Toshiba Satellite U500 Series
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P7350, Intel Core 2 Duo P8700, Intel Core 2 Duo T6500Graphics Adapter: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD
Display: 13.3 inch
Weight: 2.2kg, 2.25kg
Price: 700, 800, 1000 euro
Average Score: 76.44% - good
Average of 9 scores (from 10 reviews)
mobility: 55%, workmanship: 85%, ergonomy: 60%, emissions: - %
Toshiba Satellite U500
Notebook Specifications
Notebook: Toshiba Satellite U500Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
Graphics Adapter: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M
Display: 13.3 inch, 16:10, 1280x800 pixels
Weight: 2.2kg
Price: 700 euro
Links: Toshiba homepage Toshiba notebook section Satellite U500 (Series)
Average Score: 72% - average
Average of 6 scores (from 7 reviews)
Source: Comp Reviews
Toshiba's Satellite U505-S2940 features a realtively compact 13.3-inch display, but it is really pushing its portability because of the excessive large battery that bulges from the back hinge area. This does give it long battery life but at the cost of portability. The laptop does provide some unique aspects including a large number of peripheral ports including eSATA and ExpressCard that many 13-inch laptops lack. It is too bad that Toshiba has a less than stellar keyboard otherwise it would be a decent choice for those needing long running time with higher performance.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 09/18/2009
Rating: Total score: 60%
Source: PC Mag
A full day of classes rarely occurs in one location, so the last thing you want is a laptop that feels like a bigger anchor than your textbooks. The Toshiba Satellite U505-S2930 ($800 street) strikes a good balance between weight and having enough screen real estate to keep you from scrolling incessantly. Though made out of plastic, the lid's textures are reminiscent of a fancy leather case and the parts are current enough to get you through several years of school. The Toshiba Satellite U505-S2930 doesn't break the bank, and its design and features should satisfy most back-to-schoolers for at least several years.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/03/2009
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: CNet
We've reviewed a lot of Toshiba laptops lately, mainly because they've released a veritable flood of midrange laptops onto the market over the last few months. Slotting into a range of similar-looking products, the Satellite U505-S2940 looks like an iteration on the compact design of the Satellite M505, focusing on portability while including some higher-end features such as a backlit keyboard and a slot-loading optical drive. The stylish design and high-end feel of the Toshiba U505-S2940 don't make up for mediocre ergonomics and performance that can be had for less in other laptops.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/21/2009
Rating: Total score: 76% performance: 80% features: 80% mobility: 80%
Source: Notebookreview.com
The Toshiba Satellite U500/U505 is a good general-purpose laptop but it has tough competition from other 13-inch notebooks currently on the market. Toshiba clearly listened to some of the criticisms about last year's U405 and made some improvements on this year's model. Unfortunately, Toshiba might have shot themselves in the foot when it comes to the price of their higher-end configurations. I have a hard time believing that most students would be interesting in buying this Toshiba for the full retail price of more than $1,000 when that same student could buy a brand new 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro for roughly the same price.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/05/2009
Rating: price: 40% performance: 80% mobility: 40%
Source: PC Welt
DE→ENonline available, Medium, Date: 10/03/2009
Rating: Total score: 73% price: 60% performance: 100% features: 76% mobility: 32% ergonomy: 31%
Source: T-Online
DE→ENonline available, Medium, Date: 10/03/2009
Rating: Total score: 73% price: 70% performance: 100% features: 76% mobility: 32% ergonomy: 31%
Source: Nonstop Mobil
HU→ENonline available, Medium, Date: 07/17/2009
Rating: Total score: 80% price: 60%
Toshiba Satellite U500-115
Notebook Specifications
Notebook: Toshiba Satellite U500-115 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8700
Graphics Adapter: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 512 MB
Display: 13.3 inch, 16:10, 1280x800 pixels
Weight: 2.25kg
Price: 1000 euro
Links: Toshiba homepage Toshiba notebook section Satellite U500 (Series)
Average Score: 90% - very good
Average of 1 scores (from 1 reviews)
Source: Notebookjournal
DE→ENonline available, Long, Date: 09/18/2009
Rating: Total score: 90% price: 80% performance: 80% features: 50% display: 30% mobility: 70% workmanship: 90% ergonomy: 90%
Toshiba Satellite U500-11C
