Description:
Marketed primarily as an ideal tool for business power users, Toshiba's A20 and A25 series of Satellite notebooks blend high-end processors with solid battery life, average 3-D performance and integrated wireless communication. The midrange model of the A25 lineup is the Toshiba Satellite A25-307, a muscular unit that shares almost all of the upscale traits of the top-of-the-line A25-308, but utilizes the Windows XP Home Edition operating system rather than Windows XP Professional. This system does, however, offer something the pricier A25-308 does not -- a DVD burner. And for many, that'll be more than a fair trade-off. Driven by a powerful 2.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor (512 KB Level 2 cache) and 512 MB of DDR SDRAM memory, the Satellite A25-307 is no slouch when it comes to raw speed. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find any 2-D application it couldn't easily handle. As for games and other demanding 3-D tasks, the forecast isn't quite as rosy. With 32 MB of shared (not dedicated) video memory, the system's integrated Trident CyberBlade XP2 graphics chipset simply isn't fast enough to guarantee smooth frame rates during ultra-complex 3-D rendering. Measuring 13.4 by 11.6 by 1.9 inches and 7.9 pounds, the unit is substantially smaller than most notebooks manufactured before the turn of the millennium but slightly above average when compared to today's ultra-compact models. It does, however, feature a large 15-inch XGA TFT display and a variety of welcome amenities, including a full size 85-key keyboard with 12 function keys and a TouchPad pointing device, three high-speed USB 2.0 ports for plug and play peripherals, and a trio of communication options -- wireless 802.11b LAN, 10/100 wired LAN, and a low-speed 56K modem. In its stock form, the Satellite A25-307 does not incorporate a FireWire port (often used for digital camcorder connectivity). A large 60 GB hard disk efficiently handles data storage duties, and a combination DVD-R/RW drive facilitates file archiving, audio CD listening and burning, DVD movies and video recording. According to independent testing, estimated battery life is a commendable 3 hours, 18 minutes.
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