Toshiba Satellite A305-S6845 Notebook

Name: Toshiba Satellite A305-S6845 Notebook - Page 11
Brand: Toshiba

by Daniel A. Begun — Friday, June 06, 2008, 10:00 AM EDT

Performance Analysis and Conclusion

Page 11: Performance Analysis and Conclusion

Performance Analysis: The A305-S6845 surprised us in a number of our benchmark tests, performing better than expected. Of particular note is the A305-S6845's impressive battery life of almost three and a half hours. Also noteworthy is the system's 3D performance, which saw respectable frame rates on Prey and Company of Heroes, as well as making a strong showing in 3DMark06. The A305-S6845's robust PCMark Vantage performance indicates that the system should be more than capable for most mainstream application needs.

Toshiba has done a very good job of putting together a quality system that performs well and looks good. It features a powerful Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 processor, with more than enough memory to suit most needs, and plenty of hard disk storage space to spare. The A305-S6845's unique design and smooth contours should appeal to many users. Its vivid display and great-sounding speakers make the laptop an excellent candidate for watching movies, playing games, and other rich multimedia experiences. The USB Sleep and Charge feature offers a convenient way to charge many USB devices without having to power on the laptop. The fingerprint reader and face-recognition add an extra-level of convenience and fun to what might otherwise be mundane tasks.

While the glossy design should appeal to many users, its propensity to attract fingerprints will be a big turn off for many. Like many vendors, Toshiba pre-loads the system with what we feel is too much, less-than-useful software; as much of the bundled software is free or free demos, interested users can easily fetch the applications themselves. The glossy screen is great for dark spaces, but some may find it a hindrance in brightly lit areas as the display tends to throw back lots of glare. Gamers might also find the 15.4-inch display and 1280x800 native resolution too constraining. Including a built-in webcam is a nice touch, but the image quality the 1.3-megapixel camera produces leaves something to be desired. We were also somewhat disappointed that the standard configuration of the A305-S6845 does not include Bluetooth.

Selling for $1,250, the A305-S6845 is an excellent value for its performance, battery life, looks, and features. Because of its powerful processor, respectable GPU performance, 15.4-inch display, and 1280x800 native resolution, the A305-S6845 can actually fit many varied needs and is therefore difficult to classify as belonging to a particular class, such as mainstream laptop, desktop replacement, or even gaming rig. Suffice it to say that the A305-S6845 might very well meet the needs of users seeking a notebook that does any of those things.