Toshiba Satellite Pro S500 Review
From the point of view of portability, the new Toshiba Satellite Pro S500 is a notebook that needs strong shoulder to carry it around. At 37.4x25x3.34-3.76 cm in size and 2.54 kg in weight, it is a large and bulky notebook. But there are advantages of its large size – large screen size and large keyboard with discrete number pad.
As the review, the laptop is designed in black casing, which Toshiba has dubbed as “Precious Black.” The design is slightly unique as the lid and the wrist rest have been provided with the dimples. This makes the laptop look unique. Open the laptop, you will find the 15.6-inch LED-backlit TruBrite TFT display. The display is provided with glossy coating, which is very reflective under the light. The display has widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9 with resolution of 1366×768 pixels. The resolution is on slightly lower side as there are 13-inch laptops that offer same resolution. However, the display is large enough to view two documents side by side. It is good for video play back but the HD content will be pixilated.
The keyboard is large enough to provide decent sized keys, which are good for comfortable typing. The S500 also has the space to accommodate full number pad along with extra Enter key and double sized ‘+’ key. You also get four shortcut keys just above the keyboard along with power button. One button is termed as Eco, tow buttons allows you to adjust the volume, and the fourth key acts as Toshiba Presentation key that allows you to switch between various monitor configurations.
The laptop is available in two models- the S500-11C and the S500-10E. Both the laptop are powered by 2.13GHz Intel Core i3-330M processors. As the features, the S500-11C comes with 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory, while the other one comes with 2GB memory. The S500-11C has larger hard drive of 320GB, which spins at 5400rpm, while the other one has 250GB, 5400rpm hard drive. Both models come with preinstalled Windows 7 Professional OS, which can be downgraded to Windows XP Professional using the provided DVD.
The laptop utilizes the space to provide all the necessary connectors. You get a dual-layer Super Multi optical drive, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, three USB 2.0 ports (one USB doubles as eSATA sleep-and charge-port), microphone/headphone jacks, ExpressCard, a Mini DisplayPort, SD card reader, and VGA out port. You also get a Webcam, which is located above the display and has resolution of 1280×800 pixels.
