Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 Review

Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 is a 14.1″ laptop at an affordable price. It supports the latest components that make it hard to beat against its close competitors. Satellites have a long reputation of producing some great laptops and this one promises to deliver the same. Toshiba has kept in mind not only the performance but the looks also while designing the laptop. Lets look at the laptop in detail to find out how it fares.

Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 specifications :

• Dimensions :  13.4″ x 9.7″ x 1.2″
• Weight : 5.1 lbs
• Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo P8400/ 2.26 GHz
• Display : 14.1″ TFT active matrix
• Display resolution : 1280 x 800
• Chipset : Mobile Intel GM45 Express
• Graphics : Intel GMA 4500MHD
• RAM : 4GB DDR2 SDRAM – 800 MHz
• Hard Drive : 320GB SATA-II 5400rpm
• Optical drive : DVD Burner with Lightscribe
• Card Reader : 5-in-1
• OS : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
• Battery : 8-cell Lithium ion
• Warranty : 2-years limited warranty
• Approx. price : $1099

The laptop does not have the usual black body color, instead it has a gray and copper combination which looks nice. It prefers rectangular edges to curved ones which give it a box look, something I personally don’t prefer. Although the ‘box’ look does make it look rugged and strong to take daily wear and tear. The laptop is pretty slim at just 1.2″ and only a couple of laptops by other manufacturers beat it. It has a subtle pattern on the Weight is also on the lighter side making it highly portable considering it packs in a 8-cell battery instead of more common 6-cell. Portability however does not come at the cost of performance that has been ensured by the Toshiba.

The 14.1″ display has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 and the screen is glossy in nature thereby producing reflections. The display clarity is good for day-to-day usage and is suited for variety of tasks. Surfing web, editing documents or watching movies, the display is apt for all these tasks. There is no matte option for you to choose as this is the only configuration that you have to pick off the shelf. The display also has a webcam at the top along with built-in microphones.

The keyboard is quite ergonomic and typing is quite easy with it even for long durations. The keyboard also has illuminated keys, allowing you to type even in pitch darkness. The touchpad is of adequate size but the keys are somewhat small due to the presence of the fingerprint reader sandwiched between them. Fingerprint reader can be addictive as you do not have to remember passwords for sites, but we are cool even with a laptop without it. Fingerprint readers are much better than face detection technology as it works faster and more accurately.

Toshiba has a omitted a lot of ports that you normal would normally see on laptops. It does not have a VGA port, ExpressCard slot and a mini-Firewire port. Omission of a VGA port is a shocker as almost all laptop except Apple ones come with it. VGA port is still very much the standard in the industry with almost display monitors having it. It however does have a HDMI port and a USB port that doubles up as a eSATA port too. The absence of ExpressCard slot is another disappointment. Thankfully it has a card reader that supports 5 card form ts.

The laptop has wireless-N connectivity, the latest standard in the wireless industry. Wireless-N routers are making their presence felt in the market and it makes sense to have a laptop supporting the standard. The mini Firewire port is also a nice addition allowing you to connect Firewire devices such as handycams etc which work particularly well over Firewire compared to USB. There is a row of touch sensitive buttons to the right of the keyboard, having touch sensitive buttons is extremely useful than regular buttons due to their ease of use.

The laptop also has a mini-FM Radio antenna that is bundled with the laptop. Although it is the era of MP3s but having an option to fire up the Radio when you are in the mood to listen to someone chattering and not knowing what would be the next track is a different experience altogether. The speakers on the laptop are any good and produce terrible sound. These are located on the front edge of the laptop, not the best place for speakers on a laptop.

The laptop has a fixed configuration which delivers great performance for the price it sports. The Core 2 Duo is good enough too handle various multimedia applications and multitasking too. The processor belongs to the Centrino 2 family. 4GB RAM takes care of memory intensive tasks and is sufficient for all home tasks such as web surfing, editing documents or movie viewing. On the graphics front, it only has integrated onboard graphics which are only good enough to run HD movies, don’t expect anything more than casual gaming at low settings. Toshiba should have included a dedicated graphics card atleast to run games at mid settings.

The battery life is great at 4 hours, thanks to the 8-cell battery included in the laptop. 6-cell batteries are the norm especially in 14″ laptops so having a 8-cell one is a huge advantage. Toshiba has been generous enough to include a 2-year warranty with the laptop also.

Pros :

• Slim and light-weight
• Backlit keyboard
• Impressive battery
• Good performance

Cons :

• Unappealing looks
• No VGA, ExpressCard slot
• Bad speakers

Final Thoughts

The Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 has everything in place but still does not make a big impact on the buyer due to a variety of reasons. It does not have a killer configuration, nor does it have attractive looks and has few ports too. Omission of VGA port and the ExpressCard slot can simply not be justified. It however does have a backlit keyboard, impressive battery life and good performance. Not having a dedicated ghraphics card restricts it to general home use. Speakers are a big disappointment too. It you want a decent laptop which has everything in just right proportion then you should look at it seriously.

Rating : 3/5