Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)

Average customer rating:

Dead after three uses

Toshiba A105-S361

Worst Machine

Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD Sup

Great Specs on this laptop, but Toshiba has lost my future business.

Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)

Manufacturer: Toshiba
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

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Product Features:

Notebook with 15.4-inch TruBrite display and 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium M (Centrino) 760 processor, 2 MB L2 cache

120 GB hard drive, 1024 MB of RAM (2 GB max), multi-format DVD/CD burner with dual-layer support

Four USB 2.0, one FireWire, one VGA, one S-Video, one PCMCIA, microphone, headphone

Built-in 10/100/ BASE-T Ethernet; 56K (V.90) modem, 54-Mbps wireless LAN (802.11b/g)

Windows XP Home edition, SP2

ASIN: B000DN84B6

Product Description

Includes: lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, & Microsoft Windows XP Home. Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 Notebook Computer - This notebook computer features impressive multimedia capabilities. The built-in Double Layer DVD SuperMulti drive gives you the ability to write to a host of different DVD formats. Double Layer +/-R are ones that can hold up to 8.5GB per disc. An ideal choice for large data backups and making your own DVD movies. You can also watch DVDs in style with the 15.4" widescreen LCD featuring TruBrite technology. In addition, you get a large 120GB hard drive, built-in support for wireless networking, and much more. Double Layer DVD SuperMulti Drive - supports 11 different formats, including Double Layer DVD-R/+R 15.4 Widescreen TruBrite LCD Native Resolution - 1280x800 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 graphics with up to 128MB of shared memory (memory is shared with the main system's RAM) Built-in Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Wireless Networking Support Built-in 56k Fax Modem Battery Life - up to 2 hr. 59 min. Ports - RGB VGA Out, S-Video Out, 1 Firewire, 4 USB 2.0, 1 Ethernet, Headphone Out, & Microphone In Unit Dimensions - 14.2 x 10.5 x 1.45 Unit Weight - 6 lbs.

Amazon.com Product Description

Easily mobile at just 6 pounds, the Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 makes it easy to get your work done with a large, bright 15.4-inch screen (which is also great for watching DVD movies when you need a break). This affordable notebook PC also features a battery-sipping 2.0 GHz Pentium M 760 (Centrino) processor, an extra-large 120 GB hard drive, 1024 MB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), dual-layer multiformat DVD drive that also burns CDs, integrated 54g wireless connectivity, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 video card with up to 128 MB of shared video RAM, both USB 2.0 and FireWire connectivity, multi-format memory card reader, and Windows XP Home edition operating system.

The Basics

Hard Drive: A welcome size for road warriors, the 120 GB hard drive is definitely above average in size for notebook PCs--great for storing a digital medial library or graphics-intensive presentations--and faster than average at 5400 RPM. This Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0.
Processor: The 2.0 GHz Pentium M 760 (Centrino) processor is near the top of the speed spectrum for this processor class (October 2005). It is well equipped for office productivity software tasks, from complex spreadsheets to databases. The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max. It also has a large 2 MB L2 cache--which will help speed up your system's performance--and a 533 MHz front-side bus (FSB).
Memory: The 1024 MB of built-in memory (PC4200, DDR2 SDRAM) is a good start for power users, and it offers a very fast 533 MHz speed. It has two memory slots, enabling you to add more power to handle graphics-intensive presentations and multiple open business productivity applications.
CD/DVD Drive: The double-layer DVD drive is compatible with a wide range of formats, including both DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, CD-RW discs, and dual-layer (DL) DVD+/-R discs, which can hold up to 8.5 GB of data--great for backing up your MP3 collection or your most important documents. It features the following speeds: 4x DVD+R DL, 2x DVD-R DL, 4x for both DVD+R/RW, 8x DVD-R, 2x DVD-RW, 5x DVD-RAM, and 24x/10x for CD-R/RW. It reads DVD-ROM discs at 8x and CD-ROMs at 24x.
Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a standard 85-key keyboard and electro-static two-button touchpad. It also offers a launch button for the Express CD/DVD media player and control buttons (play, stop, next, previous).

Screen, Graphics and Sound
The A105-S361 has a 15.4-inch TFT screen with a widescreen 1280 x 800-pixel resolution. It also provides TruBrite technology, which makes images brighter and more vivid thanks to its anti-glare feature. Video and graphics are powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, which uses Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) and provides up to 128 MB of shared video memory. It also features an integrated audio card with headphone and microphone jacks and two built-in Harman Kardon speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The A105-S361 has an integrated Intel Pro/Wireless Network Connection 2200BG LAN, which supports both 802.11b and 802.11g (54g) wireless connections in your office, home, and at Wi-Fi hotspots. You get a good offering of connectivity options, including FireWire:

4 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
1 VGA monitor port
1 S-Video out
1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type II, PCMCIA R2.01, PC Card16, CardBus)
1 headphone jack, 1 microphone jack
5-in-1 memory card reader, compatible with Secure Digital (SD), MultiMedia (MMC), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, and XD Picture Card

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Gigabit Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 14.2 x 10.5 x 1.45 (WxDxH) and weighs 6 pounds.

Power
It's powered by a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which has a battery life of up to 3 hours (depending on usage). It has a 4-hour full charging time with the notebook off, and 12 hours with the computer active.

What's in the Box
This package contains the A105-S361 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limited hardware warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Dead after three uses.......2006-11-07

I bought this laptop, and the third time I used it, it died. It will no longer even charge. I brought it to the repair shop and they said that it was defective. They're sending it back to Toshiba... my next computer will be a VAIO.

Toshiba A105-S361.......2006-09-29

So I've owned this laptop for about 3 months now. Its a nice laptop for its price, with a fast processor and plenty of really fast memory. The problem: I should have waited for the Core Duo's... although this laptop is fast enough for most thing I do, it lacks when it comes to gaming. nVidia's integrated video memory is one of the drawbacks of this system. Why not ship with a separate nVidia/ATI card?
This laptop also lacks bluetooth, not a huge deal but it would be nice if it was included.
Other that those things, this laptop is a workhorse and performs most daily functions very well. There is plenty of hard drive space (once you remove all the free trials that come bundled when you buy this laptop).
It is also a beautiful laptop, with a low profile and a wiiiddde format screen (15.4"). All in all, well worth the money.

Worst Machine.......2006-05-21

Brand new computer had video card issues causing it to hang. CD drive sounds like a 18 Wheeler truck. I returned this headache after two days of use and bought a sony vaio , happy ever since. I will never buy a toshiba product again. So far I have used HP, Sony, Dell and toshiba laptops, and unfortunately toshibas are the worst quality laptops after dell. I am not stereo type and I know alot of people who have numerous problems with toshiba.

Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD Sup.......2006-03-20

good

Great Specs on this laptop, but Toshiba has lost my future business........2006-02-22

PROS:
_____________________
Fast and Huge Hard Drive, 120GB 5400 SATA Hard Drive
Fast 2.0 GHz Centrino CPU
1GB RAM
Under 1500 Price Tag

CONS:
_____________________
The casing on this laptop is extremely terrible, when you lay your left palm on the unit to start typing it SQEAKS, this is a design flaw, as the guy from at the store confirmed, all the units have this problem. The guy even suggested that I buy some super glue and super glue the BRAND NEW unit's case to make it stop from SQUEAKING. Oh My God! I just paid a bundle for this thing! You've got to be kidding me.

The Keyboard is really terrible. I keep missing letters, Again this is part of the cheap Chinese factory design. In writing this review i had to go back 3 times due to missed letters. It's so sad that Toshiba has tried to obviously cut costs in their casing and Keyboard costs, which makes an otherwise superior product feel and look sub par and clunky.

