Toshiba Satellite A135 Review

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by Kevin Giberson

The Toshiba A135 series notebook is offered in a wide variety of configurations, and ranges in price, at common big-box and online resellers, from under $700 to nearly $1500. The particular model under review here, an A135-S4427 provided by Toshiba, falls near the lower end of this range, and at first glance appears to be an excellent choice for the value-minded consumer looking to obtain a nicely outfitted notebook. The S4427 comes with Vista Home Premium, an Intel Core Duo T2250 processor, one gigabyte of RAM, 120 gigabytes of hard drive space, and a DVD-SuperMulti drive, all for well under $1000. Although a stripped-down Celeron configuration will generally cost the least of any A135 model notebook, the S4427, for not a whole lot more money, and provides just about everything one might hope for in a non-gaming, consumer-oriented notebook.

While comparing the prices of various A135s, I actually found myself thinking that this particular Toshiba series really is exemplary when it comes to illustrating the somewhat confusing task of pricing and purchasing a notebook. Yes, it’s possible to save some money by going with a weak CPU and minimal RAM, but unless an extra 15 or 20% cost is truly prohibitive, it almost never makes sense to purchase the weakest model in a series. Conversely, from the perspective of value, it rarely makes sense to opt for one of the most expensive models within a particular line. In the case of the A135, it’s possible to spend nearly double what an S4427 would cost, but from my perspective, an upgrade to the Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 and twice as much RAM and hard drive space is not worth the very substantial jump in price. In short, the exact review model I received, the A135-S4427, is probably the exact model I would myself purchase if I were in the market for a solid notebook that should have no trouble handling general office and multimedia tasks. My only concern, at the outset of this review, was whether or not Vista Home Premium, running the Aero interface, would be hampered by a single gigabyte of RAM. I’m glad to say, with some elaboration below, that performance was always quite good, and that the addition of an inexpensive flash drive to make use of the Vista ReadyBoost feature offered some performance improvement in certain high-stress situations.

Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427 Specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Duo T2250 (1.73 GHz/2MB L2 Cache)
• OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
• Hard Drive: 120 GB SATA @ 5400RPM
• Screen: 15.4&quot; WXGA TruBrite Widescreen (1280 x 800)
• Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, Up To 224 MB Shared
• RAM: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM @533 MHz (2x512MB)
• Optical Drive: DVD SuperMulti Drive (CD/DVD burner)
• Battery: 6-cell lithium ion
• Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11 a/b/g
• Weight: 6 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.47” (H) x 14.2 “ (W) x 10.5&quot; (D) 
• Ports/Slots: 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire); 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0); VGA monitor out port; S-video out; RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 modem; Type I/II PC Card Slot; headphone/speaker jack; microphone; 5-in-1 bridge media adapter supports Secure Digital, Multi Media Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD Picture Card; Secure Digital slot supports SDIO

First Impressions

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My first thought upon seeing the A135-S4427 was that it’s a pretty standard consumer notebook: nothing exceptional in terms of appearance or build quality, just a lot of black and silver plastic. In all ways, the A135 occupies the middle ground and seems to be the equal of its competitors.

Design and Build

Satellite A135 lid view (view large image)

As indicated, design and build are unremarkable. I have no problem with the look, dependent as it is on offering decent form and function at a reasonable price. The build quality, like most consumer notebooks, seems fine too. I would have no concerns purchasing an A135 for myself because I travel minimally and tend to treat my computers with a care I rarely afford my other possessions. As always, an especially demanding or careless notebook user is probably better off looking at some of the more solidly built business models, though this inevitably means spending more money.

Satellite A135 front side: speaker and headphone jack, volume dial, 5-in-1 card reader, wi-fi on off switch (view large image)

Satellite A135 left side: VGA monitor out port, fant vent, USB port, S-Video, PCMCIA slot, FireWire port (view large image)

Satellite A135 right side: 2 USB 2.0 ports, optical drive, Kensington lock slot (view large image)

Satellite A135 back view: Modem, power jack, Ethernet LAN port and USB port (view large image)

The screen

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The LG.Philips-manufactured display, a glossy TruBrite in the Toshiba lexicon, provides a resolution of 1280x800 and presented no problems at all. In fact, the screen was excellent. Had I purchased this notebook for long-term, personal use, I would have been quite happy with the LCD. There is no discernible light leakage and everything looks sharp and clear.

