Toshiba Satellite E205-S1980


The Toshiba Satellite E205-S1980 is the only blue-colored laptop in the Satellite family and sold exclusively at Best Buy (starting in January 2011). Beyond the blue plastic shell are components and features that put it in the company of elite mainstream laptops like the Asus U45Jc-A1 ($867 street, 4.5 stars), Samsung QX410-J01 ($829.99 street, 4 stars), and HP Envy 14-1110NR ($1,050 list, 4 stars). A fast Core i5 processor, switchable graphics from Nvidia, and a backlit keyboard are worth considering if your demands exceed those of average users. It also includes the latest embedded wireless technologies—WiMax and Wireless Display—from Intel. Despite these accolades, the E205-S1980 will have to be more aggressive with pricing because the competition in this space is just too fierce.

Design
Crafted from the same plastic shell as other Satellite-branded laptops, the E205-S1980's looks aren't jaw-dropping. But it's the only blue laptop in the family. The top has the same glossy, plastic finish used by laptops from two years ago, complete with the infused decorative patterns. These days, an overwhelming number of mainstream laptops use aluminum in their designs, as it's more attractive, cost-effective, and lighter than plastics. Aluminum is used in the Asus U45Jc-A1 (4.7 lbs), Samsung QX410-J01 (5 lbs), Gateway ID49C13u ($849.99 street, 4 stars) (4.9 lbs), and HP Pavilion dm4-1160us ($849.98 list, 4 stars) (4.4 lbs). The list goes on and on after that, plus all of these laptops are lighter than the 5.1-pound E205-S1980



The E205-S1980 uses a 14-inch widescreen, which Best Buy considers an optimal screen size. Its 1,366-by-768 resolution is boilerplate for most 14-inch laptops, except for the HP Envy 14 ($1,286 direct, 4 stars) and Dell XPS 14, which scale to 1,600-by-900. It has a traditional full-size keyboard, rather than the chiclet-style keyboards we've seen crop up on laptops as of late. The E205-S1980 and HP Envy 14 are among the few mainstream laptops that have a backlit keyboard, an extremely useful feature for those who work in low-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-S1980. The eSATA port also doubles as a USB 2.0 connection, which, in addition to two more, makes up three USB 2.0 ports. A 500GB (5,400rpm) hard drive is a common capacity, although the HP dm4-1160us and the Envy 14 have faster 500GB drives (7200rpm), for better performance. The E205-S1980 also has numerous wireless technologies built-in, among them are Intel's Wireless Display and WiMax (4G).

Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi, for short) is similar to wireless HDMI, except the latter never really took off. The technology is embedded into the E205-S1980, 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-S1980 to an external display, wirelessly. You will need the Netgear Push2TV receiver, though, which is a separate purchase ($100) and has to be connected to the flat panel.

WiDi is ideal for presentations, slideshows, or videos you want to present to 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 noticeable lag between what you see on the laptop and what is shown on the external display.

WiMax, or 4G wireless, is also embedded into the E205-S1980, which is yet another dongle-free wireless feature. As we speak, there are over 60 cities that have erected WiMax towers. Unlike Wi-Fi, which covers a short range, WiMax spans an entire city. Throughput speeds range from 3-8Mbps, which is as fast as a home DSL package. Best of all, pricing plans are cheaper than many internet packages.

Performance
Toshiba Satellite E205-S1980 The E205-S1980 is configured with a 2.53GHz Core i5-460M processor, which is the same processor used by the Samsung QX410-J01 and Gateway ID49C13u. It's a faster solution than the Core i3 processor found in the Asus U45Jc-A1, though not as energy efficiency. Its Handbrake score, derived from transcoding a video, finished slightly ahead of the QX410-J01 (2:54) and the dm4-1160us (2:52). Its Cinebench R11.5 (2.17) and Photoshop CS5 (4:56) scores were consistent with the gang of Core i5 laptops. In layman's terms, the E205-S1980 can edit video and render high-quality photos like the best of them. Its PCMark Vantage score didn't quite live up to expectations, but that's because some of its peers have better graphics chips.

A 14-inch laptop is not really an ideal footprint for gaming, but that's not stopping PC makers from putting in gaming chips. The E205-S1980, along with the QX410-J01 and the U45Jc-A1, run on the GeForce 310M chipset, which is an entry level graphics chip from Nvidia. The Gateway ID49C13u (Nvidia GeForce 330M GT) and the HP Envy 14 (ATI Mobility Radeon 5650) have more powerful graphics chips, and our gaming benchmarks reflect that. Since they have the same graphics chips, the E205-S1980's 3DMark 06 scores (4,144, 3,425) were consistent with the QX410-J01 (4,200, 3,453) and the U45Jc-A1 (3,799, 3,147). Although it can handle hardcore games like Crysis (19.9 fps) and Lost Planet 2 (15.6 fps) in medium settings, smoother game play is best achieved with the Gateway and the HP. When the Nvidia chip is not in use, either by a game or for video transcoding, the system reverts to an Intel integrated chipset—a technology Nvidia calls Optimus. This technology prolongs battery life, although it also helps to have a big battery.

Equipped with a 63Wh battery (6-cell), the E205-S1980 performed well in battery tests (5 hours, 29 minutes), but not well-enough compared to the QX410-J01 (6:27) and ID49C13u (5:52). The Asus U45Jc-A1 comes with a juggernaut of a battery (84WH) and lasted well beyond 9 hours.

Competition in the 14-inch space has grown a lot fiercer since the E205 series made its debut. Many of these laptops are pushing the design envelope with aluminum metal and slimmer frames and spare little expense putting in big batteries and powerful processors—and they're less expensive than what Toshiba is serving up. The Satellite E205-S1980 is a competent 14-inch mainstream laptop, equipped with good processing power, battery life, and a backlit keyboard, but it's only worth buying if the price drops significantly. In the meantime, it'll be more worthwhile looking at the Asus U45Jc-A1, our Editors' Choice in the mainstream category, or the Samsung QX410-J01.


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