The Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 offers a vivid 15.4" WXGA display and Intel Centrino processor technology. The L300 has all the essentials for business users in its simplistic yet functional design. Let's take a closer a look and see if the Satellite Pro really stands up to the competition. Our Toshiba review unit had the following specifications: Build and Design The Satellite Pro L300 has a very simple design. It has that sleek business appearance with its silver lid and black keyboard. You don't get any glossy imprint finishes with the L300. Don't let the plain looks fool you though, it still is very functional. The chassis is solid and the overall design didn't feel cheap. It does feel heavy for my standards, but I am used to smaller Tablet PCs. Weighing in about 5.7lbs is usually average for a 15.4-inch notebook. The L300 hides dirt well, but you can start to see some scratches from normal wear and tear. The plastic design seemed durable and didn't show any signs of flex. The hinge was even stiff and the screen stayed in place. The L300 comes with a good array of features for the price, but to me seems like an awkward sized notebook for business use, unless it stayed in your office. Display The 15.4" WXGA (1280x800) screen on the Satellite Pro L300 is above average. The colors are bright and vivid. The screen didn't have any problems or defects. The backlighting was fine in an office setting and easy to read. I didn't notice any signs of blacklight bleed through except for a tiny bit on the bottom by the taskbar. The colors looked good at all angles and that is why I rated the screen as good. I didn't have a problem at any viewing angle. The only problem I had was when the screen was tilted all the way back the colors were distorted, but who uses their screen like this anyway. Keyboard and Touchpad The keyboard on the L300 is solid and didn't show any signs of flex, no matter how hard you typed. The keys have a nice response and are easy to read. The spacebar is a little smaller than I would like, but it's not the end of the world. The keys even have a durable textured feel to them. I didn't feel cramped when typing at all. The keyboard is the perfect size and the palm rest is comfortable to rest your hands on. I am used to typing on tablets, so I enjoyed having the extra keyboard room. The touchpad is average. I like that it is indented into the palm rests because your finger never slips off. I mean you could use this touchpad with your eyes closed ... well, you know what I mean. The only problem was it was kind of slow when navigating and I couldn't change the responsiveness like on a mouse. The right and left click buttons worked fine as well. Performance The Satellite Pro L300 didn't have any problems running multiple programs or multi-tasking jobs with its Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz processor and 160GB hard drive. I could check email, open documents and surf the Web without any lag. The benchmarks are average and overall the L300 did good on its PCMark05 score compared to other notebooks in the same category. I am sure the fact it is running Windows XP instead of Vista helps out this business savvy notebook as well. wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. (Lower numbers mean better performance.) 3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores mean better performance): HDTune measures the performance of the notebook's hard drive in terms of both transfer rate (read/write speed) and access time (how long it takes to find data stored on the drive): Audio The speakers on the Satellite Pro L300 aren't the best, but remember this notebook is targeted toward business use and it's not an entertainment or gaming notebook. The speakers are located under the screen of the notebook by the hinge. Music sounds fine when played at normal levels, but the louder it gets the more distorted it becomes. My recommendation is to to use your trusty headphones when working and listening to music or watching videos. The volume dial on the front side is a convenient feature too, this way you don't annoy your office mates. Ports and Features Port selection was average for a notebook of this size, it would have been nice to see S-Video or HDMI. Overall you get the basics with your optical drive and three USB ports, just what the business professional needs. You get the choice to work or watch movies on that long flight. Front: Wireless on/off, SDCard slot, microphone and headphone, volume dial Left: VGA-15pin, Ethernet, two USB ports, ExpressCard Slot Right: One USB port, optical drive, power jack Rear: Modem, screen hinge Underneath: Fan, battery Battery Life With the screen brightness set to 50 percent, wireless enabled, and the power profile set to Toshiba's Power Saver the L300 managed 3 hours and 45 minutes before I had to plug it in. If you adjust the power settings and put the notebook in Max Power, you will only get a little more than two hours though. I would consider getting a extended battery for longer computing times, especially if you travel. Heat and Noise I didn't have any problems with heat on the L300. I never noticed it getting hot or even warm for that matter. All sections of the notebook were comfortable to hold and the keyboard was always cool enough to type on or rest you hands on. Even when running the benchmarks the notebook stayed under 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it detected a little warm up the fan would kick on. The noise issue was the same way, barely there. The L300 ran quiet almost the entire time, except for the occasional whisper when the fan would kick on. The only other noise came from using the optical drive, which is normal. You could use the L300 in a library and it wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. Conclusion The Satellite Pro L300 is a business savvy notebook. It doesn't have a glossy finish or any special features to make it stand out. What you see is what you get: a minimalistic, yet very functional notebook at a good price. The L300 comes with a good variety of ports, has a nice screen and a great keyboard. It is a little heavy and big to be a traveling companion in my opinion, but many business users like to watch movies or presentations while traveling and the 15.4" screen does it justice. Performance wise it gets the job done as well, I wouldn't expect to be gaming on the L300 much though.
Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-EZ1005X 
Newegg.com | $899.99
TigerDirect.com | $1,009.99
Beach Camera | $934.00
Amazon.com | $937.00
Buydig.com | $934.00
view detailed pricing from 16 stores starting at $856.00
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(view large image)Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 42.017s Toshiba Satellite A305D (Turion X2 TL-64 @ 2.2GHz) 37.220s Toshiba Satellite A305 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 36.442s Asus M51S (Core 2 Duo T5550 @ 1.83GHz) 46.293s Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz) 50.184s HP Pavilion dv6700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz) 50.480s Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 43.569s Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.485s Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 41.908s Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz) 58.233s Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 38.343s Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.299s HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 40.965s Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz) 76.240s Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 42.385s Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.705s Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz) 38.327s Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz) 38.720s Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz) 42.218s Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz) 42.947s Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz) 44.922s Zepto Znote 6224W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz) 45.788s Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz) 46.274s Notebook 3DMark06 Score Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 (2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100, Intel X3100) 385 3DMarks Toshiba Satellite A305D (2.2GHz AMD Turion X2 TL-64, ATI 1250) 271 3DMarks Toshiba Satellite A305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, ATI Radeon 3650 512MB) 3,810 3DMarks Asus M51S (1.83GHz Intel T5550, Nvidia 9500M GS 512MB) 3,749 3DMarks Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Intel X3100) 543 3DMarks HP Pavilion dv6700t (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Nvidia 8400M GS 256MB) 1,556 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 545 3DMarks Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100) 504 3DMarks Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 4,332 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 2,905 3DMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,408 3DMarks Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU) 1,069 3DMarks Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB) 2,344 3DMarks Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB 2,183 3DMarks Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB) 2,144 3DMarks Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB) 1,831 3DMarks Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB) 1,819 3DMarks HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 827 3DMarks
PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores mean better performance):Notebook PCMark05 Score Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 (2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100, Intel X3100) 3,398 PCMarks Toshiba Satellite A305D (2.2GHz AMD Turion X2 TL-64, ATI 1250) 3,510 PCMarks Toshiba Satellite A305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, ATI Radeon 3650 512MB) 5,622 PCMarks Asus M51S (1.83GHz Intel T5550, Nvidia 9500M GS 512MB) 4,649 PCMarks Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Intel X3100) 3,749 PCMarks HP Pavilion dv6700t (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Nvidia 8400M GS 256MB) 3,386 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 4,149 PCMarks Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 5,412 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 4,616 PCMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 4,591 PCMarks Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100) 3,283 PCMarks Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 4,153 PCMarks Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 3,987 PCMarks Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB) 4,189 PCMarks HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 4,234 PCMarks Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400) 3,487 PCMarks Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX) 5,597 PCMarks Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400) 3,637 PCMarks Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400) 3,646 PCMarks 
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(view large image)Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-EZ1005X Newegg.com | $899.99
TigerDirect.com | $1,009.99
Beach Camera | $934.00
Amazon.com | $937.00
Buydig.com | $934.00
view detailed pricing from 16 stores starting at $856.00
(source http://www.notebookreview.com)
Toshiba Satellite Pro L300
Toshiba Satellite Pro U400
The Satellite Pro U400 is the business version of the more consumer oriented Satellite U405. This 13.3" notebook gives business users or standard consumers another notebook option if they really like the size and features of the Satellite U405, but don't want the "Look at Me!" glossy finish. Feature wise you can configure each notebook the same, with the exception of Windows XP being exclusive to the business notebook. Read on to see what we think of this business counterpart to the consumer U405. Our Toshiba U400 review unit had the following specifications: Build and Design The U400's stylish design features a 2-tone color scheme of matte silver on black. Many of the traditionally-square notebook features have been softened with round edges. The overall style is carried onto the keyboard and touchpad areas with both reflecting the shape of the notebook itself. Once the factory stickers are removed from the