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The good: Long battery life for its class; DVD-R/RW drive; built-in 802.11b wireless networking.
The bad: Slow; very big and heavy; display has low native resolution for its size.
The bottom line: The Satellite A25-S307 desktop replacement offers some basic computing capabilities, but it's big, heavy, and slow.
Specs: Processor: Intel Pentium 4 (2.8 GHz); RAM installed: 512 MB DDR SDRAM; Weight: 7.9 lbs See full specs >>
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 10/08/2003
- Released on: 07/01/2003
The Satellite A25-S307 is portable--but barely. It measures a bag-busting 2.25 inches at its thickest point, and it's 13.25 inches wide by 11.75 inches deep. It weighs a hefty 7.6 pounds, and its extralarge AC adapter adds another 1.8 pounds.
The Satellite A25-S307 looks sophisticated and operates easily despite its size. The glossy blue lid lifts up readily with just a thumb. The long, centered hinge that connects the display to the rest of the computer allows stereo speakers along the notebook's back edge to remain exposed whether the lid is open or shut. Similarly, volume and track controls, plus status lights on the front edge, let you play audio CDs even when the notebook is closed. The speakers play music richly, with plenty of treble and bass--except at maximum volume, when they fuzz and distort frightfully.
 Unfortunately, the text-eating Insert key sits right next to the spacebar. |
 The touchpad is big and smooth. |
The Satellite A25-S307's display will disappoint many because its 1,024x768-pixel native resolution is lower than typical for its 15-inch (diagonal) size. This resolution and screen size combo has a few, mostly specialized advantages. Its focus and spaciousness make reading small type sizes a breeze--even from a distance. At only 85 pixels per inch, the screen's coarse resolution should be readable for people with somewhat impaired vision. But even on the brightest setting, colors seem dark and muted, and movie playback is mediocre.
The Satellite A25-S307's keyboard sags badly and the keys feel mushy, but at least they're quiet. Unfortunately, the text-eating Insert key sits right next to the too-short spacebar.
The Satellite A25-S307's fundamental features are solid. It runs on a 2.8GHz desktop Pentium 4 processor with 512MB of memory (filling both memory slots). A 60GB hard drive gives you plenty of storage space, and the DVD-R/RW drive gives you 16X CD-R and 10X CD-RW as well. The integrated Trident Cyber Aladdin P4 graphics controller, which shares 32MB of main memory, is adequate for everyday computing but not for gaming or other graphics-intensive pursuits.
This big notebook also has plenty of room for ports and slots. It has a Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard slot for reading flash memory, plus a Type II PC Card slot. Its communication capabilities include infrared, 802.11b Wi-Fi (with an external power button for the radio), a 56Kbps modem, and Ethernet.
Toshiba sells the Satellite A25-S307 (and the Satellite A20, an identical notebook distributed through reseller channels) as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition: the memory, the processor, the screen resolution, the optical drive, and other features are the same on all, though you can opt for Windows XP Pro instead of the XP Home that ran on our test unit, and you could replace our unit's Microsoft Works 7.0 with Office XP.
In CNET Labs' mobile-performance tests, any score less than 100 is disappointing. The Satellite could manage only a meager 76. The Satellite A25-S307's low-rpm hard drive and shared-memory (UMA) graphics controller contributed to the notebook's sluggish score. This explains why it was significantly slower than the Fujitsu LifeBook N series, which has the same CPU and similar memory and hard drive specs but a graphics controller with dedicated memory. The Sharp Actius RD10 doesn't have UMA graphics either, however, and it was still the slowest of the bunch.
Mobile application performance (Longer bars indicate better performance)
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To measure mobile application performance and battery life, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's MobileMark2002. MobileMark measures both application performance and battery life concurrently using a number of popular applications (Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002, Netscape Communicator 6.0, WinZip Computing WinZip 8.0, McAfee VirusScan 5.13, Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1, and Macromedia Flash 5.0).
Performance analysis written by CNET Labs assistant lab manager Eric Franklin.
Find out more about how we test notebooks.
System configurations:Fujitsu LifeBook N series
Windows XP Home; 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 8500 64MB; Hitachi DK23EA-60 60GB 4,200rpm
Sharp Actius RD10
Windows XP Home; 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go 32MB; 60GB hard drive
Toshiba Satellite A25-S307
Windows XP Home; 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4; 480MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; Trident Cyber Aladdin-P4 32MB; IBM Travelstar 60GN 60GB 4,200rpm
The Satellite A25-S307's dark mobile-performance cloud has a silver lining: its powerful 10.8V, 8,400mAh (91WHr) battery lasted more than 3.5 hours in our tests--a long time, particularly for a big notebook. Although you probably won't need it, an extra battery costs $149 (and weighs 1.4 pounds). The Fujitsu LifeBook N series, while faster, also conked out an hour sooner on its 14.8V, 5,880mAh (87WHr) battery. The Sharp Actius RD10's 11.1V, 6,000mAh (67WHr) battery didn't even make it to 2 hours.
Battery life (Longer bars indicate better performance)
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To measure mobile application performance and battery life, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's MobileMark2002. MobileMark measures both application performance and battery life concurrently using a number of popular applications (Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002, Netscape Communicator 6.0, WinZip Computing WinZip 8.0, McAfee VirusScan 5.13, Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1, and Macromedia Flash 5.0).
Performance analysis written by CNET Labs assistant labs manager Eric Franklin.
Find out more about how we test notebooks.
System configurations:Fujitsu LifeBook N series
Windows XP Home; 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 8500 64MB; Hitachi DK23EA-60 60GB 4,200rpm
Sharp Actius RD10
Windows XP Home; 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go 32MB; 60GB hard drive
Toshiba Satellite A25-S307
Windows XP Home; 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4; 480MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; Trident Cyber Aladdin-P4 32MB; IBM Travelstar 60GN 60GB 4,200rpm
Toshiba's support for the Satellite A25-S307 is adequate. The one-year warranty includes toll-free, 24/7 tech support. (Toshiba sells several warranty packages, including an extension to three years that includes paid shipping for $158.) One- and two-page fliers tell you how to dispose of old batteries and so on, while a 60-page printed manual covers using the PC Card slot, installing more memory, and tackling other hands-on tasks. With the notebook running, you can refer to a long, detailed, onscreen manual covering the notebook itself. It also advises how to use Toshiba's utilities for managing function keys and control panels.
To find out more about how this product's warranty really stacks up and what you should look for in terms of service and support, take a look at CNET's hardware warranty explainer.
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- Toshiba,
- warranty,
- notebook computer
User opinions
WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW How would you rate this product?
-
2/10 Terrible January 12, 2005
"Poor features, terrible support" Read more >>
-
3/10 Poor January 12, 2005
"This computer is a lemon." Read more >>
-
7/10 Very good May 14, 2004
"Overall quality notebook. Fun but heavy:)" Read more >>
- WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEWSee all 15 user opinions >>
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