The battery life is short, but that is given to you in the specs. Brighter screen and crappy stock battery included is the reason for that.

Lastly, my first unit out of the box did not turn on. I called Toshiba support. They picked up on the second ring! That is a great response time. However the actual help was not all that great. The guy told me to charge the laptop for 12 hours, even though I kept telling him no lights turn on at all. I return the unit and got a new one which works fine now.

Toshiba does NOT give you a WINDOWS operating system CD. They give you a DVD with an image of the system, including over 100 software titles that slow down your computer and are mostly shareware anyway. I was furious to find this out. I was sold a Windows XP operating system without actually getting it. So you have to install the image and then uninstall all the junk. Again Toshiba should stop ripping off its customers and give them what they paid for. All other OEMs do!

The media buttons on the left are pretty much useless. They are very really hard and uncomfortable to push and are locked into loading Windows media player and you can't change them. There is no Mute button. Now that would have been good to have.

Overall if you want an economy notebook with lots of power, then buy this machine. But personally regret buying this laptop and I would not buy Toshiba again for the reasons listed above. My next notebook will most likely be a Sony. They cost more but you get what you pay for. I found out the hard way.

Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 17" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DVD Double Layer Drive)

Average customer rating:

Major Blue Screen Issues
I'll take the good over the bad on this one.
Don't buy this item from Tiger Direct
Loving This Laptop
WARNING - Movie Maker does NOT support video inputs

Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 17" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DVD Double Layer Drive)

Manufacturer: Toshiba
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

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Product Features:

2.0 GHz Pentium M, 533 MHz front side bus
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM memory, two 60 GB hard drives, DVD SuperMulti Double Layer drive
4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire, S-Video/Composite in
nVidia GeForce 6 Go 6600 with 128 MB dedicated video memory, Intel PRO/Wirelesss, RJ-45 Ethernet, V.90 data/fax modem
Windows XP Media Center 2005, Microsoft Works (Version 8), Microsoft Office OneNote 2003

ASIN: B0009PHH2K

Product Description

Includes: lithim-ion battery, AC adapter, Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Office OneNote 2003, Works 8.0, WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum, RecordNow!, Norton AntiVirus 2005 (w/ 3 month subscription), Quicken New User Edition 2005, & more. Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 Notebook Computer - This portable media center handles many of your entertainment needs. The built-in TV tuner, and large 120GB hard drive, allows you to watch and record live television programming. The large 17" LCD and DVD SuperMulti Double Layer Drive, gives you an amazing DVD movie experience, while letting you burn to nearly every type of media. All of this is managed easily with the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system, and included remote control. This OS features a TV-like interface that also organizes and plays your digital audio, video and picture files! Supports Bluetooth Version 2.0 120GB SATA HDD - Two 60GB hard drives that can be configured as RAID 0 (striping) or RAID 1 (mirroring), via included TOSHIBA RAID software Slot-Loading DVD SuperMulti Double Layer Drive - (write speeds) up to 2.4x Double Layer DVD+R, 8x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+RW, 5x DVD-RAM, 24x CD-R, & 10x CD-RW Slot-Loading DVD SuperMulti Double Layer Drive - (read speeds) up to 8x DVD-ROM & 24x CD-ROM Built-in TV Tuner - parental control & closed caption 17 Diagonal WXGA+ TFT Display Native Resolution - 1440x900 NVIDIA GeForce 6 GO 6600 with 128MB of DDR SDRAM (PCI Express x16 Interface) 1 PCMCIA PC Card Slot - supports 1 Type II PC Card Bridge Media Adapter - supports Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Multi Media Card, & xD Picture Cards 52k v.92 Fax Modem Ports - 10/100 Ethernet, 1 VGA, 4 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire, 1 S-Video Out, 1 Component Out, & S/PDIF (shared with headphone jack)

Amazon.com Product Description

Featuring a sleek, streamlined design, the Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 notebook PC provides you a powerful media center that you can take anywhere. It runs the powerful Windows XP Media Center operating system, which enables you to save TV programming from the built-in TV tuner and save shows to the hard drive or burn to DVD via the dual-layer, multi-format DVD burner. It features a wide-screen 17-inch display, two 60 GB hard drives (for a 120 GB total), a power-saving 2.0 GHz Pentium M (Centrino) processor, 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), integrated 54g wireless connectivity, and Media Center remote control.

The Basics

Hard Drive: The G25-AV513 has a unique hard drive array for a notebook--two separate 60 GB (5400 RPM) hard drives for a total storage capacity of 120 GB. They can work together to boost performance, particularly when handling large files, and you can use one as an exclusive media drive for saved TV programming and an MP3 library.
Processor: The 2.0 GHz Pentium M 760 (Centrino) processor is near the top of the speed spectrum for this processor class (June 2005). It is well equipped for office productivity software tasks, from complex spreadsheets to databases. The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max. It also has a large 2 MB L2 cache--which will help speed up your system's performance--and a 533 MHz front-side bus (FSB).
Memory: The 1 GB of installed RAM (2 x 512 MB, 400 MHz) is a good start for such a multimedia-centric notebook. But you'll want to max out the 2 GB (2 x 1024 MB) of available memory capability from the the two slots.
CD/DVD Drive: The double-layer DVD drive is compatible with a wide range of formats, including both DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, CD-RW discs, and dual-layer DVD+R discs, which can hold up to 8.5 GB of data--great for backing up your MP3 collection. It features the following speeds: 2.4x DVD+R-DL, 8x/4x for both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW, and 24x/10x for CD-R/RW.
Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a standard 84-key keyboard and electro-static two-button touchpad.

Screen, Graphics and Sound
The G25-AV513 has a 17-inch XGA display w with a resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio, making it perfect for viewing widescreen format movies. It also provides TruBrite technology, which makes images brighter and more vivid thanks to its anti-glare feature and 500 cd/m2 brightness rating when plugged into the AC adapter (220 cd/m2 rating when in battery mode). Video and graphics are powered by Nvidia's midrange GeForce Go 6600 GPU with 128 MB of dedicated memory. It features an integrated audio card that provides 16-bit stereo sound via the built-in Harman Kardon speakers as well as SRS TruSurround XT virtual surround sound.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The G25-AV513 has an integrated Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2915ABG 802.11b/g wireless-LAN. You get a good offering of connectivity options, including both super-fast USB 2.0 and Firewire options:

3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
1 VGA monitor port
1 S-Video out
1 Component video out
1 Composite video in
1 S-Video in
1 RF in
1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II, 32-bit)
1 headphone jack
1 microphone jack

The TV tuner is configured for US/NTSC broadcast, and it features parental control (V-Chip), closed captioning, and digital noise reduction. This notebook also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
The pre-installed Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is essentially Windows XP Professional Edition with a variety of tools to help you to create, organize, and enjoy digital media ranging from music to home movies to photo slide shows. Additionally, it enables you to control your television with the included remote and record and pause programs (much like a DVR--or digital video recorder--such as Tivo or ReplayTV). It's compatible with cable, digital cable, satellite TV and antenna inputs, and it includes an FM tuner. It also comes preloaded with InterVideo WinDVD 5, Microsoft Works 8.0, Microsoft Office OneNote 2003, InterVideo WinDVD Creator Platinum 2, and Norton AntiVirus 2005 (with 3-month subscription).

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 16 x 11.5 x 1.9 inches and weighs 9.5 pounds.

Power
It's powered by a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which has a battery life of up to 3 hours (depending on usage).

