Otaku Gadgets

From the house of Toshiba comes another laptop that is a great bargain with a name that will test your memory. The Toshiba E105-S1602 (secret rocket launch code anyone?) is as good a bargain as its previous version that was offered around last year and this year it has an added goodie that makes it an even better deal – reduced pricing. With recession hitting the world hard, that is the one thing that can ensure that your laptop will sell. It also adds other benefits to the laptop, making it one great package for the price.

The E105-S1602 costs around $800 and for that price you are getting a large dose of performance with every thing you would expect at this price point. Everything except discrete graphics that is, which is missing in this laptop.

Continuing its success story from last year, this year sees Toshiba bringing back this popular laptop with only minor changes. But these small changes make a big difference. Compared to the price last year, this laptop costs you $300 less. For that amount, you only give up a bit of CPU power. Other than that you are actually getting more storage and a longer warranty period of two years.

Physically, the laptop hasn’t changed much. The design is quite different from the tapered edges usually found on Satellites. This laptop has more of a boxy design that has more vertical edges. The closest comparison to it that I can think of is the MacBook I am writing on right now.

The finish on the laptop is a subtle and beautiful one. The silvery color extends on to the interiors and it creates a great effect. Toshiba’s ‘Fusion’ finish combining lines and curves does a good job of making the laptop look good. The lid, the screen bezel, the keyboard and the touchpad are of contrasting brown color with the Fusion finish on them.

The keyboard on the laptop feels quite good apparently and testers have compared it to the ThinkPad keyboards, which makes it a really good. The keyboard has been reported to have a little flexibility in places but the backlighting on the keyboard is what really draws everyone’s attention to it. We all know how much backlighting appeals to people. This is one of the major plus points that this laptop has.

Toshiba has placed the usually multimedia hotkeys on the right side of the keyboard, essentially shrinking the size of the actual keyboard. This is not something I am entirely happy about. I would rather have them on top as is usual and have a wider keyboard at my disposal. The buttons are illuminated and are touch sensitive. Given the amount space that has been designated for them, they are somewhat larger than they usually are. This again makes the keyboard cramped and the effects can be seen on the longer keys like the space bar becoming shorter.

The touchpad on the Toshiba E105-S1602 is actually something that has been dubbed as quite impeccable. The reviewers have all loved using the touchpad. Sure the touchpad has the same finish as the lid and the keyboard but the surface finish is what matters and that is different from the rest. While the rest have a glossy finish, the touchpad has a matte finish, which makes it easier to use. This gives you a smooth experience while you are navigating. Those who have used glossy touchpad surfaces know that they are really bad for using on a touchpad. There the usual two buttons below the touchpad and between the two buttons sits a fingerprint reader. I see no point in this because security experts have already proven that these fingerprint readers are ridiculously easy fool. This just increases the total cost of the laptop.

The screen has a glossy finish but reviewers are of the opinion that it is not as bad as some of the other laptops. The glare and reflections are apparently less. It is a TFT-LCD LED backlit display that has a native resolution of 1280×800 pixels. The image quality is average and movie watching might produce some color banding as has been observed by a few reviewers.

The speakers are located on the front edge of the laptop and they do not sound good at all. If you work with the laptop on your lap, you will definitely muffle the sound. But even without obstruction the sound is not good enough. The loudness is quite insufficient. It also has a built in webcam, not much to talk about there except that it is the usual fare.

When it comes to expandability, it has HDMI but no VGA. There are the usual headphone and microphone ports. There’s also an FM antennae jack for a built in tuner. There are 3 USB 2.0 ports, of which one is the commonly found eSATA/USB port. There’s also a multi-card reader. There is no ExpressCard slot.

In terms of connectivity it has Ethernet, a fully featured WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n) and it comes with a DVD burner.

The eSATA/USB combo port sure is becoming common these days. It will at least allow you to have high-speed data transfers between your laptop and external drives.

The E105-S1602 comes with a fast 7200rpm 500GB HDD, which is an upgrade from the 320GB HDD it used to come with. It runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor clocking at 2.0GHz, which is actually slower than the 2.26 GHz processor its predecessor used to have. But with the $300 price cut, it is worth it. It comes with an 8-cell battery and is likely to give you a battery life of around 5 hours and a bit more. Having a Penryn core contributes to the long battery life that it has.

Some of the other laptops at this price point come with discrete graphics solutions but the E105-S1602 relies on the onboard Intel GMA 4500HMD graphics chip that shares with main 4GB DDR2 800Mhz SDRAM memory.

All in all, this is one laptop that will serve you well for the price you pay for it. Just remember that you will probably have to live without games.