Toshiba Satellite A355-S6931 16.0-Inch Laptop

Replace your desktop PC with the Toshiba Satellite A355-S6931 laptop, featuring all the power and hard drive space you expect from a top-of-the-line desktop but in an easily mobile package. Stylishly designed, this Toshiba Satellite features a large, bright 16-inch LCD (1366 x 768)--with a true 16:9 aspect ratio and 720p native high-definition resolution. It's also great for using as a media center, with Toshiba's Express Media Player enabling you to bypass the system and access CDs and DVDs with a touch of button. The dual-layer DVD±RW drive also burns CDs and offers LabelFlash print functionality. A 1.3 megapixel digital web camera built into the LCD's bezel lets you quickly snap photos and participate in live video chats.
The integrated webcam does more than just video chats. It includes Toshiba Face Recognition capabilities--the ultimate hands-free, hassle-free way to log onto your laptop. Just show your face to the webcam--no keeping track of hard-to-remember passwords and no unnecessary typing. And if you're using one laptop for several users--say for the whole family or for a small business--Toshiba Face Recognition lets you switch profiles with one simple look.



Specs:

* 16-inch LCD screen
* 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor (Centrino 2)
* 320 GB hard drive
* 4 GB RAM (maximum)
* Dual-layer DVD±R drive with LabelFlash
* Draft-N Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n)
* Intel GMA X4500MHD graphics (up to 1750 MB shared)
* Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
* Fusion finish with Constellation Black pattern
* Weighs 6.5 pounds

Customer feedback:

This is my second Toshiba laptop. Number one is around 4 years old and still works well. This review is more about the A355 chassis, than this exact spec laptop, and should apply to just about every one of the laptops in this series whether they run AMD or Intel chips. The first view is that the materials are just plain flat out gorgeous. From the shiny exterior, to the semi rounded base, the two large chrome mouse buttons, the nicely integrated Harmon Kardon speakers, the illuminated touch areas, the big beautiful monitor, and those shiny keys. Yes this is one very pretty computer.
Under that pretty hood are some interesting specs. It used to be incredibly rare to see an eSATA port on any computer, let alone a laptop. Well this one has exactly that - an eSATA port that doubles as a USB port. Nice option to hook up external hard drives. It also includes an iLink, Firewire, or IEEE-1394 port - an incredible rarity (even Apple dropped this port). The audio ports and volume control are on the front, nicely placed. There's absolutely no ports on the rear. There's also an express card slot (not a PCMCIA slot, but EXPRESS card slot) and a multi flash memory card reader (they've dropped CF from the list). It does not include Bluetooth - a very strange omission since every single bluetooth adapter uses the Toshiba stack to run. Use either of these adapters, they work perfectly: IOGear GBU421 Bluetooth 2.0 USB Micro Adapter or Cirago BTA3210 Class 2 Micro Bluetooth Adapter (Black Tip) - both are outstanding miniscule adapters.