it scores a respectable 1,195 on the latest 3DMark06 which is adequate for most games. However, frame rate-hungry shooters and simulations may require a notebook like the Acer TravelMate 8200 which has a higher-end ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card and a much higher score of 1,888 on the same benchmark.
One of the advantages of the new Intel Centrino platform is the increased battery life. However, Toshiba's six-cell battery does not make the cut, preventing one from using the notebook for more than 2 hours 36 minutes before requiring a recharge. Though a high-capacity battery with 12 power cells is available for S$399 (US$253.85), it significantly adds to the dimension and weight of the system.
Service And Support
Toshiba offers a one-year international carry-in warranty for this machine. For greater convenience, you can register the warranty online instead of mailing it in. Prompt assistance is available through a toll-free number for over-the-phone support and troubleshooting. An online support database called IRIS (Instant Response Information Service) features a search engine for solutions to commonly encountered problems. If the issue still cannot be resolved, the unit will have to be brought down to a Toshiba service center for repair. A list of service centers can be obtained from Toshiba's Web site, which also hosts updated drivers and utilities.
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