Toshiba Satellite M305 Review

We've put several of Toshiba's latest mid-level, high-gloss Satellite notebooks through their paces around here in the past few months, and the 14.1-inch Toshiba Satellite M305 is the latest model in this familiar lineup of devices to come up for review. Dishing out sizeable helpings of memory and processing prowess in the configuration we received, the M305 is a consumer-focused laptop that potentially has the power to keep power users happy.

Wrapped in a love-it-or-hate-it glossy exterior, the M305 targets general users as well as those looking for a mobile multimedia device, with an upgraded audio system and a chic multimedia surface control arrangement. At once style-conscious and budget-conscious, the latest Satellite appears to do a lot of things right - if you can get past all that shiny plastic.

(view large image)

For this review, we tested an M305-S4826 with the following specs:

• Screen: 14.1-inch TruBrite TFT LCD, WXGA (1280x800) native resolution
• Processor: 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 (800 MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache)
• Hard Drive: 250GB SATA, 5400 RPM
• Memory: 3GB RAM (DDR2 SDRAM)
• Optical Drive: DVD SuperMulti with Labelflash
• Ports and Slots: Three USB 2.0, one IEEE 1394, one ExpressCard 34, VGA, multi-format (SD/SDHC/MS/xD) card reader, 10/100 Ethernet, modem, microphone in, headphone out
• Wireless: Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g)
• Graphics: Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, 128-358MB shared memory
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
• Dimensions: 13.2 x 9.53 x 1.29 inches (WxDxH)
• Weight: 5.2 pounds
• MSRP: $999.99

Styling and Design

Although the rest of the NotebookReview crew was pretty high on previous Toshiba laptops with the high-gloss Fusion Finish, I was admittedly skeptical about the M305's shiny keys and super-reflective lid. If the finish is allegedly durable, in some ways it really doesn't look it.

(view large image)

After a few weeks with the Satellite, however, I'm feeling the need to retract this hasty pronouncement. While it's almost impossible to keep flat surfaces on the notebook free from smudges, the general consensus seems to be correct: durability definitely isn't a problem with these computers. Even an accidental run-in with a bag zipper - the kind of scraping contact that would put a deep scratch on the surface of most notebooks - didn't faze the M305's finish.

(view large image)

If you like the high-tech, high-profile look that it imparts, the Fusion look is svelte, modern, and very appealing. The standard array of function indicators, the M305's multimedia touch panel, and even the Satellite wordmark and touchpad surround are all illuminated with a soft glow that looks great under normal ambient light (though it can be a little bright and harsh on the eyes when working in a dark room). A shallow-inset keyboard and touchpad buttons have an equally classy, well thought-out look. A well matched grey and black striped lid just like we've seen on other recent Toshiba Satellite models rounds out the package.

(view large image)

Build Quality and Physical Specs

If you're one of those notebook users who judges the build quality of a notebook by how much metal is visible in its construction, the M305 won't be earning many high marks in your book: this laptop is all about the plastic, with glossy (and thus, highly obvious) polymers covering nearly every inch of its surface. Again, while the slick plastic can feel a little cheap, the M305 belies this idea with a tight, solid build and lots of nice details.

Panel flex was largely nonexistent, save some give in the typical trouble spot just over the optical drive on the top deck. Similarly, I could induce just the slightest hint of screen ripple by flexing the fairly rigid lid. As with the last few Satellites we've looked at, the M305's battery doesn't seem particularly well anchored, with about an eighth of an inch of front-to-back free play.

(view large image)

Hinges are a touch sticky, and with their plastic coverings and dodgy alignment look like they might be a weak point down the road; without a long term test, though, it's hard to say for sure one way or another on this score. There's no latch keeping the lid anchored shut, which makes at least one reason for the Toshiba's hard-to-move hinges both obvious and appreciated. And assuming they're more durable than they look, I'll take stiff hinges to weak ones any day.

With these complaints clearly registered, the M305's generally solid construction impresses nonetheless. If it doesn't exactly show off the tank-like hull of a high-end business notebook, for a mid-level consumer laptop there's very little of consequence to complain about with the M305.

At 5.25 pounds, the 14.1-inch Satellite feels just a bit portly for its size, though this density contributes to an overall feeling of quality more than it detracts too much from the M305's portability. Measuring in just over 1.25 inches thick at its widest point, the Satellite isn't stellar in terms of overall compactness either, but it certainly lives up to expectations given its price.

