Toshiba Satellite 1905-S277 Laptop (1.6-GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive)

by Toshiba

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 13.2 x 2 inches ; 8.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000063S43
• Item model number: 1905-S277
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 4, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

At 13.2 by 11.7 by 2 inches, the Toshiba Satellite 1905-S277 is not the smallest notebook on the market. Nor is it exactly a featherweight at 8.3 pounds. Nevertheless, if you can handle a little extra size, you'll like its winning combination of affordability and performance.

Driven by a powerful 1.6 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with a 400 MHz bus and 256 KB of Level 2 cache for speedy data retrieval and movement, the 1905-S277 is an exceedingly fast machine. It's efficient too, with lots of temporary data storage space (256 MB of SDRAM memory, upgradeable to 512 MB), an adequate 30 GB hard drive, and a combination DVD/CD-RW drive that lets you record music and data CDs and play your favorite tunes or movies. Toshiba has even added a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive for all your smaller, older applications or quick backup needs. Hard-core gamers should note that the unit is equipped with a 16 MB ATI Mobility Radeon AGP video card, which provides more than enough graphic processing power for most general applications but probably not enough for high-end, 3-D games.

Although it may be somewhat larger than Toshiba's top-of-the-line Satellite notebook, the exceptional 5105-S607, the 1905-S277 offers the same futuristic blue-gray metallic casing and a slick, curvy design. Both units also feature several exterior one-touch multimedia controls, a number of convenient interior hot keys, and a wealth of ports, including two multipurpose PC card slots, three USB ports for plug-and-play peripherals, a parallel printer port, and an S-video out. A 10/100 Mbps Ethernet network connection and integrated 56K modem ensure connectivity in any situation.

To better help you enjoy your multimedia applications, the 1905-S277 offers a big 15-inch, active-matrix viewing screen capable of 1,024 x 768 resolution, and an integrated set of stereo speakers. Toshiba has equipped the unit with a bevy of applications, including the Home Edition of Windows XP, Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition, Intuit Quicken Basic 2001, and Norton AntiVirus 2002.

Product Description

Stay on top of all of your work as well as all the new movies with this Toshiba 1905S277 laptop. This laptop features a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, so not only can you create your own CDs, but you can also watch movies even on the go. The big 15M-^RM-^R XGA TFT display makes viewing much easier. And when it is time to do some work, you can rely on the 1.6GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 processor with a 30GB Ultra DMA hard drive and 256MB SDRAM to help you get everything done in no time.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A laptop with a desktop CPU., May 15, 2002

By 

Dave (Portland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Toshiba Satellite 1905-S277 Laptop (1.6-GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

Toshiba and other laptop vendors are using desktop P4s in many of their notebook computers and this has led to some misunderstandings (Amazon should be more upfront about this). This particular model uses an older "Willamette" P4 that was designed for desktop use. There is also some bad information in some of the reviews that have been posted. Hopefully this may help:

There are two families of P4s. One is the older, larger (.18 micron) "Willamette" core, which has 256K of L2 cache and is designed to be used in desktops. The newer "Northwood" core (.13 micron) has 512K of L2 cache and comes in two sub-types: desktop and mobile. If the frequency is equal then the Northwood will be about 10% faster than the Willamette. In other words if a 2GHz Willamette takes 10 minutes to do something a 2GHz Northwood will (on average) do it in 9 minutes. Some applications will see as much as a 30% improvement thanks to the larger cache an other enhancements in the .13 Northwood core.

If a laptop has a mobile P4, the CPU should be identified as a P4M. The P4M is *only* built on the .13 micron "Northwood" core and so will *always* have 512K of L2 cache. If you aren't sure check the web site of the manufacturer (a good idea anyway to see how their web support looks).

A P4M cost more than a desktop P4. The main reasons are the packaging is more expensive (to dissipate heat better) and the voltage of the CPU is lower to save power and reduce heat (low voltage parts must meet stricter manufacturing standards).

Toshiba is using the desktop P4 in notebooks so they can sell a fast laptop for less money (saves around $200). The plus is you save money too. The down side is your battery life is shorter and the laptop will be larger and heavier to support the extra cooling requirements.

Myth: The desktop part may "burn up".
Fact: Impossible. The P4 and P4M are the ONLY CPUs on the market that will reduce their clocks speed before they overheat (called "clock throttling") and speed back up when they cool down. Even if your heat sink fell off the P4 or P4M will still function. If this happened to a PIII it will stop and require a reboot and an Athlon will catch fire.
(Go to http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q3/010917/index.html for more info on over-heating CPUs and see a video of an Athlon catching fire! Fun stuff!)

Myth: The PIII is "more reliable" than the P4.
Fact: The P4 was built to the stricter reliability rules than the PIII (or Athlon). New methods were used to eliminate the risk of electro-migration and hot electron failures. No other consumer CPU has been built any where near this standard. The down side is the P4 cost more. The PIII also has fewer transistors and therefore uses less power. You should balance your choice with that in mind.

Myth: Wait for the P4 Xeon this fall.
Fact: The P4 Xeon is a server part that will never go in laptop (it uses a larger package for starters). The P4 Xeon has been shipping for a year so if you wait for this fall you might feel a little foolish. :>)

I have even seen reviewers say future P4s will support a GPS. Um, the CPU has nothing to do with having a GPS. A GPS is an add-on part just like a modem or a hard drive; any CPU will support one.

57 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More information on this notebook!, April 9, 2002

By 

124uL "Raultimate" (Panama, Panama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba Satellite 1905-S277 Laptop (1.6-GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

...I'll just point out several things:

The Pentium Xeon Processor is out in the market already(3 years now), and its intended for robust platforms. The Xeon family ofprocessors is optimized for server operation and has no market for the portable or desktop environment...

The second thing I would like to mention is that the Pentium 4 processor is intended to work with 512 MB. Why do they sell it with 256? Well, minimum requirements. I guess that's how the economy works. That's why you may have considered that the performance is lower than the Pentium III. Furthermore, I would like to know exactly in what operating system has the other reviewer actually tested the two processors to reach this conclusion. The operating system is the one that makes better use of the new processor's features. The notebook is offered with Windows XP Home or Professional. As a Microsoft Certified System Engineer on NT and 2000, I personally recommend bundling it with XP Professional.

I have heard no cases about overheated processors. All of the "M" processors (M for Mobile) are designed to consume less power so having a processor "fried" in a laptop is unlikely to happen.

I felt the other review was misleading. Even though I think it's a best value right now, I'm not saying you go buy it. I'm just recommending that you get more info on the models. The other companies I check for laptops are Sony and Fujitsu. They both have P4-M processors on notebooks. You can check them out too.

4 Stars: because of the 256MB and 30GB (I'd go for 512 and 40GB)

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars once more..... with feeling..., April 24, 2002

By 

ppcmania (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba Satellite 1905-S277 Laptop (1.6-GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

I think we need to clear some things up. This notebook uses the standard P4. Not the Xeon and not the P4-M. The advantage of this is that the processor is socketed and allows easy access via a door on the bottom for upgrades (Anandtech successfuly used a P4 2.0). The hard drive can be upgraded as well.
No "frying" that I've heard of, although it does get hot. ALWAYS be wary of anything a salesman tells you. Especially if he is trying to sell you 90's server tech (Xeon) as "the next best thing".