The Design:
The laptop is fairly large and a fair bit larger than normal laptops. It does have a very sleek and individual design. It has one large hinge under the screen which leaves a gap at each side of the laptop, I think it looks aesthetically pleasing. It uses a grey/black colour scheme throughout which seems to work well.
The laptop has 6 hotkeys which are lit by super bright white LEDs. They can be turned on and off by the touch of a button and look really really nice. The Equium logo also lights up when the hotkey lights are on, for some reason I'm very impressed by this!
To the right is a picture comparing the size of the Toshiba to an average sized Sony Vaio.
To the right is a picture comparing the size of the Toshiba to an average sized Sony Vaio.The touchpad is larger than average and blends in with the fascia and colour scheme of the laptop. Most laptops I have seen have a different colored touchpad and I can't work out why...
The laptop also features a full QWERTY keyboard and numberpad. This is very useful and makes it the perfect laptop for business users and/or people who do a lot of work on their laptop.
The Screen:
The screen is 17 inches. The resolution is 1440 by 900 which is a greater resolution than most laptops and a nice screen to look at.
The graphics adapter is an Intel GMA X3100 358MB. I guess it won't be running any brand new games but for a non gaming laptop I think it has quite a good adaptor and will be fine for relatively new games.
The Hardware:
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T2370 clocked at 1.73GHZ
Pre Installed OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (I installed Windows 7 which works even better than Vista!)
RAM: 2,048 DDR2
Hard Disk: 200GB
CD drive: DVD&CD rewriter
Max External Video: 2,048 by 1,536
Interfaces:
external monitor, rj-11, rj-45, TV-out, iLink, external microphone, headphones, 4USB ports, built in webcam, built in microphone, built in speakers, 5in1 card reader, HDMI socket, built in WiFi
Enhancements:
As mentioned the laptop has a built in microphone, speakers and webcam. This is very very useful and I have tested them for an extensive amount of time on Skype. The speakers are really very impressive. The are much much better than other laptops I have seen, I would go as far as to say you won't need external speakers, even to play good quality music. Built in WiFi has become a standard now and this laptop conforms to it. It has a toggle switch on the front to turn the adapter on and off which is a nice touch.
The volume control is a slider rather than buttons. It makes it easier to get an exact volume if you are looking for one however the slider is placed right at the front of the laptop so when I sit with it on my lap I'm always knocking it and increasing/decreasing the volume.
Tests:
Firstly I installed Windows 7. The install took about 15-20 minuted which is a compliment to Windows rather than Toshiba but I was very impressed with the speed of it.
I then installed the game "Company Of Heroes" and it seems to run OK on a reduced graphics setting. I changed all the options to medium when I could and then low when given the choice between just low and high. It worked flawlessly and I played for about 2 hours whilst talking on Skype.
The processor in this laptop seems more than capable of doing anything a home user throws at it. At one point I was talking on Skype, watching TV (with my USB TV tuner) and browsing the Internet. At no point did I experience any lag or slowdown.
Battery Life:
Toshiba don't give any indication at all as to the length of the battery life. I fully charged the laptop, unplugged it and booted Company Of Heroes. The battery lasted about an hour at most before I got a critical warning and had to plug it in. It would last about 2 hours if you are word processing of casually surfing the web.
Overall this is a really nice laptop. I currently use this as my laptop of choice to play games and do work. I rate this 4/5 stars. It would have got 5 stars however the spec isn't great, Its good however I think 5 stars should be awarded to really really great pieces of tech.