Toshiba Satellite M55-S331 14" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive)

by Toshiba

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches ; 5.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000CSSQMO
• Item model number: PSM50U-0HP01V
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 3, 2006

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Maximize your mobile performance as well as your multimedia capabilities with the Toshiba Satellite M55-S331 notebook PC featuring a bright 14-inch TrueBrite screen and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 video card with up to 128 MB of shared video RAM. It's ideal for both savvy professionals and students who want outstanding performance and advanced capabilities at an affordable price. It's also great for using as a media center, with Toshiba's unique Express Media Player enabling you to bypass the system and access CDs and DVDs with a touch of button. It has a battery-sipping 1.73 GHz Intel Centrino Pentium M 740 processor, an extra-large 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), dual-layer multiformat DVD drive that also burns CDs, integrated 54g wireless connectivity, both USB 2.0 and FireWire connectivity, and Windows XP Home edition operating system.

The Basics

• Hard Drive: A welcome size for road warriors, the 80 GB Enhanced IDE hard drive is a bit above average in size for notebook PCs, and faster than average at 5400 RPM. It's also user removable, enabling you to upgrade its size at some point down the line.
  
• Processor: The 1.73 GHz Pentium M 740 (Centrino) processor is in the middle of the speed spectrum for this processor class (December 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 512 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 M55-S351 has a 14-inch TruBrite TFT screen with a widescreen 1280 x 768-pixel resolution. 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 M55-S351 has an integrated Atheros 802.11b/g wireless-LAN that enables you to easily connect at wireless hotspots wherever you roam You get a fairly 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 II, PCMCIA R2.01, PC Card16, CardBus)
• 1 headphone jack, 1 microphone jack

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).

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, Microsoft Office OneNote 2003, McAfee AntiVirus, InterVideo WinDVD and WinDVD Creator, Sonic Solutions RecordNow.

Dimensions and Weight
This notebook measures 13.5 in x 9.5 in x 1.5 (WxDxH) and weighs 5.1 pounds.

Power
It's powered by an 8-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which has a battery life of up to 3.5 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 M55-S331 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limited hardware warranty.

Product Description

The Satellite M55-S331 meets the demands of a mobile world with the latest mobile technologies. Intel Centrino Mobile Technology featuring the Pentium M Processor delivers a travel-light notebook, longer battery life, and 802.11b and 802.11g integrated wireless technologies. The DVD SuperMulti 11-in-1 drive reads or writes, with DVD-RAM that acts like a second hard drive. The Toshiba-unique Express Media Player lets you instantly turn on CDs and DVDs. The stunning 14" diagonal WXGA widescreen display with TruBrite technology delivers an outstanding visual experience. More than just a processor, Intel Centrino features integrated 802.11b/g wireless LAN and WiFi capability, longer battery life, and excellent mobile advantages in a lighter, thinner, notebook. RGB (monitor) output port, Universal Serial Bus (USB v2.0) 3 ports, TV-out (S-Video) output port, Microphone input port, Headphone output port, RJ-45 LAN port, RJ-11 modem port, i.LINK IEEE-1394 Firewire 1-Year Standard Limited Warranty Dimensions 13.5 x 9.53 x 1.17 /1.50 / Weight - About 5 lbs Includes Rechargeable Battery, AC Adapter, Pre-Installed Windows XP Home, Pre-Installed Software as provided by Toshiba

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent mid-range portable computer, March 27, 2006

By 

P. Walters (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toshiba Satellite M55-S331 14" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive) (Personal Computers)

I recently handed down my clunky 4 year old Dell Dimension desktop and heeded the advice of a computer geek I knew back in college, "If you're going to buy a PC laptop, get a Toshiba." So I did. And I'm very happy with the decision.

First off, the cons.

The touchpad is a little close to my thumbs, so I'm constantly jumping the cursor around as I'm typing. Easily fixed with a Microsoft wireless mouse and the touchpad turned off.

The ability to scale up is pretty limited to the hard drive, and at 8O GB and a high spin rate, I don't think I'll be needing much more.

The DVD-WR drive is a little noisy, but there is a system utilty that dampens the spin rate/noise when it cranks up. So it's not a big deal.

I'm not a gamer, but my guess is, if you want a portable computer for gaming and video, you might want something a little more geared for that.

The speakers are adequate, again, this isn't meant as an extensive multimedia machine.

Now, the positives. The TruBrite screen is excellent, better than some flat panel monitors.

I have had no system crashes since purchasing two weeks ago. I run Firefox for web browsing, Office XP, and Windows XP home. I am also a compulsively clutter free user, so everything is lean and mean on my machine, baby. Excellent in Excel (I'm in finance)and other big resource hogs.

Nice, simple streamline design, looks very elegant next to some of those monstrosities you see people lugging around town. Relatively light, slim, and easily portable.

Battery life is about three and a half to four hours if you really conserve, about 1.5 to 2 otherwise.

The keyboard has excellent spring and feel, mulitiple options for keypad, media, etc.

I'm no tech guru, but this is a great machine, zero complaints so far, and I'm hoping that the reliability factor for Toshiba holds up to the reputation. Very pleased, and for the price, should get 2-4 years of use before upgrading again. An excellent investment for an MBA student or entry to mid-level managers. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for my needs, March 11, 2006

By 

Tom Ford "Tom" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba Satellite M55-S331 14" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive) (Personal Computers)

Thin, light, high performance, reliable (up to now), good configuration, very good connectivity, great screen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nice!, July 23, 2006

By 

Bay Frost "Bay" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toshiba Satellite M55-S331 14" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (Centrino), 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD SuperMulti Drive) (Personal Computers)

I have this notebook, and people often comment about how big it is, but it doesn't bother me because I use it on my desk instead of a desktop, also it's portable so no big deal. I think it works pretty well, and the keyboard is big enough to let me type properly, unlike the tiny notebooks.

Overall it's good, I've had it since the begining of the year and I'm quite attached to it.