Toshiba A105 S4134: How is it?

Hi Everyone!

Can you tell me how is Toshiba A105 S4134 overall? I am a student and is looking for a good performing laptop. I found a good deal on this laptop at Staples. Your quick answer will help me in deciding on it whether I should I buy it or not? I was informed at Staples that this item is being discontinued and I must hurry in case I want to. I am a novice in computer things, so if you reply me early it will be very kind.

Thanks a lot,

Tashin

 

The A105 is a great laptop for students, depending on the configuration. On my Toshiba A105, the build quality is great, including the screen. The hard drive is silent, the RAM is generous, and battery life on the 6-cell is impressive (3.5hrs with max screen and wireless on). The keyboard is good, and so is the touchpad. I have only two warnings; one is the screen. Its pretty good, but when I compare it to my earlier Toshiba, the A105 LCD lacks contrast. The other thing I should mention is that some retailers are offering A105s with the Core Duo but with the of 533MHz system bus instead of the new standard 667MHz. This can slow the laptop considerably, although you still notice significant gain in responsiveness and computing speed.

Oh, and one other thing which may or may not bother you, but the plastic housing the optical drive is just about the cheapest plastic I have ever seen. But since you're not exactly going to be trying to break the optical, I guess it doesn't matter.

 

It is a great laptop. I've been using it for almost 2 months now. Its doesn't heat up what so ever and is faster than many desktops i've seen.

Actually this is my first laptop so have nothing to compare it to. The only thing that you probably cannot do with this is to play games. Another disadvantage i feel is it doesn't have bluetooth.

Anyway what is the new offer in Staples?

 

Be aware... there´s a serious problem with S4134. 1394 and USB 2 connections presenting bad performance while running CPU in full throttle (maximum performance in power save mode). For audio and video stream this is catasthrophic. This bug also occurs in others computers using Centrino Core Duo (Enhanced Speedstep Technology) and Intel 945 chipset, as Dell for example. I´m still waiting a solution for this mess.