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Graphics

Satellite A135 running Vista Aero (view large image)

My main concern with the graphics was whether the GMA 950 could adequately handle the new Vista Aero interface. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised: the look was very nice, and whatever system RAM was being utilized by graphics, this siphoning off of physical memory never seemed to cause any significant lag. Everything worked in pleasant harmony. As indicated by the 3DMark05 and 3dMark06 scores below, this is no gaming machine, but it does what it sets out to do and does it well.

Sound

Two speakers situated just above the function keys provided adequate sound that was reasonably clear and loud for a notebook. There is a volume wheel on the front of the notebook, which is handy, and overall I had no complaints about sound. I watched, and enjoyed, a lengthy DVD without benefit of external speakers or headphones.

Processor and Performance

The Intel Core Duo T2250 CPU, together with GMA 950 graphics and a gigabyte of RAM, performed surprisingly well. After reading a few articles on the demands of Windows Vista, especially when the Aero interface is enabled, I really wondered if a gig of RAM and integrated graphics would result in poor performance. In the end, performance was surprisingly strong, with and without ReadyBoost flash memory added to the hardware mix. Much of what I say here is somewhat anecdotal, though I did run Super PI and PCMark05 with and without a ReadyBoost allocation. The results didn’t vary much, but PCMark05 did indicate an overall performance increase of 3% with ReadyBoost enabled. I also noticed a difference between ReadyBoost and non-ReadyBoost performance while running Super PI in the background for an extended period of time; it seemed that various applications (Internet Explorer, Word, Notepad, Everest Home) responded and came to the fore much more quickly when flash memory was available to ReadyBoost. One final word on the CPU: some people may be put off by the inclusion of the older Core Duo in this particular model, but for most purposes, for the foreseeable future, the T2250 seems good enough and I for one wouldn’t hesitate to buy a machine with a T2250, particularly given the overall performance of this A135-S4427.

Benchmarks

Super Pi Comparison Results

Super Pi forces the processor to calculate Pi to 2 million digits of accuracy and gives an idea of the processor speed and performance:

Notebook	Time
Toshiba Satellite A135 (1.73GHz Core Duo)	1m 28s
Fujitsu LifeBook N6410 (1.66 GHz Core Duo)	1m 22s
LG S1 (2.16 GHz Core Duo)	1m 11s
Dell Inspiron e1505 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 16s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Toshiba Satellite M100 (2.00GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s
Samsung X60 (1.66GHz Core Duo)	1m 29s
Sony VAIO FS680 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 53s

 

Comparison results for 3DMark05

3DMark05 tests the overall graphic capabilities of a notebook, below is how the Satellite A135-4427 did compared to other notebooks:

Notebook	3D Mark 05 Results
Toshiba Satellite A135 (1.73GHz Core Duo, Intel GMA 950)	519 3D Marks
Alienware Aurora M-7700(AMD Dual Core FX-60, ATI X1600 256MB)	7,078 3D Marks
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,092 3D Marks
Asus V6Va (2.13 GHz Pentium M, ATI x700 128 MB)	2,530 3D Marks
Fujitsu n6410 (1.66 GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,273 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv4000 (1.86 GHz Pentium M, ATI X700 128MB)	2,536 3D Marks
Dell XPS M1210 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia Go 7400 256MB)	2,090 3D Marks

 

The score obviously indicates this notebook won't do for more demanding 3D graphical needs such as gaming, but with 1GB of RAM Vista Aero still ran fine.

