TOSHIBA

Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904

It’s hard to contain my excitement every time a laptop maker takes a plain-looking laptop and showcases an exciting new technology. Case in point: the Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904 ($999 list). The Toshiba E205-S1904 is a speedy one, created under the direction of, and sold exclusively by, Best Buy. Not only is this laptop equipped with a backlit keyboard and a Core i5 processor, but it’s one of three laptops (the other two are from Sony and Dell) embedded with Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi)—a technology that will allow you to stream any form of media to an external LCD, wirelessly.

Design
Crafted from the same plastics as its siblings, the E205-S1904’s looks aren’t going to drop jaws. The top uses the same glossy, plastic finish that’s synonymous with most Satellite-branded laptops, except it’s the only one available in blue, in accordance with Best Buy’s Blue label program. Actually, the Blue Label program has nothing to do with color coordination; it’s basically a program developed out of polling average consumers and addressing what their laptop needs are. From a design standpoint, laptops like the ASUS UL80Vt-A1 ($823 street, ) and Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch ($1,199 direct, )—both Editors’ Choices—are pushing the envelope with metals. And as a result, they’re more attractive and lighter than the E205-S1904 (5.1 lbs).

The E205-S1904 uses a 14.1-inch widescreen, which Best Buy considers an optimal screen size. Its 1,366-by-768 resolution, however, is not as impressive as the 1,600-by-900 one found on the Dell Studio 14z ($1,004 direct, ). The E205-S1904 has a traditional full-size keyboard, and while it won’t get any complaints from touch typists, the one on the Dell Studio 14z is better for typing. Like the Studio 14z and MacBook Pro 13-inch, the E205-S1904 has a backlit keyboard, which is extremely handy to have in dark-lit areas. A wide touchpad and huge mouse buttons make the navigating experience an enjoyable one, too.

Features
Best Buy customers also gave thumbs up to features like a slot-loading DVD burner, HDMI and ESATA ports—all of which can be found in the E205-S1904. The E-SATA port also doubles as a USB connection, which, in addition to two more, makes up three USB ports. A 500GB hard drive is very generous at this price, surpassing the 320GB capacities found in the Studio 14z, the HP Pavilion dv4-2153cl, and the UL80Vt-A1. The system also includes a 2-year warranty, a 15-month subscription to an Antivirus suite, and 30-day Geek Squad support. The E205-S1904 has numerous wireless technologies built-in, including ones for Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi—none of which, however, are more compelling than Intel’s Wireless Display.

Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi, for short), a revolutionary technology, is similar to wireless HDMI, except the latter never really took off. The technology is embedded into the E205-S1904, creating a bridge between the Wi-Fi chip and the integrated graphics chipset so that there’s no need to attach a separate USB dongle. A feather-touch button (next to the keyboard) launches an Intel application that automatically connects the E205 to an external display (to disconnect, you click on the disconnect icon). In order to do this, however, a separate Netgear box, which is included with your E205-S1904 purchase, has to be connected to the flat panel via HDMI-Out or RCA outputs (you’ll have to buy the cables separately).

Once the connection is made, anything you do on the laptop is replicated to the external display—wirelessly. It’s ideal for presentations, slideshows, or videos you want to show your family and friends. And the range is pretty impressive, too: I was streaming 720p high-definition video (WiDi is not compatible with 1080p videos yet) from 30 feet away, without any noticeable lag and fragmentation. It’s far from polished, though, as this technology isn’t intended for Web browsing and office productivity tasks. The major reason is because there’s about a half-second mouse lag between what you see on the laptop and what is shown on the external display. Thankfully, Intel developed an entire roadmap around WiDi, so this technology will continue to get better and eventually be available on more laptops once the six-month Best Buy exclusivity deal runs out (I’m not certain why Best Buy has an exclusive on WiDi).

Performance
New technology doesn’t stop with WiDi. The E205-S1904 is configured with a 2.27GHz Core i5-430M—one of Intel’s newest processors. Combined with 4GB of DDR3 memory, it easily trumps the previous-gen processors found in the Dell Studio 14z and ASUS UL80Vt-A1. Video encoding tests finished in under a minute (49 seconds), well ahead of the Dell Studio 14z (1:06) and ASUS UL80Vt-A1 (1:21). The E205-S1904 Cinebench R10 (7,794) and PCMark Vantage (5,590) scores were also the fastest among the systems we compared it to.