palmrest areas, the notebook's design blends into a cohesive whole. The plastic case of the notebook is fairly durable, with no squeaks or creaks when carrying it around. Some flex is present on vast open areas like the screen cover or palmrest, but it is pretty minor unless you always find yourself giving your notebook a death grip. The left edge of the palmrest above the ExpressCard slot is probably the worst point of flex on the entire notebook, since it has no bracing unless a card is inserted. I feel that the matte paint on the Satellite Pro doesn't hold up quite as well as the Fusion finish on the consumer Satellite series. After a week or so of testing, the notebook is already showing some scuffs around the corners from my backpack and sliding around my desk. With the Fusion finish notebook, it is hard to find a small scratch, let alone an entire scuffed edge. I figure I have just been spoiled with the newer glossy textures which hold up to abrasion much better than anything found on prior notebooks. Display The 13.3" WXGA screen found on the Toshiba Satellite Pro U400 rates average, and came with no problems or defects. The screen was dead/stuck pixel free during our review period, and was sealed well enough to prevent any major backlight leakage. The screen backlight was powerful enough to allow comfortable viewing in an office setting with as low as 40-50% backlight brightness level. The backlight levels were even throughout the screen, without any backlight bleed showing through, even on the lower edge of the taskbar. Color reproduction was good when screen was tilted in its optimum viewing range, but if you moved outside of that area colors would quickly invert or distort. The poor viewing range was the main cause of me giving this screen an average rating instead of above average. Keyboard and Touchpad The keyboard found on the Satellite Pro U400 was very good for a notebook of this size. The keyboard stayed in place while typing, even under heavy pressure. Very little sagging was present during our testing, although the left side did have a smidgen more movement than the right side. Typing on the keyboard is very comfortable, with plenty of space to make the keyboard feel anything but cramped. Key size was perfect, with good throw lengths and smooth action. Typing noise was low, and you could get away with secret ninja typing if you were careful. The touchpad rated average with accurate finger tracking use, but lacked many customization features I have come to expect from touchpad utilities. Although the touchpad was a Synaptics model, the menus did not allow for any adjustment for sensitivity, scrolling, or additional functions. The lack of scrolling was my biggest complaint, since no notebook on the market right now lacks that ability. The touchpad buttons were smooth and easy to trigger, with a shallow and soft click when pressed. Performance The Toshiba Satellite U400 comes in only two versions at the time of this writing; one with XP, one with Vista. Both of these configurations offer the same spec sheet, including 1GB of RAM, 2.1GHz T8100 Intel processor, and Intel X3100 graphics. In our testing, the consumer U405 running Vista always outperformed the business U400 in every category, and it only had the edge of more RAM. wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. Lower scores indicate better performance. 3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores indicate better gaming performance): Audio Speaker performance on the little Satellite Pro U400 is rather weak, with really dinky speakers located in front of the screen hinges. They work well for mild music listening or system notifications, but lack all low and midrange audio. The better alternative choice is using a nice pair of headphones and the headphone jack. That way you can listen to music or movies as loud as you want, while not annoying those around you too much (singing excluded). Ports and Features Port selection was about average for a notebook of this size, although it would have been nice to see S-Video or HDMI. Toshiba teased us with a blank HDMI port location, possibly hinting at a future model that offers it, perhaps with dedicated graphics as well. Left: VGA, CPU Exhaust, 2 USB, Firewire, ExpressCard/54, Headphone/Mic With the screen brightness set to 50%, wireless enabled, and the power profile set to normal the U400 managed 3 hours and 32 minutes before it shut down. This was a good 15 minutes below the Vista equipped U405 we reviewed, but still respectable for a standard battery. Toshiba does offer a larger 9 cell 7200mAh extended battery, which should easily get the notebook to or above the 5 hour mark. Heat and Noise Thermal performance was above average, with the notebook running cool and quiet the majority of the time. During normal activity the only part of the system you could hear was the hard drive. When the notebook got hot enough to turn on the fan, noise was minimal, and around whisper levels. The notebook was fairly cool externally, with the only mild hotspot being the touchpad. While the sides of the palmrest were mid 80's after a couple of hours being on, the touchpad warmed up to 99F. With room temperature at 74F, the notebook was very comfortable to hold and operate. Below is the thermal overlay showing temperatures of the front and bottom of the notebook. Conclusion The Toshiba Satellite U400 gives business users a solid feature list and moderate performance, but did not do as well as the nearly identical configured Satellite U405 we previously reviewed using Vista instead of XP. Performance across the board was less in every test we performed, with the only configuration difference between increased RAM on the Vista model. The other downside to this configuration is the paint finish which doesn't hold up as well as the Fusion finish on the consumer line, evident by the scuff marks already found on our review sample. If you were looking to purchase this notebook, I might direct you to a Vista configuration of the business U400, or the consumer U405 entirely for the better Fusion finish.Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite Pro U400-S1001X - Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1 GHz - 13.3 