What's in the Box
This package contains the G25-AV513 notebook PC, remote control, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limiited hardware warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Major Blue Screen Issues.......2007-05-13

Since I bought this laptop, I have had the Blue Screen of Death over and over again. At first it was only when the kids played a game like The Sims and then was only when it got too warm (or so it seemed). I took the battery out completely to see if that helped. It finally got so bad, I just can't even turn it on any more. I have made NO hardware changes, I have downloaded all the recommended updates from Toshiba. I finally decided it must be software related, so I used the "recovery CD's" that came with the unit. What a joke that turned out to be! Not only is it totally NOT recovered - it is worse. It just gets a blue screen every time it boots up and then of course auto reboots itself (over and over and over) never fixing anything. It even tries to do chkdsk on its own and finds tons of errors to correct, but still nothing fixed. Moral of the story - don't think just because you are spending a ton of $$ gets you the best. I would Never buy a Toshiba laptop again. A MACbook is looking better and better!

I'll take the good over the bad on this one........2006-05-31

After selling two computers, yes two, to my parents i decided to get something that was gonna last for many years, and something that i could do anything on that i could do on a desktop. Also something that was portable was what i wanted most. After searching and searching and countless computers, i realized i was gonna have to pay the BIG bucks to achieve what i wanted. I had saw the Qosmio but had always hated how "finger printed" up the interior looked when i saw them in stores, from people using them. Its a pet peave that i don't like prints or smudges for that matter. So after a lot of thought i went for the F25 from a website called Clearance Club for 1349 plus tax, i didnt think it was a bad deal till i saw the F25 on the Toshiba Direct site for 1099$, so i thought i just got ripped. After careful consideration i looked at the G25 which was only a few hundred dollars more, 1349!! to be exact, they didnt have any in stock until a few days later so i said what the hell and went for it, even though i wasnt to fond of the gargantuen 17" screen. Well having gotten the G25 when i still had the F25 i decided why not test them side by side, being that it was a weekend and couldnt ship the other back yet. Here's the Pro's and Con's i found.

F25-Sharp Clean Picture
G25-A Bit Brighter, although maybe to bright?

F25-Great Harman Kardon speakers, very loud and bassy
G25-Same speakers although not as loud,(i must point out both of these were refurbished for one reason or another, so the speakers or sound card may have been the issue here)

F25-Basic 100gig hard drive, seems like a lot until you record live TV.
G25-Serial ATA 120 gig, double hard drives, 20 gigs makes a difference.

F25-Nvidia Geforce 6600 Go Graphics Card-64mb-Doom 3 1024x768 low quality.
G25-Nvidia Geforce 6600 Go Graphics Card-128mb-Doom 3 1024x800 High Quality-Its noticeble side by side. No hesitation. Also 1440x900 Max screen resolution.

F25-WiFi b/g Wireless
G25-Same

F25-15.4 inch wide screen,Very Light, Good for toating around.
G25-17.4 inch wide screen, Very Heavy, Not good for toating around. Although better for movies at home.

F25-Darker Black Interior-Smudges aren't AS noticeble, but still bad.
G25-The thing i hate most,terrible at fingerprints and smudges, has a slightly glossier black face.

F25-Good DVD-R-RW multi burner, basic pop-out from the side.
G25-Very cool DVD-R-RW multi Burner, inserts from the front, slide in compartment. Burns a little quicker than the F25 i think. Loads loud though, minor issue.

F25-1.86 pentium 750M processor, centrino.
G25-2.01 Pentium 760M Processor, Centrino.

F25-1024 gig of RAM
G25-1 gig

F25-Refurbished-Cheapist anywhere, Toshiba Direct-1099$, New on other sites, anywhere from 1600, to 2000$.
G25-Refurbished-Cheapest anywhere, Toshiba Direct-1349, New on other sites anywhere from, 1549$ to 3000$.

So with all these side by side the differences are very minor between the F25 and the G25, there were certain things i liked better abuot each but when it came to mas-multi tasking and just over all ability i had to go for the G25 even though its not perfect its the best your gonna get for a laptop, multimedia center. All others definately fall short when it comes to the specs this thing has. Basic laptops even HP's higher series most come with an ATI Radeon 200M which u can't even put on medium resolution 800x600 for Doom 3 or Farcry. Even some of the higher end Hp's come with a Nvidia Geforce 7300 go, which is a low end 7 series, not even as good as the 6600. So though its pricey and huge and shows ugly smudges(though easy to clean), i must say this is the pinaccle of laptops on the market now.

Don't buy this item from Tiger Direct.......2006-02-20

Few weeks ago, I tried to purchase this model from Tiger Direct. They charged me twice of the price and later I found they didn't even has the model in stock. And to call them, each time you have to wait at least 30 minutes, and just imagine if the phone got lost when they try to direct you to someone else...

Loving This Laptop.......2005-12-20

This is our first laptop and so far we are enjoying exploring and playing with the various features this laptop offers. We have only had it a couple of days. Setting it up was a little tricky, especially for novice people like us, but Toshiba support helped us with this. We had expected to find the user guide in the box but it is now loaded on the computer, not in the box like in the past. It is a pricy computer but so far seems to be worth it.

WARNING - Movie Maker does NOT support video inputs.......2005-11-13

I recently purchased the Qosmio laptop because it had a really high-end video, display, and processor. I also wanted to use it as a semi-portable video editing station. Since the product is advertised as having (two) AV inputs, I assumed I could use these in Windows Movie Maker to capture video and edit it. WRONG! The "TV Tuner" inputs are ONLY COMPATIBLE WITH THE MEDIA CENTER software. So, in other words, you can connect the Qosmio to a set-top box (or other video source), and you can use the Media Center software to record video in Media Center's proprietary video format. But these files cannot be loaded into Movie Maker (you get an "unsupported file type" error). Neither can you run the Movie Maker software to record directly from the AV input devivce (you get a "device is in use error"). I find it quite deceptive of Toshiba to not make it clear that the video input devices, while compatible with Media Center, are not compatible with Movie Maker (which is also included standard in the operating system).

Product Support calls to Toshiba confirm the above - they claim that Movie Maker's use of the video inputs is "unsupported". I think most consumers will be surprised by this basic incompatability.

I found Microsoft Support articles which also aknowledge that some Media Center tuners are not compatible with Movie Maker (becuase they use MPEG format encoding, which is not supported by Movie Maker).

Hopefully, Microsoft will address this issue in a software update to Movie Maker, but for now, you will have to use an external video capture device to augment this hefty laptop to perform the same function that the integrated video capture device should be doing.

Toshiba Satellite M45-S359 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)

Average customer rating:

Good deal for a college student... sleek, stylish, great multimedia capabilities.
Awesome, but could have been bettrer
O.K computer
Problems with Touchpad, Keyboard, and USB ports after one month - Toshiba refuses to replace
Best Toshiba Ever

Toshiba Satellite M45-S359 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)

Manufacturer: Toshiba
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

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Accessories:

Product Features:

2 GHz Intel Pentium M processor 760 with 533 MHz front-side bus and 2 MB L2 cache
100 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM (2 GB maximum), dual-layer, multi-format DVD/CD burner
Three USB 2.0, one Firewire, one VGA, one S-Video, one PCMCIA, headphone, microphone
Built-in Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG 802.11b/g LAN, 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet and 56K V.92 modem
Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 2

ASIN: B000BKABC6

Product Description

Technologically advanced, sleek and powerful, this system boasts an Intel Pentium M processor 760, a full gigabyte (=1024MB) of system memory, and Widescreen TruBrite display! Built-in wireless connectivity and a DVD burner ensure easy handling of any dynamic data requirements. Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with 8MB-128MB dynamically allocated graphics memory 3-USB (2.0) ports, i.LINK IEEE 1394 port, TV-out (S-Video), 10/100 Ethernet port, V.92 modem port, headphone jack, external microphone jack (monaural), RGB monitor port Dimensions (WxDxH Front/H Rear) - 14.2Â? (360.0mm) x 10.6Â? (268.5mm) x 1.14Â? (29.0mm)[F]/1.43Â? (36.2mm)[R] without feet Manufacturer's 1 Year Standard Limited Warranty

Amazon.com Product Description

Easily mobile at just 6.2 pounds, the Toshiba Satellite M45-S359 makes it easy to get your work done with a large, bright 15.4-inch screen (which is also great for watching DVD movies when you need a break). This affordable notebook PC also features a battery-sipping 2.0 GHz Pentium M processor, 100 GB hard drive, 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), dual-layer, multi-format DVD burner, integrated 54g wireless connectivity, and Windows XP Home edition.

