Toshiba A305-S6872

The Satellite A305-S6872 features Toshiba's "Horizon" case pattern in a "Fusion" finish, which basically means silver gray with pinstripes that resemble an optical illusion. The finish is almost mirror like, and even light handling will leave major fingerprints all over it. The case's rounded corners resemble the HP Pavilion dv6915nr, and the two systems are nearly identical in size.

At 6.4 pounds with the included nine cell battery, the Satellite A305-S6872 is a reasonable weight to carry on occasional trips but too heavy to carry every day. The stripes continue inside the case, both along the sides of the keyboard and on the wrist rest (even the touch pad has a subtle striped design). The keys are made of very glossy plastic that fits the aesthetic but is so shiny, it can be distracting.

Fortunately, the keyboard is comfortable; with your eyes closed it feels like any other nearly full size board. The touch pad is likewise roomy, though we were annoyed by the glowing white stripe across the top of the pad, which seems to be just decoration (we thought maybe it would change colors if the touch pad were disabled, but no dice).

We took some consolation in the fact that it along with other distractingly illuminated case elements, a Satellite logo in the bottom left hand corner and a row of touch sensitive media controls above the keyboard can be turned off using Toshiba's HWSetup utility.

The 15.4 inch wide screen LCD display offers a 1,280x800 native resolution, which is standard for a screen this size. The display's glossy finish produces rich colors and contrast we found it minimally distracting while surfing the Web and typing email, but quite enjoyable for movie watching. A Webcam above the display lets users conduct video chats.

Other Features

• Video VGA out, Webcam VGA out, S-Video
• Audio Stereo speakers, headphone or microphone jacks Stereo speakers, headphone or microphone jacks
• Data 3 USB 2.0, mini-FireWire, mulitformat memory card reader, eSATA port 4 USB 2.0, SD card reader
• Expansion ExpressCard/54 ExpressCard
• Networking modem, Ethernet, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi modem, Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional WWAN
• Optical drive DVD burner DVD burner