Buydig.com | $989.00
Beach Camera | $989.00
Newegg.com | $999.99
view detailed pricing from 15 stores starting at $947.00
100.0% of people recommend this product - view 1 opinion | rate product
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Graphics performance was limited with the Intel X3100 integrated graphics, nixing all my hopes of running Crysis on the 13.3" notebook. One surprising bit that came up under testing was how poorly the XP version of this notebook performed compared to the U405 running Vista, and only difference being more RAM. Our wPrime score was 8% slower, PCMark05 score was 36% slower, and even the 3DMark06 score was 37% slower. Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time Toshiba Satellite U400 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 40.499s Toshiba Satellite U405 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 37.500s Dell Vostro 1310 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 37.736s Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 43.569s Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.485s Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 41.908s Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz) 58.233s Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 38.343s Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.299s HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 40.965s Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 42.385s Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.705s Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz) 42.218s Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz) 42.947s Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz) 44.922s Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz) 46.274s Notebook 3DMark06 Score Toshiba Satellite U400 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 394 3DMarks Toshiba Satellite U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 539 3DMarks Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB) 1,679 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 545 3DMarks Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100) 504 3DMarks Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 4,332 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 2,905 3DMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,408 3DMarks Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU) 1,069 3DMarks Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB) 2,344 3DMarks Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB 2,183 3DMarks Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB) 2,144 3DMarks Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB) 1,831 3DMarks Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB) 1,819 3DMarks HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 827 3DMarks
PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores indicate better performance):Notebook PCMark05 Score Toshiba Satellite U400 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 3,052 PCMarks Toshiba Satellite U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 4,145 PCMarks Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB) 4,813 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 4,149 PCMarks Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 5,412 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 4,616 PCMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 4,591 PCMarks Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 4,153 PCMarks Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 3,987 PCMarks Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB) 4,189 PCMarks HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 4,234 PCMarks Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400) 3,487 PCMarks Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX) 5,597 PCMarks Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400) 3,637 PCMarks Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400) 3,646 PCMarks
HDTune measures the performance of the notebook's hard drive in terms of both transfer rate (read/write speed) and access time (how long it takes to find data stored on the drive):
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Right: Optical Drive, 1 USB, Modem, LAN, Kensington Lock Slot
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Front: 5-1 Media Reader, Volume Control Knob, Wireless On/Off
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Rear: Screen Hinge
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Battery Life
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(view large image)Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite Pro U400-S1001X - Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1 GHz - 13.3 Buydig.com | $989.00
Beach Camera | $989.00
Newegg.com | $999.99
view detailed pricing from 15 stores starting at $947.00
100.0% of people recommend this product - view 1 opinion | rate product
(source http://www.notebookreview.com)
Toshiba Satellite P305D