Screen

At 14.1 inches, the M305's display is obviously smaller than the recently reviewed A305's 15.4-inch version, but performance could be described in almost exactly the same terms. Backlighting is even, with practically no discernible bleed, making colors pop vividly across the gamut.

(view large image)

As with the A305, however, while horizontal viewing angles are nice and wide before color begins to invert, there's a decided "sweet spot" on the vertical axis: swallow out your vertical angle too much and the screen quickly begins to lose all semblance of contrast. Moving in the other direction, color invert relatively quickly. This combined with the fact that the M305's display doesn't tilt as far back as those on some competitive models means that if you often work with your notebook on your lap at odd screen-to-keyboard ratios, you may have trouble finding a position that provides the best possible viewing experience.

Brightness is adjustable in eight steps, with the moderate power settings working fine for indoor use under normal conditions. Overall, while the M305's glossy display isn't perfect, its vibrant colors, good brightness, and minimal reflectivity all add up to a pretty impressive performance for the Satellite in this regard.

Keyboard and Touchpad

I'll say up front what may be on the minds of many: the M305's glossy keys look weird, and seem like they wouldn't be pleasant to type on.

As with the finish in general, and as we've discovered before in testing other similarly speced laptops, however, Toshiba's high-gloss keyboard proves again to be much better than expected. Key action is fairly short - a fact which some typists will undoubtedly dislike - but the keys have a quick, positive feeling when pressed. Once you adapt to the slightly slippery feel of glossy keys, the finish has a nice tactile feeling that actually works surprisingly well for rapid typing.

(view large image)

I did have an issue with a squeaky backspace key, and some of the larger keys (the carriage return and shift keys being the most frequently used, and thus the most obvious, offenders) didn't feel as solidly mounted as I might have liked. Still, the gloss keyboard looks great, feels both pleasant and well-constructed, and, as we've commented before, there's no concern about a matte finish rubbing off of the keys over time with heavy use.

(view large image)

I was a little less satisfied with the M305's touchpad experience. The pad itself is small, somewhat oddly finished (it's the only textured portion of the entire notebook), and isn't great from a sensitivity standpoint. The fact that the pad isn't recessed into the top deck or bounded by a raised border also means that I found myself frequently running "out of bounds" in trying to mouse across the screen, for instance. None of these issues even approach major concerns in my mind - more like minor annoyances at most.

Ports and Drives

With three USB ports, the M305 is playing about par for the course in terms of 14.1-inch notebooks, but the M305's USB slots do something unique to Toshiba's latest crop of laptops: with their innovative "Sleep and Charge" feature, the ports can be used to charge USB-connected devices (your iPod for instance) regardless of whether the computer is on or not - the only requirement being that the computer has to be connected to AC power. While it doesn't necessarily solve mobile charging issues (as it won't draw power when the computer's on battery), being able to use your computer as a charging station regardless of its power state is a clever idea.

The inclusion of Firewire as well as an Express Card slot will make many looking to do slightly more serious computing happy. HDMI also appears to be an option for some configurations, though the port space was blanked on our test unit. On the optical drive front, the M305 features a slim tray-loading DVD-R/CD-R combo drive featuring Labelflash on-disc image burning technology.

As on the cheaper Satellites, the M305's video out doesn't include any screw lugs. I guess Toshiba assumes that no one takes the time to actually lock down a video connection on a laptop anyone, given that these are often temporary arrangements; still, it feels a bit like scrimping to me, and as someone who regularly uses a second display with my notebook and doesn't like to worry about the video cable disconnecting itself when the computer is moved, I'm inclined to see this as a potentially noteworthy oversight for some users.

Front view. (view large image)

Left side view. (view large image)

Right side view. (view large image)

Rear view. (view large image)

Audio Performance

Wearing a downsized version of the Harman/Kardon branded system seen on other mid-level Toshibas, audio performance isn't bad at all with the M305. Bass response could be a little richer, and (to be picky) highs can be a little tinny through the M305's audio system, but the sound was natural at all volumes with distortion pretty impressively hard to come by. For mobile movie viewing or on-the-road audio, the Satellite is a perfectly competent performer and then some.

