Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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than 3 years old and notebook makers like CPQ/HP should keep up with the rest of the industry instead of pushing an outdated technology.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

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

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

Alot of people have recomended the sony laptop saying that its the best brand, but I think that the Toshiba A45-S121 Notebook which has a 40 GB hard drive is better. Its the fastest its less expensive and more cost efficient.
Its more reliable especially when your online it doesn't freeze up or take up to much time when loading a page.It has a 15 inch lcd screen high resolution screen 1024 by 768 and it has a built in dvd and cd\rw drive so you can download and copy music files and programes and games etc, on cd.
The Port is a USB 2.0 and is four times faster than the regular port.
It's very useful especialy for programes like word processor, excell or Abode photoshop cs used for graphic designing so its for the work place, but it cannot be used for games because it doesn't support a high resolution graphics or 3d engine although some older games might work.

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

I own this puppy since 2005, and it never quit on me.
You've got to know I travel a lot with it: air by plain, helicopter; sea by all kinds of boats, ships, tankers, you name it...
In 2005 I bought it for the sale price at $700, thinking that the Life Expectancy of a Notebook (in my job) would be maximum TWO years!...
I since upgraded the RAM (1GB), HDD (80GB), and OS (XP-Pro-SP2), and this baby never quit on me!
I dropped it, I abused it, it was BADLY handled, I almost got bored with it, I wanted a new laptop!
But it keeps on working (fast) and I see no reason to buy another one because this thing keeps on booting and working hard, again, and again!
Help me find a better laptop... (I am writing this on my baby, my expensive desktop PC just quit on me!)...

I bought my Toshiba A45-S121 in December 2004, and within a month upgraded the hard disk to 100 Gb, and decided to go all the way with 2 Gb of RAM. With both upgrades installed, this laptop performs flawlessly, without a single complain running intensive CPU and 3D applications, like 3D Studio Max, Lightwave 3D and e-Frontier Poser.

In my personal setting, I use in the road my A45 with 2 external USB drives (160 Gb each) and a trackball, getting 2 hours of battery life (up to 3 without them). The machine is easily serviceable by the user (adding memory modules, changing the hard disk and cleaning the CPU heatsink requires just a few minutes), and there's the possibility to replace or upgrade the CPU by yourself.

The contrast in the screen might be my only complain, but then again this is a bussiness-oriented machine, rather than a gaming PC. The battery life you can get is simply outstanding, because of the synergy between the low power consumption CPU and LCD screen. Expect no less than 2 hours of battery in most conditions.

In my experience, this is a VERY reliable laptop, and with the proper upgrades (cheap ones) it can outperform more expensive systems with ease.

I just finished the installation of Suse Linux 9.1 Professional from a DVD (just paid $10 bundled with the December/ 04 edition of Linux PRO magazine) on my Toshiba Satellite A45-S121 laptop,here are the main specs for the laptop:Intel Celeron 2800 Mhz , upgraded 496 MB of memory, 40 GB HDD, Teac DVD/CD-RW Combo drive, integrated Intel 82852/82855 32 MB graphics adapter, Toshiba software modem, SoundMAX integrated audio, Intel PRO/100 Ethernet controller, 1024X768@60 Hz native LCD screen resolution, ALPS Electric touchpad, 4 USB 1.1 Ports, one Parallel port and a VGA output.During the intallation the Intel integrated video was recognized as an Intel 852 GM with no problems as well as the audio as a Toshiba 82801DB AC'97 audio device, to my surprise the winmodem was recognized as a Toshiba 82801DB but was not configured by default, I did configured it at a later time using YaST2 with the included Smart-link modem driver that is not installed by default, the modem is working flawlessly at /dev/ttySL0 using Kinternet in KDE. The Intel PRO/100 Ethernet controler was properly recognized and configured as a Toshiba 82801DB PRO/100 VE controller, however, I have not tested a high speed internet connection at this time.The LCD screen was configured as a VESA 800X600 resolution which I later changed using SaX2 to a LCD at 1024X768@60 Hz, the scroll section on the touchpad does not work. I downloaded and installed the Firefox 1.0 web browser, as well as many security patches from Suse using the "online update" feature in YaST2. Overall this is a decent, quiet and very reliable computer at a good price.Peace.