Amazon.com Product Description
Easily mobile at just 6 pounds, the Toshiba Satellite A135-S4499 makes it easy to get your work done with a large, bright 15.4-inch widescreen LCD. The XGA-resolution screen (1280 x 800) permits side-by-side viewing of documents for increased productivity. 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. This notebook is powered by the 1.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 processor, which offers a 20 percent performance boost over its predecessor while using 28 percent less power--so you get the benefit of a powerful dual-core PC plus all the benefits of mobility. It provides an optimized, multithreaded architecture for improved gaming and multitasking performance. It also offers 220 GB of total storage (from dual 120 GB hard drives), 2 GB of installed RAM (4 GB maximum), dual-layer/multi-format DVD drive that also burns CDs, integrated tri-mode wireless connectivity (802.11a/b/g), Intel GMA 950 video card with up to 256 MB of shared video RAM, and Gigabit Ethernet.
This laptop also comes preinstalled with Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, which combines all the features of Windows Vista Premium and Vista Business as well as adds extras such as multi-language packs and Secure Online Key Backup. It offers all of the features found in Windows Vista Home Premium, including Windows Media Center, Windows Movie Maker with high-definition support, and Windows DVD Maker. It also provides all of the features found in Windows Vista Business, including business networking, centralized management tools, and advanced system backup features. Vista also integrates new search tools throughout the operating system, includes new parental control features, and offers new tools that can warn you of impending hardware failures.
The Basics
- Processor: The Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 processor has a 1.66 GHz processor speed, super-fast 667 MHz front-side bus (FSB), and 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. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.)
The Intel Core 2 Duo processor has two computational execution cores in a single processor, providing greater system response when running multi-threaded applications simultaneously with no significant increase in power consumption. It's optimized for multitasking and is ready to support the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. It can simultaneously run multiple demanding applications--such as graphics-intensive games or serious number-crunching business productivity applications--while downloading music or running virus-scanning security programs in the background. Some of the advanced Intel innovations of the Core 2 Duo processor include:
- Smart Memory Access: Improves system performance by hiding memory latency, thus optimizing the use of available computer data bandwidth to provide data to the processor when and where it is needed.
- Advanced Digital Media Boost: Effectively doubles the execution speed for instructions used widely in multimedia and graphics applications.
- Dynamic Power Coordination: Coordinates Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology and idle power-management state (C-states) transitions independently per core to help save power.
- Deeper Sleep with Dynamic Cache Sizing: Saves power by flushing cache data to system memory during periods of inactivity to lower CPU voltage.
- Hard Drive: This notebook offers a total of 240 GB storage from a dual Serial ATA hard drive array--a primary 120 GB drive and a secondary 120 GB drive. It provides more than enough capacity for storing documents and productivity software and allows for a good-sized digital media library. These SATA hard drives also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0.
- Memory: The 2 GB of built-in memory (PC4200, DDR2 SDRAM) is a very good start for power users, and it offers a decently fast 533 MHz speed. It has two memory slots, enabling you to add up to 4 GB of RAM for worry-free handling graphics-intensive presentations and multiple open business productivity applications. To receive the faster data transfer benefits of the dual-channel DDR2 RAM, any RAM additions require memory modules of same capacity and clockspeed.
- DVD/CD 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, 4x DVD-R DL, 8x for both single-layer DVD+R/-R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 5x DVD-RAM, and 24x/16x 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) as well as a volume control dial.
Screen, Video & Audio This Toshiba Satellite A105 has a 15.4-inch TFT display 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 is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which uses Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) and provides up to 256 MB of shared video memory. It also features an integrated audio card with headphone and microphone jacks.
Networking, Connectivity & Expansion
This Toshiba Satellite has an integrated tri-mode Intel 3945ABG wireless LAN, which is compatible with 802.11b/g networks (commonly found in home routers and Wi-Fi hotspots) as well as 802.11a networks (which has a higher throughput, but more limited range--great for closed office environments). You get a good offering of connectivity options:
- 4 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players