Toshiba Satellite U505 Series

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2930

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Average Score: 76% - good

Reviews

70% Toshiba Satellite U505 (U505-S2930)
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version
This 13-inch notebook delivers a striking design and good performance for a reasonable price. The Toshiba Satellite U505 combines style with good performance for those on a budget. In this price range, we prefer the $899 Acer Aspire 3935, which delivers 40 minutes of extra battery life and a higher-res screen in a lighter 4.2-pound brushed metal design. Nevertheless, for $799, the U505 provides good power and portability, and Toshiba includes features that enhance the computing experience.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 07/16/2009
Rating: Total score: 70%

82% Toshiba Satellite U505-S2930
Source: Computer Shopper Archive.org version
Toshiba has launched the all-new Satellite U505-S2930 into the teeth of one of the most competitive laptop segments. This 13.3-inch thin-and-light is up against the likes of the Apple MacBook Pro, Dell Studio XPS 13, and HP Pavilion dv3z. The Satellite U505-S2930 distinguishes itself among the many 13.3-inch laptops on the market with a pleasingly subtle design and decent performance. A few details expose that it’s a budget entry, but you certainly get a lot for the money.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 07/01/2009
Rating: Total score: 82%

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2980

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Average Score: 65% - average

Reviews

70% Toshiba U505-S2980 Gets in Touch With Multitouch
Source: PC World Archive.org version
Though 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%

60% Toshiba U505 (U505-S2980-T)
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version

On 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%

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2940

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Average Score: 78% - good

Reviews

78% Toshiba Satellite U505-S2940
Source: PC World Archive.org version
Toshiba's latest addition to the Satellite laptop line, the U505 S2940, isn't just a good-looking notebook, it also has some excellent design features that will please anyone needing a portable for general computing and entertainment. Coming in under $1000 (our review unit sells for $949 as of 9/1/09), the U505 offers just enough juice for multitasking without feeling cramped. A solid choice for general computing and entertainment if you don’t need the slimmest (or lightest) travel mate.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/09/2009
Rating: Total score: 78% performance: 71% features: 80%

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970

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Average Score: 66% - average

Reviews

66% Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970
Source: CNet Archive.org version
The Toshiba Satellite U505-S2970 is a thin-and-light laptop that is neither thin nor light. It feels solidly built, but this is a 13.3-inch laptop that is only a hair lighter than the 14.1-inch Toshiba Satellite E105-S1802. We prefer the larger Satellite; though it costs $50 more for roughly the same components, it features a more comfortable keyboard, better battery life, and a longer warranty. The Toshiba Satellite U505-S2870 is rather tank-like for a 13.3-inch thin-and-light. We'd be more willing to tote it around if its heavy-armor feel extended to the flimsy keyboard.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 11/24/2009
Rating: Total score: 66% price: 70% features: 60% mobility: 70%

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2010

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Average Score: 75% - good

Reviews

70% Toshiba Satellite U505-S2010 Review
Source: Digital Trends Archive.org version
Toshiba’s Satellite U505 series notebooks actually manage to cram quite a bit of power into a 13.3-inch form factor, even if they do lose both some portability and battery life in the process. With models between $690 and $1,100, you’ll also find plenty of wiggle room to shed the features you don’t need – like the touch screen. While we wouldn’t recommend the specific U505 model we reviewed (S2010) because of this rather useless feature (which both drives up price and diminishes image quality), the lower-end models may satisfy those who want a 13.3-inch notebook without sacrificing the creature comforts and power of larger notebooks.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 04/06/2010
Rating: Total score: 70%

80% Toshiba Satellite U505-S2010 13.3-inch Ultraportable Laptop PC
Source: Comp Reviews Archive.org version
Toshiba's updated Satellite U505 laptop adds a fair amount of performance thanks to the new Core i5 processor and functionality with the multitouch enabled display. The $1000 street price makes this a very affordable multitouch enabled ultraportable. The system still is one of the bulkiest on the market for a 13-inch laptop and its battery life is not that strong compared new ultraportables on the market but it does offer more performance and extra ports as a trade-off.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 03/26/2010
Rating: Total score: 80%

Comment

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.

Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.

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.

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) HD Graphics: Onboard graphics card that is built in the new Arrandale CPUs (Core i3 / i5 / i7 Dual Cores). Depending on the model and Turbo Boost, the GMA HD is clocked between 166 and 766 MHz.

» 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.

T6500:

T6600: Entry level Core 2 Duo dual core processor with a small 2MB level 2 cache and without virtualization functions.

P7350:

P7450: Entry level Core 2 Duo processor with 3 MB Level 2 Cache and due to the 25 Watt TDP also suited for 13" laptops.

Intel Core i5:

430M:

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.

No weight comment found (one expected)!

72%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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