Sum ‘n’ substance:

Thumbs up:Sleek design, good sound clarity, long battery life.

Thumbs down:Comparatively more expensive than laptops in its range of configuration, not a user-friendly keyboard.

Inside the trunk rocessor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2 GHz) ; RAM installed: 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM ; Hard drive size: 400 GB;  Supported flash memory cards Memory Stick , MultiMediaCard , SD Memory Card , xD-Picture Card , Memory Stick Pro , SDHC Memory Card;  Display Type 13.3 in TFT active matrix.

Max Resolution 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) Widescreen Display ;High Definition Audio; Voltage Required AC 120/230 V, 12-cell Lithium ion battery; Mfr estimated battery life 7.9 hour(s); Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

The whiz- kid speaks:As always, Toshiba has focused their attention on portability with some added features like the back-lit keyboard and the slot-loading optical drive. Let’s check out if the hefty price tag makes sense or not.

Razzle-Dazzle:The U505-S2940 has sleek design which makes it very attractive to look at but, it is bulky and not slim much unlike the claims Toshiba have posted on their website. The thickness of the U505 chassis is extensive, especially with the battery sticking out from the rear which provides a nice built-in laptop stand to elevate the keyboard on a desk, but lap use can be pretty uncomfortable. The skin of the U505 is covered in a textured Matrix finish with a pebbled feel and is available in brown, pink, and white and black. Chrome highlights around the speaker grilles, Webcam, and touch-pad buttons are an added plus point on looks.

Inside dope:

The U505 sports a 13.3-inch screen, resolution is 1280×800, a standard resolution for a laptop this size. The icons, videos and text were sharp and well-defined. Although Harman/Kardon speakers aren’t included here, the bass-enhanced stereo speakers still pack quite a punch.

The keyboard was the most disappointing of them all, with cramped and shaky buttons, Toshiba threw user-friendliness out the window. They did however; add back-lights to the keyboard. The touchpad also feels too small for the laptop design, whereas the touch-pad buttons are large and easy to access.

In the multimedia and multitasking front , the Satellite U505-S2940 performed well, the 505-S2940 has a good selection of ports, ranging from HDMI-out and ExpressCard to the Toshiba hallmark sleep-and-charge USB/eSATA combo port, which can charge devices even when the laptop is asleep or powered down although the sleep-and-charge needs to be configured before use. Personally, I feel it is one of the very few good features present.

The Toshiba Satellite U505-S2940′s battery lasted for 5 hours and 29 minutes in our video-playback battery drain test, which smashed the results of its competitors. This was pretty obvious, since the U505 packs a seriously thick 12-cell battery pack. We can’t complain too much, although laptops like the 13-inch MacBook Pro manage to get equivalent or better battery life with no bulge at all.

U500 line can be customized with hard drives up to 500GB, and an optional ATI Mobility Radeon H4570 GPU ($76). Bluetooth, lacking in our model, can be added for $20.The processor can be boosted an extra level as well, to a 2.53 GHz P8700 Core 2 Duo.

Nitty- Gritty:The bottom line is, even though you’d have a laptop that makes you look good with its sleek design and really loud speakers you’d still not be the one with the laptop that everyone will be gaga over it, including you. It would be like buying an expensive show-piece. Because   the U505-S2940 lacks high-end extras such as Blu-ray or a gaming-level GPU even Bluetooth has been omitted. What it has is a similar Core 2 Duo processor, a larger hard drive; performance is as good as its competitors and is priced at $150 extra. So let’s answer the question we started off with, “Does the hefty price tag makes sense or not?” ….I think the answer is pretty obvious.

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