Toshiba Satellite A205 Review

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by Kevin O'Brien

This review covers the midrange Toshiba Satellite A205-S4617 model laptop. Specifications for this laptop are listed below:

Satellite A205-S4617 Unique Specifications ($1,349.99)

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5500
• 1.66GHz, 2MB L2, 667MHz FSB with 64-bit
• 2048MB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory
• 250GB (4200 RPM) Serial-ATA (SATA) hard disk drive
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash drive supporting 11 formats
• 15.4-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite display
• 1280x800 native resolution (XWGA)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 8MB-256MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
• Built-in Harman Kardon stereo speakers
• Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965 AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• Embedded webcam with built-in microphone
• Fingerprint reader

Toshiba Satellite A205 (view large image)

Target Market

The A205 laptop appears to be primarily targeted to students and home users, rather than business users. While it does have some security features business users have enjoyed like fingerprint readers coupled with security login software, the flashy looks of this laptop might drive them away. Students on the other might enjoy the gloss finish, bright blue indicator LEDs, and flashy “Toshiba” print across the back of the display.

Build and Design

Two words could describe this laptop by themselves, sleek and polished. Right out the first thing you notice about this laptop is the polished outside display cover surface, and the lack of any sharp or non-rounded edges. Opening up the laptop you notice the glossy indicator light panel, glossy screen, clear plastic covers over the Harmon/Kardon speakers, and control buttons that blend in with the upper control panel. Fit and finish has gone a long way to make this laptop stand out, and it shows on every square inch of this model. One downside to the glossy finish though is it shows fingerprints, blemishes, and strange marks if you carry it around even inside a slipcase. My model after being carried around inside my neoprene case had odd dots on the glossy finish, along with palm prints covering the top.

Toshiba Satellite A205 lid (view large image)

The structure and underlying build of this laptop feels much improved since the last Toshiba model (M45) I owned. The buttons feel very solid, support under the keyboard is firm, display latches are solid, and support behind the LCD is excellent. On most models pressing on the cover behind the LCD will put “waves” onto the screen, on this model nothing comes through. Flexing resistance could be improved though, but my Thinkpad spoils me in this area. Chassis flex is minimal if there at all, letting you pick up the laptop from the edge of the palm rest without any sagging.

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Weight is about average for a 15” range laptop. Weight on top of my shipping scale comes in at 6lbs 3.4oz. For comparison my Lenovo 15” C100 laptop is 6lb 4.6oz and my Lenovo T60 15” is 6lbs 2.5oz. The height of this laptop is 1.573”, over the C100 (1.363” or T60 (1.362”.

Screen

The screen is a glossy style, coming in at a 1280x800, 720p native resolution. Colors are very vibrant, and viewing angles are decent. You start to notice some muting of colors as you move above or below the screen, but it is very acceptable in comparison to other models. Side to side viewing angles are much better, with little color distortion. Black level is very crisp, with no light leakage. Overall I was very impressed with this screen, and that says a lot since I'm used to using my Thinkpad Flexview LCD known for its extreme viewing angles and excellent color reproduction.

Speakers and Audio

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I found out about the speakers the hard way the first time I turned it on. I had unpackaged the laptop at home, stuck it in my slip case, and took off for my class. In class I turned the machine on, and was greeted with an extremely loud (room filling, attention gathering) Windows startup melody. While those 30 students might not have been thinking about the good audio clarity at that moment, I was pretty impressed -- and embarrassed.

The Harmon/Kardon speakers are excellent in comparison to other laptop speakers I have used. While they lack in bass, they have very good mid and high range qualities. If the room you were in permitted it, watching a movie through the speakers might even be pleasant. Vocals are tight and crisp, and nothing is mudded down.

Processor and Performance

This laptop came equipped with a T5500 Core 2 Duo processor by Intel. It clocks in at 1.66 GHz, and is more than enough for everyday tasks, including decoding 1080p HD movies. The integrated GMA950 graphics won’t really allow you to play many newer games, but that is really the only limiting point. Coupled with the large 250 GB storage, this laptop makes a great media center.

From the time you press the power button till the computer sits at the desktop without HD activity takes just under 50 seconds. This is with all the included software EXCEPT the virus package. I can’t really stand that on my computers (safe browsing, only run known content on my machines), and even the fastest machines are brought to their knees when that stuff loads up. With a more conservative clean install, you should expect load times in the high 30’s to low 40’s.

To give you an idea of the potential that this laptop has, the following are some CPU usage examples playing the following Harry Potter high definition movie content. This would be relevant if you intend to watch HD movies on the display of the laptop, or output it through the VGA connector to a larger HDTV in your home, apartment, or dorm.

 

	Toshiba A205 Core 2 Duo T5500, Intel GMA 950 Graphics	Lenovo T60 Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1400 Graphics
The 1080p movie trailer	45-48% CPU usage	36%-42% CPU Usage
The 720p movie trailer	30%-35% CPU usage	25%-30% CPU Usage

 

So even with its limited integrated video, it still has plenty of headroom for more complex videos, or perhaps a dual screen setup with a movie playing on one screen, and a report being typed up on another.

