Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970 Laptop Review – Heavy And Low In Performance

Laptops — By Ricky on December 1, 2009 at 12:16 am

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

A non glossy exterior which doesn’t attract too many finger prints, the DVD drive has a slot loading interface.

Thumbs Down:

Bad display, aw full keyboard and track pad ergonomics, small but still heavy.

Inside the Trunk:

Power cables and soft wares.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 / 2.13 GHz (Dual-Core), Data bus speed – 1066 MHz, Chipset type – Intel 45GM Express, L2 cache, 3 MB, RAM 4 GB DDR II SDRAM (expandable to 8 GB), Hard disk drive – 500 GB,
DVD+/-RW, CD / DVD read speed – 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD
CD / DVD write speed – 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD) / 5x (DVD-RAM) / 4x (DVD Double layer)
Display 13.3 inch TFT LCD active matrix, Resolution 1280 x 800, TruBrite technology

Graphics
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

Modem
Max transfer rate 56 Kbps

Data link protocol
Ethernet, Fast Ethernet

Expansion Slots
Memory, ExpressCard 34/54, Memory card reader

Interfaces
1 x e-SATA, 2 x USB 2.0 – USB 2.0, 1 x Ethernet – RGB, 1 x SPDIF, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Microphone, 1 x Headphones, 1 x Modem – RJ-45, 1 x Display / video
802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN, Camera.

Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Software
Drivers & Utilities, Toshiba Face Recognition, Toshiba DVD Player, Toshiba Hard Drive Impact Sensor, Toshiba Recovery Media Creator Toshiba PC Health Monitor, Hard Disc Recovery, Norton Internet Security 2009, WildTangent, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Toshiba ConfigFree, Microsoft Works 9.0, Toshiba Power Saving ECO Utility, Corel DVD MovieFactory, Toshiba Disc Creator.

1 year warranty

Toshiba u505-s2970

Razzle Dazzle:

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970 has a plastic exterior which doesn’t feel that cheap but don’t look that good either. We got a brown colored notebook in the test centers and check with the manufacturers if you can get other colors of your choice. We personally feel dark black is the best colors for laptop. But then it is a question of everyone’s individual choices and women maybe not get pink colored laptops that they crave for. But this exterior will not attract finger prints because it is not glossy. Usually glossy exteriors spoil the look because it attracts a lot of finger prints and you have to clean it often if you want it to look pretty. We get a lot of glossy exterior laptop in our test and we were finally glad to have one that was clean on the exteriors.

Inside Dope:

With a small size you would think that this note book is thin and light. But you will be disappointed because this is not a thin and definitely not light. It is only a tad lighter than Toshiba Satellite E105-S1802 but with this size we would have expected more in portability and Toshiba disappoints us. We don’t get a light notebook and nor do we get a bigger display. Usually note book manufacturers dump the big size in favor of ultra portable notebook, but what is the use if the laptop is heavy as well as not good in features?

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970 is heavy at 4.9 pounds so get prepared to run straight to a masseuse if you want to carry this laptop for too long on your shoulders and a 1.5 inch thickness makes it not-so-portable laptop.

Keyboard on the notebook are not one of the best but they are not that bad either. You will notice that they make a lot of noise if you type fast. But this is certainly a bigger keyboard than Toshiba’s earlier 14.1 inch offering. The track pad buttons are not that good either we would have appreciated a better ergonomics on the track pad. These buttons too give a loud click when you press them. This is not a notebook for you if you love silence around you.

The display of the Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970 is 13.3 inch big and will give you a resolution of 1280X800. The display isn’t bright enough and the colors on the note book look dull. This is one of the most under performing displays that we have found in a laptop. The display is good if you are going to use it for typing or basic works, but if you love watching movies then this notebook is not for you as videos look aw full on this screen. Likewise photos look bad on this screen too.

The speakers of the Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970 are above average and we didn’t have problems of low volume that we find in most laptops. Most notebooks of this price range have under performing speakers where the sound refuses to go beyond a certain limit and if you push, the sound distorts. You won’t be using the laptop for watching movies due to the lamentable display quality but you can listen to music and these speakers will deliver to your expectations as long as you are not looking for out of the box experience.

Other hard ware of the computer includes a four GB RAM which can be further expanded to eight GB. The RAM is DDR2 SD RAM which is strictly OK in performance. The processor is Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 / 2.13 GHz. A lack of discreet graphics card prohibits you from playing games on this laptop. Any games played in all its glory will bring this laptop down to its heels. Anyways, the display quality is so aw full you won’t be playing much games on this computer. The hard disk of the laptop is spacious at 500 GB for you to store all your files, music and videos. The computer comes with a DVD burner; we didn’t expect a Blu-Ray drive anyways. The Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970 comes bundled with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium and host of other soft wares from Toshiba.

This notebook will give you average battery life of a little over three hours.

Nitty Gritty:

We don’t recommend this laptop due to the bad display. To make things worse it has a small size and is heavy too. We seldom come across small laptop which are not portable-friendly.