May 12th, 2009Toshiba Satellite U305-S2812 Review
For those in the market for a thin and light notebook model that features the well-liked Intel Core 2 Duo processor, has a gigantic hard disk and long lasting battery life, as well as an adequately sized keyboard and a decently viewable screen, all packed in a lightweight machine, the Toshiba Satellite U305-S2812 is perhaps the way to go.
At $1149, the Satellite U305-S2812 boasts of an impressive hardware profile for its price. Featuring a 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, generous 2GB of RAM, plenty of storage capacity with its 250GB hard disk, a 13.3″ widescreen display, a dual layer DVD writer and wireless draft-N connectivity. The only shortcoming, perhaps, is the lack of dedicated graphics card since U305-S2812 comes equipped with Intel GMA X3100. However, the X3100 is Intel’s most impressive integrated graphics solution so far and truly gives ATI and nVidia a run for their money in the integrated graphic chips market.
Within an exterior of solid plastic build, Toshiba has managed to launch U305-S2812 with unique design and usability elements that appeal to a wide range of audiences from small business executives to students. The lid is Onyx Blue Metallic that almost looks black unless you get the light reflected from the right angle. Latchless designs are getting popular and this particular model also relies on its hinge mechanism for opening and closing the lid.
The U305-S2812 comes with an average to above-average keyboard and touchpad. The almost full-size compact keyboard is good enough for typing with its well-spaced keys. Many would love the fact that the keyboard for this 13.3″ model has separate keys for page up and down functions, as well an almost double size Ctrl key sitting at the bottom-left corner for shortcut lovers.
Unfortunately, the keyboard does suffer from a bit of flex, and the experience with the distance with the fingerprint reader and the mouse buttons below the touchpad is not very pleasant. The touchpad itself is responsive but it has recessed edges that make it feel smaller than what it really is.
Toshiba Satellite U305-S2812 also earns some points for including dedicated media control buttons housed just above the keyboard and a separate button to launch your favorite browser. However it misses the now getting popular LED backlights on these dedicated buttons.
Toshiba equipped the Satellite U305-S2812’s with a 13.3″ glossy widescreen that pops images and videos off the screen with its above average brightness and contrast ratios. The screen enjoys Toshiba’s TruBrite technology but since it is of glossy nature, you may have some issues if a light source is right behind you.
For a notebook that is scaled at the lighter end of thin and light models, the Satellite U305-S2812 has an impressive number of ports attached to it. It has 3 USB ports, a FireWire port, a 5-in-1 multimedia card reader, an ExpressCard slot, VGA out and so on.
The performance, as expected from the hardware profile, is good enough for everyday tasks. However, it’s somewhat limited by Toshiba’s decision to equip Satellite U305-S2812 with an integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics card. The graphics card shares memory from system’s RAM and hence doesn’t let the notebook perform as good as the models with dedicated graphics cards, even if entry-level.
The notebook also has an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam and the audio performance is just average.
Satellite U305-S2812, except for the integrated fingerprint reader, doesn’t shine in terms of security features. This may deter the corporate minded executives from going for this laptop. Adding to this hindrance is the fact that mobile broadband is absent too, though Satellite U305-S5127 does come with wireless draft-N connectivity and bluetooth for small business executives or students.
Weighing 4.5 pounds, Satellite U305-S2812 is a thin and light notebook that is not very far from being a low budget ultraportable.
The battery life for Satellite U305-S2812 is excellent. The 6-cell default battery can give you anywhere from 2 to 3 and a half hours depending on your brightness settings and usage of processor as well as wireless connections. If you want to feel in heaven, spend a few extra bucks and get the 9-cell upgraded battery that will almost give you 4 to 5 hours of away from mains computing.
Unfortunately, the Satellite U305-S2812 includes lots of bloatware pre-installed on the machine that slows down the boot time remarkably. Users are advised to uninstall what they don’t need or plan to use of these free/trial programs (most of them basically, if not all) as soon as they get their notebook.
Overall, the Toshiba Satellite U305-S2812 is quite an excellent laptop in its class. Meant to be a portable lightweight machine that has enough power for performance and lasting battery lifetime, and that within a reasonable budget, it suits the professional and campus communities alike.
