Satellite L100's appearance is peculiar to all Toshibas of this class (which is now being replaced by the new generation, though). Accordingly, one will notice some common elements of Satellite's design: a streamlined base unit , a silver top case, a black keyboard and a charcoal grey back panel.

The workmanship seems good or at least satisfactory. Considering the robustness, we look at two different aspects: The base unit is flawless. Its  bottom side is made out of very solid plastic, which only deflects just a little bit at the DVD drive (and solely at the part closer to the computer's front). On the other hand the stability of the lid is worse. The 4:3 is not very stable, because the screen's height is bigger compared to the more horizontally stretched wide-screen one. Therefore, it is an advantage regarding this matter that the laptop producers decided to discard this format. The back panel heavily deflects under pressure accompanied by creaking and even clatter.

It ought to be mentioned, that by separating the battery from the computer one removes the right rear foot. As a result the laptop loses stability. This is a quite serious drawback, because after working with the power adapter for a longer time, one should disconnect the battery.

The hinges are not as good as expected - the screen see-saws quite heavily after adjusting its position, and also while shifting or moving the notebook around.

The locking mechanism requires that you press the already closed lid down in order to get it locked. The bolts don't lock it tightly, so, the display still wobbles a little bit after being locked.

The interfaces are placed mainly on the left side of the notebook, which is not comfortable for left-handed people. Here, another problem of the older display format gets apparent - it is narrower, so there is less space to locate interfaces at less troublesome places. Besides the battery, there was only space for the power connector and a Kensington Lock at the back of the Satellite L100.

Loudness

Generally speaking, the Satelite L100 is a quiet notebook, just like other Toshiba laptops. While working without load the fan breaks the silence every 4-5 minutes, resonantly blowing out the air (the whole operation lasts about a second).  Under heavy load the fan works all the time at the same speed, and is not overly audible.

Temperature

The HDD's temperature starts with 28° Celsius and increases to up to 51° Celsius.

The temperature of the base unit reaches up to 42° Celsius at the left-hand side. The maximum at the bottom side is about the same. You can feel  this warmness under the left hand, but it is by no means troublesome. However, if you work at your lap in a warm room with warm pants, it starts getting uncomfortable after half an hour. Outdoors, at an airy place or when the laptop is put on the bare thighs, one can possibly endure this heating for a longer time.

Regarding this aspect the integrated GPU is advantageous. Despite of being  equipped with only a 4300mA hbattery, you can work unplugged for several hours with your L100. Because working at lowest brightness is still comfortable, the result of the BatteryEater Reader's Test of over four hours is close to the possible maximum battery runtime in practice. However, if you configure your notebook for maximum performance, only about one and an half hour battery runtime is possible.

Satellite L100-121 has a matt screen in 4:3 format. Because wide screen displays have some significant advantages, these notebooks disappear more and more from the market.

Nevertheless, the Satellite L100-121 is a handy, mobile notebook with a bright, matt screen, capable CPU, quiet operation  and favorably long battery run time.

The benefits exceed the drawback by far. The most annoying things we discovered are the see-saw of the screen after adjusting its position and the wobbling of the screen, if closed.