Super Pi

Super PI is a program that forces the processor to calculate Pi to 2 million digits of accuracy, here's a comparison of how the Satellite A205 with its 1.66GHz processor faired against other laptops:

Notebook	Time
Toshiba Satellite A205 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 34s
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52)	2m 05s
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T2400)	59s
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 02s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Toshiba A100 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Samsung X60 (1.66GHz Core Duo)	1m 29s
Sony VAIO FS680 (1.86GHz Pentium M)	1m 53s
HP dv5000z (2.0GHz Sempron 3300+)	2m 02s

 

HDTune Benchmarks

HDTune tests the peformance for the hard drive performance, below is a screenshot of the performance results for the hard drive that came with this configuration of the A205:

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Comparison table for PCMark05

PCMark05 is a synthetic benchmark tool that tests overall system performance, here's how the Satellite A205 stacked up to other laptops:

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Toshiba Satellite A205 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950)	3,135 PCMarks
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, ATI x1270)	2,420 PCMarks
Toshiba Satellite A135 (Core Duo T2250, Intel GMA 950)	3,027 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook A6010 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950)	2,994 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FE590 (1.83GHz Core Duo)	3,427 PCMarks

 

Heat and Noise

For classroom use, this laptop won’t disappoint. The fan is very quiet, even when the CPU is under full load belching out heat. It could probably be described as a soft whisper. Heat is another story though. This laptop gets quite warm, spreading out much of the heat through the top of the typing surface. The areas where your palms would rest while typing get up to 92-95F, with an outside temp of 76F. I might suggest pants if you plan on using this laptop on your lap, as the bottom easily warms up with spots ranging from 98-115F. Since the vents on the left side allow some heat output to be directed downward, a draft in the neighborhood of 140F can hit your leg causing some discomfort. These figures might improve if the room is cooler, and you aren’t doing anything that intensive on the laptop.

Keyboard and Touchpad

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The keyboard on this laptop is very comfortable to type on. The key throws are just the right length, very little finger pressure is required, and the edges are very defined, yet softly rounded. This allows you to type very quickly for long periods of time with ease. Each key press is also very quiet, so you type notes or chat during class without annoying those around you. It has some mild flex in spots above the optical bay, but it is very mild. The touchpad resides in a recessed cavity, which helps to keep your fingers in the right spot without slipping out. Its texture is similar to a sheet of paper. The mouse buttons below it provide decent feedback, but I would have liked a bit more throw to each press. These buttons give you a very shallow soft click.

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External Connections (I/O)

All of the connections on this laptop reside on the sides and front. The design of the display hinge makes the lower edge of the LCD block the rear section when it is opened. On the right side you have a Kensington lock connector, AC adapter plug, optical bay, modem connector, and 2 USB ports. Coming around to the front you will find the volume control, microphone/headphone connectors, SD card slot, and wireless adapter on/off switch. Moving around to the left side, you are left with a mini-firewire plug, express card slot, 2 USB ports, LAN plug, and the VGA connector. A nice added touch is the spring loaded express card dust cover, instead of a blank card.

Front view of Satellite A205 (view large image)

Left side view of Satellite A205 (view large image)

Right side view of Satellite A205 (view large image)

Wireless

Reception of the internal wireless card is very nice, picking up most networks around it. Depending on your area, it can be hard to compare signal strength, since many out of the box wireless configurations will put the a network on the same channel as those around it. This can cause a bunch of dropout problems that no wireless card can get around. I didn’t experience this in my area, but your location could be different.

Battery

Battery life is ok for moderate classroom use, but don’t expect to go an entire day of classes without a recharge. Toshiba does sell a 9 cell extended battery, but the configuration puts a long bar under the laptop, which would raise it up about an inch in the rear. Leaving the laptop on Max Performance, disabling sleep, LCD brightness to full, and HD spin down off; the laptop had enough power to stay on for 3 hours and 1 minute.

Software

Besides the included Microsoft software, I can’t really think of anything else I would want to keep installed on this system. I enjoy a nice clean system to build off of, and prepackaged virus software, manufacturer software, and all that extra stuff gets wiped off. I found that the stock configuration had quite a bit of clutter, which really increased boot times. Once the virus suite was removed, things really improved.

Note about the extra HD bay

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The Satellite A205 model line has a few specific configurations that allow for an additional hard drive. I quickly noticed the extra bay underneath the laptop during my inspection, and was just as quickly disappointed by the lack of SATA/Power connectors. Toshiba decided to leave this bay in place, but for any model that doesn’t come with the 2^nd drive, they felt they should not have to include this simple connector.

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Conclusion

I really enjoy the mix of the trendy design, with the durable underlying structure of the Satellite A205. All of the key components are protected very well, including the display which can easily be the most expensive part to repair if damaged. Performance on this specific configuration was more than acceptable for my needs, but would not be able to even consider any serious gaming. A great use I found for this laptop was a portable media station, playing much of my HD content with ease, as well as having plenty of storage for the large files.

