Toshiba Satellite U505-S2980
Specifications
Price comparison
Average of 2 scores (from 2 reviews)
Reviews for the Toshiba Satellite U505-S2980
Source: PC World
Archive.org versionThough I find a lot to like about the U505, it's ironic that the main selling point is also what's holding this laptop back--the touchscreen. A user's experience with a notebook is often going to depend chiefly on the keyboard and the screen--the two most direct ways of interacting with it. You can fit all the hardware you want under the hood, but if these two don't hold up their end of the bargain, people aren't going to want to use it. The touchscreen is a cute gimmick whose poor visual quality unfortunately brings the whole thing down a peg.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/24/2009
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: Laptop Mag
Archive.org versionOn the whole, the Toshiba U505-S2980-T is a pretty good Windows 7 touch notebook—and it offers a healthy dose of style along with plenty of muscle. However, at $1,049, this laptop is more expensive than a non-touchscreen version with better graphics. That’s quite a lot to pay for a feature that results in a heavier chassis and a display that’s less crisp. While it lacks a touchscreen, the redesigned unibdody MacBook, for $50 less, offers generally better performance and almost two additional hours of battery life in a sleeker design.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/02/2009
Rating: Total score: 60%
Comment
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.
Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.
» 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.
T6600: Entry level Core 2 Duo dual core processor with a small 2MB level 2 cache and without virtualization functions.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
13.30":
There are hardly any tablets in this display size range anymore. For subnotebooks, on the other hand, it is the standard format.
The advantage of subnotebooks is that the entire laptop can be small and therefore easily portable. The smaller display also has the advantage of requiring less power, which further improves battery life and thus mobility. The disadvantage is that reading texts is more strenuous on the eyes. High resolutions are more likely to be found in standard laptops.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.Toshiba: Toshiba Corporation is a Japanese conglomerate or technology group. The company was established in 1939 and in 1978 Toshiba became the official company name. The company's products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors, hard drives, printers, batteries, lighting, logistics and information technology. Toshiba was one of the largest manufacturers of personal computers, consumer electronics, home appliances and medical equipment.
65%: Such a poor rating is rare. There are only a few notebooks that were rated even worse. The rating websites do not give a purchase recommendation here.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.
