Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba Satellite A305D-S6831 15.4-inch Laptop (AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core TL-64 Gold Processor, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

This model is my second Toshiba laptop, which I need for work at my restaurant and on the road for consulting business. I bought it in mid-May; Amazon delivery service was fast and safe, as usual.

I installed Windows Office 2007 and Outlook 2007, plus the Kaspersky Anti-Virus package as soon as I got it. (I always found the Norton/McAfee package to be slow, btw; Kaspersky is faster, much faster). All packages work great with Vista Premium, and I've not had any problems with any of them, including Vista Premium, which works just fine.

The Core 2 Duo processors make for much faster start up/shut down times as compared with those of my three year old Satellite which used the Pentium 4 processor and indeed, all programs seem to work faster than the old laptop. Processor heat is not that bad, and actually helps keep you warm when used on the lap on cold nights! The display on the new Satellite is much brighter and as someone else mentioned, the keyboard layout is very comfortable and accessible. Note that the touchpad and "click keys" are slightly off center to the left of the laptop, but exactly centered below the qwerty keys; I didn't notice this nice touch until recently. As well, there are the little usb symbols on top, which guide your fingers in connecting, so that you don't have to look over the edge when connecting. The sound system is excellent and strong. The black plastic casing has very nice finish, seems very strong, and in my case, at least, I've had no scratches at all after a month's use (lucky, maybe). Fingerprints show up, but are easily cleaned. Built in mike, speakers and webcam work great with skype; no need for headsets anymore! Weight: new machine is bit lighter than the old one, because the old one had light aluminum cover and keyboard plate; the new one is some sort of tough plastic, as I mentioned.

The only small complaint I'd submit is that the AC connection cord is now on the side as opposed the back on my first Toshiba. The cord has a small cylindrical capacitor sort of thingy about 6" from the computer and if that thing dangles over the side of your desk or table where you're working and you move the laptop to the left, you might inadvertently disconnect the laptop. If you're working without the battery inserted as I usually do at home or at work, you'll need to be careful about this.

In closing, I'm really happy with this new laptop and I'd recommend it highly to those folks interested in mid-price range, non-specialized type of laptop, and I give it five stars!

I bought this in the beginning of May with my tax refund (economic stimulus!) and I couldn't be happier with it. The finish is a bit striking for my tastes, but I quickly learned to love it. Also, it has possibly the most comfortable keyboard I have ever used, and I am used to spacious offerings of desktops. Since I do a lot of writing, this was a deciding factor in purchasing this laptop. The thing is really nice, not too heavy (not exactly light though) and has a beautiful display. The $869 version is perfect for a person wanting a really well-rounded laptop on a budget, and as it is loaded with RAM and has a large hard disk, it really does handle very nicely.

That being, said, if you can afford the more expensive version, you probably should, as that has dedicated video and a faster processor, but I think the lower-priced version runs like a dream. Unless you're doing video editing or are planning on running the newest games at the maximum graphics, this will do it and do it well. Also, the speakers are fantastic for a laptop, they are just as good as the desktop speakers that came with my Dell about five years ago, and they are loud enough for me to have to turn them down so my landlord doesn't yell at me for being too loud. The chassis has almost no flex or bend, and it feels very sturdy and solid, as opposed to my friend's Dell Inspiron which feels kinda cheap (Other than that, it's not a bad laptop, but not a particularly good one either). My biggest qualm so far is that I want more battery life, but you can always buy an extended battery for these things.

Seriously, I just love this thing, and I think other people should buy them to share in this awesomeness.

My old laptop was about 4 years old and had reached its maximum of 1 GB RAM. I was deciding whether or not to hold onto XP for a few more years until Vista became more reliable. After researching laptops, I started to get familiar with the Toshiba models and specs, and this one is definitely at the top.

Anyway, you first cannot find a better price for this laptop. No shipping, no tax, unlike a retail store's web-site. My laptop was supposed to be shipped on May 2nd, and I received it today- well-packaged too. Amazon outdid themselves this time. So far, this laptop is extremely fast. It is my first computer with Vista, and I am pleasantly surprised. I guess with the 3 GB RAM, T8100 processor, and 512 dedicated graphics memory, Vista would have no troubles. It includes Media Center, which is my new favorite program. It has the cool 1.3 megapixel webcam, fingerprint reader and face recognition security, and nice touch-sensitive media controls at the base of the display that light up when the laptop is powered on. You can charge your mp3 player through the USB port when the laptop is powered off. I am typing on my new laptop at the moment using the battery, and it is at 60% with 2 hours 11 minutes of power left. Very quiet, Harmon/Kardon speakers, nice bright screen, 400 GB HDD. You can see the features above, but they are all great to have. The only thing that bugs me JUST A LITTLE are the fingerprints. This laptop has an extremely glossy casing and keys, so fingerprints will definitely show. Other than that, it's a great laptop for under $1200.

If you're looking for laptops or considering this one, I personally prefer Intel Core 2 Duo over AMD Turion 64 x2, and dedicated graphics over integrated. T5550 might be the standard now, but to get over the 2 GHz mark, you need a T7250 at least.

This is the 5th Toshiba laptop that I've purchased for our small start-up company. It's evident that Toshiba has nailed down how to develop a workhorse of a laptop. Versus the Dells and IBM's we have in house I receive no trouble calls or incidents on these machines in over a year. I can't say the same for the other computers. Slowly but surely we will be switching over to all Toshiba's.
Other then the 17 inch model I use this is one of the nicest 15.4 model out there. 3 GBs of ram and dual core AMD gold processors are rock solid. We do a lot of graphical design and web development and haven't been able to slow this machine down. When we take this machine to client meetings everyone always wants to check this unit out. The black case with its discrete styling makes even the macs look boring.

I have the model A305-S6837 which has a larger hard drive and a little more ram but otherwise is the same. I bought it to get more speed for photo editing and didn't think about the sound but after I used it with itunes and media player playing my favorite classical selections I love it. I use the scroll wheel for volumne right in the front and find it very convenient. I also like the keyboard key size and the layout of the non letter keys. It performs very well with everything I've tried so far so I am very pleased with it.