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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
5.0 stars
"A Dream Machine When Customized"
Pros: Lightweight, upgrades can provide muscular performance, 14" screen can be upgraded to provide huge resolution that is far clearer and more accurate than all the 15" and 17" screens I tested
Cons: burns hot, fan noise
Summary: I needed a very fast machine that could multitask to the max, one with great screen resolution for digital photography. After 3 months and receiving and returning 4 other highly customized, top of the line laptops including IBM, Sony, Dell and Fujitsu (which came close), I found it in this machine. What's unique is how highly upgraded it can be within a small frame. I wanted the fastest Pent M and Toshiba offered the almost-fastest, a Pent M 760, plus a hard drive that spun at 7200 rpm (offered by Toshiba at 60 GB). Add 1 GB DRAM (cheaper if you buy two at 500 MB ea and just as effective), and upgrades to the cache. I have noticed that the air coming out of the exhaust is hot, however, this may be warmer than normal due to the high rpm hd. To me, it's worth it to find so much speed in a small chasse. The machine comes with Bluetooth and Infrared, making the fact that it has only 2 USB ports tolerable. The keyboard is small but not undersized. I am a writer and have delicate hands so actually prefer this kind of keyboard for speed and ability to reach all the keys. The dual pointing device includes scroll features, something I have come to like a lot, though mostly I use it with a bluetooth mouse I bought from Targus. Either way, you'll pay around $3,000 for this configuration but since I use it for work and play, it is well worth it for me. The clincher was the screen - although only 14", it outperformed all the others, which were 15 and 17", in terms of resolution and clarity. Eye-popping clarity for digi photos. DVD's play just fine with no hesitation, though the picture is as good as any other and not spectacular. Toshiba offers a Nvidia graphics card with only so much embedded memory so this is the only thing that's not super fast about this computer - pictures will be slower to load because of it. However, once they load, they are so clear, the color so true, it's worth the wait. I also am an artist and paint from photos so I found I needed something much higher quality than a gaming machine offered. As far as battery life, the 6 cell is about average and not what one might call disappointing. However, I ordered the 12 cell - adds more weight and goes to 4 hours with heavy usage. Above and beyond these basics, Toshiba pays attention to details. It's refreshing to be able to pretty boot up and go. Java was preinstalled, current software needed little updating, it's the little touches that let you know they are focused on what they are doing, and that is building the best lightweight laptop out there, at least that I could find.
