Image : http://www.flickr.com

The Toshiba Satellite Pro P100 is an excellent multi-media desktop

replacement laptop. It sports many innovative features which will

immediately convert many users into admiring fans. However, like

any object of our affections, the Satellite P100 does have some

flaws. A close examination of all the features and flaws of

the Toshiba Pro100 will give you some indication if this is the

laptop for you, especially if you’re in the market for a PC desktop

replacement.

The Satellite Pro100 laptop was recently introduced by Toshiba

to compete in the lucrative PC marketplace. If you can fit all

the performance and features of a full size PC into a laptop,

why not go for a smaller sexier package? Has Toshiba succeeded

in producing a better desktop PC? Enquiring minds want to know!

Lets give the Toshiba P100 a closer look and point out all the

pluses and minuses, the pros and cons of this new multi-media

desktop replacement powerhouse. Lets consider the pluses first.

This laptop looks great.

There’s no denying it, the Toshiba Satellite P100 looks good. This

laptop has style. It lives up to its name — Professional. The Toshiba

Satellite P100 is black with a matte silver interior off-set with a

black keyboard. The design is sleek, simple and clean. Everything fits.

Quite frankly, in the looks department, it has to be rated a 10 or

very close to it.

Now everyone knows a laptop’s looks should not be your first

consideration when buying a laptop, but from a marketing angle

this factor may play a bigger role than all the impressive specs

and technical performance this laptop posesses. In today’s world,

looks and style does count; don’t let anyone try to convince you

otherwise. Besides, this classy laptop package will be displayed

prominently in your home or office — its impressive looks will

turn a lot more heads than your run-of-the-mill PC.

This laptop is fast.

Sporting the new Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz processor on a 100GB

SATA (5400 RPM) hard drive with a 667MHz FSB or System Bus. The Satellite

P100 is pre-loaded with 1 Gig of RAM (expandable to 4 Gigs). You probably

already know RAM is the main factor in determining the speed of your

computer.

Plus, with a 128MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 graphics card this laptop

will easily handle all business applications and will even handle many of the

older games… but please note you may need to upgrade to a ‘gamer-centric’

model, such as the Toshiba Satellite P105-S921 with NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS

for playing all the latest games.

The NVIDIA’s GeForce Go 7300 video processor has 128 MB of dedicated

memory and can ‘borrow’ extra memory from the system’s RAM with Turbo Cache.

Up to 512 MB of total video memory.

This laptop offers top performance.

The new Intel dual core processor makes simultaneous multi-tasking

quick and painless. Double your power. It can process multiple applications,

and carry out some of the most demanding multi-threaded programs. It is

also Windows Vista compatible for those who are thinking ahead.

The Toshiba P100 does offer more than enough performance to easily

handle all the chores and tasks of a regular PC. In many cases, it will out

perform many current PCs.

This laptop runs cool and quiet.

The Satellite P100 runs very cool — for the first week or so this

laptop was placed on a thin plastic tablecloth, just to check if

there would be any overheating. None. Good underbody ventilation.

This laptop is also very quiet — there is only the occasional whir

from the fans. Like a high price auto gearing up, well not really,

but you won’t mind the sound.

This laptop offers great viewing pleasure.

Featuring a 17 inch LCD Widescreen TruBrite display that’s crisp and clear,

the visuals on this Toshiba laptop holds up against many higher priced

laptops. Toshiba is known for its high quality screens and this

laptop’s display is no different. The images are sharp and the colors are

brilliant. Native resolution for the display is 1440 x 900 pixels. And the

screen is clear and viewable from all angles.

Watching DVDs and Videos on this laptop may become addictive because

of the excellent viewing graphics and sound. The widescreen makes

watching 16:9 ratio aspect movies more enjoyable and because you’re

sitting close to the laptop, you get surprising good visuals.

The 100 Gig hard drive and the DVD Super-Multi Drive for burning

DVDs will come in handy for fully enjoying all those movie downloads.

The dual layer DVD burner which burns DVD-R or DVD+R discs

at a maximum of 8x. The Toshiba P100 also comes pre-loaded with the

InterVideo WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum and Sonic Record Now.

This laptop has perfect sound.

Perhaps, what makes the viewing experience so enjoyable are the

built-in Harman/Kardon stereo speakers. On most laptops you get

horrible sound, this is not the case here. This P100 has Intel High

Definition Audio sound chip and Toshiba has boosted this system with

integrated speakers, using top-of-line Harmon/Kardon speakers.

