Best Deal Sonar

Toshiba Satellite L305-S5902 15.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

Offering solid performance, a broad array of features and truly impressive pricing, the Satellite L305/L305D Laptop Series is designed to help budget-minded consumers enjoy the Toshiba quality and innovation they deserve. A stunning 15.4-inch display lends a new visual dimension to movies, gaming, photos and more, plus school and business work. Equipped with powerful dual-core processors and lots of memory, these machines can supercharge multitasking, balancing the family budget or studying for finals. Integrated Wi-Fi helps you stay connected or surf the Web at most any wireless hotspot. And an attractive Onyx Blue finish is sure to draw attention. With their built-in Webcam and microphone, Satellite L305/L305D laptops let you stay in touch with friends, family and co-workers using real-time voice and video.

The Toshiba L305-S5902 ships with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 32 bit version), 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core processor T3200 with 1MB L2, Mobile Intel GL40 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M with 128MB-1342MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory, 160GB (5400 RPM); Serial ATA hard disk drive, DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash drive supporting 11 formats, 15.4 in diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display at 1280×800 native resolution, Atheros 802.11 b/g wireless-LAN, Dimensions: 10.6 ” x 14.3″ x 1.3″ without feet, weight: Starting at 5.49 lbs.

Technical Details

* 15.4-inch (Diagonal) Widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD Display, 1280×800 Resolution
* 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor with 1MB L2 Cache
* 2048MB DDR2 System Memory, 160GB (5400 RPM) Hard Drive (SATA), Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M with 128MB 1342MB Dynamically Allocalled Shared Graphics Memory
* DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash, Atheros 802.11 b/g wireless-LAN
* Windows Vista Home Premium, dims in inches: 10.6 (W) x 14.3 (D) x 1.3 (H) approx., 5.49 lbs.

Customer Reviews:

Caterpillar to Butterfly. 192 MB Ram to 3 GB RAM, November 5, 2008
By Linda G. Shelnutt “Author” (Hotchkiss, CO USA)
Though I loved my previous laptop and used it with no complaints since November 2003, I feel like I was a caterpillar and now I’m a butterfly, using my new Toshiba L305D-S5581! Well, okay, I did have a complaint about how long it took my old PC to boot up and shut down, and was thrilled with my new Toshiba’s faster accomplishments of those routine operations. I had expected slower instead of faster, due to VISTA and the additional programs which would be on the new laptop. I had XP on my old laptop. I like both versions of MS Windows OS, and can see the advantages of each, but VISTA is definitely the butterfly.

Even though many reviews have made what appear to have been valid complaints about products with the specifications this Toshiba (and other brands) has, I have not had any of those difficulties, and indeed have felt like wings have replaced my previously grounded slow motion.

I was foremost looking for a machine with at least 3 GB of SDRAM, and at least 200 GB HD. The choice of 3 GB of RAM was due to helpful reviews I’ve read on many pages for laptops on Amazon which have complained that Windows VISTA is slow with less RAM. What I have on this machine is absolutely fine for my needs.

Reviews have noted that not quite as much HD space is needed currently, with the market availability of USB drives which extend the PC’s hard drive in a variety of ways, with nearly endless storage options… so I felt that 200 GB DH would be adequate, and it is, though I don’t need to store lots of game or graphics programs on my PC, mostly just my manuscripts and MS WORD, AOL, and photos.

As to the complaints of current laptops being loaded with what is called crap ware or bloat ware, I have to say I agree somewhat with those complaints. I haven’t yet been able to decide what I might need within the bloat ware offerings, and honestly can’t decide which of the DVD players, CD writers, Wireless purveyors, etc., would be the ones I would want to use.

But what some reviews have pointed out exposes the trade off in this case, i.e., the reason certain LT’s (laptops) can be offered at such good prices is that the companies who provide the plethora of extra programs pay for that advertising, thereby allowing the lower price offered by the company offering the machine. Given that trade off, I’m willing to take time to decide what I want to keep and discard among the huge number of colorful icons grinning at me from my desk top, hoping I’ll click on them and purchase from their trial offerings.

Everything I have so far installed and begun using has been easy for me, not a computer wiz, to accomplish, though I’m very thankful for the reviewers who mentioned the Windows VISTA habit of always asking via a dialogue box pop-up if the user or “administrator” (me) initiated the action. Even though this pop up sometimes feels disruptive, I’ve become more comfortable knowing I will be asked and informed before uploading and installation will occur from the hordes of automatic updates seemingly offered by everyone on every program on my computer.

I was thankful to the reviewers who mentioned that with VISTA drivers are often needed for installations of programs and hardware. I loved the Plug & Play capacity with XP, but can easily see why the incredible increase of hardware and software might have caused the necessity of a specific CD driver to be used for installation, and so far all programs and equipment have come with necessary drivers. The reviews, however, alerted me to this necessity, so I wasn’t surprised by this seeming backward change from XP to VISTA, which to me, now, is clearly a forward motion taking into account the current and growing progress in the computer industry, and the plethora of variety available.

I was able to easily install the driver of the HP All in One (with FAX) I purchased, along with the wireless mouse and USB hub. I hope to have time to review some of those, too, because I’m butterfly thrilled with each of them!

I want to conclude by thanking the huge number of reviewers on Amazon, who commented on various brands of notebook PC’s. Each of those reviewers was directly and practically helpful to me in one way or another. Personally, I would rather read Amazon customer reviews on computer hardware, before reading PC magazines or other more complex sources of information. For me, reviews from everyday people, purchasers/users of specific pieces of equipment, say just what I need to know, in an easily comprehensible language. I do a lot of research on Amazon’s buying pages, under customer reviews.

Flying off to ready more of my novels for publication on KINDLE, I remain a wing-ed author at your reading service!

Linda G. Shelnutt
Author of several books on Amazon’s KINDLE and Amazon Shorts

Note: This laptop is a very similar model to mine (model number noted in my review), but this one has slightly less RAM and HD space than mine, and doesn’t have the web cam, which mine does. Also, this LT has an Intel processor; mine has AMD Turion. My LT cost was enough more than this one that I feel the values for cost would be equal on both machines, especially if you don’t need a web cam.

<< Back to homepage