I had no problems with buzzing, whining, or other signal pollution either through the speakers or the headphone out.

Heat and Noise

The only particularly irritating hotspot was one that regularly developed after about 30 minutes of use under my left wrist, making me perceive the entire notebook as being hotter than it actually was. Though it runs a little warmer than some might prefer, for a smaller machine heat dissipation really isn't too bad, making the M305 relatively comfortable to use directly on your lap for light computing tasks like word processing and web surfing.

(view large image)

If the heat dissipation doesn't exactly impress, however, the M305's near-silent fan operation does. The Satellite's side-exhaust fan isn't audible over typical office white noise levels when running at normal speeds.

Battery Life

Using Vista's "Balanced" power management setting, the M305 touts right at three hours of battery life on a full charge of its 3700 mAh pack. A light run-down test involving some web browsing and general office app work at conservative screen brightness settings yielded right at 2:45 before the system warned me to plug in. Likewise, if you're willing to use reduced brightness settings and disable your Wi-Fi while watching, unless you're planning to watch all four hours of Lawrence of Arabia on battery power, you should be able to get through most DVDs in a single charge (if only just).

In short, if it's not exactly class leading, being able to reasonable expect three solid hours of computing on a charge is none too shabby for a compact notebook that comes pretty close to what could be called "budget" pricing territory.

Performance and Benchmarks

This category's definitely a mixed bag for the Satellite, with its success as a performance notebook largely depending on your intended use. With three gigabytes of RAM and its Intel Core 2 Duo "Penryn" chipset, the M305 sports a fairly high-power processor and memory combo. The use of integrated graphics, however, serve to hamstring much of this power where gaming and other 3D graphics uses are concerned.

For the standard complement of computing tasks, up to and including working with images and light video editing, the M305 is more than fast enough. Working in Photoshop, it took a pretty involved multi-file project to overtax the M305's available RAM and several complex processes run simultaneously to noticeably outrun its processor. Assuming you're not looking for a portable gaming machine, then, the M305 proves to be fairly robust in the power department.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. (Lower numbers mean better performance.)

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Toshiba Satellite M305 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)	38.532s
Toshiba Satellite A305 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz)	36.442s
Asus M51S (Core 2 Duo T5550 @ 1.83GHz)	46.293s
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)	50.184s
HP Pavilion dv6700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)	50.480s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	41.908s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s
Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	42.218s
Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz)	42.947s

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Toshiba Satellite M305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100)	539 3DMarks
Toshiba Satellite A305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, ATI Radeon 3650 512MB)	3,810 3DMarks
Asus M51S (1.83GHz Intel T5550, Nvidia 9500M GS 512MB)	3,749 3DMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Intel X3100)	543 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6700t (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Nvidia 8400M GS 256MB)	1,556 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Toshiba Satellite M305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100)	4,224 PCMarks
Toshiba Satellite A305 (2.10GHz Intel T8100, ATI Radeon 3650 512MB)	5,622 PCMarks
Asus M51S (1.83GHz Intel T5550, Nvidia 9500M GS 512MB)	4,649 PCMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Intel X3100)	3,749 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv6700t (1.66GHz Intel T5450, Nvidia 8400M GS 256MB)	3,386 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	3,283 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks

HDTune results:

( view large image)

Conclusion

Approaching this review, I wasn't particularly excited about what the M305 had to offer: it seemed like a fairly run-of-the-mill notebook in a visual package that I found fairly unappealing. If my expectations were mixed, the Satellite has consistently impressed in almost every area, proving itself to be a powerful computing companion (assuming you don't need the resources that dedicated graphics provide) and a pleasant machine to use.

The Fusion Finish remains controversial, but while I'm still not keen on the looks (and can't stand its tendency to come away covered in smudges seemingly from a single touch), there's no question in my mind about the finish's durability or functionality. Likewise for the odd looking but great feeling glossy keyboard. If I was an open skeptic going in, the M305 has largely won me over with good performance, solid construction, a great screen, and a respectably strong battery. If it doesn't - beyond the visual, at least - exactly jump off the page, given its street price right at $1,000 as tested, the M305 isn't a bad deal to boot, making it a reliable, affordable choice for general users looking for style and portability.

