Toshiba Satellite A105

Screen Size: 15.4 inches
Weight: 6 lbs
The Satellite A105 platform offers a technology-packed affordable notebook in a compact, feature-rich design. Great for basic computing, this system includes an Intel Celeron M Processor 380, wireless LAN, and 100GB HDD. The 15.4" Diagonal Widescreen XGA Display takes the strain out of viewing spreadsheets and other data.

The shade of dark gray surrounding the lid has a nice slimming effect on the Satellite. The unit weighs 6.0 pounds, which is fairly light compared with other 15.4-inch-screen notebooks such as the HP Pavilion dv4000 (6.4 pounds) and the Acer TravelMate 8204WSMi (6.7 pounds). The Satellite has a bright, high-contrast screen—perfect for watching a DVD or working with photo or video files, but glare can be troublesome when you're working in bright lights on documents such as Microsoft Word or Excel files.

The components you get on the Satellite are very similar to those of its close competitor, the HP Pavilion dv4000, for about the same price. The Satellite comes loaded with a 2.0-GHz Pentium M 760, 1GB of RAM, and integrated Intel graphics. Unlike with the HP, however, you can't upgrade the Satellite to a discrete graphics solution. But Toshiba will let you upgrade to a 120GB hard drive; by contrast, you can't go above 100GB on the dv4000. If you plan on doing some heavier video editing while running other tasks, you may want to consider a dual-core system, such as the Dell Inspiron E1705.

A set of media buttons (Play/Pause, Stop, Rwd, and FFWD) control DVD and CD playback, both in a Windows or Linux environment. The built-in Harman Kardon speakers offer crisp MP3 playback. The touchpad is responsive, but we found it a bit too small. It's important to note that this system does not offer an option to upgrade to Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Fortunately, there are enough third-party applications that can help you organize your music and photos—and since there is no TV tuner, the lack of MCE is not a deal-breaker.

If you enjoy watching movies, editing home movies, and fiddling with photos, then the Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 is a good choice, especially for the price. But its battery life limits you to short trips away from your desk, and the options are not as extensive as the ones found on the HP Pavilion dv4000.