Buying a budget laptop is a lot like doing the limbo. There is only so low that you can go. The Toshiba Satellite 1135-S155 should be considered by anyone who wants a decent multipurpose laptop for about $1,000.
On first glance, the Satellite is a serious laptop. It features an ample 15-in. screen. The clarity isn't tremendous, but it's decent enough. The keyboard features generous wrist support and full-sized keys. People who find typing on conventionally tight laptop keyboards tedious would love plinking away on the Satellite. Cursor control is decent with a very large touch pad, which does take a little getting used to.
The machine features a very quiet fan. If any system noise bothers you, then you can blast the unit's built-in stereo speakers. Blast is not exactly correct, as they aren't very loud. Their sound quality is what you would expect from built-in laptop speakers. In other words, you won't mistake them for a set from Bose or Cambridge SoundWorks.
The Satellite features an external dial to control the system volume, which is handy when viewing a DVD in full-screen mode. (But we found this dial a little vexing when it took a call to technical support to figure out that units are shipped with the volume dial on zero. Toshiba support, by the way, was very good.)
Under the covers, you begin to see what makes the Satellite a budget machine. The review unit featured 256 MB of RAM and a 30 GB hard drive. The system features a 2 GHz Mobile Intel Celeron processor, which hums along at a decent clip. But the system could use some more RAM, especially if more than a few applications are open at once.
The unit also doesn't feature a floppy drive. Granted, floppy disks are pretty passé, but they are still a handy way to transfer documents to and from a laptop especially when a network connection isn't available. Saving to a floppy is also an easy way to back up important documents when on the road.
On the application side, the Satellite is a mixed bag. Toshiba does include some nice system tools such as its Notebook Maximizer, which allows you to check on the system's health by clicking on a desktop icon. The desktop also features a link to the Toshiba Console, which makes tweaking the power usage or assigning quick select keys a snap.
But you may be a little disappointed when hitting the Start button to fire up some applications. The review model came with Windows XP Home Edition and hence the Microsoft Works suite of productivity applications. It would be difficult imagining any real serious business use of the Satellite without Microsoft Office.
The Satellite1135-S155 is a great laptop for someone who needs a general-purpose machine that is mobile. If you want a laptop to handle basic uses such as checking your e-mail, surfing the Web or watching a movie while on the road, then it's a great choice. But if you need a machine with robust productivity applications and a lot of power, then the Satellite 1135-S155 is not the right machine for you.