The Basics

Hard Drive: The 100 GB hard drive (5400 RPM) is a above average in size for notebook PCs, and its capacity is a welcome size for road warriors.
Processor: The 2.0 GHz Pentium M 760 (Centrino) processor is near the top of the speed spectrum for this processor class (October 2005). It is well equipped for office productivity software tasks, from complex spreadsheets to databases. The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max. It also has a large 2 MB L2 cache--which will help speed up your system's performance--and a 533 MHz front-side bus (FSB).
Memory: The 1 GB of built-in memory (2 x 512 MB, PC4200, 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM) will help you power through multimedia presentation and heavy-duty spreadsheets. It has two memory slots in total, with a maximum memory expansion up to 2 GB (2 x 1024 MB).
CD/DVD Drive: The double-layer DVD drive is compatible with a wide range of formats, including both DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, CD-RW discs, and dual-layer DVD+R discs, which can hold up to 8.5 GB of data--great for backing up your MP3 collection. It features the following speeds: 2.4x DVD+R-DL, 8x/4x for both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW, and 24x/10x for CD-R/RW.
Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a standard 86-key keyboard and electro-static two-button touchpad.

Screen, Graphics and Sound
The M45-S359 has a 15.4-inch XGA display w with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. It also provides TruBrite technology, which makes images brighter and more vivid thanks to its anti-glare feature. Video and graphics are powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, which uses Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) and provides up to 128 MB of shared video memory. The integrated audio card (Realtek ALC250) provides 16-bit stereo sound via the built-in stereo speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The M45-S359 has an integrated Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG 802.11b/g LAN. You get a basic offering of connectivity options:

3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
1 VGA monitor port
1 S-Video out
1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II, 32-bit)
1 headphone jack
1 microphone jack
6-in-1 memory card reader compatible with Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, SmartMedia, MMC, and XD Picture Card (SD slot supports SDIO cards)

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.92) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 14.17 x 10.6 x 1.45 (WxDxH) and weighs 6.2 pounds.

Power
It's powered by a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which has a battery life of up to 3.5 hours (depending on usage).

What's in the Box
This package contains the M45-S359 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limited hardware warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Good deal for a college student... sleek, stylish, great multimedia capabilities........2006-11-26

I've owned my Toshiba M45-S359 for a year now, and this computer is a great deal. A highly depreciated one, but still great. I am a graduate student and am extremely hard on my computers. It is plugged in and on about 24 hours a day and it's usually busy chugging away as a multimedia and study center. That being said, I don't suggest you balance your coffee and an 1900-page textbook on top of your computer, but I've done it and it's held up pretty well.

Pros: This little laptop is fast, capable, and durable. It's extremely lightweight for its capabilities and I never have a problem grabbing it under one arm as I'm running to class. I've spilled water, pop, and tea on it, shook it upside down in a panic (without turning it off), have crumbs of every possible food group stuck in the keyboard and touchpad, dropped it out of my car and off my shoulder several times (zipped in a cruddy $19 Targus case), and it still manages to work.

The Harman/Kardon speakers are surprisingly loud and clear for a laptop and it's fine for throwing onto the end of the bed and watching a movie. It has a huge 100GB hard drive, which takes forever to fill up. It also has 3 USB 2.0 ports (2 lateral on the right, and 1 horizontal on the left - very useful for those chunky JumpDrives) and a Firewire port. I have two 500GB hard drives, a industrial laser printer, speaker system, and wireless mouse/keyboard hooked to it. I am also usually running 5-6 programs at a time. And it still works at lightning speed. It has frozen on me only once since I bought it... in a year. That's not just good, that's great.

Cons: (1) Battery life isn't good. It generally holds out for about an hour and twenty minutes at "normal" power-settings, and only slightly longer at the "long-life" setting. I bought the six-hour battery for my first round of finals and it ran fine on "full" power for 4 hours, but that was an expensive investment I was expecting to make. (2) The screen can seem a little dimmer than other computers, but the clarity is awesome. I haven't had eye-strain yet and I look at it for about 8-12 hours a day. (3) The wireless capabilities don't seem to always be up to par with my old Dell but it works well 99.93% of the time.

Comparatively: I previously owned a heavy, chunky Dell Inspiron and after having to replace three batteries on the Dell and scratching the screen (from frequently grabbing it with one hand and piling textbooks on it), I bought this. I did about a month of research (between Sony, Dell, and HP) and this laptop was up against a 17" HP Pavilion with a 10-key. The HP was cool, but incredibly heavy. At six pounds, the Toshiba was the hands-down winner and I've never regretted my choice. If I had to, I would jump in front of a (slow-moving) car to save my laptop. I will keep on buying Toshiba laptops as long as they make them, but I don't anticipate needing another one for another three or four years because of the technology and capabilities of the M45-S359. It's awesome.

Awesome, but could have been bettrer.......2006-03-01

I've owned 2 Toshibas before this one. The first two were awesome in just about every way. While the second, the 5105-s501 had some issues with the hard drive, installing the fix recommended by Toshiba resolved those issues and I still have this laptop working in top condition!

Now, the M45. Impressive, but I have to admit, that the construction is definitely NOT up to par with the first two.
I don't rate speakers because well, this IS a laptop! Touch pad as with the 501 is a bit "flakey." Meaning sometimes, it seems to "stick." A small scan results in moving up or down the whole page. As for the screen, what can I say except that it is "pretty!" However, I did notice that viewing angle is a bit critical. Not sure if this is normal with truebrite screens. Normal viewing seems to result in images as well as text fading towards the lower part of the screen. However, it is so slight that I am sure most people won't even notice.

As for performance, without running benchmark tests, it is only subjective, but this pentium processor with the faster RAM and front side bus does seem to run a little faster.

All in all, I am still happy with this purchase! Although, it could have been better, I feel this model is another WINNER for Toshia!

O.K computer.......2006-01-19

This computer is alright for the price. I bought mine on sale at Wal Mart for 950, so it seems like a powerful laptop with the centrino processor, DVD superdrive, and Xbrite screen for a cheap! price. Well, let me tell you the truth about this machine as a user and owner for 6 months. I havent had any of the mechanical errors or problems that some other users experienced.

+the screen is fairly bright and quite nice for a laptop under 1000, not as nice as sony vaios or some other xbrite laptops though.
+has centrino processor and dvd burner.
+Is durable, i treat it bad, and it keeps on tickin.