PCMark05

I used PCMark05, a general system benchmarking tool, to compare results when the notebook had a 2GB USB flash drive available for the Vista ReadyBoost feature and when it didn't. This Vista ReadyBoost feature allows the system to use a flash drive like extra memory, according to these benchmarks the flash drive did allow Vista to run faster, although marginally:

PCMark05 Results	Without ReadyBoost	With 1.6 GB ReadyBoost Flash Memory
Overall PCMark05 Score	2,937	3,027
HDD – XP Startup	5.2 MB/s	5.9 MB/s
Physics and 3D	63.95 FPS	63.66 FPS
Transparent Windows	2965.92 Windows/s	2945.22 Windows/s
3D – Pixel Shader	8.56 FPS	8.51 FPS
Web Page Rendering	1.19 Pages/s	1.24 Pages/s
File Decryption	42.94 MB/s	42.31 MB/s
Graphics Memory – 64 Lines	208.46 FPS	207.82 FPS
HDD – General Usage	3.73 MB/s	5.55 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 1 / Audio Compression	1516.3 KB/s	1547.12 KB/s
Multithreaded Test 1 / Video Encoding	244.49 KB/s	220.19 KB/s
Multithreaded Test 2 / Text Edit	72.26 Pages/s	70.5 Pages/s
Multithreaded Test 2 / Image Decompression	19.99 Mpixels/s	18.12 MPixels/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / File Compression	3.43 MB/s	3.33 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / File Encryption	20.17 MB/s	19.95 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / HDD – Virus Scan	31.65 MB/s	39.78 MB/s
Multithreaded Test 3 / Memory Latency – Random 16 MB	7.24 Maccesses/s	7.05 Maccesses/s

 

You can see that with 1.6 GB flash memory allocated to ReadyBoost, the score was 3027, about 3% higher, with most of the gains appearing in areas where the hard drive would be under stress.

 

HDTune

Hard drive performance, using HD Tune as the measure, was as follows:

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Input Devices

Satellite A135 keyboard view (view large image)

Of the two fairly minor complaints I had about this notebook, the keyboard was one of them, though I am admittedly rather picky about keyboards. I prefer the Windows key to be located at the bottom of the keyboard, next to the control key, but Toshiba put this key at the top of the keyboard, to the right of the function keys. Also, the tab key is narrower than I’m accustomed to, and all of these little keyboard eccentricities seem to result from the inclusion of a media button panel to the left of the keyboard (couldn't they be at the top?), though maybe it’s justified by design reasons I’m unaware of. I did notice some flex in the keyboard as well, though I never found this to be a significant problem or detraction from my overall typing experience. The touchpad was fine, but I generally used a USB mouse. On the whole, I found input devices to be okay, with no really serious problems, but the keyboard did leave a little to be desired when compared to some other notebooks I’ve used.

Battery Life

The 6-cell battery allowed me to watch a complete DVD, lasting 1 hour and 48 minutes, and still had 22% charge remaining. During general usage, the battery lasted for two hours and fifteen minutes, with minimal effort to reduce power consumption.

Heat and Noise

Generally the A135 did well in terms of heat and noise. The notebook was fairly quiet and stayed reasonably cool, with the bottom and palm rests never getting very warm at all. The fan did come on rather frequently, though it generally ceased spinning within a couple of seconds. But I did notice this regular, rapid cycling on and off, which often seemed to occur every few seconds. Another thing I found somewhat disconcerting was a regular blast of warm air coming out of the side vent, located on the left, whenever the fan did turn on. If it weren’t for the fact that I operate the mouse with my left hand, and I do generally use an external mouse, I might never have noticed the warm gush of air. But I found myself almost unconsciously shortening my left arm in order to avoid the warm air. I would guess that these are the sorts of issues that wouldn’t bother some users at all, but may drive a small selection of people absolutely batty.

Wireless

The Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 worked without any problems, though setup took me a little longer than normal because I wasn’t used to the new Vista configuration drill.

Software

Yes, there was a great deal of junk software on the A135, just as I’ve come to expect, and I didn’t bother uninstalling most of it. Nonetheless, performance was good, surprisingly so, as I’ve mentioned, given that I always ran the notebook with Aero enabled. Everything I tried to do I could do without any problems: general business-type tasks, DVD watching, listening to music, surfing the Internet.

