Toshiba Tecra A8-EZ8313
Notebook Reviews > Toshiba Tecra > A8-EZ8313

Date Reviewed : 14th July' 2006

The latest in a series of new notebooks announced, the Toshiba Tecra A8-EZ8313 is the top (and recommended) pre-configured model of the Tecra A8 family.

The A8-EZ8313 features Toshiba's exclusive EasyGuard Technologies which offer a Shock Absorbing Design (LCD panel shock absorber, LCD inverter shock absorber, and Chassis shock protector), Hard disk Protection (HDD dome shock protector, HDD shock absorber) and advanced encryption and security. Top all that up with a spill-proof keyboard and you got yourself one very secure and reliable notebook. And if that's not enough to put your mind at ease, Toshiba also throws in one free year of their accidental damage coverage - SystemGuard.

The design of the A8-EZ8313 does indeed feel solid; the screen hinges for example feel very firm and durable and there's no noticeable flexing of the screen. Same goes for the keyboard and yet the keys are easy to use and responsive.

Other security features you get with this model include the now common finger-print reader, which can be used to authenticate the Windows user logon among other things. Other security features include the security cable lock slot and hot key security (locking the system and blanking the screen).

Since this is a business model, the graphics were not at the top of the priority list featuring the standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 that shares the main system memory. So don't expect to be doing any serious gaming on this notebook, but for other tasks this will do just fine. This is however still Vista ready as it is DirectX9 capable and the dynamically allocated shared memory can go up to the minimum Vista requirement of 128MB graphics memory.

Other than the mediocre graphics system, everything else in this notebook is top-notch and should allow the Tecra A8-EZ8313 to handle the business computing needs with a breeze. I'm referring here to such components as the dual core 1.66 GHz processor, the 1GB of DDR2 RAM and the Serial ATA hard drive.

Interestingly enough, Toshiba included two methods of controlling the mouse pointer; you get the expected touch-pad with it's primary and secondary buttons right under it and you also get their Accupoint pointing device which sits right in the middle of the keyboard (reminiscent of old IBM notebooks) with it's primary & secondary keys right above the touch-pad.

Overall, the Toshiba Tecra A8-EZ8313 is a serious addition to the business range of Toshiba notebooks with a great CPU and ample of RAM able to handle any business needs and to top it all off it's also Vista capable.