-whole laptop is built cheeply, it feels like 'fake' plastic and all the ports are awkwardly placed around. DVD tray is weak and cheap. They used cheap materials to build the laptop to let them sell the tech. at a bargin price.
-The speakers sound like donkey doo, although thats pretty standard on laptops. And what's worse, they are looking out at you like two wierd eyes at either side on the top of your laptop base. Again, poor design.
-The laptop is bundled with all this interesting software which causes the computer to run slow and it's very hard to delete it all, non computer savvy users will be crying with all the hidden, strange exe programs floating around.
-Laptop is big and heavy, not too portable, and battery charger is like the titanic towing comcast's entire cable foundation.

Problems with Touchpad, Keyboard, and USB ports after one month - Toshiba refuses to replace.......2006-01-19

I have owned a Toshiba M45-S359 for one month. There are two major problems. In the first week, I noticed the USB ports would stop working if the computer went into sleep mode. Because this is my business machine, I disabled sleep mode and continued using the computer. One month later, the mouse touchpad has failed. I believe the problem occurs when the computer reaches a certain temperature. I contacted Toshiba for a replacement. They refused. The computer is one month old an under warranty.

I am an attorney and thinking about filing a class action on behalf of m45-s359 owners. If you have similar problems, please email me at m45s359complaints@hotmail.com. Please provide you name, address, phone, date of purchase, and problem.

Best Toshiba Ever.......2006-01-18

This is my first laptop, but I have done a lot of research before I bought this laptop. I know people that have Sony, Dell and they always had problems. I don't know why people have rated this product so low. I personally think this is fastest laptop I have ever seen with a 1GB of ram its just great. The graphic card is excellent online gaming it also great. I downloaded a demo of Need for Speed Most Wanted just to see how good my graphic card is and the game did not lag at all, I also played it online and it worked great. You can run a lot of stuff at the same time, this laptop handles it great. The wireless card is also great.
Take a look at the CNet rating on this laptop. www.cnet.com then type satellite M45-S359 in the search.

Sony VAIO VGN-A790 17" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD+R Dbl Layer/DVD+/-RW Drive)

Average customer rating:

Excellent product!

Sony VAIO VGN-A790 17" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD+R Dbl Layer/DVD+/-RW Drive)

Manufacturer: Sony CE
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

Notebooks | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics

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ASIN: B00092E3L6

Product Description

The VAIO A790 Digital Studio notebook is packed with cutting edge technology. More than a PC, more than a TV, it's a feature packed multimedia solution including an AV entertainment dock that plugs you into a powerful TV tuner and personal video recorder, letting you watch and record your favorite shows. Viewing movies and documents on the 17" widescreen LCD display with XBRITE technology is a joy with crisp images and vivid colors. The DVD+R Double Layer / DVD?RW drive lets you burn up to 8.5GB of data, music, movies or photos on one Double Layer disc.c.

Amazon.com Product Description

A desktop replacement notebook that's packed with cutting edge technology, the Sony VGN-A790 is a powerful, full-featured multimedia and entertainment notebook. Convert VHS and 8mm videos into digital video and create your own video library with the included Click to DVD software with the double-layer, multi-format DVD burner. The included AV Entertainment Dock offers access to multiple media options. Watch TV programming anywhere you take your notebook and record it to your hard drive to be viewed later. It also includes a top-of-the-line set of Sony speakers. It features a fast 2.0 GHz Pentium M (Centrino) processor, 100 GB hard drive, 1 GB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), a 17-inch widescreen display, MemoryStick slot, integrated 54g wireless connectivity, and a wealth of Sony multimedia software.

The Basics

Hard Drive: The 100 GB hard drive (5400 RPM) is a above average in size for notebook PCs, and its capacity is a welcome size for such a multimedia-centric notebook.
Processor: The 2.0 GHz Pentium M 760 (Centrino) processor is near the top of the speed spectrum for this processor class (June 2005). It is well equipped for office productivity software tasks, from complex spreadsheets to databases. The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max. It also has a large 2 MB L2 cache--which will help speed up your system's performance--and a 533 MHz front-side bus (FSB).
Memory: The 1 GB of installed RAM (2 x 512 MB, 400 MHz) is a good start for such a multimedia-centric notebook. But you'll want to max out the 2 GB (2 x 1024 MB) of available memory capability from the the two slots.
CD/DVD Drive: The double-layer DVD drive is compatible with a wide range of formats, including both DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, CD-RW discs, and dual-layer DVD+R discs, which can hold up to 8.5 GB of data--great for backing up your MP3 collection. It features the following speeds: 2.4x DVD+R-DL, 8x/4x for both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW, and 24x/24x for CD-R/RW.
Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a standard 86-key keyboard and electro-static two-button touchpad.

Screen, Graphics and Sound
The ATI Radeon X600 is a high-end video card, powerful enough to run one large virtual screen across two displays. It features 256 MB of dedicated video RAM, S-Video and the higher-fidelity DVI connections out, and PCI Express x16 support, which enables graphics to process faster. The 17-inch WUXGA XBRITE LCD (with 1920 x 1200 resolution will allow you to fit two full documents, side by side, on your screen. The Auto-sensing ErgoBright technology automatically adjusts brightness to every environment--brighter by day, softer by night. It also features integrated audio and built-in stereo speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The VGN-A790 has an integrated Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2915ABG 802.11b/g wireless-LAN. The notebook provides a good offering of connectivity options, including both super-fast USB 2.0 and Firewire options:

3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II, 32-bit)
1 headphone jack
1 microphone jack
1 port replicator connection

The included AV Entertainment Dock includes:

4 USB 2.0 ports
1 RF in
1 S-Video out
1 S-Video in
1 DVI-Digital out
1 Component video out
1 Composite video out

This notebook also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 operating system with Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. It also comes loaded with a bevy of Sony multimedia software: Click to DVD (DVD creation), PictureGear Studio (digital photo), SonicStage (digital music), SonicStage Mastering Studio (audio mastering/remastering), Vaio Media (network file sharing), and DVgate Plus (digital video). Other preloaded software includes Adobe Premiere, Adobe Photoshop Album, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Microsoft Works 8.0, Quicken 2005 New User Edition, Intervideo WinDVD, Sonic RecordNow, Norton Internet Security (with 90-day subscription), and Intermute SpySubtract (with 30-day subscription).

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 16 x 11 x 1.8 inches and weighs 8.8 pounds.

Power
It's powered by the PCGA-BP2EA rechargable lithium-ion battery, which provides up to 2.5 hours of operation.

What's in the Box
This package contains the VGN-A790 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limiited hardware warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent product!.......2005-10-11

The perfect laptop, and I've had several before this one. Thanks Sony for building the perfect machine!

Intel BX80536GE2000FJ Pentium M 760 Boxed Cpu 533FSB

Average customer rating:

Intel BX80536GE2000FJ Pentium M 760 Boxed Cpu 533FSB

Manufacturer: Intel
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

CPU Processors | Computer Add-Ons | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics

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Computer Processors | Computer Accessories | Technology | Categories | Office Depot
Product Features:

Power Optimized 533 MHz processor system bus, Micro-ops Fusion &Dedicated Stack Manager
Support for enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology with multiple voltage & frequency operating points
Execute Disable Bit SupportMalicious buffer overflow attacks pose a significant security threat to b

ASIN: B00077IHZ6

Product Description

The Intel Pentium M processor is based on a high performance, low power micro-architecture and includes several innovative features like an advanced branch prediction and data prefetching, Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 support, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology support, Intel MMX media enhancement technology support and advanced thermal monitoring capabilities.The Intel Pentium M processor is the next step towards achieving high mobile performance at very low power. This exciting new processor supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology at multiple operating points instead of two points support on existing processors. Real-time dynamic switching of the voltage and frequency between multiple performance modes is based on CPU demand. This occurs by switching the bus ratios, core operating voltage, and core processor speeds without resetting the system. Multiple Enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology operating points enable optimal performance at the lowest power.