You also have headphone jack for private viewing. If you enjoy using

your laptop or computer for watching videos/movies than the great

sound on the Satellite P100 should play a major factor in your buying

decision.

This laptop has a nice touch and feel to it.

That might sound frivolous, but after using the Toshiba Satellite

for two or three weeks you really do appreciate how comfortable and

how effective the overall design of this laptop truly is. Typing is

a breeze and the touchpad is responsive. The three programmable

shortcuts on the touchpad is a unique feature that will save you a

lot of time.

The full size number keypad is convenient for many business applications

and almost justifies the rather cramped keyboard, some of the other

keys have been downsized. Especially the small right shift key and

a slightly smaller enter key. However, it must be added, after one

uses this laptop for a week or so — these smaller keys are not a

factor. You quickly adjust your typing and the differences become

insignificant.

This laptop comes pre-loaded.

Toshiba pre-loads their laptop with a config-free system. This

model had Windows Microsoft Windows XP Home edition. And includes

Toshiba Configfree, Toshiba Express Media Player, WinDVD, Sonic Record

Now, Intervideo WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum, Microsoft Office OneNote 2003,

Norton Antivirus 2006

Other features of the Toshiba P100 include 10/100/1000 Integrated

Ethernet LAN and Intel Wireless LAN 802.11abg for networking. Card slots

include 1 PC Card Slot Supports One Type II PC Cards, 1 Express Card

Slot Supports CardBus. Ports include 4 x USB 2.0, RJ11, RJ45, Headphone

Port, External Microphone Port, S-Video Out, RGB, DVI, and S/P DIF.

Now, lets consider some of the minuses.

This laptop is not portable. At little under 8 pounds you won’t be

lugging this laptop around on many trips. It really is not designed as a

lightweight portable notebook but as far as desktop replacements go - the

Toshiba P100 is easy to carry around the house. It does not feel or

look bulky.

This Laptop has poor battery life.

It has to be realized, in most big powerful multi-media desktop

replacement you will get poor battery life. The battery life

on the Satellite P100 is around 2 hrs with the 6 cell battery.

Since most owners use this laptop for a desktop replacement,

long battery life is not that important. They will mainly be

using this laptop plugged in to AC power.

After you have used this media-media laptop for three or four

weeks many of its high performance and powerful features will

surprise you. I have not had a crash or freeze-up yet. And I do

a lot of multi-tasking — it is not common for me to have 10 or

15 browser windows open, downloading files, graphics, answering

emails… all the while burning off a DVD or deleting files

with 35 over-writes, with countless programs running in the

background. The Intel Duo Processor does the trick. It lets you

handle much more work than an ordinary PC.

Keep in mind, the Toshiba Satellite does have some flaws, there

is poor battery life and at around 8 pounds this is not a portable

laptop. A truncated keyboard. It also has no built-in web cam

which would have been a nice addition in a laptop of this caliber.

However, the major selling point must be the great crisp 17 inch

screen with superb visuals and excellent sound from the Harman/Kardon

speakers. Forget all the specs and techno features, this laptop

is a pleasure to use and enjoy. Whether you buy the Satelitte P100

for your home or office; this laptop won’t disappoint. It has

a comfortable keyboard, more than enough performance for complex

multi-tasking chores and a display that won’t put a strain on your

eyes no matter what you’re watching.

The Satellite Pro is a powerful PC replacement that offers great

visuals and sound. The Intel Duo Processor will easily handle almost

any applications that you can throw at it. The Toshiba P100 does make

a great desktop replacement for your old PC. It is worth your

consideration.

Did we mention it also looks great!

Related Reviews

• Toshiba Satellite P100 is the perfect desktop replacement? (0)
• Is The Toshiba Satellite P100 The Perfect Desktop Replacement? (0)
• Toshiba Satellite U500 (0)
• Toshiba Satellite P505-S8950 Laptop 6GB Notebook 64GB SSD 320GB HDD Computer (0)
• Toshiba Satellite P305-S8842 - Core 2 Duo T5750 / 2 GHz - Centrino - RAM 4 GB - HDD 200 GB + 200 GB - DVD?RW (?R DL) / DVD-RAM - Mobility Radeon HD 3470 HyperMemory up to 767MB - WLAN : 802.11 a/b/g/n (draft) - Vista Home Premium - 17.1″ Widescreen TFT 1440 x 900 ( WXGA+ ) TruBrite - camera (0)

Tags: Desktop, Perfect, replacement, Satellite, Toshiba