As for Vista, the A135 afforded me my first extensive use of the new OS, though I’d installed a beta version of Vista on a desktop last year. Just about the first thing I did was turn off the new User Account Control (UAC) feature, which was driving me nuts. Once that was done and Windows quit asking me to confirm every other thing I tried to do, I found it took a couple of hours to get used to the differences between XP and Vista. The new interface is quite appealing, and Vista, in general, handled everything I asked of it with the same equanimity I’d become accustomed to with XP.

Conclusion

At the right price, and with the right configuration, the Satellite A135 offers extraordinary value. It is a fully capable notebook computer and performs better than I expected after reading various articles on the demands of Windows Vista. Toshiba has managed, at least in the S4427 incarnation of the A135, to provide a good CPU and screen, a full gig of RAM, a nice-sized hard drive, Vista Home Premium and an excellent optical drive, all for a very low price.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this notebook to someone looking to buy a notebook for general office and multimedia tasks while keeping the price low and avoiding serious sacrifices in terms of performance and components. Given that most people are capable of adjusting to a couple of keyboard eccentricities, my only real caveat would have to do with the fan cycling on and off and the blast of warm air that might bother a left-handed mouse user. Are these problems serious? I really don’t think so, but everyone’s tolerance for such things is different, as is a person’s tolerance for paying double or triple to get a computer that seems nearly perfect. As it is, at the most recent weekend’s sale prices at the usual big-box and online retailers, this notebook is as good a value as I’ve ever seen. I never felt like I was using a machine that made serious trade-offs in order to keep the price down.

Pros:

• Exceptional value
• Very good multimedia machine
• Excellent screen
• Decent build quality
• Reasonably appealing appearance
• On the whole, stays very cool

Cons:

• Keyboard layout may take some getting used to
• Some flex in keyboard
• Fan tends to cycle on and off
• Warm air blows out of left vent and onto the hand of a left-handed mouse user

 

Thanks for the great review! Now we have proove that the 945GM can run Vista Aero. A lot of members on the forum said that, but some people just won't believe it. Now we have this review to show it is true.

-Notebook Solutions

 

This notebook essentially competes with the Dell e1505, HP dv6000 and replaces the Toshiba A105. It looks a lot like the A105 did to be honest, which isn't a bad thing. I think it has a nice selection of ports, good to see they put FireWire, S-Video and a card reader in there. Interesting to see that yet another mfr. is putting headphone jacks on the front and not the side -- some people have mixed feelings about that since if you use external speakers that's a terrible place to have the ports.

Also interesting is that they went with PCMCIA and NOT ExpressCard. I thought at this point all mainstream notebooks would be using the ExpressCard slot, but apparently not so.

The ReadyBoost benchmark is much appreciated, looks like some small gains are acquired there. I bet if you have 1GB of memory using the flash drive and ReadyBoost can predictably help your performance, but if you already have 2GB it'll be diminishing returns.

Great review Kevin, thanks!

 

Good review. The A135 offers a lot of features for the price, and will appeal to students/users who want a powerful machine without spending a lot for it.

 

Nice review... the pc mark was quite interesting..although your pc mark was higher with ready boost you dropped points in the a few areas such as 3d stuff and some of the multithread but really gained in the hdd stuff..have you tried using super fetch or would it make no difference to the pc mark?

 

There was an interesting article up on Tom's Hardware last week that looked at ReadyBoost and SuperFetch. It sounds like the flash drive isn't used as a virtual RAM swap file, but rather as a way to cache frequently used programs so that they open faster. That would explain why IE, Word, etc, opened faster with ReadyBoost.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/31/windows-vista-superfetch-and-readyboostanalyzed/index.html

I think the ReadyBoost feature is different from a typical paging file. I don't think the system stores critical information on the flash drive, b/c you can unplug it anytime and not crash your computer. The ony value ReadyBoost has is being able to launch frequently used programs faster, which gives you the impression that the computer has more RAM. I think that if you were to run a RAM intensive application (Super Pi for example), you wouldn't see any difference (and your findings back that up).

ReadyBoost is a pretty trick feature, but it's not exactly doing what everyone thinks it is.

 

iam really surprised it runs arrow so well, looks very nice, good review.

