Toshiba Satellite P205-S7482
Notebook Reviews > Toshiba Satellite > P205-S7482

Review

Specifications

Compare Prices

At its launch, the P205 series failed to achieve a differentiated position within the desktop replacement segment. It was perceived as a 17" notebook pc, though available at economical pricing, but with middle of the road components.

Fortunately for Toshiba, the management didn't take long to realize and respond to the voice of the market. Revamped last month, the Satellite P205 Series now comes equipped with some superb features such as next generation HD DVD drives.

From the enhanced series, we have selected Satellite P205-S7482 for our review. This desktop replacement model, weighed at 7.2 pounds, features a 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. While not the crowned processor out there, it is still a lot better than the plainer dual-core processor that the series originally came with.

As mentioned above, the most prominent of the enhancements is the inclusion of HD DVD drive. HD DVD, i.e. High Definition DVD drive, is one of the two newer formats of optical storage drives, the other one being Blu-ray. A single layer HD DVD can contain up to 17GB of data. And it's not just about the massive size of data that you can pack, these newer optical formats also exhibit high definition video content, resulting in visual clarity in movies that one can never expect from today's DVD's. Couple the very detailed high definition graphic content with a 17" Widescreen display, TruBrite LCD that has great levels of brightness and contrast, and you have an amazing almost-home-theatre experience to enjoy.

The 17" full-size screen also comes in handy when you work simultaneously in a couple of windows tiled horizontally or vertically.

The base hardware profile of P205-S7482 also consists of a gigantic 300GB, albeit slow at 4200RPM, hard disk drive. 2GB of pre-installed RAM ensures smoother functioning of latest applications and this can be enhanced to a total of 4 gigabytes. Not to forget, the notebook comes with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 graphics card that has a dedicated memory of 256MB with the ability to seek another 255MB from the systems main memory if required.

Just above the notebook's screen, in the center, making your chat sessions much more enticing is a 1.3 mega pixel web cam with built-in microphone. Satellite P205-S7482 also boast of Dolby Sound Room technology in conjunction with two Harmon Kardon speakers and a sub-woofer to give one of the best experiences in audio entertainment.

At the top of the full-size keyboard are dedicated media buttons. The keyboard also houses a Finger print reader just below the 10-key numbers pad for added security.

Satellite P205-S7482 is truly a desktop replacement laptop, especially after the enhancements in P205 series, that doesn't miss on anything too obvious except for perhaps DVI output. The front of the notebook hosts a Wi-Fi on/off switch, audio ports, a volume control dial and a very useful 5-in-1 card reader. Other ports and connections are available at left and right sides of the notebook, these include 6 USB ports, LAN, S-Video, iLink port, ExpressCard Slot that supports both /34 and /54 form factors, V.92 modem port and last but not the least a security lock slot to keep your machine in safe hands.

Satellite P205-S7482's HDMI Port is worth a special mention. By making use of the port, you can connect the notebook pc to an HDTV and start experiencing high definition image quality at the native resolution of HD TV itself, which is an incredibly striking 1080i resolution.

Overall Satellite P205-S7482 is a well-balanced notebook model that will keep you jumping to ditch the old desktop pc or desktop replacement laptop you own at present. The HD DVD feature is a major plus factor and one that you won't be able to resist for long.