Toshiba Satellite Pro A40

Toshiba are arguably one of the best known business laptops, they are certainly know for their price tag if little else. However in recent years they have been pushing into the lower end markets with surprisingly good quality laptops at reasonable prices.

Toshiba’s Satellite Pro range represents the middle range of business laptops, supporting the normal run-of-the-mill business applications such as Word, Excel and Power Point. However ...
...380mm corner to corner (14”). Toshiba haven’t made the best use of the space available to them as there is 28mm of horizontal and 30mm vertical plastic “screen real-estate” that the TFT could have been pushed out into.

Below the screen are the basic controls, from right to left: Power, Rewind, Fast Forward, Play/Pause and Stop. Other than the power button, the controls require proprietary software to be installed and running to operate. ... more

Toshiba are arguably one of the best known business laptops, they are certainly know for their price tag if little else. However in recent years they have been pushing into the lower end markets with surprisingly good quality laptops at reasonable prices.

Toshiba’s Satellite Pro range represents the middle range of business laptops, supporting the normal run-of-the-mill business applications such as Word, Excel and Power Point. However they are not the best buy if you are looking at buying for a general purpose laptop. The graphics card is not up to anything more than the simplest 3D rendering, and the connectivity options leave a lot to be desired.

The Hardware
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Starting with the basics, the SP-A40 a reasonably slim laptop only 38mm deep, 340mm wide and 265mm back to front. The TFT display is a clear and comfortable 380mm corner to corner (14”). Toshiba haven’t made the best use of the space available to them as there is 28mm of horizontal and 30mm vertical plastic “screen real-estate” that the TFT could have been pushed out into.

Below the screen are the basic controls, from right to left: Power, Rewind, Fast Forward, Play/Pause and Stop. Other than the power button, the controls require proprietary software to be installed and running to operate. The keyboard is average for a laptop, the normal selection of compressed keys. The notable relocation of the “Windows” keys from either side of the keyboard to the top right section of the keyboard along with the print screen key.

Below the keyboard is the touch pad, which feels more like an after thought to a hand rest than an intentional mouse device. The simple white box with two grey buttons below don’t look particularly appealing, however they do serve their purpose.

On the very front of the laptop are the indicator lights, A/C power supply Power, Battery and Disk Activity. To the left there is one PCMCIA (People Can’t Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms) Slot, which is a little measly seeing as there is plenty of space for the 7mm high slots, continuing round clockwise two USB ports and the network port are about 30mm along almost at the back of the laptop.

The rear of the laptop services access to a Parallel and a Serial port, a hefty exhaust fan, two more USB ports and the proprietary power sockets, moving round the right hand side is the Modem (RJ11) port and the DVD/CDRW combo drive. Finally returning to the front of the laptop near the lights with a headphone and a microphone socket along with a volume control all pleasantly recessed into the plastic.

Other than the USB, Serial and Parallel ports that is the limit of the connectivity options. With Serial and Parallel being all but unused in the modern technological world, the only built in connectivity options are the four USB ports. Of course you can add Wireless through the one PCMCIA network slot, alternatively try a Bluetooth card, however that would mean you wouldn’t be able to have both Bluetooth and WiFi due to the provision of only one PCMCIA slot.

The Software
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As the laptop is intended for a business audience it is supplied with Windows XP Professional. The additional software included is on the other hand a little more disappointing. OneNote 2004 is included with the laptop and that is the limit.

Conclusion
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A laptop with all the functionality that the average business may require, however the software supplied is a little disappointing, and the connectivity options are lacking.

If you want a laptop for Office applications, then this is going to be great, otherwise look elsewhere.
 

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