 

Thanks for the comment, everyone. The $700 to $800 range has gotten pretty interesting lately. As Andrew said, the dv6000 & e1505 are the A135-S4427's main competitors. I thought the review model was very strong as long as integrated graphics and a 1280x800 resolution work for the user.
I was kind of interested in ReadyBoost, though the intricacies of all these performance-enhancing features are really beyond me. What I found most intriguing was that a 32M-digit Super PI run (which can really slow down a RAM-deprived machine because Super PI will do what it needs to do to get its hands on needed resources) had a greatly diminished negative effect on the performance of other apps when ReadyBoost was enabled. However the caching is working, it seemed effective at holding onto and quickly making available the data related to the secondary apps.
As for SuperFetch, I think it's running all the time, unless turned off by force in the registry, and manages RAM based on usage patterns. I don't think the Super PI and PCMark tests I ran were affected by SuperFetch. Maybe some other people have some thoughts on all this Vista caching and memory management stuff.

 

Great review, it's a really nice notebook but thats a strange VGA monitor out port.

 

This review is spot on. I've been playing with my 4487 for the past three weeks and it's been solid. Also, I'm glad that 1 GB of memory is handling Vista capably. I got freaked and went for the 2 GB. And so far, other than some wonky connectivity issues, it's becoming my go-to computer. Great job.

 

I purchased two of the A135 models while they were on sale with rebate and had some observations.

At work I spend my day using an IBM Thinkpad T60p, T2600, 2GB, 100GB with 15 inch Flexview. I love the Thinkpad's keyboard, tracking point and cool palmrest area. I've used an HP DV4000 and Apple iBook in the past and was not happy with the DV4000s glossy screen and was not happy with the hot palmrest of the iBook.

The first Toshiba I purchased was the A135-S2246 Celeron 430m, 512mbs, 80gig, ATI 200M, Vista Basic which was only $349. This machine is DOG slow with the included 512mbs of memory. The integrated video consumes 128mbs so bumping overall RAM to 1GB is mandatory. Toshiba also has a bad habit of installing a bunch of utilities that in my opinion serve absolutely no purpose. The equivalent function are already included in the base operating system (i.e. wireless) so why would Toshiba think they can do it better than Microsoft. After uninstalling each of those applications and plopping in an additional 512mbs I can happily report that the laptop runs Vista basic just fine. In fact it boots much quicker than my IBM Thinkpad and runs all basic tasks such as reading email or surfing the internet without any issues what so ever. This unit is a gift for a grandparent who is using an older Toshiba that is running Windows 98 with 96mbs of RAM. For $349 + $40 I spent on RAM it is a bargain.

The second Toshiba I purchased was the A135-S4447 T2250, 1gb, 80gig, Intel 945 for $599. Like the 2246 this model had all the Toshiba bloatware. Once it was uninstalled the machine performed very well on normal every day tasks. Even the Aero interface performs without any noticeable delays. I should point out that the dual core processor made the user experience slightly more enjoyable over the Celeron 430m but if your just doing email and surfing the Internet I'm not sure it would be worth the extra money.

Both laptops have the same screen, keyboard and basic physical exterior. There are some differences such as a card reader and firewire on the S4447 but for all practical purposes they are the same.

The screen while glossy does not look as bad as the HP DV4000 that I used before. There are no dead pixels on either unit. The only downfall in my opinion is the viewing angle is limited both horizontally and vertically. Since the units aren't going to be viewed by a group I don't see that as an issue.

The keyboard isn't the best. It looks liike the keys could easily pop off and I've heard they will. It does however feel better than the Gateway I tried at the store.

The palmrest gets a little warm under load but nothing to complain about. The iBook I used was HOT, these are lukewarm.

All in all I'm happy with the purchases. I was glad to see I could get units such as these at a local store at a great price point. I was considering ordering a Dell 1505 but didn't like the fact I couldn't test it out before hand.

 

nice review. but I still hate the layout of keyboard. Why did they think about the customers? Are those designers super human? still do not understand the weird layout of toshiba.

