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CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 25 reviews
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Product summary
The good: Inexpensive; decent performance; dedicated media controls.
The bad: No high-end CPU or video card options; poor battery life; flimsy keyboard.
The bottom line: The Toshiba Satellite A135-S4467 is a middle-of-the-road system in every way, but it starts to look more impressive when you factor in the budget-friendly price, making it a solid choice for mainstream users.
Specifications: Environmental & energy standards compliance: RoHS; Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (1.6 GHz); RAM installed: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 02/26/2007
- Released on: 01/30/2007
The plain-Jane, silver-and-black design won't turn many heads, but the shiny midnight-blue-speckled lid--Toshiba calls it Onyx Blue Metallic--lends an upscale touch. Too bad the glossy surface is a magnet for fingerprints. Measuring 14.2 inches wide, 10.5 inches deep, and 1.5 inches high, the Satellite A135 is small enough to carry around occasionally but big enough to type on comfortably for a full work day. The A135 weighs 5.9 pounds (6.6 pounds with the A/C adapter), which is heavier than something you'd want to tote around on a daily basis, but easy enough to take on a trip or move from room to room--and a little lighter than the Gateway NX570.
The 15.4-inch wide-screen LCD display offers a 1,280x800 native resolution, which is standard for a screen this size. Text and icons are large and readable, and the screen is nice and bright, and it stands out against the black screen bezel.
The full-size keyboard was easy to use, although it flexed a little too much as we typed. A set of media control buttons sit to the left of the keyboard, including media player and Web browser quick-launch buttons. We expected a volume control to be there, too; instead it was relegated to a tiny, hard-to-find scroll wheel on the front edge.
The system serves up a standard set of connections, including four USB 2.0 jacks, a mini FireWire jack, a PC Card slot, a media card reader, and VGA and S-Video outputs for hooking up an external monitor. Networking connections include a modem and Ethernet jacks, as well as integrated 802.11a/b/g wireless.
Components in our review unit were reasonable for the price, including a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, Intel 945GM graphics, a DVD burner, and a 120GB 5,400rpm hard drive. For use with Windows Vista Home Premium, we'd recommend 2GB of RAM. Toshiba offers seven preconfigured versions of the A135 (we tested the $999 A135-S4467), along with a customizable model. For $1,499, you can trade up to Vista Ultimate, a slightly faster T5500 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and dual 120GB hard drives. Dual hard drives are certainly an appreciated option, but we'd like to see faster CPUs and better GPU options.
The Toshiba Satellite A135-S4467 performed well on CNET Labs' Multitasking, iTunes encoding, and Photoshop CS2 tests, matching or nearly matching the scores of two Vista laptops with the same 1GB of RAM but slightly faster T5500 CPUs: the Toshiba Satellite U205-S5057 and the Asus W7J (a Windows XP system we upgraded to Vista ourselves). The A135 is speedy enough for casual productivity use, media playback, and Web surfing although we ran into some minor stuttering when multi-tasking or accessing Vista's various options menus.
With integrated Intel 945GM graphics, gaming is best restricted to older games at lower resolutions. If you're looking for a 15-inch laptop designed for gaming, the Asus G1 is worth a look.
The Satellite A135 ran for 1 hour and 58 minutes on our DVD battery drain test, using the included six-cell battery. We expected better than that, given the lack of high-powered components. A larger, eight-cell battery is available as a $152 option, but bear in mind that an extended battery will protrude slightly from the back of the system. The similarly priced Gateway NX570 did much better, although that was on our older, less strenuous, battery test, so the real-world difference would be less pronounced.
Toshiba includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the Satellite A135. Support is accessible through a 24/7 toll-free phone line, an online knowledge base, and both a carry-in and mail-in repair service.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Find out more about how we test Windows laptops.
System configurations:
Toshiba Satellite A135-S4467
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition; 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5200; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 224MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset; 160GB Hitachi, 5,400rpm
HP Pavilion tx1000us Windows Vista Home Premium (Build 5808); 1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52; 2,048MB DDR SDRAM 533MHz; 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 6150; 120GB Seagate 5,400rpm
Asus W7J Windows XP Professional SP2; 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 528MHz; 512MB nVidia GeForce Go 7400; 100GB Fujitsu 5,400rpm
Toshiba Satellite U205-S5057 Windows Vista Home Premium Edition; 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 528MHz; 224MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset; 160GB Hitachi, 5,400rpm
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- Microsoft Windows Vista,
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 25 reviews
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
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3 out of 7 people found this review helpful
"It is insufficient to handle Vista and also has modem problems"
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