Pros:

• Solid construction and seemingly unscratchable Fusion Finish
• Excellent, vivid screen that's glossy without glare
• Glossy keyboard with nice, smooth action
• Better-than-average audio performance

Cons:

• Runs a little hot all around
• Copious glossy plastics look and feel cheap to some
• No dedicated graphics option

 

nice solid notebook. too bad it only has an integrated video card

 

Thanks for the review.

What's the voltage rating of the battery so we can calculate the watt-hours?

John

 

Good review!

 

I'm pretty sure it's 10.8 volts, but I don't have the notebook in front of me at the moment. I'll confirm...

dr

 

if you ever come to Asia , you will see it with discrete graphics , in fact , in my area it comes with either ATI HD3470 or HD3650 and I never seen it with the Intel integrated.

so I am quite surprised the reviewed version had the Intel.

and for David , I agree it looks so cheap as with HP pavillion and ASUS infusion finish all look so cheap.

thanks for your review.

 

Nice revierw David. The new finish looks good and the fact that they are more scratch resistant is a definate plus. My imprint looks just as good as it did when new 2yrs ago. So, compared to the drab-looking & cheap paint finish on the inspiron 1420 and the scratchy vostro 1310 this looks much better. Although for $1k I dont think this is exactly a great deal, even the CTO models are comparatively more expensive than the competition.

 

I think that in order to reduce the cost of this notebook, Intel integrated graphic was offered. As lappyforphotoshop has said in Asia the notebook was equipped with ATI HD3470 or HD3650 but I have noted that the Memory (RAM) was not big like the notebook which selling in US.

 

Glossy screen, glossly cover, glossly keyboard ...

You like it like this?

 

"there's a decided "sweet spot" on the vertical axis: swallow out your vertical angle too much and the screen quickly begins to lose all semblance of contrast."


Yep, this seems to be a regular issue with 14" screens. I even noticed the Sony CR's vertical angles were nothing less then pathetic. Its why I would never buy a 14" anything. Don't know why, but panel manufacturers can't seem to built a decent 14" display. I think the HP's get the best comments for 14". As for Toshiba's new line it really appears you need to go with the 15.4" to get the HDMI and better graphics. Theres too much compromise here. For whatever reason, I have also seen great looking 13" and 11" screens. It seems the 14" ones get the problem with the vertical viewing angles more then the others.

 

It's obviously a good laptop, and comes with a very nice price. However I don't feel I could really get past the looks, as although it is subjective, I think it just looks rather 'bulky' and 'cheap' for what it is, though I haven't seen it in person, though I have seen some of it's similar variants in the local stores.

 

I had exactly the same issues, though I will say that using it really did convince me (the fact that the keyboard turned out to be so good, when I fully expected it to be so horrid was a big part of it). That said, the styling is definitely not for everyone.

dr

 

Not just glossy, particularly the imprint like finish compared to the regular paint job most companies(dell for example) seem to plaster on their laptops. The regular paint chips and scratches easily(take the lid of 1310 as an example). Glossy finish done right can add functionality as well as improve the design.

Yeah, it attracts fingerprints a bit but its not as bad as people make it out to be, maybe I have dry hands but its definately not an issue I have observed. The fingerprints are only evident when you look at it under certain light conditions. I dont know how well the glossy based keyboard is going to hold up but I dont think it will be worse of than any regular matte finish keyboards after a years use. Just because it is glossy doesnt mean it is crap or cheesy looking. Any regular paint finish laptop doesnt hold up to wear as well as the imprint based finish does. Take a look at Acers or some of the recent Dells, its the same issue with wear near the palm rests and the touchpad. My previous laptop was regular matte paint based finish and after a years use, the palm rest and the touchpad were worn down to a complete shine and it looked aweful. Comapre that to my V3000 and yes it does show some wear but it is less than half as bad as the paint finished laptop. Sure a business class notebook might wear less but the price you pay for it is not worth the tradeoff's.

So, its not all flash and shine, a glossy finish done correctly(as in not just a glossy paint) can help with durability as well.

 

good to know that your 2yr old HP looks as good as it did when you bought it .

well, as for the inspiron paint , I agree it is horrible, but Vostro is not bad at all , built well, cheap and look professional with black matte finish.

I just dislike Toshiba and HP type of finish.