 

Thanks for a super timely review, and also to comments by Paul_STC. I found both very helpful, as I am considering buying the 135-S4447 on sale this week (probably same deal as Paul_STC found, at OD).

My main reservation is the keyboard, as you've noted. I really like the Lenovo 3000 N100 keyboard best, but am finding it hard to justify the higher price just for the keyboard, as this PC is for home use (not working on it all day long). And I'll likely use an external keyboard much of the time anyway. The the Toshiba does have some nice features and is good value, as you pointed out.

The Windows key placement does seem funky, but I don't believe it's due to the media control panel. That was my first thought too. But then I measured the dimensions of the Toshiba and Lenovo keyboards, and they were virtually identical. So Toshiba rearranged the keys for some other reason. Go figure.

Thanks again for such timely feedback!

 

PDX_Gal - I don't miss the windows key, in fact I'm glad it is moved. There is nothing I hate more than when I go to hit control and accidently hit the windows key which sets focus to the popup menu rather than the window I was currently operating within. I've even gone so far as to disable it on some keyboards I've used.

If I had one major complaint about the keyboard it would be that tab key. It is small, like as in letter small. I much prefer the shift sized tab key on my T60.

I too like the Lenovo keyboard and seriously considered getting either the N100 or C200. I just couldn't pass up what I consider to be a pretty good deal at $599. I know this unit has an older core duo and isn't 64 bit but considering I was looking at a similar model 12 months ago for twice the price I'm happy with the purchase. Plus any heavy lifting I do using a computer is done on a desktop. For instance I have ripped 600 of my cds as lossless and then convert them to lower bitrates for portable use. It takes 24+ hours to do this on my AMD 3800X2. There is no way I'm subjecting a laptop to this same type of task.

 

That turtle wall paper would be great, is it shareable?

 

An update on the Toshiba A135. Today I looked at an HP v6205. Very cool! The keyboard seemed crisper and bouncier than the Toshiba, more like the Lenovo 3000. It was also wider by about 1/2". And the screen of the Toshiba I'd looked at 2 days prior (in the same OD store), now had some burned out looking pixels or something (sort of colored bars at the top of the screen). Not a good omen. So, I'm now leaning towards the HP.

CC has a decent deal on them right now, or I may try the HP store, where you can get a laptop with the 'standard' finish, rather than the fingerprint-magnet shiny finish. My prediction is HP will phase that out in a year or two after consumers complain about it enough...kind of like what happened when VCRs went to "on screen programming" via the remote. That "feature" lasted about 2 years before the mfrs realized maybe it wasn't such a bright idea ;-)

It's maddening trying to choose, there are so many options. But this forum has been invaluable. Thanks to all.

 

Thanks again to everyone for the additional comments. Thought I'd mention, too, that I had an HP dv6000t review model for a couple of weeks late last year, and it struck me as being about as close to perfect as possible in the $800 to $1000 range. It's a little hard to say how anything will hold up over time when you only have it for a couple of weeks, but the dv6000t really was impressive. It took some digging to come up with "cons" at the end of the review. Another real bonus is how configurable it is. You can get the NVIDIA Go 7400 GPU option, which is a good idea, I think, with Windows Vista and 1 GB of RAM. For those options plus the Intel T2250, an 80GB HD and a DVD burner (the options I'd probably get if I wanted to keep the price low but still have a strong notebook), the price at HP is about $920 right now, which includes free shipping. That's about 20% more than the A135-S4427 was selling for over the weekend, but you get an incredible amount for that $920, and you can avoid the shiny finish, though it actually looks pretty nice if you keep wiping it clean.

 

Does anyone know how can I tell what is the DDR2 speed?
When I go to BIOS, it only shows the capacity.

It looks like DDR2 667 are about the same price as DDR2 533, so I want to see if it will run at that speed. I'm thinking about pulling out the 533Mhz 512MB and install a 667Mhz 1GB.

thanks

 

Regarding memory. DDR2 667 will work just fine, however it will run at 533 since that is the Front Side Bus speed of the CPU. I purchased two Transcend JetRam 1GB dimms from Frys for $72 each with free ground shipping. Newegg has the same ones I think for $69 plus shipping.