The E205-S1904 is a speedy laptop, but a gaming laptop it is not. For those who are into light 3D gaming, the Dell Studio 14z and MacBook Pro 13-inch have Nvidia chipsets that outperformed the E205-S1904 in gaming tests. The ASUS UL80Vt-A1, meanwhile, uses switchable graphics, which takes advantage of two graphics solutions: One that benefits battery life; the other, 3D-intensive tasks. Bundled with a 6-cell, 63Wh battery, the E205-S1904 performed well in battery tests (4 hours 54 minutes), but fell short of the Studio 14z’s score by 23 minutes (5:17) and couldn’t even come close to the ASUS UL80Vt-A1 and its 84Wh battery (10:10).

The Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904 has a cluster of cool technology that you can get for a reasonable price. Though it’s a Best Buy-only configuration for now, it comes with a backlit keyboard and a Core i5 processor—features that should be on your laptop wish list. Intel’s Wireless Display, meanwhile, is easily one of the hottest technologies this year, but currently lacks the Web browsing efficiency that couch potatoes are looking for. Until that happens, I would consider the Dell Studio 14z or the Editors’ Choice ASUS UL80Vt-A1; while they don’t have the WiDi technology, they’re better laptops overall.

BOTTOM LINE:
The Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904 is budding with potential, thanks to a backlit keyboard, Core i5 processing, and Intel’s WiDi technology.

PROS:
Intel’s WiDi is a budding technology. Backlit keyboard. Core i5 processor. Very good battery life. Excellent performance scores. Comfortable typing and navigating experience. Big hard drive. HDMI and E-SATA. Includes Netgear receiver.

CONS:
Best Buy exclusive. Plain design.

Dell Inspiron 580s

Dell Computers have released a new desktop computer. The Dell Inspiron 580s is a slimline version of the much more powerful XPS versions. Sleek and easier to fit on a desk, this version is a sure fire hit for the office.The Inspiron 580s follows the design of previous Dell SFF (small form factor) PCs, like the Inspiron 537s ($658 – $858 direct, ) I looked at last year. This time around, the desktop’s design has been altered to sport a glossy black faceplate with a hexagonal motif etched under the surface. The system’s two optical drive bays are filled with a DVD burner and a multi-card reader. The front of the system is uncluttered and clean with the power button and a pair of USB ports as the only other adornments on the front of the system. This is also because the optical drive and card reader, which are normally on the front of the chassis, hide behind hinged doors. The doors hide the ugly drive trays while they’re not being used, keeping the system’s sleek design intact. Other I/O ports include four more USB ports in the back, connectors for VGA and HDMI monitors, Ethernet, and audio. All-in-all, it’s a neatly-designed system. Although I would’ve liked to have seen eSATA and at least one FireWire port, their absence isn’t a deal breaker.
The system is free of the bloatware that seems to plague retail systems, such as those from Gateway and HP. No bloatware is one of the benefits of buying a configured-to-order PC direct from a PC maker like Dell. The system comes with a full version of Microsoft Works 9, as opposed to the ad-supported version found on some Gateway systems. The computer initially boots up into a setup wizard, which has prompts to set up recovery and Dell’s DataSafe online backup, as well as links to Dell’s support center and other Windows 7 help. I applaud the fact that Dell provides links to the bloatware I complain about, rather than pre-installing the software. A browser link is easier to ignore and doesn’t affect your system, while pre-installed bloatware programs are at best a nuisance and at worst a tech support nightmare.

Performance
The Inspiron 580s is a good upgrade for people who are still using a single core (Pentium 4, Pentium M) or a Core 2 Duo system. Multimedia tasks like Adobe Photoshop CS4 (1 minute 35 seconds) and Windows Media Encoder (42 seconds) finish in far less time than it used to take. The Core i3-530 is a dual-core processor with HyperThreading, rather than a true four-core system, but it performs as well as systems with the Core 2 Quad and AMD Athlon II X4 processor like the Gateway SX2802-01 ($499.99 List, ) and HP Pavilion p6347c-b ($800 List, ).

The Inspiron 580s has Intel Integrated GMA graphics (equivalent to GMA X4500HD) embedded in the Core i3 processor, which is more for HD video processing, rather than 3D gaming—the single-digit game scores bear this out. Sure, you can load World in Conflict or Crysis, but it won’t be a pleasant experience. Get something more powerful (like the Gateway FX6831-01 ) if you want to play newer 3D games.

The Dell Inspiron 580s is a good compact system for the home user. The 580s could be your primary system, with enough power for multimedia tasks in Photoshop. Nonetheless, my advice is to go with the Dell Computers Inspiron i570-6939PBK ($599.98 List, ) a slightly better choice, because it has most of the same performance for about $20 less with a much larger hard drive (640GB) and a 20-inch monitor packed in.