 

yeah, right in Asia the ram is only 2 gb or 1gb depends on a configuration but in US and Canada , this models usually has 3gb.

and I am wondering why 14.1 is not popular in the US market while it is the most popular size in Asia.

see HP DV6700T is very popaulr in the US with many configurations. but in SE asia , the DV2700T is much better selling model with many configurations(the DV6700 has only 2 configurations and very expensive in Thailand while the DV2700 has at least 19 configurations and very cheap).

this marketing logic goes for all other brands as well, the A305 is not at all popular(expensive with lots of multimedia features that I dont need ot even care for) here but this M305(very cheap) is and the most selling Sony here is the CR and FZ is seldom seen locally.

Acer AS 5920G is not popular but the 4920G is the best selling laptop in Thailand.

and as a person work here as a foreigner ,I have no choice but forced to get a 14.1 or 13.3 although I prefer 15.4 as I was growing up with a laptop of Dell Inspiron 1520 size.

so I was kinda interested in this model as I disliked the HP DV2700T (too glossy screen), Lenovo Thinkpad R61(too dim LCD and no high resolution option in my area) and Toshiba M200(white interior color gets dirty).

well, I guess the least compromising option is the HP DV2700T or 6510b.

 

Behind comparison of infusion shiny glossy finish that lasts forever and dull paint finish that wears out so fast, there is another something that should be considered - long lasting MATTE fusion finish. Why not?

 

Sure, they exist but the question is will be available at the price people want to pay. I am not saying all matte finishes are bad and only glossy as good. I am just ticked off at people who equate gloosy finish with being superficial/cheap or less durable when it not the case. Yeah, just using glossy clearcoat of paint will lead to scratches and is just pandering to people who are attracted to the gloosy finish. In any case looks are pretty much subjective ad people can have their own opinions on what they like or not like.

 

if some people don't like the glossy finish Toshiba makes the satellite pro m300 which is silver with black keyboard

 

Are you sure about the headphone out quality of the M305? Because my M300-FC5 which I bought from
futureshop here in Canada produces an annoying hissing sound.

I think you better check it out by doing the following steps:

1.) Plug your headphone and open your windows media player or any music player of your choice
2.) Play a music and the hissing starts
3.) When you increase the volume to a high level you will no longer notice the hissing sound
4.) Now try to decrease to volume to zero while the music is still playing - the hissing sound now becomes audible
5.) The funny part here is that when you CLOSE the application or STOP the music, the hissing stops too.

So it seems that the hissing sound appears whenever Windows or any applications produces or calls a sound.

I went back to Futureshop to check their demo units. I bought my headphone w/ me (trust me it's working well w/ my PSP and Toshiba A135 so don't blame it ) and plugged it in to the M300 and A300 demo laptop. Alas, it produces
a hissing sound too and both laptops have the same sound chipset!

Is the Conexant CX20561 sound driver the culprit? Probably. I just hope that this is a wakeup call for Toshiba or Conexant to release a driver that would fix this issue *sigh*

In fairness I love the fusion design and everything on my new M300. It's just the headphone out that really sucks big time. The hissing is terrible.

 

It looks like something I might buy, except for the plastic, the gloss, the lack of dedicated graphics, and the heat. :laugh:

 

What battery is it equipped with? I`m assuming a bigger battery option would give a much better battery life.
A friend of mine is set on getting a small laptop,and she fancyes Toshibas,so this might be the one for her.

 

If she doesn't need dedicated gfx, this might be good.

 

3 hours is ridiculous nowadays, my nx9420 with an X1600 got 4 hours on a standard 8 cell battery and 17 inch scren.
I`d expect more for a 14 incher.

 

I have a 6 cell, and I can almost get 4 hours.

 

Exactly my point.
If a 9 cell battery was an option, I`d tell her to jump right on it.She`d get 5 hours for sure.
Besides,Toshiba are a very reputable company,she hasn`t heard of Sager

 

If you buy the CTO from Toshiba, you can customize it with the Ati HD3470 and include the 9 cell(7200mAH) battery. If you dont necessarily need the dedicated GPU, then the Satellite Pro is exactly the same with the regular matte finish and integrated GPU.

M300 CTO...
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-35446

Satllite Pro M300...
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-35449

 

The M300 CTO looks good, I`ve managed a pretty decent config under a grand.
Thanks.