Pros

• Nice bright screen with good color reproduction
• Very large 250gb storage
• Quiet CPU fan
• Nice sleek design

Cons

• Computer gets quite warm, might not be comfortable on bare legs
• 2^nd HD bay with no connectors
• Some bulky included software

 

Is this Santa Rosa ?

 

nice review1

 

No Santa Rosa CPUs should be 800mhz fsb

another con could also have been although it has a large drive, the drive is a slow 4200rpm

 

Awesome, i've been waiting for this. Now i have some confirmation of the 2nd hard drive bay module.

I'll might get some to sell for summer if they have any used one. I have to finish my finals first .

 

very pro, i'm like it

 

Wow, the notebook looks better than I thought. Can't wait for the Santa Rosa model. Hope it'll be released here before June.

 

thanks

Not that slow, its dense HD design with perpendicular writing style helps to keep transfer rates up

thanks

 

Great review!

 

That does look alot cooler in these pictures than it did on the announcements. I love it! For all its short comings I loved my old Toshiba. Probably more than I do my current Dell. I am glad to see Toshiba putting out trendy machines with decent build. I can't wait to see what else they bring out within the Satellite line. Great job fiend. =)

 

It is really great to see that Toshiba is coming back to its former image of great quality and design. The new design of this one reviewed is reminiscent of the previous generation (Pentium M) lines.

The one thing I wanted to ask about the keys is that are they silver polish painted or just grey ? I am assuming probably just a vanilla grey plastic rather than a polished finish. I actually like the finished polish more as it is somewhat like the HP Special Editions, which I really enjoy typing on.

Great to hear that the HK speakers are really loud and great too ...

BTW i think you mean 'WXGA' for the screen resolution - can you tell if it is LED backlit ?

It is also interesting to see that Toshiba has put in integrated webcams in their new laptops too.

 

Nice review, seems like a good update from the pretty dull a100 series.

 

I think it might just be the color of the plastic. Here was a closeup of one of the shots

 

Dear khanhfat
I thought I could have 2nd HDD/SATA in empty bay, so i just ordered WD 120GB HDD to TheNerds.net.
Please let us know how to get the power connector for the 2nd HDD/SATA.

 

One thing I would like to make clear is the 2nd header on the motherboard DOES NOT FUNCTION. I checked all of the power side with my multi meter, and nothing registers except the ground pins. The If someone wants to give me values of a properly working SATA port without a drive attached to check and verify, let me know. It might not even have the traces/resistors/etc in place.

 

Excellent. Toshiba now makes nice looking notebooks with useful keyboards! I hope this design makes it to the 12" model; Toshiba seems to have ditched the 14" form factor altogether.

 

atlast toshibas moving out of their cramped style keyboard
bless them !!
and the glossy look is somewhat reminiscent of the hps without the imprint finish
overall looks like a great laptop
thanks alot for the review

 

the design looks like a mix of the sony fe and the lg s1. i still like it though....it's always nice to have an attractive budget option.

 

Thanks for the nice review.

Do you know why Toshiba stuck to RAM speed 533 till now?

 

Because it was cheaper and offered no significant performance upgrades. Also, many of the budget non-roadmap Intel Core Duos (T2050, T2060, T2080, T2250, T2350, T5200, T5300) have a 533MHz FSB.

 

dude, u got me wrong... I mean i will sell some used A205 if i can find any stock computer from Toshiba. I got 3 computers A105 and P105 ( baddass gaming machine) sold so i want to make some money with this new model. Based on the pictures. I think that there isn't any connectors for the 2nd hdd if your computer model only have 1 hDD, which means it equipped with another mother board.

It's just a guess based on the pictures though. Im not sure about the motherboard of 1 and 2 HDDs. I'll ask them if the upgrade is possible.

 

Toshiba laptops with C2D 7200 and still with 533 ram speed only

And always Toshiba lag behind other vendors with shipping new laptops with the latest Intel processors.

 

the 533mhz is RAM latency
i personally think that there is very little or no difference in performance between the two
almost identicla in performance too
on the brighter side you get comparable performance at a lower price

 

Toshiba isn't cheaper than HP, DELL, or Asus.

Can you define what do you mean by cheaper please?

 

Quick question, does this notebook ship with all the Software DVDs? Vista, Office, Drivers, etc? Thanks!

 

I was thinking of buying a pre-configured model of this on sale at Circuit City for $700, though with less impressive specs. Great review

 

sorry if i was misleading by any means but i was talking about the price of the RAM dimms and not the laptop
toshibas arent as famous as the dells or hps mostly as their not as widespread as the others in the states or so as in the gulf or asia

new notebooks usually ship with drivers etc in the recovery partition which should be burnt into 2 DVDs or 7 cds using the given software such as sonic etc

 

i have got the toshiba A205 S4567 powered with Core Duo T2350,i think am having a problem with the battery,i had hardly can get 2 hourswith wirelss turnedoff lowest brightness and just word processing,its loaded with 4000 mA....is this normal !

 

i bought the toshiba A205 S4567,it came loaded with 1.86 Core duo processor\a built in vga and a 4000 mA battery the problem is that the battery hardly continue 2 hours with wirless lan turned off and lowest brightness while word processing....is this normal