The new Satellite P305D is the latest 17-inch notebook out of Toshiba, offering the new Fusion finish. This notebook is a complete redesign of the older P205D, and gave the much needed updates that made the older notebook feel very outdated. The P305D also shares much with the slightly smaller 15-inch A305D, looking almost identical besides a few larger parts. Read on to see how well this notebook compares to its smaller siblings as well as other 17-inch notebooks. Our Toshiba P305D review unit had the following specifications: Build and Design The first thing you will notice about the Satellite P305D is every part of this notebook is glossy, from the screen cover, to the palm rest, and even the keyboard keys. Toshiba is really showing off their new durable Fusion finish on every part of the notebook that they can, and in some ways it is a very good thing. Durability is a big thing with notebook finishes, as many glossy finishes will dull and scratch over time. The new Toshiba Fusion finish on this laptop is incredibly durable, and has yet to actually scratch throughout my testing. With multiple trips in my backpack, I can't find any visible scuffs on the cover, where other notebooks would show fine scratches almost out of the wrapper. So what does this Fusion finish mean to you? Your keys will not go from matte to glossy over time as they wear down (they are already glossy). Every part of the notebook will get full of smudges and fingerprints, but you can always wipe it down in a couple of minutes to make it look brand new. On other notebooks you get all the smudges, but it would take some hard work with some plastic polish before you ever got it looking new again. Build quality is excellent in most areas, giving the notebook a very solid feel. Squeaks and creaks are not present, and panel flex is at a minimum. The notebook did have one minor flaw though; just like the A305 and A305D, the P305D has rough edges around the screen frame where the two plastic pieces meet. If you can get past that (I don't see why not) you will love this notebook. Body Changes The new Satellite P305D changes quite a bit of its design, while still retaining some resemblance of its older P205D brother. The biggest change is the use of the new durable Fusion finish, which can be found on practically every surface of the notebook, from the top cover to the individual keyboard keys. Unlike the older glossy surface that would scuff with minimal effort, the Fusion finish holds up very well, and I have yet to find any fine scratches or other wear on it. The keyboard and surrounding area has changed quite a bit form the older P205D, including touch sensitive multimedia keys, which are very common on most new notebooks. Another change is the flush touchpad area, which is surprisingly slick with its textured surface. It is almost too easy to slide your finger around on it, and slip off onto the palm rest. The touchpad buttons have also changed quite a bit, going from rectangular slabs to chromed ovals which are easier to trigger, as well as being more comfortable to use. Display The display on the P305D uses a WXGA+ glossy LCD panel, which rates about average. Vertical viewing angles are limited, with a very narrow range that gives you an optimal image. This means that if the screen is tilted slightly forward or back, the image shown goes dark and inverted or light and washed out. Even in the "sweet spot" you still have the top edge that is darker and the bottom edge that is started to get washed out. Horizontal viewing angles were much better, giving a wide enough angle that would give people sitting next to you a clear and mostly crisp view of the screen. Screen backlight brightness was more than adequate, with my preferred brightness setting in an office environment being 75%-80%. At home or darker settings I had it around 40%-50% brightness. Backlight bleed was minimal if at all noticeable. Backlight brightness across the screen was great, with no noticeable uneven portions. Keyboard and Touchpad The keyboard found on the P305D is very similar to the A305, just wider. With the real estate of a 17-inch notebook, they were able to fit a full-size number pad to the right of the keyboard. The keyboard surface is glossy, which goes perfectly with the Fusion finish of the rest of the notebook. I found typing to be very comfortable on this keyboard, but there was a bit of a learning curve getting used to sliding your fingertips around on the glossy texture. Key spacing was excellent, and individual key presses were soft and had just the right amount of throw. The touchpad surface on the P305D could be best described as soft and slippery sandpaper. It has a semi-rough texture that feels different from any other touchpad I have used, and it lets you finger glide over it with ease under many conditions. Whether your finger is dry from the start, or starting to sweat after hours of use the touchpad still lets your finger glide along without resistance. The large touchpad buttons are located right under the touchpad and impossible to miss. While they are rigid plastic, they feel very soft with the graceful rounded shape. Even after hours of using the notebook, they are still comfortable to click. Performance The Toshiba P305D comes loaded with the AMD Turion TL-62 2.1GHz processor, and the ATI X1250 integrated graphics. For most activities this combination handles itself quite well, including office productivity applications or watching movies. Gameplay is out of the question without dedicated graphics, which is reflected on its 3D benchmarking score. For standard use and abuse, this computer handles itself quite well, and if you can get past the lack of gaming would work for 99 percent of the users out there. WPrime 32M comparison results WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance. PCMark05 represents the overall system performance of a notebook. Higher numbers indicate better performance. 3DMark06 represents the overall graphics performance of a notebook. Higher numbers indicate better performance. HDTune results: Audio The speakers on the Toshiba P305D were nothing short of amazing. Even while lacking a subwoofer, the speakers were more than capable of reproducing more bass than many systems I have heard that had a dedicated subwoofer. The speakers look very similar to the ones found on the A305, but as you can see, they are quite a bit larger in size. For private listening, the headphone jack works great for static free audio. Ports and Features The AMD-based Toshiba P305D has the same port lineup as the smaller 15.4" A305D. I would have enjoyed seeing more than four USB ports with the added space around the edges, but overall it was still more than adequate. One feature that is worth mentioning even though most won't take advantage of it is the additional hard drive bay. Even though this notebook does not include the