Acer TravelMate TMC204TMi 12.1" Convertible Tablet PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD-Dual Drive)

Average customer rating:

Fabulous Performance
Great, but heavy
Decent Laptop
All it is meant to be

Acer TravelMate TMC204TMi 12.1" Convertible Tablet PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD-Dual Drive)

Manufacturer: Acer Computer
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

Notebooks | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics

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Accessories:

Product Features:

Innovative Tablet PC with sliding-track mechanism and 12.1-inch LCD; 2.0 GHZ Intel Pentium M 760 with 2 MB L2 cache
100 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM (2 GB max), dual-layer/multi-format DVD burner
Three USB 2.0, one Firewire, Type II PCMCIA slot, fast infrared, 4-in-1 memory card reader
Nvidia GeForce Go 6200 graphics card (64 MB of shared RAM); 54g wi-fi connectivity (802.11b/g); Bluetooth
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

ASIN: B000BP2YF8

Product Description

Even in the short history of mobile computers, few companies have lasted the course. Even fewer have consistently developed and produced advanced, user-friendly products, which have earned international acclaim. Acer is one such company, and the TravelMate C200 Series tablet PC is one such product, reflecting the very leading edge of mobile technology for the ultimate mobile experience.

Amazon.com Product Description

The Acer TravelMate C204 (TMC204TMI) Tablet PC features a convertible tablet with a patented sliding-track mechanism that allows you to move between notebook and tablet modes in one smooth motion. This high-powered Tablet PC features a 12.1-inch LCD screen and a built-in fingerprint reader for quick identification, enabling secure personal computing. In addition to an integrated 54g wireless LAN, this notebook also includes Acer's SignalUp technology--a super-efficient antenna is built into the case, creating an omni-directional sphere that extends signal range and quality. Other hardware features include an 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB of installed RAM, 2.0 GHz, Intel Pentium M 760 processor, multi-format DVD burner, 4-in-1 memory card reader, Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

The Basics

Hard Drive: The 100 GB hard drive (4200 RPM) is nicely above average in size for notebook PCs, and it's befitting of such an entertainment-centric PC. It offers more than enough capacity for storing documents and productivity software for road warriors. You'll also be able to store a good-sized digital audio library.
Processor: The Intel Centrino Pentium M 760 processor is designed specifically for mobile computing, offering a balanced level of mobile-optimized processor technology, good mobile performance, and exceptional value. It features a Deep Sleep state, which helps enable longer battery life by minimizing the power consumption of the processor during brief periods of inactivity. The 2 GHz speed is in the upper-middle of the speed spectrum for this processor (as of January, 2006) and it also offers a fast 533 MHz front-side bus (FSB) speed and a large 2 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance.)
Memory: The 1 GB of built-in memory (2 x 512 MB, PC4200, DDR2 SDRAM) is a great start for power users, and it offers a very fast 533 MHz speed. But you'll want to take advantage of the 2 GB capacity for working with today's demanding business productivity applications.
CD/DVD Drive: Offering the latest in DVD writing technology, this multiformat DVD/CD drive is compatible with both DVD+ and DVD- disc formats as well as dual-layer (DL) DVD+R discs, which can store up to 8.5 GB of data. It features 2.4x DVD+R DL Write Once, 8x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD+RW, 4x DVD-RW, 8x DVD-ROM, 24x CD-R, 24x CD-RW, and 24x CD-ROM speeds.
Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook features an 84-key keyboard with inverted T cursor layout, embedded numeric keypad, hotkey controls, international language support, and 2.5mm minimum key travel. The touchpad has a four-way scroll button. It also has a trackpoint with two buttons and a scrollwheel.

Screen, Graphics and Sound
The 12.1-inch LCD touch screen has a 1024 x 768-pixel resolution with up to 262K colors. Video and graphics are powered by the Nvidia GeForce Go 6200, which delivers enhanced visual quality and performance for today's and tomorrow's graphics-intensive digital photo, video, and gaming applications. It offers up to 64 MB of shared video ram (allocated from the system RAM) and Nvidia's exclusive TurboCache technology, which allows direct rendering from the GPU to system memory by leveraging the bi-directional PCI Express bandwidth. The TurboCache Manager dynamically allocates memory for maximum system performance while intelligent software algorithms maximize application performance.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The TMC204 has an integrated 54g wireless LAN (Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG) that's compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g networks and offers Acer's SignalUp technology for enhanced antenna efficiency. With the Bluetooth wireless connectivity, you can synchronize and transfer files between the PC and peripherals such as cell phones and PDAs. You get a basic offering of connectivity options (including Firewire):

3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (one Type II card, 32-bit PC CardBus architecture)
Stereo headphones/speakers/line-out
Microphone/line-in
Fast infrared (IR)
4-in-1 memory card reader (Secure Digital, MultiMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO)

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 operating system with Service Pack 2 featuring Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. It also comes with the following selection of preloaded software titles: Acer eManager, Acer GridVista, Acer Launch Manager, Adobe Acrobat Reader, CyberLink PowerDVD, Norton AntiVirus, NTI CD-Maker.

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 12.4 x 9.4 x 1.4 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 5.5 pounds.

Power
The six-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to 3.9 hours of battery life (depending on usage). It takes 2.5 hours to recharge fully with power off; 3.5 hours with power on.

What's in the Box
This package contains the Acer TravelMate TMC204TMI notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limited hardware warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous Performance.......2006-09-17

I've had the Acer 204tmi for 9 months now. It has performed flawlessly. Had a few questions for Acer and they were easy to reach and very helpful. Love the sliding track display. It appears this machine has not sold widely, though it deserves to. Couldn't be happier.

Great, but heavy.......2006-08-19

The Travelmate C 204 is a brilliant technological marvel it would be perfect if it were about 50% lighter

Decent Laptop.......2006-05-30

This tablet lives up to all expectations. The tablet mode is addicting, especially using the pen on the screen instead of the mouse.

Positives:
Hard disk is pre-partitioned into two 50-gb drives, which makes installing another OS easier.
Fingerprint recognition actually works!
Good assortment of card slots and buttons.
I like having the extra battery.

Negatives:
Sound quality is awful. There's only one tiny little speaker on the front grill.
The laptop runs hot.
Physically, it's thicker than expected- the new MacBook feels smaller.
Boot-up is a little slow.
Does not include alot of preinstalled software like Office or Works.
Power jack is in an inconvenient location with regards to closing the included screen cover.

All it is meant to be.......2006-02-07

This is my first tablet PC. I also own a Shuttle desktop that I spec'd out myself, a Sony Vaio laptop and and iMac. I wanted this tablet for notetaking on the fly and some other specialized applications, and I was attracted by the high-end features at a reasonable price.

I have owned the device for a month now, had it in daily use, and I have not been disappointed. First, I am finding many new uses for a tablet, like doing my Quicken finances--much easier when you can point to a cell and tap in the numbers.

The device itself--its case is plastic, but solid and good quality. The screen has the disadvantage of a fairly narrow viewing angle and compared to the Sony Vaio Xbrite, it is not spectacular, but still good. The sliding track mechanism works reliably and feels solid. It does limit the angle of use when in notebook configuration, though.

The fingerprint recognition works about 2 times out of 3. The screen does need to be recalibrated from time to time. And I find that Windows XP shutdown is sometimes slow--seems to delay closing Explorer.

That is it for the complaints though. The pen works great, eraser and all. The pen on paper feel is excellent. Bluetooth and wireless work flawlessly out of the box. The machine is really very quiet. Battery life--there are two batteries included, the lighter of which gives only about one and one-half hours, but the larger gives well over three in my experience. There are ports and connectors everywhere.