I do not notice any performance increase just surfing the net and doing email between the 1GB of original memory and the current 2GBs. I'm sure that if I attempt to render video, edit photos or do something else a little more intensive the 2GBs will be appreciated.

 

The fan cycling on/off is quite annoying.
Is there a way to reduce this? Why is it running like that all the time even if I'm idle? The air is barely lukewarm.

The 1GB upgrade is great, everything is more snappy now.

 

You can probably push the machine into having the fan on full time by changing your power settings. Keep in mind you'll lose battery life. The extra RAM is most likely generating a little more heat as well, more reason for the fan to come on. Having worked with laptops exclusively for the past 5 years I don't find this model to be very annoying compared to others. My T60 fan and my wifes Thinkpads fan are much louder.

 

I'm interested in this machine. While it is not the strongest on the market would it play a game like Guild wars, without issue?

 

I'm pretty sure it can if you equip it with the Nvidia GeForce Go7600 256MB. Then you can definitely run it at the highest settings, and probably even with the 128MB. In fact, it probably looks like the integrated GMA950 might be able to pull it off. At low setting, it can for sure, but maybe even at higher settings.

 

Does this laptop have an internal microphone? I think I configured voice recognition but it's not picking up my commands very well.

tia!

 

From my recent experience, I would suggest staying away from Toshiba.

I bought my A135-S4447 on 2/21 with the great Office Depot promo, including the free Canon Pixma printer.

12 days later (and not a whole lot of use), the screen goes dark. You can still see the image, so I think the backlight must have failed.

Luckily, I was within Office Depot's 14-day period where I could get it exchanged in-store. They gave me a new one. I got it home and was enabling all the protection software (Defender, McAfee, etc.) and the touchpad stopped working. I uninstalled the driver, reinstalled it, but it still was dead.

A trip back to Office Depot resulted in a swap for a THIRD A135-S4447. Powering it up in the store revealed that the backlight worked and so did the touchpad. I took it home and started to log on. Several keys on the keyboard were dead, about 7 of them. Yet another trip back to Office Depot to return #3!

They didn't have any more in stock and I wouldn't want one if they did. I upgraded to a Sony VAIO they had (with $150 rebate). No problems with it yet, but it's just 4 days old now.

The folks at Office Depot also told me that several Toshibas were returned because there were no sound cards installed. It sounds to me like Toshiba has some SERIOUS Quality Control problems. Other than that, they thought that they didn't have a lot of Toshiba failures compared to other brands.

Your mileage may vary. My experience may have been a fluke, but I think those incidents indicate a problem on Toshiba's end.

Things I liked about the unit:
1) the latching clamshell - the Sony doesn't have it
2) the key shapes on the keyboard - the Sony unit's keys are pretty flat
3) the ability to turn the wireless antenna on and off via a function key - if the Sony has this feature, I haven't found it yet
4) a volume control knob on the front was handy
5) at $599, the unit WOULD have been a great buy, if it had been dependable

Things I didn't like:
1) the amplifier that drove the headphones had terrible sound
2) the switch that turned the wireless antenna on and off was difficult to change. The function key feature made this gripe less of an issue.
3) although the key shapes were better than the Sony, the keyboard layout was awkward. The Sony's is better, but not by much.

 

You say the warm air blowing out the side is a 'con' I call it a godsend, I am sitting here freezing but the warmth of the fan is what is keeping me the littles bit warm. I stick my hand over there about once a minute to "warm up."

 

Fan noise never gets better - that said after having the A135-s4499 for a year and after having Satellite 5205 for 5 years. Otherwise decent machine but fan cooling seems to be a weak point. The fan comes on more often and makes more noise. I doubt this is due to processor usage since I monitor that with task manager and my habits haven't changed in a year. It may just be a problem in how they designed the vents and air movement that dirt accumulates.

Keyboard took months to get used to; definitely a downgrade from the Satellite 5205. It looks alright but the feel and pressure is lousy.

Also, the tiny speakers on the A135 are not as good as what is on the 5205.