Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 Laptop Review

Toshiba's Satellite Pro range is aimed at corporate users and is known for its no-nonsense design and resilient build quality. While the Satellite Pro L300 won't win any awards for style, it is nevertheless a powerful, usable and highly portable business laptop.

As with all but the HP in this group, the chassis weighs 2.6kg. Its 206-minute battery life betters both the Advent and HP, however, so you can easily keep working on the daily commute and also on longer journeys whenever necessary.

The staid design suits a mass corporate rollout, but lacks individual charm. The bulky chassis is incredibly resilient, so is sure to withstand the rigours of long-term use. Only the screen flexes slightly under pressure, but this is generally an intended feature to prevent against cracking.



Pros:
Good design
Full-size keyboard
Crisp, clear screen
Easy-to-access ports
Webcam & microphone

Cons:
Somewhat heavy
No Bluetooth

Specifications:
Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1GHz processor
2GB RAM DDR2
Intel X3100 Integrated Graphics
160GB (5400 rpm) hard drive
Windows XP Professional
15.4″ WXGA 1280×800 screen
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
10/100 Ethernet LAN
Modem
VGA-15 pin
DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer) supporting up to 11 formats
ExpressCard Slot
SDCard Slot
3x USB 2.0
Stereo headphone and mono microphone jack
Integrated Webcam
Lithium Ion battery
Weight: 5.7lbs
Retail Price: $899

You will find the Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 battery boasts an impressive 160 GB Hard Drive (Serial ATA-300) and comes fully loaded with the latest must have Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Operating System.

The Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-1AI may be compact, but it sports a 1280 x 800 15.4″ TruBrite wide screen. With a High-gloss finish you will no longer have to suffer blurry graphics and in addition to using your laptop for work purposes you will also be able to watch films and view photos with crystal clarity. You will find the Toshiba Satellite Pro has an Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics card on board, meaning you can enjoy playing games on your laptop too. Offering up its latest graphics card, the Intel GMA 4500MHD, provides you with high quality, high definition video and audio.

The Satellite Pro L300 battery is a business savvy notebook. It doesn't have a glossy finish or any special features to make it stand out. What you see is what you get: a minimalistic, yet very functional notebook at a good price. The L300 comes with a good variety of ports, has a nice screen and a great keyboard. It is a little heavy and big to be a traveling companion in my opinion, but many business users like to watch movies or presentations while traveling and the 15.4" screen does it justice. Performance wise it gets the job done as well, I wouldn't expect to be gaming on the L300 much though.

These scores were never going to impress — 3DMark06 pulled in a dismal 270 (around a tenth of a moderate gaming score), PCMark05 a passable but lacklustre 2430. The battery life situation was a bit better, with all power saving features turned off and screen brightness set to maximum, playback of a DVD lasted one hour, 24 minutes and 48 seconds" still a bit of a disappointment considering the low-spec hardware, but definitely within acceptable limits.

This may all sound like a bit of a downer, but to be honest, the L300 is just perfect for what it is — a simple budget 15.4-inch laptop. It will no doubt be the perfect upgrade to those who are feeling a bit cash-strapped or just need to get through uni.