In short, this is not the Motion tablet, but for what it is, I believe it is an extraordinarily good value unless you plan to use it outdoors in direct sunlight or carry it in your hand all day long. I am very happy with my choice.

HP Pavilion dv1440us 14" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-R/RW and CD-RW Combo Drive)

Average customer rating:

Nice concept but fragile and HP support is terrible
Great Computer . . . While it lasted.
Great computer

HP Pavilion dv1440us 14" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-R/RW and CD-RW Combo Drive)

Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard Office
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

Notebooks | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics

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Notebook PC with widescreen 14-inch LCD and 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium M 760 processor (Centrino), 533 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache
100 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM (2 GB max), multi-format DVD/CD burner with dual-layer support
Three USB 2.0, one Firewire, one VGA, one S-Video, one PCMCIA, microphone, headphone, 6-in-1 memory card reader
10/100 Ethernet; 56K (V.90) modem, 54-Mbps wireless LAN (802.11b/g) with HSM/Speedbooster support; Bluetooth connectivity
Windows XP Home edition (Service Pack 2); HP Image Zone Plus

ASIN: B000BC2FV4

Product Description

Business is time and money. When deadlines need to be met and productivity is stretched, the added power of Pavilion DV1440US Notebook PC is there to help get the job done. Take it with you anywhere. It only weighs about 6 pounds with the battery installed. It's 802.11b 802.11g WiFi Wireless compatible to work virtually anywhere WiFi is applicable. Display - 14.0 WXGA High-Definition Definition BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 768) Display Network Card - Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector) WiFi Wireless Capable - Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 802.11B/G WLAN & Bluetooth 6-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader Reader* for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, SmartMedia or xD- Picturecard High speed 56k modem Altec Lansing audio Keyboard - 101-key compatible & 2 Quick Launch Buttons / Touchpad Pointing Device / HP QuickPlay Music and DVD buttons PC Card Slots - 1 Type I/II 32-bit card bus (also support 16-bit) External Notebook Ports - 3 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 / 1 headphone-out / 1 microphone-in / 1 VGA (15-pin) / 1 TV-Out (S-video) / 1 RJ-11 (modem) / RJ -45 (LAN) / 1 Expansion Port 2 / 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire (4-pin) / 1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver) Unit Dimensions - 13.15(L) x 9.24(W) x 1.18 (min H)/1.52 (max H) / Weight - 5.33 lbs lbs without battery installed Includes Li-ion rechargeable battery, US AC power adapter/charge (Note - notebook power supply is dual-volt for international use but plug adapters may be required for use out of the USA) / HP Mobile Remote Control / Mobile Stereo Earbud Headphones (1 pair) / Pre-installed Microsoft Windows XP Home Service Pack 2 / Pre-installed productivity and utility applications from HP; HP 1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty

Amazon.com Product Description

Access your digital audio library wherever you roam with the HP Pavilion dv1440us notebook PC, which weighs just over 5 pounds and comes with 100 GB of storage space. It features a widescreen, BrightView 14-inch display, which provides improved viewing in direct sunlight, and dedicated external media and menu control allow you to navigate your video and music files quickly and easily. Control playback settings from up to 10 feet away with the optional HP remote, then store it conveniently in the PC card slot. You'll keep the party going thanks to the battery-friendly 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium M 760 processor (Centrino). This notebook also features 1 GB of installed memory (2 GB maximum), built-in 54g wireless connectivity with 125 HSM/Speedbooster support, dual layer DVD+/-RW drive (which also burns CDs), multiformat memory card reader, and Bluetooth wireless capability (for connecting to compatible PDAs, cell phones, printers, and more).

The Basics

Hard Drive: The 100 GB hard drive (4200 RPM) is above average in size, and is befitting of such an entertainment-centric laptop. You'll be able to store a hefty digital audio library.
Processor: The 2.0 GHz Pentium M 760 (Centrino) processor is near the top of the speed spectrum for this processor class (October 2005). It is well equipped for office productivity software tasks, from complex spreadsheets to databases. The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max. It also has a large 2 MB L2 cache--which will help speed up your system's performance--and a 533 MHz front-side bus (FSB).
Memory: The 1024 MB (1 GB, PC2700, 333 MHz, 2 x 512 MB) of installed RAM is a great start, providing enough power for today's demanding multimedia and business productivity software. For immersive gaming and video editing, you'll want to take advantage of the roomy 2 GB of total RAM capacity (2 x 1 GB).
CD/DVD Drive: Offering the latest in DVD writing technology, this multiformat DVD/CD drive is compatible with both DVD+ and DVD- disc formats as well as dual-layer (DL) DVD+R discs, which can store up to 8.5 GB of data. It features 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD+/-RW, 2.4x DVD+R DL, 16x DVD-ROM, 40x CDR, 24x CD-RW, and 40x CD-ROM ROM speeds.
Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a 101-key keyboard and a touchpad with on/off button and dedicated vertical/horizontal Scroll Up/Down pad.

Screen, Graphics and Sound
While this notebook is actually as wide as standard 15-inch displays, the high-definition, widescreen 14-inch display (1280 x 768-pixel resolution) has the same form factor as a 12-inch screen--taking up less space on your desk. Video is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900, which uses Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) and provides up to 128 MB of shared video memory. The integrated audio card (Realtek ALC250) provides 16-bit stereo sound via the built-in stereo speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The dv1440us has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's fully compatible with 802.11b/g wireless networks. The 125 HSM/SpeedBooster support will enable it to be ready for tomorrow's 125 Mbps wireless LANs. You get a very good offering of connectivity options, which does include super-fast USB 2.0 and Firewire:

3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
1 VGA monitor port
1 S-Video port for connecting to a TV
1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II, 32-bit)
1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
1 Expansion Port 2 connector
1 IR receiver
6-in-1 Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Sticks, Memory Stick Pro, SmartMedia, and XD Picture Cards

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 operating system with Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. It also comes preloaded with Microsoft Works (for working with word processing and spreadsheet documents), Symantec Norton Antivirus 2005 (with 60 days of LiveUpdate), Encarta Encyclopedia 2005, Quicken New User Edition 2005, Microsoft Money 2005, RecordNow, WinDVD Player, Sonic DigitalMedia Plus, muvee AutoProducer, iTunes, and PC Doctor.

The included HP Image Zone Plus photo and imaging software makes it easy to organize, edit, share, print, protect, and store your photos and video clips. Organize and find your photos easily by timeline, keywords, and/or location using the unique photo-globe mapping tool. Remove red eye and fix other common problems. Share your photos quickly via e-mails that include thumbnails with links to the full-sized images--without downloading time-consuming attachments.

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook PC measures 13.15 x 9.24 x 1.52 inches and weighs 5.33 pounds.

Power
It's powered by a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which has a battery life of up to 3 hours (depending on usage). You'll get up to 8 hours of battery life with the optional 12-cell lithium-ion battery.

What's in the Box
This package contains the dv1440us notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase as well as technical telephone assistance for one year. Software is also covered for 90 days from date of purchase.

Customer Reviews:

Nice concept but fragile and HP support is terrible.......2006-03-06

If these machines would work consistently as promised they would be great. It's very fragile and best used as a small desk top.

Worse, if you have to deal with HP support, you will end up with a poor VOIP connection to India and may have support denied because HP tracks it's warranties based on when they sent the machine to the retailer, not when you bought it.

Even then HP support is, in a word, terrible.