Notebook Specifications
Notebook: Toshiba Satellite U500-11CProcessor: Intel Core 2 Duo P7350
Graphics Adapter: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
Display: 13.3 inch, 16:10, 1280x800 pixels
Weight: 2.2kg
Price: 800 euro
Links: Toshiba homepage Toshiba notebook section Satellite U500 (Series)
Average Score: 80% - good
Average of 1 scores (from 1 reviews)
Source: Digital Versus
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/11/2009
Rating: Total score: 80% performance: 70% mobility: 60% ergonomy: 80%
Toshiba Satellite U500-121
Notebook Specifications
Notebook: Toshiba Satellite U500-121Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
Graphics Adapter: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD
Display: 13.3 inch, 16:10, 1280x800 pixels
Weight: 2.2kg
Price: 700 euro
Links: Toshiba homepage Toshiba notebook section Satellite U500 (Series)
Average Score: 86% - good
Average of 1 scores (from 1 reviews)
Source: Onlinekosten.de
DE→ENonline available, Medium, Date: 09/20/2009
Rating: Total score: 86% price: 70% performance: 80% features: 80% mobility: 70% workmanship: 80% ergonomy: 70%
Comment
Toshiba: Toshiba Corporation is a multinational conglomerate manufacturing company, headquartered in Japan. The company's main business is in Infrastructure, Consumer Products, and Electronic devices and components. Toshiba-made Semiconductors are among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. Toshiba is one of the biggest international notebook-manufacturer. There exist many reviews for Toshiba models.
Lower end of Graphics Cards for users who want to play games. New games should run on these cards, but only with decreased details and mediocre resolution.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500M:
The graphics core of the Intel GL40 and GS40 chipset features a slower clocked GMA 4500MHD (400 versus 533 MHz). Because of the slower core speed, full Blu-Ray Logo support is not given and the gaming performance is a bit worse.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD: Onboard (shared Memory) GPU built in the GM45, GE45 and GS45 chipset (Montevina). Because of two more shaders and a higher core clock, much faster than the old GMA X3100. Still not advisable for gamers (DirectX 10 games not playable or only with very low settings). The integrated video processor is able to help decode HD videos (AVC/VC-2/MPEG2) , e.g., for a fluent Blu-Ray playback with slow CPUs.
These cards should be able to display all current games with fluent framerates but not all with high detail settings. Especially demanding games like Crysis, Age of Conan, or Mass Effect are only playable with lower settings. Less demanding (and older) games, like Fifa 08, Command & Conquer 3, or Battlefield 2142 can be played with higher detail levels.
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570: Lower middle-class GPU that features a low shader count and a 64 / 128 Bit memory bus (according to AMD 64 Bit, according to some GPU-Z variants 128 Bit) but a high clock speed. Similar to the desktop Radeon 4550. Supports Avivo HD and DirectX 10.1.
>> Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core 2 Duo: This is the Core Duo and Core Solo successor with a longer pipeline and 5-20% more speed without more power consumption. As an addition to the Core Duo design there exists a fourth decoder, an amplified SSE-unit and an additional arithmetical logical unit (ALU).
The Core 2 Duo for laptops is identical to the desktop Core 2 Duo processors but the notebook-processors work with lower voltages (0.95 to 1188 Volt) and a lower Frontside bus clock (1066 vs 667 MHz). The performance of equally clocked notebooks is 20-25% lower than Desktop PCs because of the lower Frontside bus clock and the slower hard disks.
13.3: This is a common display format for subnotebooks. Netbooks, UMPC and some subnotebooks have tinier displays. Nevertheless, the majority of standard laptops has a higher format. The advantage of a small display is, that the subnotebook can be small dimensioned and can be carried easily. Further the small display needs few energy, which improves the battery runtime and in consequence the mobility. The disadvantage is that the reading of texts is a bit exhausting for the eyes, especially with high resolutions.
>> To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
2.2 kg:
These sub-notebooks weight less than the average of all notebooks, but represent a heavier class of weight among the sub-notebooks. 13 inch displays are normal for this class of weight.
2.25 kg:
76.44%: This rating is not convincing. It must be considered, that there exist hardly any laptops, which receive a rating below 60%. This notebook is evaluated below average, this is not really a recommendation for purchase.
>> Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.