second drive, it leaves the SATA connector in place for those wanting to expand their storage capacity at a later point in time. All that is needed to use this bay is a cheap drive caddy to secure the drive in place. Left: VGA, CPU Exhaust, S-Video, LAN, two USB ports, Firewire, ExpressCard/54 Right: Two USB ports, Modem, Optical Bay, AC Power, Kensington Lock slot Front: Wireless On/Off, 5-in-1 Card Reader, Headphone/Mic, Volume Knob Rear: Nothing, all hinge Heat and Noise Fan noise was minimal under normal use with the P305D, but it did become more vocal under stress. Peak fan noise was far from being unbearable, but it would still be noticeable to those around you. Notebook temperatures were kept under control very well. The top surface overall was warmer than the bottom, and since that side goes on your lap, that is fine by me. The hottest point as you can see by the heat overlays below was the touchpad. Battery The P305D with 6 cell battery managed 2 hours and 15 minutes using the Windows Vista "Balanced" power profile, with the backlight set to 70% and the wireless connection enabled. Toshiba does offer a larger 9 cell battery which should get users well over the 3 hour mark. Conclusion The Toshiba Satellite P305D is a great update from the older P205D notebook, giving buyers a much nicer notebook for the price, as well as a few new perks like the awesome Fusion finish. The fit and finish are excellent, and with features such as the excellent Harmon/Kardon speakers or flush mounted touchpad, users get a lot for their money. While the budget price of $899 for the Toshiba P305D can be tempting, I would highly suggest users try to pinch together another $50-$100 to step up to the Intel-based P305, which offers users a dedicated graphics card, larger hard drive, and a few other goodies that help make the P305 notebook a much better machine. I have nothing against AMD processors, but when they are artificially crippled with low-end hardware (integrated graphics), a user would have no choice but upgrade to the Intel version to get the performance they want. I really love the layout, solid build quality, and features of this notebook, but when only a minor price bump gets you a notebook that can play modern games, it would be wrong not to point you in that direction.
Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite P305D-S8818 
Beach Camera | $799.00
Amazon.com | $799.99
Buydig.com | $799.00
Newegg.com | $949.99
view detailed pricing from 4 stores starting at $799.00
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(view large image) Notebook Time Toshiba Satellite P305D (2.1GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62, Windows Vista) 38.049s Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, Windows Vista) 39.732s Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, Windows Vista) 30.359s Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, Windows Vista) 31.108s Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Windows Vista) 42.085s Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7400@ 2.16GHz, Windows XP) 41.40s HP dv6000z (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.00GHz, Windows Vista) 38.913s Sager 9260 (Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E6700@ 2.66GHz, Windows XP ) 33.718s Dell Precision M70 (Intel Pentium-M 780 @ 2.26GHz, Windows XP) 78.992s
PCMark05 comparison results:Notebook PCMark05 Score Toshiba Satellite P305D (2.1GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62, ATI Radeon X1250) 3,366 PCMarks Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, ATI Radeon X1250) 3,305 PCMarks Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, NVIDIA Go 8800M GTS) 7,749 PCMarks Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT) 5,865 PCMarks Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT) 5,261 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1720 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT) 5,377 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 4,925 PCMarks Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 3,377 PCMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 4,591 PCMarks Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 4,153 PCMarks Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 3,987 PCMarks Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB) 4,189 PCMarks Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400) 3,487 PCMarks Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX) 5,597 PCMarks
3DMark06 comparison results:Notebook 3DMark06 Score Toshiba Satellite P305D (2.1GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62, ATI Radeon X1250) 308 3DMarks Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, ATI Radeon X1250) 301 3DMarks Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, NVIDIA Go 8800M GTS) 8,801 3DMarks Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT) 3,775 3DMarks Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT) 2,934 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1720 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT) 2,930 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,329 3DMarks Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 532 3DMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,408 3DMarks Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB) 2,344 3DMarks Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB 2,183 3DMarks Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66 Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB) 2,144 3DMarks Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB) 1,819 3DMarks HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 827 3DMarks Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400) 794 3DMarks 
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(view large image)Buying Choices for the Toshiba Satellite P305D-S8818 Beach Camera | $799.00
Amazon.com | $799.99
Buydig.com | $799.00
Newegg.com | $949.99
view detailed pricing from 4 stores starting at $799.00
(source http://www.notebookreview.com)