Great Computer . . . While it lasted........2006-02-04

I finally bought this computer 4 months ago for college, after sampling and returning two different compaqs. Overall, I was very happy with it. I am not a gamer, but I had few problems with it. Occasionally the feature intended to run a DVD without turning on the hard drive (very handy) would freeze up, but other than that, wonderful! Good battery life, good graphics, nice screen, handy remote, pretty good speakers, nice keyboard, held up well when transported, and not too heavy. However, 4 months after purchase, it died. The monitor turned off in the middle of operation, and it would not turn back on for longer than 30 seconds. Still under factory warranty, I sent it in to Hp, but despite numerous phonecalls, no one even got back to me to give me a time estimate for its return for over two and a half weeks. Overall, I would recommend a more reliable brand of computer. (I had ZERO problems with my last laptop, a dell, in 3 years of heavy use.)

Great computer.......2006-01-24

I just purchased this computer and i really like it. The screen quality is excellent and the sound system is also above average for a laptop. I love the remote control feature for watching movies and dvd's. The only problem I have encountered in the week that I've had it is that sometimes it will freeze-up when I try to start a game or even when I start up the computer. I am really happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone.

Average customer rating:

Intel Pentium M processor 760 (2.0 GHz)

Manufacturer: IBM
ProductGroup: CE

Product Description

Intel Pentium M processor 760 (2.0 GHz)

Toshiba Satellite M65-S909 17" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)

Average customer rating:

keyboard terrible
Very nice but could have been designed better.

Toshiba Satellite M65-S909 17" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (Centrino), 1024 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)

Manufacturer: Toshiba
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

Categories Directory | Computers Features | Electronics

Notebooks | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics

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Product Features:

Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (2.0 GHz)
2MB L2 Cache
533MHz FSB
Built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Wireless Network Adapter

ASIN: B000BM5IK4

Product Description

Includes: 8-cell lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, & Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition. Toshiba M65-S909 Satellite Notebook Computer - With a 17" widescreen TruBrite LCD, and a DVD+- Dual Layer Drive, this notebook PC gives you a multimedia experience that's hard to beat. The wide display is perfect for DVD movies, as well as allowing you to more easily work on multiple documents simultaneously. The DVD SuperMulti drive supports 11 different formats. So in addition to watching DVDs, you can make your own! You can also listen and create audio CDs, backup large amounts of files and much more. 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM 100GB 5400RPM HDD DVD+-RW Dual Layer Combination Drive - CD Write Speed - 24 X (CD,CD-R), CD Rewrite Speed - 4 X (CD,CD-R), CD-ROM Read Speed - 24 X (CD,CD-R), DVD Write Speed - 8 X (DVD, DVD-R), DVD Rewrite Speed - 4 X (DVD, DVD-R), DVD+R DL Speed - 8 X (DVD, DVD-R), DVD-RAM Speed - 4 X (DVD, DVD-R), DVD-ROM Read Speed - 8 X (DVD, DVD-R) 17 Widescreen TruBrite TFT Active-Matrix LCD Native Resolution - 1440 x 900 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with up to 128MB of shared memory (memory is taken from the main systems' RAM) Up to 4 hours and 45 minutes of battery life per charge Ports - 1 10/100 Ethernet, 1 RGB VGA, 1 S-Video Out, 1 Firewire, 3 USB 2.0, 1 External Microphone Jack, & 1 Headphone Jack Unit Dimensions - 15.5 x 11 x 1.5 Unit Weight - approx. 7.8 lbs.

Customer Reviews:

keyboard terrible.......2006-01-29

We purchased two of these computers and they are both the same. The keyboards are very hard to use. You have to hold the fingers almost 90 degrees to get the keys to work. I end up typing a message and then have to go through and fill in all the letters that the keyboard did not type. I sent mine back and got a Fujitsu it is great

Very nice but could have been designed better........2005-12-23

I recently got this laptop through my company. These are the pros and cons as I see them so far.

Pros:
1. When you can get a laptop with a 17 inch display for $1,500.00, it's a great deal. My boss actually bought another laptop as well for another coworker.
2. Keyboard has a numeric keypad on the right.
3. The display as mentioned in #1 is crisp and clean versus my old laptop. I love it.
4. Most 17" laptops are bulky but this model weighs about 7 pounds and has a very thin or slim design which I like. I usually work with this all day on my lap while sitting on my recliner and find it to be comfortable.
5. I am programmer and had to do various upgrades to the OS and add other programs for my setup. This went well and the more intense applications I run have performed flawlessly so far. I view the task manager to see how much memory is being consumed and am pleasantly suprised by how low it is. I could run multiple instances of visual interdev for instance and it wouldn't be a problem. I haven't tried gaming with it but I believe it would perform very well.
6. It comes with a dvd burner that burns a cd/dvd very quickly. Faster than my desktop.

Cons:
1. The right shift key was made too small for the keyboard. It is exactly a third of the size of the left shift key. It becomes annoying in the beginning because you will find yourself hitting the up arrow rather than the shift key causing you to type on the line above. You will get used to it after a few days but it's always maddening when you find yourself on the wrong line. There is no keyboard mapping utility at this point in time to make the up arrow toggle to shift key or vice versa. Also, their arrow keys are rather small and well duplicated as they also appear in the numeric keypad. I called tech support and told them there engineering dept. should be shot for incompetence. Tech support's response was that they would try to improve this for future models which really made me mad. Fix the issue now not later.
2. Other keyboard keys are stiff. You will find yourself typing along and missing a character or two because you didn't press firmly down. I am guessing this is like breaking in a pair of new shoes eventually it will go away.
3. Battery life - it appears that this battery will only last about an hour and a half or so. Their tech support says four. But I say differently. Not too big a deal for me but can be for a road warrior. You will need to have multiple batteries with you. It's a big confusing as the title of this laptop does says Centrino in it which I assumed incorrectly applied to their battery. HP Pavillions would probably be the way to go as they do use Centrino batteries and have laptops similar to this model.
4. Does not come with the option of getting Windows XP Professional already installed. You will need to get Windows XP Professional with SP2 if you are programmer like me for IIS, etc. Toshiba does not support Windows XP Pro but I experienced no issues after doing my upgrade.
5. This laptop is basically is mostly bare bones with the applications that come with it. You will need serial numbers for outlook, microsoft office 2003, etc. If you don't have them, be prepared to spend more $$$.

Overall, I believe that this will be a great laptop for what I need it to do. I am already getting used to the shift key and believe I will eventually "break" in the keyboard. It's a very good laptop but just missed being an awesome laptop because of the above issues. Hope that helps people.

Acer TravelMate TM8104WLMI-XPP 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, Super-Multi Drive)

Average customer rating:

Acer TravelMate TM8104WLMI-XPP 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Pentium M Processor 760, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, Super-Multi Drive)

Manufacturer: Acer Computer
ProductGroup: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers

Acer | Brands | Electronics Features | Electronics

Servers | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics
Product Features:

Travelmate 8104WLMI Notebook, intel pentium M processor
2.0 ghz, 1 gig memory, 100 gig hard drive, super multi write plus dvd+-rw, 15.4" screen, ati radeon x700 138 meg video, 802.11b/g wireless lan
Windows XP Professional

ASIN: B000791D3M

Product Description

The TravelMate 8100 continues the legacy of the TravelMates 8000 and 800, each of which earned a PC Magazine Editors' Choice award. Everything about the TravelMate 8100 is designed to impress. From the power of the Intel Pentium M Processor to the elegance of the exclusive Acer Folio design. From the versatility of the integrated 5-in-1 card reader to the flexibility of the modular Super-Multi drive.

Electronics:

Electronics

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